🧮 Multi-Cat Resource Calculator
Most multi-cat friction isn't about personality — it's about resources. Cats don't queue, and they don't share with cats outside their social group. Tell us about your household and get the real numbers: boxes, bowls, water, scratchers, beds and perches, and where each one should go.
Your household
Cats who sleep touching, groom each other and rub heads are one group. Cats who only tolerate — or actively avoid — each other are separate groups. Resources are counted per group, because a group won't use another group's things under pressure.
Every floor needs at least one litter box — a cat caught short upstairs won't always make the trip down.
Tension = occasional staring, blocking doorways, one cat leaving when another arrives. Open conflict = chasing, swatting, fights.
Your resource plan
| Resource | How many | Placement rule |
|---|
How it works
The numbers come from the feline environmental-needs guidelines published by the AAFP and ISFM (the "five pillars" of a healthy feline environment), whose resource rule is one per social group, plus one extra — for litter boxes, feeding stations, resting spots and the rest. It's the group that matters, not the headcount: three cats who sleep in a pile are one group, while two cats who avoid each other are two groups and need fully separate setups.
Location beats raw count. Three litter boxes in a row in the laundry room count as one box to a cat — one confident cat can guard the whole row. The same three boxes in three different rooms are three real boxes. That's why every row of the table above comes with a placement rule, and why the floors rule exists: at least one box on every floor the cats use.
If your cats are mid-introduction, or things have broken down between cats who used to get along, the New Cat Introduction Planner builds a stage-by-stage (re)introduction plan — extra resources plus a proper restart fixes most multi-cat tension.
This calculator is behaviour and husbandry guidance, not medical advice. Persistent conflict, appetite changes or house-soiling can have medical causes — if something suddenly changes with your cat, talk to your veterinarian rather than just adding another litter box.