What essentials did you buy for your cat?

Hi all,

My hubby and are I are in the process of adopting an adult cat and we're researching all of the cat essentials. We realize that a litter dish and food bowls are must-haves, but have questions about some of the other things. Is one scratching post better than another? Do cats want their own cat bed or do they sleep with you? (Can they be trained to do one or the other?) This cat will be an indoor only animal...does it need to wear a collar? Are there other things I'm forgetting that we'll need? Thanks! Looks like it's gonna be an expensive trip to Petco tonight!

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gardengirl said:

My hubby and are I are in the process of adopting an adult cat and we're researching all of the cat essentials. We realize that a litter dish and food bowls are must-haves, but have questions about some of the other things. Is one scratching post better than another? Do cats want their own cat bed or do they sleep with you? (Can they be trained to do one or the other?) This cat will be an indoor only animal...does it need to wear a collar? Are there other things I'm forgetting that we'll need? Thanks! Looks like it's gonna be an expensive trip to Petco tonight!

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My pussy is the spoiled, queen of the house.

Essential for her is a Litter Maid. It's the electric litter box $100, and worth it! She always has clean litter, and I replace the waste container weekly.

Skip the scratching post, and buy one of the honeycombed cardboard scratchers. The absolute, best of those is round, with a ball that runs around the outside. She has 2 of those, in different rooms, and plays with and scratches on both.

Lots of balls, but mine doesn't seem to like toys that make a lot of noise.

Target has a toy pack for around $10 which is a stick with a string, and interchangable ends (feather, leather strings, etc) and she loves most of the items in that package.

She likes drinking out of the faucet, so I bought her a filtered water fountain. She still makes me turn the faucet on for her about once a day but uses the fountain. About $45 for the good one, $30 for the cheaper one. Go with the good one.

Her favorite bed is a black feather bed that I bought at Petsmart. But she has now pulled out all of the feathers. It's still her favorite bed, and I can't find another one anywhere! Before that, she had a skeepskin bed which was OK but she loved laying in the feathers. She sleeps on the bed, in her bed. But she also sleeps on my pillow, and anywhere else she feels like parking her butt.

She's totally indoors, never goes outside and (knock on wood) doesn't seem to want to. (From this message, you probably understand why.) So no collar necessary and she doesn't wear one.

If I had to pick the one essential thing above, it's the Litter Maid!

Can you train your cat? Now thats funny.

baileydog said:

Can you train your cat? Now thats funny.

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Good point.

Even indoor animals need I.D.. just in case they get out. Tag him or microchip him or her.

The collar thing depends on the cat. My boy likes to making a running start to get outdoors, something we never let him do, but there are the times that he does get out. Therefore, he always wears a collar with an ID. My girl I could never get to wear a collar for more than 5 minutes, so she doesn't have one, but she doesn't bolt for the door either.

Both of mine are declawed so we don't worry about the scratching thing. Do keep in mind though, that cats like high places. I would recommend, if you have the money or have a handy hubby to buy/build a cat tree. Mine absolutely loved theirs and it doubles as a high spot for kitties to enjoy and as a stratching post.

I don't worry about a special bed for mine. I've bought a couple and they both sleep in the bed with us and ignore the kitty bed. This was after the hubby proclaimed that no cat would ever sleep in bed with us.

I think that everything depends on the kitty that you have. Some cats like to play while others like to lounge. Tonga doesn't want/have a need for some toy bought from Petsmart, but drop a pen and you will never find it again when he is done playing with it. That goes for boxes too, he loves them. DC loves the mouse that hangs on the door, she will play day in and day out with it. One toy that seems to get them all going universally is the laser light. I would highly recommend buying one, but I think that you can get them at the dollar store - think.

Have lots of fun!!

The laser light is the best. I get my kittys a running start then run the laser up the wall to see how far they can climb straight up. Its a blast

Just thought I'd say thanks for all the great advice. We brought our cat home last weekend and so far the adjustment period has been pretty good. (A little carpet scratching problem that we're working with him on, but other than that, can't complain!) He's very well behaved.