So for the past two years we’ve been renovating our basement. The cats (one 6 year old male that moved into this house with us, and one 2 year old female that has only lived with us in this house) have been curious throughout the whole process. We knew that from the start their litter boxes would eventually be in the basement once it was safe for them to go down there, so we would very occasionally allow them down there to sniff around. Always supervised and always wiped them down after because of the dust. The 6y male was always quick to try to sneak down when we’d go down for laundry but he’s big, orange, and not the least bit stealthy so that never worked lol.

Now the basement is finished and safe for them to access.

The last few days we’ve been leaving the door open and allowing them to sniff around. They’ve been running and playing down there and seem happy about the new space! Finally their curiosity is satiated lol.

We moved the boxes down there last night and they both have used them with no issues.

The only problem seems to be that they both will go down there throughout the day and LOUDLY meow. They seem to take turns doing this, they never meow together down there. If we go check on them, they will come to us tail up, rub on our legs and chit chat with us (soft little meows instead of the full on yelling like when they’re down there alone). Is this just a way of testing the new space out? They don’t seem frightened when I check on them but is that just because once I’m in the room it’s ok and they are actually scared when down there alone? I imagine it is confusing for them - up until recently they were told no when trying to go down and now their bathroom is down there. We did our best to get them acclimated but it simply wasn’t safe until now for them to explore how they wanted.

When we first moved to this house the orange boy cried and cried at night for the first week. He wanted someone to basically follow behind him while he sniffed around and explored and would meow like crazy if we both laid down. We took turns sleeping and keeping him company and then the behavior stopped and he got used to the house. I’m expecting this to be something similar. He’s literally yelling right now downstairs as I type this. Should I keep going down there when one of them yells and telling them it’s ok, or do I just let them cry and leave it alone?

Cat tax attached! Orange is Pablo and black kitty is Pepper