In April of
2013 my hubby wanted to get me a cat. He knew how much I loved animals, and at
the time we were in an apartment that only allowed cats. I have had many cats
before, but never an indoor cat. The process of picking out a cat was really
simple for us. At the time we lived in a town which had a Pet Smart store. On
Saturdays they would have pets in from a local animal shelter who were ready
for adoption. We ended up picking a cat (Emerald) and were able to get her a few
days later after paperwork was filled out.
If you've
never had an indoor cat, this post is for you. If you have had or do have an
indoor cat, please feel free to share comments on things you do to care for
your cat and what things you like most (types of litter, toys, etc.).
Things You Will Need or Want
Litter box & fresh litter
Poop scooper
5 gallon bucket with lid
Dry cat food and/or wet cat food
Water & food bowls
Hairbrush
Cat toys
The Breakdown
Litter box. Obviously if you’re
going to have an indoor cat you will need somewhere for them to use the
bathroom. You can purchase a traditional litter box, or you can shop the
storage containers isle and find a container with higher sides. If you’re
getting a small kitten the larger sides will cause a problem for them until
they've grown big enough to get in and out of a larger box. There are LOTS of
options in the litter box department. If you’re adopting a cat who has been
under the care of a foster mom, ask what kind of litter box they use and
perhaps get the same thing or something similar.
(The cat we
adopted was almost full grown and was completely able to handle the large
container we chose to use as her litter box. Part of that decision came from
the fact that her foster mom had used a container with large sides so she was
used to using that as her litter box. When we got Demi, or small grey cat, I
had to use a small container for his litter box until he grew big enough to
jump in and out of the large container).
Fresh Litter. Used litter is
going to stink. Period. But that doesn't mean you don’t have to settle for
something that doesn't help get rid of that smell. I must say that choosing a
good litter was really hard for us. We went through four different types of
litter before we found one that really kept the smell down, was easy to clean,
and helped our cats paws not stink like poo. We are currently using
Tidy Cats for Multiple Cats: 24/7 Performance (the red lid) and
have been using it for more than 6 months. It is a clumping litter
which really helps with the clean-up process.
Poop Scooper. This is highly
important!! I just bought a large plastic scooper. If they came in something
less flexible (like a metal scooper) I would totally prefer that since some of
the stuff can be heavy when cleaning out the box.
Your cat’s
litter box will need to be scooped every other day at the very least if you’re unable to scoop it every day. Scooping litter
regularly really helps keep the smell down. At least once a month you will need
to get rid of ALL the litter in the box and pour in fresh litter. This will
greatly help with keeping the smell down.
5 gallon bucket with lid. Cat
food comes in both large and small bags, but the larger bag is generally a
better amount for your money. We have two cats and go through about __ oz. of
cat food in 2 or 3 months. In order to help keep the food from becoming stale I
like to store it in a 5 gallon bucket close to where the cats are fed every
day. You can find 5 gallon buckets at Walmart in the hardware section, or if
your Walmart has the ingredients for making your own laundry soap in one place
they usually have the large 5 gallon bucket and lids there as well. I think this
costs around $3-$4 for the bucket and lid.
Cat Food. As mentioned just
above, sometimes buying a larger bag of cat food is the better choice when
considering the amount you get for your money. I usually feed each cat about 1
cup of dry cat food per day, occasionally it’s more but they seem to do fine on
this amount.
Wet cat food
can be quite a bit more expensive. We were given a case of wet cat food when we
got Emerald. Apparently she really liked it…but every time I've fixed it for
her it will sit there most of the day before she touches it. I eventually
stopped fixing it for her since she wouldn't eat it all and it was going to
waste. The wet cat food came in handy when we rescued Demi (who was around 6
weeks old). He was unable to eat dry cat food for about a week and a half when
we got him so it came in handy at that point. (I still kept a small bowl of dry
food with him so he would be able to eat that if he wanted to. Eventually he
started eating dry food and we stopped feeding him wet food altogether.)
Water & food bowls. We bought
the small metal cat bowls from Walmart. I think they were a dollar each. If I
could go back and do it again I wouldn't buy metal bowls for the cat’s water.
They don’t seem to like drinking out of the metal bowls and we found them
drinking from the toilet more than their bowls (so obviously we changed to a
plastic water bowl and now keep the toilet lids down). The metal bowl works
great for dry cat food though!
Hairbrush. We got a brush for
Emerald with both the soft bristles and the metal ones. She is a shedder and I
thought having a brush would help her not shed so much, but it really doesn't.
In fact we pretty much never use the brush on her. I still have it and on
occasion, when she’s having a really bad shedding day, I will brush her fur
with it which helps temporarily. Both of our cats are short haired so their fur
does not get matted or tangled and they do a good job at keeping themselves
clean so a brush really isn't necessary for either one of them. If you have a
long haired cat (which I've had in the past) their fur can get mats in it so
brushing them regularly really decreases that problem.
Cat toys. We
have had quite the adventure in the cat toy department. It’s been almost as
crazy as trying to find a good litter. One toy that has just been marvelous are
the original toys we bought when we got Emerald (and bought again not long
after we got Demi since the original mice were old and ‘dying’ aka falling
apart due to so much play). The Skitter Critters Catnip Mice are wonderful! I
actually wrote
a whole post on them if you would like more
info. They can be purchased at Walmart for around $3.
Something we
bought not long after we got Emerald was a red laser light. She goes nuts over
it, and will come running any time it jingles when it’s picked up. Demi could
care less about the laser when he was really little, but since he’s gotten
bigger he loves it almost as much Emerald does. This was a great toy investment
and something I’d really recommend. Our cats love chasing the laser across the
floor, on furniture, and occasionally on the wall (Demi will play with the
laser if it’s on the wall, Emerald wont). You can find one of these in the
checkout section at Walmart for about $3.
At one point
we purchased a Cardboard Claw Scratcher and it was a complete fail which you
can
read about here.
Of course we bought it for Emerald in hopes that she would use that to sharpen
her claws vs. our furniture, but she pretty much just looked at it and went on.
I think if we had kept it (had we known we were getting another cat) that Demi
might have used it when he was little and would probably still use it. I don’t
think he would use it now though since he has already picked up on Emerald’s
bad habit of using the couch to sharpen his claws (we do discourage them from
doing this, but occasionally they are sneaky and get to the couch before we can
get to them). The Claw Scratcher was about $5 at Walmart.
The final
‘toy’ item we purchased was this multi-purpose toy. It has a scratching post
(which Demi will use, but Emerald wont), two jingly balls hanging on strings on
the two corner posts, and a place for the cat to climb inside and ‘hide’ from
people or each other. I personally don’t think this is a really great toy or of
great quality, but they do use it a few times a week (sometimes less, sometimes
more) so we've kept it. This was about $20, and also from Walmart.
Summary of
this Post
Well I think
I got everything listed that we bought, used, didn't really use, liked, and
didn't like. Hopefully this will help someone who is thinking about getting an
indoor cat. Indoor cats can be fun, but they can also be highly annoying. Cats
in general don’t listen very well, and are quite lazy (napping most of the day
and awake most of the night). The big things are being consistent with what
they’re not allowed to do (our cats aren't allowed on the kitchen counters or
table, and they’re not supposed to scratch their claws on the furniture), keep
their litter box scooped at least every other day, and show them lots of
affection. I've tagged the posts where I’ve shared things about our cats under
the label
CATS so if you want to read more or
see more about our cats click there and read on!
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