The Kitten Starter Kit - Things You Need

Dear Diary,

For some, this might sound like shopping heaven.

For others, like me, it caused an “I am sooo lost and don’t know where to start” panic-like feeling.

Once I said yes, the kitten countdown was on. Only 4 weeks to go until little Jamie would move in. And a lot to do and prepare until then.

Where to Start?

I never had a cat before, which means starting from scratch. After a browse through hundreds of shopping sides and readthroughs of an endless amount of reviews, I clearly needed a much more structured approach.

And no, I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. I wanted to have it all sorted rather sooner than later.

So again, cheers to the Excel sheet.

I can only highly recommend it (once again!). The best way to compare different things and eventually tick them off your list. All the prep I’ve done definitely paid off.

You can easily spend a lot of money on your cat. Pet shops are full of tempting stuff that all cats apparently need to be happy. Santa costume - yeah sure…

So here comes part one, things you definitely need to add to your list and some extra treats.

The Essentials

A little snippet of my excel sheet.

What looks like a short list did require a little bit of research.

So check out Jamie’s shopping list to see what I’ve ended up buying and get some ideas for your own.

A few words to some of the items on the list.

Carrier Box

I’ve chosen a hard carrier box. Mainly because BHS are a large breed and can get quite heavy. A hard one just seemed much more stable and secure to me. Plus, I’ve heard about a couple of cats who managed to get the zipper open whilst in the car. Nightmare!

Cat Tree

The cat tree. Took me a long time to decide. Should I get one? If so, which one?

The thought of having a massive cat tree in the living room wasn’t too appealing. I mean, most of them aren’t exactly what you would call a fashionable piece of design. Plus, what if he won’t use it? Well, you never know until you got one, right... The older Jamie gets, the more he makes use of it. So all worth it. And you can actually get quite decent looking ones nowadays.

Litter Box

The Brit Pet cat litter tray is amazing! I can’t praise it enough. The way the tray works makes it really easy to clean. And the wood pellets you use come with far less waste than normal cat litter. Plus, they’re disposable!

Speaking of litter. Another lifesaver, recommended by a friend, is the litter locker. Looks like one of those lockers you use for nappies. Same principle I guess. No odour whatsoever.

The Must-Have Toy

There are so many different cat toys out there. But there is one that probably all cats love. The teaser wand!

Get one with changeable teasers. No matter if your cat is more into feathers, worms, fishes… just hook it up and off you go.

DIY Toys

Those types of toys are my absolute favourite. I think Jamie would agree. Most of his toys are DIY or just recycled packaging material of some sort. You could think there’s a lot of rubbish lying around in my flat. Blame Jamie.

If you love chocolate as much as I do, especially Lindor, never ever throw the wrapper away! They make THE perfect little ball to kick around. Also, a great excuse to eat more chocolate …

Same works with foil. Jamie loves his puck-like toy. He loves to chase it through the whole flat and go nuts with it.

For wine lovers, keep the cork!

Any strings, like yarn or ribbons are fantastic as well. Try out those funny little yarn pom poms, really quick and easy to make. All you need is a fork and yarn.

Cardboard boxes. Yes, it’s true, cats love them. Whenever there’s an empty one, expect your cat to jump in it and take ownership.

Oh and back to my Lindt chocolate obsession, the little bells from the Easter bunnys are much loved as well.

As you can tell, literally anything could be used as a cat toy. I’ve got this habit now. Before I throw stuff away, I always double-check it for its cat toy potential. And most of the stuff has some. No extra money spent and you can really get creative with it. Your furry friend will appreciate it!

Let me know if you have any other fun ideas for Jamie to test!