New Cat Essentials (Budget Edition): Everything You Need Under $106

0:00 hi there my name is Mallory I'm here with all about cats and this is a video for those of you who are brand new to cat Guardianship and want to provide your new cat with everything they need to be happy and healthy without spending a huge amount of money on it [Music] remember that if you want a checklist to

0:20 reference after you watch this video we've created a cat Essentials checklist so you can see the link in the description to download that PDF additionally in the description you'll see links to all of the products I've mentioned here so you can check them out and purchase them if you're interested

0:37 through those links the very first thing you're going to need to do when you bring this cat home is provide them with something to eat I've recommended a lot of outstanding Foods in my videos rounding up the best cat food best wet cat food best human gray cat food you can check those out and see if there are

0:53 any recommendations you like but if you are really focused on keeping things to a slim budget I would recommend considering something from Fancy Feast So Fancy Feast has a Classics line particularly their Classics Pate which tends to be quite species appropriate it's a meat based food has low

1:12 carbohydrate content and it seems to have an overall better ingredient quality than a lot of other more budget to your foods you can find in a lot of grocery stores it's very accessible and it's going to be one of the better options you can give your new cat on a budget I know it's going to be tempting

1:29 when you're on a budget to feed your cat a dry food kibble foods are the cheapest and they're very accessible and they're very convenient but there are many benefits to feeding wet over dry and I think it's going to pay off in the long run so I'm going to suggest that when you're just starting

1:46 out with your cat you don't buy a cat specific dish and the reason for that is maybe you need some more time to be able to find good deals maybe at the thrift store you can find a nice little dish that's perfect for your cat and costs 50 cents or a dollar and secondly it's just not necessary you can use a nice little

2:05 tupperware container or a container from some leftover Cool Whip or something like that that works just as well the only issue is that if it's made out of plastic you can run into some issues with chin acne and bacterial growth you're going to want to make sure you clean these really regularly in order to

2:24 prevent that eventually you're going to want to upgrade to something either made from stainless steel ceramic or a Pyrex glass other than that you can also consider a nice stainless steel bowl like the one from durapets this one costs 6.99 and it has a nice non-slip bottom that's going to keep it in place

2:42 it's overall a really good cat Bowl so if you get a set of those one for food one for water that's going to add up to 13.98 so I would put your starting cost for a food and water bowl at up to 13.98 now eventually I would recommend using a cat water fountain because cats like that moving water it's aerated it's

3:06 clean but those tend to be a little more expensive in addition to food of course you're also going to want to provide a litter box now I wouldn't skimp on the litter box and just go for something small I would always look for a larger litter box now I know a lot of people really like under the bed storage containers as

3:24 litter boxes so I'll put a link to that in the description you can also invest in a larger litter box like Frisco's extra large litter box with high sides that's going to cost just over 18 so a little bit more expensive but a large letterbox is going to be well worth it don't go for one of those tiny little

3:44 kitten litter boxes you're setting yourself up to it for trouble and you're setting it yourself up for additional cost of course you're going to need to put something inside of that litter box so the cheapest option would be Pine pellets so you can find horse bedding pellets at any farm and ranch supply

4:01 store and these can be quite economical however they're not quite as cat friendly as a regular regular fine grained clay letter so I think starting out it might be best to opt for a clay litter until you've done been able to do some experimentation and find out if you're cast comfortable with it for

4:20 kitten it might be a good place to start but I'm just going to recommend a clumping clay layer for most cats and in that case I would recommend Dr Elsie's Ultra a 20 pound bag of this costs 15.99 and if you purchase this around the time this video was put out Chewie is currently running a promotion where if

4:41 you buy a bag of litter you can also get a Litter Genie for free so this is a Waste Disposal system that works kind of like a Diaper Genie where it's locking away the scent of the litter in the bag it's a really really cool tool for anyone with a cat and so I think it would be well worth using that Dr

4:59 Elsie's litter just to get the Litter Genie as well so be sure to check out the link in the description to take advantage of that opportunity now if you have a kitten you're going to want to opt for either a so-called natural or plant-based litter or you're going to want to opt for something non-clumping

5:16 and the reason reason is that clumping clay litter may present an issue if ingested by a kitten so you want to be cautious so that you can clean out the litter box you're going to want to purchase a litter scoop and I would highly recommend the litter lifter one of my favorite products this costs 11.75

5:33 so a little bit more expensive than your grocery store litter scoop but I think it's well worth it it's going to save you time it's going to clean much more effectively it'll keep your cat's litter box cleaner reducing the risk of litter box avoidance now once you have food you have litter you're going to need to

5:52 provide a place for your cat to sleep and I think most homes have acceptable places for the cat to sleep already so I'm going to put the starting cost of this at zero dollars you don't necessarily need to spend any money to provide a place for your cat to sleep you don't need to buy a cat bed

