We began fostering kittens in the spring of 2020. We learned everything we could from Kitten Lady's book, Tiny But Mighty and had the basic supplies and knowledge needed when we began. Over the years we have developed many personal favorites and will share more about them in this post!
If you just want to see links to our favorite foster kitten supplies, visit my Amazon storefront here where you can see them all in one place! If you want details, keep reading!
Note - affiliate links are used in this post.
Favorite Foster Kitten Supplies
Specifically for bottle babies:
Tiny But Mighty
My number one recommendation is the book Tiny But Mighty by Hannah Shaw, otherwise known as Kitten Lady. In addition to her awesome book, be sure to have this section of her website bookmarked for easy reference!
Small Fluffy Blankets
Trust me, you will want several! You can use towels, and some use disposable pee pads, but I prefer an assortment of blankets for various purposes and I wash a load a day. I use these fleece blankets to line the floor when kittens are litter training, the plain color and fleece allows me to see accidents easily. I fold them and place in small sections so I can pick up only the dirty one and replace that section, rather than an entire large blanket. These aren't always in stock on Amazon but I am leaving the link in case they come back since they are my favorite.
I use these, these, and these blankets to cover beds, or even to create "beds" for small kittens. They tend to "leak" on everything so I try to always cover things with these.
Update: I recently added the next two sets to my stash and I LOVE them!
I have one of these liners to place on the bottom layer to prevent any soaking through and to give the smaller blankets something to grip (we have hard floors).
Clear Panels
This is a must-have for kitten fosters! I hesitated to buy them at first, but now I have several sets! I have two different sizes, but if you're only getting one, I would get the smaller set. This is the smaller set I have and this is the larger set (the panels are larger). I am a visual person so I included a gallery showing many different configurations I have used for kittens in the gallery below.
Kitchen Scale
Weighing kittens is very important. I weigh small kittens at every bottle feeding, and bigger kittens at least once a day. Weight loss is often the first sign of a health issue, so I am always diligent about weighing kittens. This is the scale we have. I use a bigger container on the top when the kittens are bigger and try to climb out! You can see former foster, London, showing off the container I use for bigger kittens.
Kitty Camera
Well, it's not officially a kitty cam, but it is to me. We have two but my favorite is my Blink camera. If I didn't buy the other one first, I would have two of these. We also have the rotating device, wonderful if the kittens are in a larger room.
Kitten Litter Supplies
Young kittens need to have a safe litter option since typical clumping litter is not safe in case they ingest it. We use pine pellets. The "cat brand" is called Feline Pine, but we get our pellets from Tractor Supply in a huge 40lb bag for $7, much cheaper!
When kittens are first litter training, we use these plastic trays. They are the perfect size for kittens to get in and out of. I highly recommend these!
When kittens are older I use the Breeze litter box system, but just the base part. We use it with pine pellets. I put these liners in the tray portion.
For disposing waste I use a Litter Genie and love it!
I also use plastic bags and a bag holder from our shop to hold them!
Food & Water Bowls
We have a few different types of bowls we like but these raised bowls are my very favorite right now. When kittens are learning to eat, they often swim in their food. These raised bowls are low enough for them to reach, but hinder the swimming, which means less mess!
I also use these little dishes, that aren't meant for kittens but work beautifully. They are great when I have a large litter, I can split the food up and place the dishes on a tray. Their tiny size also helps prevent swimming in the food.
We have several of these bowls and use them also. You can get them at Walmart too.
My favorite is the water fountain! I have one for my cats and one for the kitten room. Watching kittens learn to drink from this for the first time is one of my favorite things!
We also provide small water dishes for those who don't get the hang of the fountain at first.
We use a variety of kitten food, my favorite wet food for weaning kittens is Weruva Chicken. We also use Blue Buffalo, Science Diet, Iams, Purina, and Tiki. Sometimes kittens are picky and I like having a variety on hand. As for dry kitten food, I prefer Science Diet, Royal Canin Mother & Baby Cat, and Purina One Kitten. If I have really picky eaters, I use Gerber Chicken baby food.
A visual collection of food and supplements we use is below!
Kitten Nail Scissors & Flea Combs
Trimming kittens' nails from early on gets them used to the process and also protects your arms and legs! Murder mittens are real! Tiny kittens have super sharp claws and you can trim them being careful not to cut the quick. Read this article from Kitten Lady to learn more!
You'll also need small flea combs!
Kitten Toys!
We have a few favorite toys for kittens after trying out many! You can see all of our favorites here, and I will highlight some of our VERY favorites below, divided by younger and older kittens. Younger is from around 2 weeks old when they just begin playing up to around 4-5 weeks old. The toddlers are from around 5 weeks and up. They can all play with both, I just prefer certain types for each group and add the "toddler" toys in as kittens grow. If you have kittens 4 weeks and up choose any from either list. They love them all!
Some of the toys in action below, click on the photo to see the toy on Amazon/Chewy.
For young kittens who are just learning to play...
When kittens are younger, I LOVE this small cat scratcher. We also have several sets of soft toys, you can click on each image below to see them on Amazon.
For toddler kittens...
When kittens are a little older I introduce some other favorites like this ball toy, these crinkle balls, springs, this ball toy, this ball/scratcher toy, and our favorite kitten cat tree.
We have a shop and our mini kitty kickers are perfect for toddler kittens and up!
Cleaning Supplies
The main cleaning supply I use is Rescue. I have the Rescue wipes and Rescue spray and use it in between all litters and whenever I need deep disinfecting.
In addition to Rescue, I use these scrapers on cat trees, and a hand held steamer to disinfect small areas. I also use a floor steamer to clean the floors after cleaning them with Rescue.
FOR BOTTLE BABIES...
Nipples, Syringes, Bottles
If you are bottle feeding, I recommend having a few things on hand.
Updated July 2024: We use Miracle Nipples, but have recently added Bubble Nipples and so far I love them even more than the others. We have used KMR or Breeder's Edge, kitten formula If you need to learn to bottle feed a kitten, here is a great tutorial!
Snuggle Safe, Heating Pad
We have both and use both depending on what I need. With either, I always be sure the kittens have a place they can get away from the heat source if desired.
The Snuggle Safe is a rewarmable disk that lasts for many hours after heated for a few minutes in the microwave. This is great when you can't mess with cords and outlets.
I have this specific heating pad, that doesn't auto-off and has a low setting that is perfect for kittens. I always hide the cords, and place the pad under a blanket.
Baby Wipes, Wipes Warmer
If you have bottle babies, you will be stimulating them to potty. See more about this here. I use unscented baby wipes to clean them and recently got a wipe warmer, which has been so nice!
Stuffed Momma Kitty
We have both the Calmeroos kitty and the Snuggle Kitty. It has a heartbeat and a warmer. I only use the heartbeat because we have other methods of heating.
Whew! That was a long list, huh? I probably even forgot some things! Thanks for using our affiliate links in the post, that helps support the kittens! See more ways to help here, see all of the kittens we have fostered here!
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