cat toys—ahh…cat toys.
You don’t need to buy cutesy toys with big eyes and a smile painted onto a fuzzy “mouse-shaped” stuffed animal.You may think it’s cute–but the cat doesnt know that.
A simple ping-pong ball works much, much better. And a “ball” made of a small piece of crumpled-up tin foil is great too.
Gotta chime in with a good word for these things - they are AWESOME. We picked up one at Trader Joe’s (theirs is something like $2.50 - a steal), and Target also has them. My cats love these things. In fact, we had to buy two because my boy cat wouldn’t let my girl cat near the first one. Then we bought the second one, and every time she tried to go near the first one, he’d run over and jump on it. So she’d head towards the second one, and he’d fly over and sit on that one, too. Lather, rinse, repeat. Apparently, we never taught the little guy to share 
.
My girl isn’t big on scratching posts (we let her use the couch, only because we’re getting rid of it in a few months anyway), but she loves the little cardboard boxes. Works like a charm when she’s allowed to go near it.
For toys - Coke bottle tops. My two go crazy for these. In fact, my girl will see one in my hand, and scream piteously until we throw it for her. Downside? Lots of rattling in the bathroom at 2 AM.
Good luck with your new baby! They’re a lot of fun:).
Ava
Armor?
Well, I have the cat in one room, the dog in another, and the house is in quite an uproar! 
Thanks to all for the suggestions … I bought him Nutro Natural Choice food, some tender little nibblies for treats, and I think we’ll go with a cool custom scratch post - a guy in town makes them and they look very sturdy and cool compared to the ones in the stores.
So far he loves to be up high, away from the dog. My poor doggie can’t figure out why the cat won’t play with her.
And yeah, Elenia, the armor is a good idea … OUCH!
I had a cat for 18 years, and I highly recommend flushable litter: I used (and loved) SwheatScoop. Flushable litter makes cleaning out the litter box ridiculously easy, whether you do it daily (which I recommend) or not.
Also, get a Bissell Spot Lifter for the inevitable cat puke. They’re about $30, and will save your carpeting!
Get a squirt gun. It beats whacking them with whatever is at hand when they get up to some nonsense. It works like a charm when our tomcat teases the female at 5:30 a.m. each day.
cj
Scratching posts are good, but the towers are better. That way, they can climb in addition to scratching. Ours has a couple of raised platforms that make great kitty beds.
Don’t spend a lot of money on cat toys. They’re more likely to play with the box the toys come in. They like tight places to crawl in and curl up, so a small cardboard box is great. They like things that make noise. If you have non-carpeted floors in at least one room, then give them little stuff that will skitter across the floor and make noise when whacked with a paw. Bottle caps work great. So do dice, ping-pong balls, and crumpled-up aluminum foil. Nothing small enough to be accidentally swallowed, though. No rubber bands.
The best toy is another kitty, although our cats enjoy baiting the dog, too. Cat + iguana = trouble at my house, although my friend lets his cat and iguana roam loose in the house together.
Get a claw trimmer. If you haven’t trimmed kitty claws before, have the vet do it the first time and show you how. One of our cats raises a serious fuss about having her claws trimmed, two are neutral about it, and the other two will lie on their backs and purr while I do it.
If at all possible, keep the kitten on the same food she was getting at the shelter for a while. If you’re going to switch to a different brand, do it gradually, mixing the old and the new.
And, by the way, forget the stereotype. No cow’s milk.
I want to second this. Two cats aren’t much more trouble than the one, and more than twice as much fun.
What do you need?
Well, “your head examined” is an obvious answer, but you seem to have overlooked it.
I would recommend you get a pult in case the little darling becomes a discipline problem.
Update:
Nomar seems to like his cat food all right (at the shelter they just give them a mixture of whatever is on hand, so that they don’t get used to any one kind of food) - he’s had a few crunches of his Nutro kibble.
Diamond (our border collie) is quite infatuated / fascinated / obsessed with Nomar but the kitty isn’t too interested in the dog.
Nomar hasn’t used his litter box yet (although he is fully trained - I could tell by his cage at the shelter) - I’m not sure what’s going on, because he did pee on our bed this morning (out of fear I think - the dog startled him).
Nomar isn’t a fan of being left alone - even if it means he’s away from the dog, so for now I’m taking turns with them - locking one up so the other can roam - and then occasionally having them both free to get to know each other.
Any ideas on the litter box thing? The shelter used shavings (like you’d have in a hamster cage) for litter but they said he should be fine with the Scoop Away stuff we have. I’ve shown him his box lots of times but he doesn’t seem that interested.
Cats are such a mystery compared to doggies!!!
S.
There’s the key. Put shavings in the litter box and let him get used to it. Once the box has his smell, start adding clumping litter. Once he’s gone in the mix of shavings and clumping litter, you should be able to go to straight litter.
Wooohooo!!!
Doggie still has all her fur, Kitty still has all his fur … they’re doing very well so far, knock on wood.
The shavings on top of the litter worked great and Kitty is doing awesome!
It’s a happy, busy, crazy house …
S.
Make sure the litter and food are not next to each other. A lot of new owners make this mistake.
My cats and dog eat Nutro. They love it.
If you have a cat, and carpeting, then sooner or later you are going to need some Nature’s Miracle.
I can’t believe I’m the first to ask for pictures!!