New Kitten Starter Kit

A kitten needs less from you than a puppy does, and gets it wrong more expensively. Set the litter tray and the scratching post up properly in week one and you will not spend the next year fixing habits — or furniture.

This is the list we give people who walk into our Lekki store and ask “what do I actually need?” Everything on it is in stock.

Feeding

Kitten food. Kittens need roughly twice the calories of an adult cat, pound for pound. Adult food will not do it. Pick one and stay on it — cats are far fussier than dogs about change, and a cat that goes off its food is a problem you do not want.

Wet food. More important for cats than for dogs. Cats evolved in dry country and drink badly; most of their water is supposed to come from what they eat. Wet food is the simplest thing you can do for their kidneys.

Kitten milk. For anything under eight weeks. Never cow's milk — most cats cannot digest it and it will give them diarrhoea.

Shallow bowl. Cats dislike their whiskers touching the sides. A deep bowl is the reason some cats paw food out onto the floor.

The litter tray

Litter, a box and a scoop. Scoop daily. A cat that finds its tray dirty will find somewhere else, and once it has chosen your rug it is very hard to change its mind.

Deodorising beads. For a Lagos flat with the windows shut and the AC on, these do more than you would think.

Put the tray somewhere quiet and away from the food. Cats will not eat next to their toilet, and neither would you.

The scratching post

A scratcher. Cats do not scratch to be difficult — they do it to shed the outer layer of the claw and to mark territory. They are going to do it. The only question is whether they do it on a post you bought or on the arm of your sofa. Put it where they already scratch, not where you would prefer it.

Sleeping and travelling

A bed of their own, somewhere high and out of the way if you can manage it.

A hard carrier. This one is not optional for a cat. A frightened cat can get out of a soft sling in seconds, and a cat loose in a car in Lagos traffic is a genuinely dangerous situation. Leave the carrier out at home with a blanket in it so it stops being the box that means the vet.

Collar

A bell collar. The bell is not decoration. It warns birds, and it tells you which cushion the kitten is hiding behind. Two fingers between collar and neck, checked fortnightly.

Toys

Something that moves. An indoor cat with nothing to hunt gets bored, and a bored cat gets destructive. Ten minutes of play in the evening solves most of the behaviour problems people ask us about.

What we would leave off

Not a dewormer off the shelf. Worming a kitten properly depends on age and weight, and the first one belongs with the first vaccinations.

One thing to know before you come in

We register every pet before we vaccinate. Registration and your Exotic Pet Café Pet Passport are issued in the same visit as the first jab — it is not a separate errand and not an optional extra. The passport is the record of what your cat has had and when the next dose is due, and you will need it for boarding, for travel, and for any vet who sees them after us.