What do I need to buy?

[Dancergirl]

Almost sure now we are adopting a gorgeous kitten we saw at the weekend!

But as someone who's never had a cat before I am overwhelmed with the choice of things to get.

So I will need:

Litter tray (covered or uncovered?)
Litter (the wood sort as that's what she uses now at her fosterer)
Feeding bowls (how many, 1 for food and 1 for water or more?)
Scratching post (what type, how big?)
Toys?
Collar?
Food (I'll ask her fosterer for advice)

I've been told not to bother with a cat bed as they tend to sleep anywhere. Is that true?

Anything else I need?

Is Pets at Home a good place to go?

Definitely true about the bed. We have one. Cat doesn't use it.

We have not bothered with a collar yet, even though our kitten is now out and about (taking on bigger, uglier cats).

Scratching post would be a good idea if you are bothered about your furniture. I am pretty laissez faire about such things, and we have several trees in the garden, so we have not got one.

Have 2 bowls, as you suggest.

Toys are good. Anything to distract them from your feet or hands as playthings.

HTH

We have a cat bed and he uses it, the mistake is to get a big one, snug is better.

Covered trays are best because they cant flick as much litter out and they smell less. Argos do a good one. Pets at home are very expensive, amazon is good for things like cat flaps and water fountains.

If you are going to get a catflap I really recommend the Sureflap which is activated by your cats microchip. It is pricey but worth it.
Definitely a covered litter tray! My kittens do sleep in their basket every night, but that's probably because we 'put them to bed' in the utility room and it's the only cosy place to go.

Insurance and microchip and then your sorted :)

I have bought/supplied many beds over the years for my cats they have hated them all. However, the dog's great big bed they think is fab.
Covered litter trays are better because when they dig it up the litter stays in and actually cats like privacy in the litter tray.
Have seen collar injuries over the years I hate them with a passion if you must have one it needs to be a quick release one, never ever one of those nasty elastic ones.
The cat teaser type toys are the best even my old girl who is past a lot of playing will use one of them.

Ours actually did sleep in their bed (then beds plural as they got bigger) when they were kittens. Not so much now. Useful to have if they go to the cattery though, as at least it's something familiar.

Definitely quick release collars only, and then only if/when it goes outside. One of ours will keep a collar on, the other won't (if we'd put him in non-quick release collars he would have garrotted himself by now). I figure a SAFE collar is a good thing on a cat, as it's easier for someone to track us down if necessary, but not vital. Both are chipped.

My best scratching purchase was a scratch mat rather than post. It's supposed to lie on the floor, and would work fine like that for cats who prefer to scratch horizontally (ie knackered your carpets) rather than vertically (furniture), but ours is tied to the bottom newel post of the stairs, as that's ours cats' fave place to scratch.

A toy something-on-elastic is fun with a kitten, but get one with a stick rather than one that's just a piece of elastic with a toy on the end - keeps your fingers at one further remove from an over-excited kitten with super-sharp little claws.