Bringing A New Kitten Home? After Testing Hundreds of Cat Products, Here Are The Essentials (2024)

Caring for a kitten means more than providing food and a place to poop, it also means providing outlets for their burgeoning hunting instincts, ways to use up their abundant energy, spaces to think of as their own, and opportunities to bond with you—the giant in the room.

We've tested hundreds of cat products, both in our New York testing lab and under real-world conditions, employing cats in dozens of volunteer testing homes. We've tested litter boxes, cat trees, nail clippers, toys, carriers, cleaners, and more, and have developed robust recommendations for everything your new kitten will need to grow into a satisfied adult cat.

Our Top Picks

Most veterinarians now recommend feeding your kitten primarily wet food, both because kibble tends to be high in carbohydrates, and because cats sometimes aren't the best at drinking water and maintaining proper hydration—wet food is an ideal way to compensate.

Purina ONE Healthy Kitten Food is moisture-rich, formulated by veterinary nutritionists, and incorporates both real chicken and real salmon, so that your kitten can establish a broadened protein palette early in life. It's designed specifically for kitten nutritional needs, with the protein they need to grow. It also has added vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, including DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that would also be found in their mother's milk—it's a primary building block for healthy eyesight and brain development.

There are many other fantastic wet food options for kittens, but Purina ONE provides the most well-rounded combination of affordable, wide availability, and comprehensive nutrition.

While we recommend starting kittens on wet food, there's no denying that dry food comes in big, convenient bags and is often more affordable than individual cans of wet food. A combination of dry and wet food can help provide the necessary moisture and protein your cat needs, while also sparing you from going through multiple cans of cat food a day. For the best of both worlds, check out Purina ONE's Healthy Kitten Formula Bundle Pack, which combines a 16-pound bag of kibble with 24 cans of Purina ONE Healthy Kitten wet food. The combo is available from major retailers, including Amazon and Chewy.

_{Primary Ingredients:Chicken, liver, chicken broth, pork lungs, salmon, natural flavors, minerals,taurine |Calories:105 kcal/can |Protein:11% min.}

Many wand toys combine a length of wire or string with feather lures that cats love to chase, stalk, and pounce on. But your new kitten isn’t ready for advanced hunting behaviors and athletic leaps—the Cat Dancer wand teaser is for them. Instead of a line with lures, the Cat Dancer Rainbow Charmer has a 48-inch long ribbon. The ribbon is made of rainbow fleece, so it’s both very soft and very stretchy.

The Cat Charmer ribbon is attached to a flexible 16-inch wand. While some cat wands have longer (or even telescoping) rods, so that you can dangle a lure from partway across the room, the shorter wand is better for kittens, since it provides more control and closer supervision. However, the extra-long ribbon still makes it possible to play with your kitten from a standing position.

The Cat Dancer Rainbow Cat Charmer is a gentle, endlessly engaging toy that will deepen your relationship with your new kitten faster than any other toy we might recommend. The broad, lightweight ribbon catches the air, so you can’t whip it around too fast, making it possible for even uncoordinated kittens to catch it. Better than a ball of twine, the stretchiness of the ribbon allows your kitten to tug at it, or get wrapped up in it without risk of it getting too tight.

_{Wand Length: 16 inches | Line Length: 48 inches | Lure: Rainbow fleece}

This is the perfect cat collar. The LupinePet Safety Cat Collar is made from nylon webbing and has a steel D-ring for holding identification tags. its breakaway safety buckle releases when approximately five pounds of pressure is applied, which means that it will detach if your cat is ever stuck—a highly recommended collar feature that has spared many outdoor cats from injury.

The LupinePet is also available in a dizzying range of colors and patterns. Plus, it comes with a lifetime guarantee, even if chewed.

This basic litter box from Chewy house brand Frisco is perfect for most cats and has been a consistent hit with our testers, mostly recently spending several weeks in a home with three cats ranging in age from four to 16. It's got high enough sides that cats won't kick too much litter out of the box, and the front wall lowers to 5.6 inches off the ground—a leap your kitten should be able to quickly master. The Frisco High Sided Cat Litter Box is BPA-free and easy to clean too.

For very young kittens—too young to leap the front wall—or elderly cats with mobility issues, we recommend the KittyGoHere Senior Cat Litter Box instead.

_{Material:Plastic |Dimensions:18 x 8.5 x 15.2 inches (medium), 24 x 10 x 18 (x-large)|Scoop Included:No}

Establish good litter box habits early with Dr. Elsey's Kitten Attract Litter, which uses an herbal attractant to intrigue and draw young cats toward the litter box. It's well-suited for kittens in other ways too, with a uniform granule size that's safe for softer kitten paws and a quick-clumping clay base. Dr. Elsey's Kitten Attract is safe for kittens older than eight weeks, and Dr. Elsey's has a range of cat litters you can graduate your kitten to when they're a little older. It's affordable too.

_{Litter Type:Clay |Fragrance-Free:Yes |Container:Resealable bag |Sizes:20 pounds}

Arm & Hammer's Feline Pine Original Cat Litter is made of condensed pine shaving pellets that absorb liquids and cling to sold waste. The wood fiber is excellent at soaking up scents in addition to liquids, and has a faint woodsy scent. It's sourced from sustainably reclaimed pine wood too.

Wood pellets aren't for everyone, and cats tend to more quickly adapt to clay litter, but they can be a good pick for kittens who avoid clay litter boxes. They're soft, safe, and large enough that cats won't swallow them, which can sometimes occur with clay litter and young inexperienced kittens.

