Checklist for Bringing Home a New Kitten

If you follow my Instagram you have probably seen fifty-billion pictures of these two rascals: Lily and Jasper. My little kitties. I love them to pieces and absolutely love sharing their fun antics with all of you but what you may not have realized is that they are both shelter cats.

There are so many cats and kittens in shelters that need good homes, we figured we need a kitty… they need a home. It’s a perfect match.

I adopted Lily 12 years ago (gulp, is she really that old?!) as a teeny tiny kitten. I wanted an orange long haired tabby cat soooo bad and I wanted a girl which is apparently really rare (who knew?) so I stalked the humane shelters until one turned up. She was a little fluff ball of a cat and I fell instantly in love with her.

Of course, as our first cat (my mom’s allergic so neither of my parents had cats since they were little) we had to go through a refresher course of every thing a cat needs. It’s not a super complicated lists (cats are fairly easy going creatures and love the simple life) so bringing home Jasper six years ago from the shelter was a bit easier.

Either way I thought I would share my checklist for bringing home a new kitten with you today! If you love my list make sure to scroll allllllll the way to the bottom of the post to print out the FREE printable version I made.

New Cat Supplies:

Litter box
Litter scoop
Cat’s Pride Fresh & Light Cat Litter
Mat for underneath litter box
Kitten/Cat Food
Food and Water Bowls
Toys
Scratching Post
Cat Carrier
Vet Appointment
- Shots
- Flea Meds
Cat Bed
Hot Water Bottle, covered in a soft blanket (for Kittens) add a small clock that ticks. Kittens are use to sleeping in a pile with their sisters and brothers so they like the simulated warm body and heartbeat when they’re getting use to their new home.
Breakaway safety collar
ID tags

That is a long list! Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the post if you want to download the FREE printable version. Of course, if you’re a crazy cat lady like me and my hubby you probably go a little over board (my hubby is always coming home with new treats for these two rascals and they sleep in bed with us so they’re not exactly using their cat beds).

Either way they are very loved.

Of course, the hard part of adopting a shelter cat is that every time you pass the shelter you want another one! I just hate to think of all the kittens and cats who need a home. When we adopted Jasper my hubby really wanted an animal of his own.

We had Lily and Bitty but they were both “mine”… seeing as I was their Mama long before Trevor came in the picture. So we went to the humane society to find Trevor a sweet baby of his own. He knew he wanted a cat (well he wanted a dog but I convinced him he wanted a cat… we were both working full time and didn’t have time for a puppy!).

We walked in and Trevor decided he wanted a black cat (go figure!) so we looked and looked. The shelter had two sweet little black cats. One was about 5 weeks old… a little spitfire of a kitten that played and cuddle and was just as sweet as can be.

Then there was Jasper.

The shelter tried to tell us he was a Manx kitty but we could tell he was a short-hair that had an unfortunate accident at some point resulting in the loss of his tail. Of course, that also means he doesn’t balance very well. He was about 9 months old and had been living on the streets for most of his life so he was very wary of humans and didn’t want much to do with us.

He kept his distance throughout the entire visit. I thought for sure we were going home with the little 5 week old bundle of fuzz until the shelter worker said “Jasper has been here for too long, if no one takes him home by the end of the week he’ll be put down.”

That was if for Trevor. Jasper was ours. He told me later that someone would adopt the little kitten but he could never forgive himself if he left Jasper there without a family. Jasper came home with us and slowly learned that we were his people, we would feed him and love him and keep him safe and he taught us that a house with a no-tail cat can’t keep breakables on the counter… think a little black cat sliding down the entire counter footloose style taking out everything in his path.

It’s not pretty!

We do love these little shelter cats though, they’re Smiths now and always will be. Jasper has learned that dinner comes every evening at 6pm and if he wants a nap he can cuddle up with his favorite elephant.

They’re just a little spoiled.

Since we can’t fill our home with every single shelter cat… don’t think we haven’t been tempted. We make our donations in other ways… like purchasing a green jug of Cat’s Pride® Fresh & Light®. For every purchased, another pound of litter is donated to a shelter in need. That helps those little kitties like Jasper while they’re hanging out at the shelter waiting for their forever families. Shelters love it because it helps control odor (think of allllll those cats at the shelter! Odor is a huge factor!) plus it’s super strong at clumping and has low dust which is perfect for those rows of litter boxes at the shelter.

We love to donate our time at our local shelter but every time we try we end up bringing home an animal so this year we signed up for the free Cat’s Pride Club instead… then we can nominate our local shelter to receive a litter donation.

Maybe one day I’ll have a big ranch and can adopt a million cats and be a true crazy cat lady… I think Trevor would have loved that.

Don’t forget to download the FREE Printable Checklist to use when you head to the store! Good luck with your new furry friend… give them an extra snuggle from me!