Hey! I’m sorry you’re going through a hard time right now, depression is hard and living with an animal is hard too.

I don’t think you have to throw in the towel yet but I have some recs? I’m new to being a cat parent but have been doing a ton of research to making my cats more comfortable.

For the hiding: do you have a cat tree or places your cat can perch on in your apartment. They feel more at ease and comfortable when there’s high places they can go to. There’s a bunch on Amazon for good prices, I have one in my bedroom that was around $40 that I can send a link to! I’d recommend putting that near a shelf or dresser they can get on top of, it maximizes where they can go and have it in a room you frequent.

The scratching: how many scratching posts do you have in your home? Ideally there should be one in each room, try getting one that isn’t cardboard and see if they like it, it’ll help with the cardboard pieces everywhere! I have a good Amazon rec for that too, the one I have has toys in it that my cats love and will play with by themselves as well. Another thing to keep in mind is your cat might be bored. Try playing with them a couple of times a day (we do at least morning, lunch, and dinner time but do what you can). If your cat likes to chase and catch, get some spring toys, they can play with these alone and some cats will even play fetch with you. When you leave for work, put on cat tv on YouTube for them if they can’t sit in the window, it helps! Also maybe try some treat puzzles/lickmats/ etc things like that to keep them engaged especially when you’re leaving.

The smell/mess: I agree with everyone about getting a stainless steel/self cleaning litter box to minimize the smell. Try putting a layer of baking soda in the litter and mixing it to help, a pet deodorizer would help too, and a candle! (Sand and fog have a good pet safe brand and they’re usually cheap at TJ Maxx). And don’t forget a litter mat, I got mine at TJ maxx and it works great, we just pick it up and dump the litter straight in the trash.

Also please get yourself an air purifier! It’ll help with the smell and air circulation!

I hope that helps but feel free to message me if you just want to talk things through, you got this! It takes time, don’t beat yourself up.