You have just brought a new kitten, or possibly a full grown cat, into your home. Get ready for the little one to rip and roar through your house, chasing who knows what. Get used to having someone follow you around the house, especially when its feeding time. If it’s a kitten, it may trail directly at your feet even when you go to the bathroom. Cats grow an ever-devoted love to those that feed them and don’t harm them.
If this is your first feline friend, you will probably be wondering, “what the heck do I buy for this cat?” Here are some cat supplies that every cat owner should have in the house.
Cat Food
The basics for any living creature after shelter is food and water. So the first set of cat supplies you will want to purchase for your cat is a bag of cat food and two bowls – one for water and the other for dry food. You may also want to purchase an additional bowl or dish for wet food, otherwise known as canned cat food.
Litter Box and Litter
The same day you buy your first bag of cat food, you should be buying a litter box and litter as well. After all, what goes in most certainly will come out, and you don’t want that last part to happen on your carpet. Most cats are trained by their mother to go to the bathroom in a litter box, or somewhere they can cover their mess. It is kind of cool how cats just know by instinct where they are supposed to go to the bathroom, and that they need to cover it up. If they don’t have a litter box, they will probably find a discrete corner of your house to do their business – maybe your shoe. So basically, make sure they have a litter box!
There are many different types of litter on the market. Some are crystal, some are rocks, some are sand. There is also a very convenient device called electric cat box. The type I prefer for my cats is sand because it is easily scoopable, and it doesn’t hurt their feet like rocks and crystals do. I also find that sand litter minimizes odor. Buy litter in bulk – they have 30 to 40 pound buckets. It saves money and time since you will not have to run back and forth to the store every few days. Tip: use empty litter buckets to consolidate and dispose of cat waste.
Litter boxes come with and without covers. If you don’t want your house smelling like ten week old garbage, you will get one with a cover on it to keep most of the smell inside of the box. The Litter Maid is a new but expensive product on the market that automatically cleans your cat’s litter box at a designated time of day. This is ideal for those who are forgetful about cleaning out their cat’s litter regularly.
Cat Toys
The next purchase after the basics of food and shelter have been covered is entertainment. Just as we humans love television and computers for our amusement, cats need something to keep them occupied between meals and sleep as well.
Cardboard boxes – cats love to jump inside and “hide” Lord knows why, but they do!
Wrapping paper – cats go crazy at Christmas when there is wrapping paper strewn across the floor. In fact, any paper that makes a “crinkly” sound paper or plastic – is interesting to a cat.
Water bottle twisty ties – the plastic tie that comes off when you open a gallon of water is very amusing to cats. They will paw at and “chase” this item around for hours, or until it gets lost under a dresser.
Cords – run with an iron around the house and your cats will happily chase the plug. They liken it to a mouse.
Once you have the three basic cat supplies in your home, you can then start thinking about other miscellaneous items as time goes along, such as a cat bed, nail clippers, and flea collars and medication. In the meantime, trial and error is sometimes your best bet when deciding on the right supplies for your beloved kitty.