I need to paint my living room. I'll keep my cats, Shiloh and Tiger, in
another part of the house until the job's done.

My concern is that the paint job involves patching up holes with
spackle/plaster and sanding them down before painting. As you may know,
this creates a huge amount of fine dust. I have a HEPA filter and a
halfway-decent vacuum to clean up the dust. But I'm worried that some
of the dust will settle into the room's "nooks/crannies" and carpet,
beyond my grasp.

The thought of my cats breathing in even a slight portion of the dust
worries me, so much that I'm tempted to not even paint the room. Do you
think I'm being overly paranoid? How dangerous is dust from spackling
compound and similar products?