6:07 the best bed in many cases is to just provide your own clothing some old clothes and maybe a cardboard box and this will provide provide a sense of familiarity with your scent and help your new cat to make a connection with that now the one thing I would suggest is that you if you live in a cold

6:26 climate you have a cold house you might want to give your new cat the gift of a self-warming bed so this has a reflective of reflective material on the inside that reflects your cat's body heat back to them and it is so comfortable I would recommend the k h self-warming mat and you can get it for

6:46 11.49 and it is just such a nice gift to a cat in a cold climate so you might want to consider that and you can even use that as a liner in the box that you're giving your cat or in their carrier which is the next thing I want to mention in order to bring your new cat home from the shelter wherever they've been you're

7:05 going to need something to carry them so you don't need anything really fancy so I would recommend petmates top load carrier which is going to cost 39 1.95 so this is the most expensive product on this list but I do think it's worth it to get a pretty good carrier with top entry it's going to make it a lot easier

7:25 to put your cat in the next thing that you need to have in your home if not as soon as the cat comes home uh shortly thereafter is a scratcher a place for the cat to scratch you don't want to deal with your cat scratching your furniture scratching curtains that's just going to end up being an expense if

7:42 you have to replace it the cheapest option when it comes to scratchers is a basic flat cardboard scratcher Chewie is currently selling a basic cardboard scratcher for 8.49 this is a really good starting place now I do want to mention that my top recommended cat scratcher one of the most popular cat scratchers

8:03 on the market the smart cat ultimate scratching post is currently on sale on Tui for 39.99 which is a 50 discount so if you do want to invest in a really good cat scratch Roger I would do it now it's a really good time to take advantage of that discount so I'll put a link to that in the description as well

8:23 you're also going to want to make sure that your home has some nice Elevated Places where your cat can climb and Survey the world from above so I'm going to put this at a starting cost of zero dollars because you can always adapt your home environment to your cat you can find bookshelves and other Elevated

8:39 Places put a bed on it or a cushion and make it a comfortable place where your cat can go you can encourage them to go on any wider window sills and just make that a welcoming place for your cat but if you do want to add a little bit more environmental enrichment a good starting point is a cat window bed so you can

9:00 mount this using suction cups to any window in the home and allow your cat to look out of the window using that so you can get a nice window bed from k h pet products for 30.71 along the same lines of environmental enrichment you're going to want to provide your cat with toy opportunities for play again you don't

9:19 have to spend any money to provide really good toys and play I think the most important thing is whether or not you're actually playing with the cat it can start with something as simple as a piece of string you can tie that string to a stick you can attach a feather even a real feather you found outside and you

9:36 can play with your cat using that the engagement the interaction the simulation of the chase of prey that's what really matters you can also find plenty of things around the house that your cat can play with on their own so bottle caps toilet paper rolls crumpled up balls of aluminum foil there's so many things

9:57 around the house that your kitten or cat can play with Additionally you can add some more fun to it by giving your cat a treat right after they catch their toy so treats are going to be important as a way to enrich those play sessions and make them more rewarding it's also a really good way to train your cat so I

10:17 would consider treats to be an essential these also start at zero dollars obviously you'll have to buy food but um you're not spending any extra money on your cat's treats if you just feed your cat will be considered table scraps so a plain unseasoned cooked chicken or any other meat is an excellent treat

10:38 you can share shrimp with your cat you can share pieces of fish if you do want to purchase a cat's specific treat you might consider getting a bag of Bonito Flakes a small bag of Bonito flakes can cost about eight dollars and 49 cents but Bonito flakes are incredibly light a bag lasts for a really long time that's

10:57 a wholesome lightweight treat that doesn't contain anything that your cat shouldn't be consuming finally there are just a couple of grooming items you're going to want to have at the ready and the first is nail clippers I would start just using human fingernail or toenail clippers you don't need to purchase

11:15 special cat nail clippers as long as the Clippers are strong and sharp and you know how to do it properly this is perfectly acceptable the next thing that is an essential is a toothbrush I'm not even going to suggest that you get toothpaste start off with a toothbrush in the same vein you want to desensitize

11:36 your cat to having their mouth handled and you want to be able to stick a toothbrush in there so I would recommend just getting a baby toothbrush this might cost about 3.99 and you want to be able to put that into your cat's mouth simply using a toothbrush is enough to Slough off some

11:53 of the residue on your cat's teeth and it can put them on the road to having good dental hygiene throughout their life so that's it for my new cat Essentials the total adds up to 105.64 cents if you choose all the cheapest options listed here and purchase all of the products I've

12:11 recommended at their current prices and then if you decide to go for some of the more expensive options I suggested the price is going to go up to 213.56 so hopefully this video gave you an idea of how you can pay for all of those basic necessities on your own budget let me know if you have any other

12:29 tips for saving money while caring for a cat those recurring costs can really get you the veterinary bills there are a lot of things we can do in order to lower the costs of caring for a cat and I would love to hear about your tips in the comments so thank you so much for watching and I will will see you next

12:46 week bye