A flat shared by two students runs on clashing timetables, late nights and irregular cleaning bursts — exactly the conditions that make a cat reject a food bowl one week and a litter tray the next. The fix is not more space; it is three stations that never move, plus an agreement about who maintains them, so the cat's world stays stable while the humans' schedules churn.
Food: One Kitchen Corner, Chosen Together
Pick the kitchen corner furthest from the bin and the cooker, put down a mat, and treat that square of floor as permanently the cat's. In a student flat the temptation is to feed wherever is free that day — the hallway, a bedroom, beside the sofa — but a cat fed in rotating spots learns to shout for food everywhere and graze anxiously. Fixed corner, set meal times that fit around the earlier riser's day, and a sealed tub for food so the smell stays in the kitchen rather than drawing her to forage in bedrooms.
Water Away From the Washing-Up Chaos
Student kitchen sinks fill with dishes, and a water bowl wedged beside them gets knocked, contaminated with suds or forgotten under a pan. Put the water somewhere calmer: beside the cat's bed in the living room, or at the end of the hallway she crosses to reach the litter tray. A wide, heavy bowl there gets refreshed whenever either student passes with a jug, and she can drink at three in the morning without waiting for the kitchen to be navigable.
Litter in the Bathroom, With a System
Most student flats give the bathroom as the only sensible litter site: hard floor, ventilation, water nearby for cleaning. Tuck the tray in the corner least splashed by the shower, add a mat for tracked litter, and keep a lidded bin and scoop right there so the job takes a minute. The rota matters more than the room: alternate days, scoop daily, full change weekly, and whoever is going away tells the other rather than assuming. A neglected tray in a small shared bathroom is the fastest route to a cat choosing the laundry pile instead.
House Rules That Protect the Cat's Map
Write three lines on a note on the fridge: stations do not move, guests do not feed the cat scraps in other rooms, bedroom doors stay as the cat expects them — open if she sleeps there, shut if the litter route depends on the hallway. Visitors and partners staying over are the usual reason bowls migrate; a visible note stops it. If the cat starts missing the tray after a party weekend or a house-guest stretch, check first whether a station quietly moved before assuming a behaviour problem. A spare mat and a second water bowl, washed and ready in the cupboard, make swap-overs painless on busy days.
The Rota Both Timetables Can Follow
Two students, one cat, and no shared memory for who scooped last is a recipe for drift. KinsLe Family Sharing lets both flatmates keep the station map and care notes on the cat's profile, so the arrangement holds steady through exam weeks, part-time jobs and holidays away.