Owning a cat will bring countless hours of joy to any owner. Cats aren’t just pets, they are a part of the family. When you buy your first cat, you are going to be faced with a lot of challenges. It is a responsibility to own a cat and there need to be a lot of things in place to ensure that they are healthy and happy.
There are a number of things that you need to prepare for before you bring your cat home. It’s best to have a few essentials already established when you have a new cat. This way their care will be easier on you. In this article, we will go over several of the things you need to have when you bring your first cat home.
1 – Have Pet Insurance
It’s understandable to not want to add too many expenses to your monthly bills especially since the cost of living has gotten so high these days. Although you will be paying a premium every month for health insurance for your cat, it will pay for itself over time when you take your cat to the vet.
There will always be times when you have a sick pet that needs to be seen by a vet and this will end up costing you thousands of dollars over time. There will surely be an unexpected accident or illness that needs urgent care and the insurance will protect you against a major expense.
2 – Litter Box System
Your litter box will either be a major headache or something that you rarely think about. The latter only happens when you have it sorted out well. The old-fashioned ones required a lot of upkeep and if you only let it go for a day or two you were likely to be faced with a smelly mess.
Look for ones that feature a box so that you aren’t cleaning up all around the box every time they do their thing. Make sure that the box is low to the ground for a kitten to be able to enter it and exit easily.
The little should be the kind that clumps so it is easy to clean and doesn’t leave any smelly bits behind.
3 – Scratching Post
If your cat can’t find something to help them keep their claws sharp then they are going to end up ruining your furniture. They will use that to scratch and then move on to another item that you’ll be unhappy to have to replace.
Getting them a scratching post is going to give them what they need and save your furniture in the process.
There are some that do double duty by giving them something to do and scratch at the same time. For instance, you could have posts that have small houses on top of one another that they will be happy to climb onto and scratch their claws when they need to.