Taking care of a kitten is so fun and enjoyable, but it’s also a big responsibility. I’m going to give you a ton of help and information within this article and also provide you with several additional resources for taking care of a new kitten.
How to Take Care of a Kitten
How to Take Care of a KittenI want to take a second here to congratulate you on your new kitten. I’ve owned many cats in my life and each and every one has been special to me, each in their own way.
If this is your first time owning a cat, don’t worry. I have a ton of help for you! Let’s go over some guidelines to help you get started.
(That’s my boy, Whiskers, in the picture when he was a kitten. Awwwww!)
In this post, we’ll cover:
- Making Your Kitten Safe and Comfortable
- Kitten Supplies (includes printable list)
- Feeding Your Kitten
- Kitten Health
- Grooming Your Kitten
- Litter Box Training
- Sleep
- Play and Exercise
- Socializing and Handling Your Kitten
- Setting Up a Routine
- How to Train a Kitten
- My Personal Tips
watch my video: how to take care of a kitten
Making Your Kitten Safe and Comfortable
Making Your Kitten Safe and ComfortableKittens should always be supervised, and put in a safe place in your home when you’re away. Not only because they can get hurt, but also because they’re usually a bit scared when you first bring them home, especially when their alone.
Kitten-Proof Your Home. Take a really good look around your house for anything that could be dangerous for your kitten, such as electrical cords, toxic plants, or small objects that they could swallow. Also put stuff away you don’t want them to chew on!
Designate a Safe Space. Give your kitten a quiet area where they can feel safe, like a small room or a quiet area with their bed, food, water and their litter box. When they’re little, they won’t be able to find their stuff easily, so it’s better to put it all in the same place, at least for a while.
Remember, cats are prey in the wild, so it’s their instinct to stay hidden and safe. It’s important to give them a safe place to sleep in your house, and places to hide or escape. My cat Whiskers’ favorite place to hide when he was a kitten was this teepee!
What Supplies Does Your Kitten Need?
I wrote a detailed article, that includes a video, called, What Does a New Kitten Need? You can check that out after you read this post. Also, feel free to request a printable list of supplies you’ll need for your new kitten here:
Feeding Your Kitten
You may be surprised to learn that growing kittens need as much as three times more nutrients and calories than adult cats.
What to Feed Your Kitten. My kitten, Whiskers, had dry kitten chow for the first year, as well as canned food.
Including wet food in our cat’s daily diet is important (more so than you think!) For more information about this, read my article, What is the Best Food for My Cat?
You should get the best dry and wet kitten food you can afford. But don’t feel bad if you have to choose something in the lower price range. What’s most important is that you stay within your budget to provide not only quality food for your kitten, but also everything else they need like cat litter, toys and medical care.
You can find a nice variety of kitten food, both wet and dry, here. If you’d like to check into getting fresh food for your kitten, I can recommend Smalls. You can use my link to get 10% off your trial purchase.
How Much to Feed Your Kitten. Young kittens should be fed small amounts of food three to four times each day. Follow the feeding instructions on the food package or consult your veterinarian for advice.
You can also refer to this article from Chewy.com, How Much to Feed Your Kitten.
Make sure your kitten always has clean water. Kittens tend to play in the water dish and spill it sometimes, so check it often. Don’t give your kitten milk. Contrary to popular belief, milk isn’t that great for cats and can give them diarrhea.
If you’d like them to have milk, choose this alternative.
Health Care for Your Kitten
First Vet Visit. You should take your kitten to the vet as soon as possible. Seriously, like within the first week or so of getting your kitten.
Kittens need need vaccinations, deworming, and a general health check as early as possible.
Flea and Tick Control. Ask your vet for advice on appropriate flea and tick prevention for your kitten, if they’re going to go outside or if you have other pets who go outside and could bring fleas and ticks in.
You can get my two cents (from 30+ years of cat ownership!) here. Remember to be SAFE when it comes to using flea products on your kitten. Always ask your vet first.
Neutering or Spaying: You should arrange for your kitten to be spayed or neutered when your vet suggests. It’s usually around 4-6 months. If you need help paying for this, my article, Free Spay and Neuter Clinics (includes video).
Consider Pet Health Insurance. Pet health insurance is way cheaper if you get it while they’re young. For help with this, read my articles, Is Cat Insurance Worth the Cost? and Is There Health Insurance for Pets?
A good company for inexpensive pet health insurance is Lemonade Pet Insurance. You can read my full review HERE.
Grooming Your Kitten
Cats are usually self-sufficient when it comes to grooming. But they do need some help from you with these things:
Brushing. You should start brushing your kitten regularly to get them used to it. It’ll help reduce shedding, prevent matting, and also help to prevent hairballs.
