I became a cat person as a kid when We adopted a sweet kitty named Dusty. After she died I spent 11 years wishing for another cat! Finally, as an adult I moved into a cat friendly apartment in 2011 and got my own kitten Minnow.
In retrospect Minnow’s adoption was a little shady. I bought her from what was clearly an animal hoarding situation. The kittens were left to their mother and not socialized by humans. Minnow was the only kitten that didn’t run away from me or have a potty accident in terror. I should have known then she would be a brave-bad ass MF. Annnddd she still is…
We adopted our second kitty Poncho in 2015. He was/is a totally different baby than Minnow. Sweet, clingy, scardy, chubster. I mean, just look at those wide guileless eyes.
So yeah, they are our babies, we love them.
Minnow and Poncho are very different eaters with different food needs. Poncho has urinary problems so he is on a Royal Canin prescription food. The Royal Canin wet food he eats is not prescription and he LOVES IT. Stomp your bladder at 5am type love. Minnow has been fairly indifferent to most foods (won’t eat wet), but she really digs this Natural Balance one and I think she pukes less. They both really like these tuna greenies and get a couple every day.
Just like most cats, these two can be real lumps during the day. In the winter we set up beds with heating pads for them. We have the pads on timers, so they are only on during the work days. We usually drop the house temp while we are away and we want them to be cozy. Only Minnow drinks from this fountain, but 1 out of 2 cats is still a success! It helps her stay interested in staying hydrated. Toys!! I love these springs and so does Poncho. They bounce and roll and the kitties can play with them on their own. Minnow likes plush toys mostly, but these springs still engage her. I wasn’t sure how to “use” loose catnip but I honestly just throw some on the floor and watch them go nuts. The clean up is worth it. They roll in it and eat it and wig out.
The less fun part of any animal care, the hygiene part! Both our kitties are very private about their business, these covered boxes let them poo in peace and helps keep the litter flinging to a minimum. We did have some bathroom bullying with the covered boxes when we first adopted Poncho. But the fascination wore off eventually. No litter is perfect, and no litter is dustless regardless of what the bag says. This litter is odorless and clumps really well. It’s much more affordable at our local grocery store. Only Poncho allows us to brush him, Minnow destroys any brush that dares to touch her fab mane. We clip the kitties nails mostly to keep them from accidentally hurting us. They don’t scratch furniture and do minimum rug work. They have two scratchers in the house to do their stretching on.
Most pet food specific containers I’ve found are ugly or huge (cats eat too dicks). My cat food container checklist was 1. Not huge, 2. Not hideous, 3. Can open with one hand. These fit all. They are a little pricey, but being able to open with one hand and scoop with the other is really helpful and quick. They come apart fully to wash. Poncho eats 1 can of wet food a day, half in the morning and half at night. These can covers fit the top snugly so the food does not dry out between feedings. The colors are cute, they wash in the dishwasher or by hand well. I wasn’t sure if two would be enough, it is! One more food related thing that is ESSENTIAL, some silicone mats. Even if your kitties aren’t messy eaters, these are still nice to keep the area contained. They hold a good amount of water if kitty spills too. Lastly, I love these CollarTags from Boomerang. They aren’t riveted to a collar, so you can change collars or change tags but keep the collar. They also allow four lines of text. I like to add kitty's name, our street address, phone number and the text “indoor cat”. We have a few strays or kitties allowed to roam in the neighborhood. I would want someone who found them to know they should not be out. A street address can help a lot to know how far from home kitty is.
One last thing, if you have a kitty you are trying to “weight watch” I recommend a hanging luggage scale. Set a cat trap of a handled bag or box, wait till kitty climbs in, then attached the scale and weigh. Weigh the box/bag when kitty exits and subtract. This Etekcity one is accurate down to the ounce.
Well that’s it! I probably have a ton of other junk for these babies, but these are my top favorites that come to mind. I’m still looking for the best collar for Poncho and we are working on a wall mounted scratcher; always a work in progress.
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