New cat essentials?

[AintNobodyHereButUsReindeer]

We're thinking about getting a cat or kitten this year, a litter has popped up in our local rescue available from 5th Jan so one of those is a possibility, if a bit sooner than we expected.

We've always been dog people so a cat is completely new territory to us but we're looking forward to this new learning curve!

So what essentials do we need? What's the best thing to feed them? I know from experience that most heavily commercialised dog foods (like Pedigree, Bakers etc) are crap, I assume cat food is the same?

Any advice gratefully received and of course pictures will be supplied once we do eventually end up with our new family member :)

We got a kitten in November. We bought...
Cat carrier
Litter tray (one with a top half and flap)
Water bowl (pottery is best as plastic can make their water taste yuck)
A double food bowl
A few toys
Kitten litter (Pets at home brand, apparently it's softer on their paws than cat litter).

We feed him Applaws Kitten food, ours loves the tuna and sardine ones best. We also give him Applaws dry kitten food which he likes. I order mine from Pets at Home or Amazon.

I bought him a cat igloo a few weeks ago which he loves too and will find his peace in there away from my going dc.

Enjoy your new kitten 🐱

Cardboard boxes. All cats love a cardboard box!

Cat tree, scratching post, shoe boxes, tunnel. I have a high sided litter tray rather than Lidded one although they tend to do it outside now.

Don’t go overboard on toys until you find out if your cat likes them or not - my cat shows no interest in any kind of toy, so that was £ down the drain!

Scratching posts are £5 in Home Bargains.

Ooh I just thought of something else, what do you do with a kitten during the night? Would it be wise to get a dog crate for it to go in overnight until it's bigger and settled and can be trusted not to crap everywhere? (Is crapping everywhere quite likely or are they fairly reliable toiletters from a young age?)

Boy or girl?

Mine were litter trained when I got them at 8 weeks old. No need for a crate. To start with i confined them in the kitchen at night which is where the litter tray and food was. After a few months they had the run of the house. I have 2 boys

Block any gaps in skirting boards etc. Kittens can get into teeniest places to hide! On that note, try and make them a cubby hole - box with blanket / towel over behind sofa / under table. Somewhere where they will feel secure and hide for a few days. It's unusual for a kitten to immediately bond and feel safe however, it doesn't take them long to take over!

Be careful if you have blinds. Not long after we had him, my boy got caught up in the plastic loopy thing across the bottom and was dangling by one of his back paws. Luckily we were only in the next room but he bit my finger very hard in sheer panic when I was freeing him. He was fine, I was streaming with blood!
As for night times, the first night I left him downstairs. The second night I took him up to bed with me, intending to return him downstairs when I’d finished reading. Hadn’t got the heart and he has had free run of the house since, usually sleeping with me or one of the dd.

No blinds here thankfully!