Cats are among the most self-sufficient pets you can have, but that doesn’t mean bringing one home requires zero preparation. If you’re not previously familiar with caring for felines, here are a few tips to making sure your space is safe for a cat (and your furniture is safe from imminent destruction.)

Be careful with houseplants.

This may appear a no-brainer as far as keeping your plants intact goes, but some of those plants might also be dangerous for pets. Lavender and sago palms, for instance, are actually poisonous should a cat get ahold of them and ingest any. Make sure to research which plants are potentially unsafe for cats, and which are either safe or actively cat-friendly (see: wheatgrass and licorice root.) When trying to keep plants out of reach of sticky paws, some recommend the use of lemon spray to keep pets at bay, as cats aren’t a big fan of citrus scents. Keeping plants on high surfaces without many nearby avenues for cats to make their way up can do the trick, but so can hanging plants from areas you can reach, but your furry friend can’t.

Get creative with protecting furniture.

Lucky for those dealing with a four-legged roommate a little too keen on scratching the furniture, there are a variety of options to safely discourage such behavior. Common solutions include protective furniture tape or claw nail caps. Using a spray bottle with water to deter your cat from scratching can function as training, keeping them off your fabric and leather pieces altogether. It’s also crucial that, whether you have a furniture-related problem or not, you have at least one scratching post available to your cat; this provides them an alternative to damaging furniture as well as a means to exfoliate their claws and stretch. It’s important to remember that cats don’t scratch out of bad behavior; they just need the right opportunity to do so.

Keep all your food stored away.

And that means all– believe it or not, cats with a penchant for carbs do exist and will do everything in their power to get a taste of some Wonderbread. Ensuring that dishes are adequately rinsed and floors well-swept will keep wandering noses from chowing down on something they don’t need to (or really shouldn’t; chocolate, for instance, is as dangerous to cats as it is to dogs.) Domestic cats are scavengers by instinct, particularly if yours is a stray rescue. This makes them effective mousers, but also effective crumb enthusiasts.

Keep plastic scraps and small items out of reach.

What do hair ties, earrings, and bottle caps have in common? There’s a chance a cat will find them to be either wonderful toys or unorthodox meals. Having your pet run off with your accessories is annoying, sure, but having them ingest them brings about a host of other issues, no matter how small the item in question. Keeping these items organized and stowed away eliminates the problem; just make sure to close any drawers a cat might find themselves climbing into.