_{Litter Type:Wood pellets |Fragrance-Free:Yes |Container:Bag|Sizes:7, 20, 40 pounds}

Blue Buffalo Baby Blue Kitten Crunchies are kitten-sized and include real salmon (there's also a chicken flavor version). Because they're under 2 calories per treat, you don't have to worry about treating your cat a little too much. Plus, they feature a short and transparent ingredient list that doesn't include any chicken by-product meals, dried meat by-product, or wheat.

_{Calories:1.5 calories per treat |Flavor:Salmon, chicken |Lifestage:Kittens}

The big advantage to the Petmate Two-Door Pet Kennel is right in the name—having a gate on top in addition to the standard front entry carrier door can make it much easier to get your cat in and out of their carrier. Vets love it too.

We also like this Petmate carrier because its got a lightweight construction that's easy to clean. Plus, it's made from recycled materials. We tested 30 cat carriers, and the Two-Door Top-Load was our favorite hard-sided model.

_{Dimensions: 24 x 17 x 14.5 inches | Materials: Plastic}

We're big fans of SmartCat's The Ultimate Scratching Post for its untippable base, durable sisal surfaces, and its perfect size—large enough for your cat to reach up and get a big stretch. That's why we named it our favorite scratching post. But there's no denying that those durable sisal scratching surfaces can make it a little tough for kitten claws. While they grow big enough to take on the ultimate scratching post, we recommend the Frisco Scratch & Roll Scratcher.

The Scratch & Roll has a corrugated cardboard scratching surface that will be much easier for your kitten to tear into (it can leave behind a mess of cardboard flakes), plus it's on the floor, so they can get used to appeal of scratching specific cat-friendly surfaces from a relaxed position. It's also got a plastic track with a ball inside. Give the Scratch & Roll a shake, set it down, and the ball will do the rest, focusing your kitten's chase behavior around their scratching surface. It's a nice combo.

Chewy sells refills of the 9.75-inch diameter cardboard scratch pads too.

The Meowfia Felt Cave Cat Bed gives your cat a space of their own, and it works as a hiding spot as well as a bed. It's made from 100 percent merino wool for a durable and naturally odor-absorbing construction. It can even be flattened to act more as a bed.

_{Sizes:Medium (up to 12 pounds), large (13-20 pounds) |Dimensions:19 x 19 x 12 inches (medium) |Colors:Rose quartz, sand dune, smoky pearl, vibrant turquoise |Materials:100% New Zealand merino wool}

There are better cat brushes for getting out tangles or matted fur, but we haven't yet found a better tool than the Mars Coat King Boar Bristle Cat Hair Brush for pleasurable maintenance brushing. Building a brushing routine with your kitten is easy with this soft brush, which will make them more comfortable with detangling slicker brushes or de-matting combs should you ever need to use them in the future.

_{Dimensions:7.25 x 1.25 x 2 inches |Weight:0.32 ounces |Material:Boar bristles, wood}

To protect your skin and furniture from tiny claws, you’ll want a pair of clippers to make quick work of claw-trimming. Trimming your cat’s nails not only prevents injury to you and damage to furniture, but can also head off medical complications like overgrown claws and footpad infections. While scratching surfaces can help maintain claws at a healthy length, your cat will be more comfortable and less prone to destructive behavior if you maintain a regular clipping habit.

We like the Shiny Pet Nail Clippers because they're easy to use and durable, thanks to thoughtfully-angled stainless steel blades, which will retain an edge for years. The clippers have a rounded head, so you're not poking kitty, plus rubberized handles for an easy grip. Our testers found them the easiest to use of any that we've tried.

When taking care of a kitten who is learning how to use a litter box, messes can sometimes happen where they shouldn’t. OxiClean offers a fantastic carpet cleaner that’s safe around kids and kittens. It combines sodium percarbonate, sodium carbonate, surfactants, and polymer to remove oils and lift stains. The instructions are simple, all you have to do is point and spray and within 10 minutes your stains will disappear. The light fresh scent should be pleasant to both you and your young feline friend.

^{Safe Around Kids & Pets: Yes | Enzymatic Cleaner: No | Sizes: 24 ounces | EPA Safer Choice Standard: Yes}

The Potaroma Electric Running Cat Laser is packed with enough activities to keep even the most active kitten entertained. There’s a spinning butterfly on a wand, a feather on the rim, and a laser, all of which roam around thanks to wheels on the bottom. Though it struggles on anything but hardwood floors, your kitten will follow wherever the device goes. And when it runs out of energy, you can just recharge it with any USB cord.

With a simple touch activation, the system will start whizzing around the room the second your cat wants to play. And when they are done and ready to move on to the next adventure the device will shut down after five minutes of inactivity. You can even buy butterfly or feather replacements in packs of three.

^{Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 1.9 inches | Power Source: USB Rechargeable | Laser Color: Red}

FAQ

• How long is a cat considered a kitten?

  “Cats are generally considered to be fully grown at 18 months of age. However, there are a few breeds, such as Maine Coons, who are not fully grown until they are 2 years old,” Reimers and Hall told The Spruce Pets.

• How do you introduce a kitten to a new home?

  “It's best to start a new kitten in a small room, such as a den, bedroom, or even a bathroom. It will take a kitten some time to get comfortable with new surroundings and people, and some shyer kittens may feel overwhelmed if given full reign of your home all at once,” Reimers and Hall said. “Some kittens are bolder than others, so take your queue from your kitten as to when you can start letting him into other parts of your house. If there are other pets in the household, introductions to them and to the rest of the house should be done using a slow and methodical approach.”

We Found the Best Cat Toys After Testing More Than 50