Protect Your Beloved Cat and Favorite Merchandise From Mischief and Accidental Ingestion! "Display Storage Ideas"

For cat owners, their beloved cat is always their most cherished being. So, when they also become fans of something, they naturally want to enjoy their fan activities while protecting their cat's health, ensuring they don't accidentally ingest or eat anything harmful.

I often wished I had my own room so I could enjoy my fan activities while keeping my cat safe. As someone who loves visible storage, I felt frustrated every time my cat knocked down my displayed acrylic stands and keychains.

This time, I'll share the visible storage method I came up with for my fan merchandise.

Acrylic Stands: Case Storage + Strong Double-Sided Adhesive Tape

I've designated a corner of my living room as my fan merchandise display area. I absolutely love spending time here doing my makeup and skincare. Being surrounded by my favorite things is so therapeutic.

This corner incorporates many ideas to prevent my cat from messing with my fan merchandise.

The biggest challenge was how to store acrylic stands. They lift my spirits when I see them, so I want to display them in a prominent spot, but then my cat inevitably swats at them and knocks them down.

Me: "These are important, so please don't knock them down."

Cat: "...(big grin)"

Me: I leave the spot.

Cat: Immediately knocks down the acrylic stand and gives me a "pick it up" look.

How many times did this exchange repeat...?

Sometimes, I would scold my cat, saying, "I told you not to!" and then feel guilty. I realized this wasn't good for either of us. So, I decided to rethink how I protected my acrylic stands.

Most acrylic stands have a flat base that sits on a table, but some have different shapes. For example, some stand up with a clip like this.

Flat acrylic stands can be easily secured with strong, removable double-sided tape, but oddly shaped ones can't be taped down.

So, I came up with the idea of storing them in cases. This way, my cat couldn't just swat them down. I felt relieved, thinking, "Peaceful days are here!" But cats are smarter than humans give them credit for. Once I started storing them in clear cases, my cat started knocking down the entire case...

Leo, in particular, is mischievous. He would look at me in the mirror and gradually swat at things, as if saying, "I'm going to knock it down, okay? Is that okay?" I was back to begging him, "Please don't do that!"

After many such occurrences, a thought suddenly struck me: "Why not just secure the entire case?"

This was a much bigger success than I expected. Once Leo realized that the case wouldn't move even if he swatted at it, he seemed to find it "boring" and stopped messing with it.

By the way, I bought clear, round double-sided tape from SHEIN.

It comes in a variety of sizes and is convenient because there's no need to cut it. It has a good thickness and seems to leave minimal residue when removed, so I think it's easy to use even in rental properties.

"DIY Fan Activity Keychains" also secured with double-sided tape

After the acrylic stands, my next challenge was storing keychains. Small, gacha-sized keychains can be stored in 100-yen store keychain cases. However, I wanted to display my self-made trading cards as keychains, so I experimented to figure out how to keep my cat from playing with them.

Putting them in a drawer is safe, but it's sad to see them less often in daily life. I really wanted to display them. What I finally came up with was to secure a keychain stand and display them there.

I bought this keychain stand at a 100-yen store. I secured it to my dressing table with strong double-sided tape I bought from SHEIN. 

Honestly, my cat sometimes swats at them and tries to knock the keychains off the stand, but the frequency of them being played with has drastically decreased compared to when they were hanging freely.

They probably enjoyed the swaying motion when they played with them. My beloved cats, I'm sorry to take away your fun. But I need to protect my favorite things too.

Thorough Management of Fan Activity Crafting Tools in "Cases"

I sometimes create fan merchandise using resin. While that time is incredibly enjoyable, resin crafts involve tiny parts, so thorough management is crucial. To prevent my cat from accidentally ingesting anything, I store all necessary parts together in Daiso cases.

I keep these cases in a book stand to keep them out of my cat's sight as much as possible.

Cats' hunting instincts are aroused when they notice "fun-looking things," so it's important to discreetly store important items so they aren't noticed. Storing them in drawers is best, but if that's difficult due to room space, hiding them in a book stand or similar method that keeps them "out of sight" is also an option.

It's like showing them while hiding them, so to speak. It definitely makes them less interesting than just leaving the cases with parts on the desk.

I was a girl born in the early Heisei era, when sticker exchanges were a huge boom, so collecting stickers is also my hobby. To prevent my cat from accidentally eating them, I store my stickers in files and keep them in a book stand.

It would be too painful for a tragedy to occur during what should be enjoyable fan activities, so I want to continue to update my measures to protect my cat while re-evaluating my home environment.

Display fan merchandise with strings in "cat-free zones"

To enjoy fan activities while protecting my beloved cat, I believe it's important to carefully select fan merchandise that can be displayed in areas accessible to my cat.

For example, fan merchandise with strings is dangerous. There's a risk of accidental ingestion, so if you want to display them, it's important to put them in areas where your cat cannot enter, protecting both the merchandise and your cat's health.

My husband and I both enjoy watching basketball. We have a lot of merchandise, but megaphones with strings are absolutely never brought into the living room where our cats spend their time; they are displayed in the entryway instead.

Because I believe that predicting your cat's reaction beforehand and avoiding potential dangers, thinking "This might be dangerous to display...", is also important for enjoying a fun fan life.

However, cats react differently to fan merchandise. Even in our home, there have been unexpected situations where a cat snuggled up to a stuffed animal we thought would be torn to shreds, and a bandana we thought was safe to display became a plaything.

Therefore, when considering fan merchandise storage, I think it's important to store items that are generally considered dangerous away from your cat in advance, while observing your cat's reactions to other items and planning countermeasures accordingly.

I'm sure many people have given up on visible storage because they have cats, so if you have any other good visible storage methods, please let me know.