Bathing: Don’t bathe your kitten. Please read that again. Cats don’t need baths! Please watch my video, Don’t Bathe Your Cat!
Nail Clipping. You should clip your kitten’s nails not only to prevent overgrowth and injury, but to save your stuff! For help with this, read my post, How to Cut a Cat’s Nails at Home (includes video).
Litter Box Training for Kittens 
Go ahead and get an adult-size litter box for your kitten. Put it in a quiet area of your home where the kitten can find it easily.
Placing your kitten in the litter box often is the best way to teach them how to use the litter box. Kittens will sometimes play in the litter box (keep it clean so you don’t have a stinky kitty!), and they’ll sometimes eat the litter.
Try to discourage this, but keep placing them in the litter box repeatedly and give them a little praise each time they pee or poop in the litter box. Choose a quality cat litter, but again, make sure it’s within a comfortable price range for you, then stick with that brand.
Get a Bed for Your Kitten
Get a Bed for Your KittenSet up a bed for your kitten in a quiet place where the they can sleep (or just escape!) without being disturbed. You can find an assortment of kitten beds on here.
To learn more about your kitten’s sleeping habits, read my article, How Much Do Cats Sleep?
That’s Whiskers in the picture in his cat bed, on the couch next to me. Seriously, how cute is he? Those two front feet kill me!
Play and Exercise
Play With Your Kitten! Use toys like feather wands, balls, and laser pointers to provide physical exercise and mental stimulation. It’s also a great way bond with your kitten.
Interactive Toys: These make a great kitten-sitter (I’m just sayin’). There’s a ton of interactive kitten toys that will keep your kitten busy for hours! Or at least until you can get something done LOL. You can find them here.
Whiskers likes the one in the picture. But here’s a tip: Don’t forget to turn it off before you go to bed or they’ll wake you up with it at night!
Socializing and Handling Your Kitten
Socialization: Your kitten will be most comfortable just being at home with you and whoever else lives in the house at first. But you can gradually introduce your kitten to new people, experiences and sounds to help them become a calm, confident adult cat.
Handling Your Kitten. I recommend handling them a lot when they’re kittens. Touch each of their paws often, touch their face and head often. Hold them a little longer than they might like sometimes.
Doing this will help with things like vet exams and procedures, clipping their nails, and helping them to be ok around people and children. Not to mention it usually makes them way more snuggly. That’s me and Whisk in the picture. My sweet snuggle bug! He’s a true Lover Boy.
How to Train a Kitten
I highly recommend getting some help with kitten training, especially if you’re a new cat owner. Knowing how to prevent or stop bad cat behavior will save you a ton of time and aggravation, and possibly save your belongings and furniture from being destroyed by your kitten!
I can recommend a very good resource for kitten training called, Complete Cat Training Guide from KingdomofPets.com.
It’s a downloadable Ebook with step-by-step instructions for solving 25 cat and kitten behavior issues.
My Personal Kitten Care Tips
My Personal Kitten Care TipsThat’s Whiskers in the picture when he was just a baby. So cute! You can tell by his face that he wasn’t quite sure yet whether to trust me. But he didn’t let his apprehension stop him from playing!
Here are few tips from my personal experience with having cats:
Cat Fur: To keep up with cat fur in the house, brush them often. I always have blankets on my bed and furniture which I wash fairly often. This helps keep your furniture clean and get rid of cat fur.
Litter Box Odor: Everyone has always said that they never smell the litter box in my house and wouldn’t even know I had cats. I scoop the litter box once per day. I keep a plastic bag in a small, plastic trash can near the litter box with a scoop, use it all week (doesn’t smell if you tie it each time), then throw out the bag at the end of the week.
Once a week I clean out the litter box and put in fresh litter (or just add fresh litter if the box isn’t that dirty). I always add baking soda to the bottom of the pan before putting the litter in. This helps with odor.
(I suggest not using banking soda if your kitten still thinks they should eat the litter lol. Wait until they’re over that. You don’t want them eating baking soda.)
Indoor or Outdoor? I personally have made all my cats indoor cats. Most experts agree this provides a longer, healthier life for cats. For more information about this, and the overall happiness of your kitten, read my article, How to Keep Indoor Cats Happy (includes video).
More About Cat Care: For more information (and another video!), read my post, How to Take Care of a Cat. That covers some stuff we didn’t cover here.
I Donate to Animal Charities
I Donate to Animal CharitiesThank you for visiting my website. Congratulations on getting a kitten! Definitely get the cat training guide so you ucan teach your kitten to behave well. You don’t want to be frustrated or impatient with your kitten.
I donate 10% of my earnings to animal charities. You can see a list of the charities I donate to here.
If you like this website, please share it with your friends! And feel free to comment below with questions or more suggestions to help other readers! Debra
