Independent guide · Updated November 2026

Getting a cat? Start with real numbers

Adopt or buy, choose a breeder, spot a scam, and know what the first year costs. We collect and date the prices ourselves, and every health or safety point links to a vet or official source.

New kitten checklist
How we research
  • Prices we collect and date ourselves
  • Vet and official sources, linked
  • No sponsored rankings

Before you bring a cat home

  1. Adopt or buy?Shelter fees next to breeder prices
  2. Choose a breederWhat a good one does, and the red flags
  3. Spot a kitten scamCheck the seller before you pay
  4. Pick the right ageWhen a kitten is ready to leave its mother
  5. Get readyWhat to buy, and what it really costs

Latest guides

Card: how to get a cat used to a carrier. FelineVMA's six steps: lie on a blanket, the blanket in the bottom half, the top on, the door closed, longer stays, then lifting the carrier from underneath. Keep the carrier out at home like furniture.

Supplies

How to get a cat used to a carrier

How to get a cat used to a carrier, step by step: leave it out as furniture, then six small training steps from feline vets, plus visit-day, car and train tips.

Checked November 2, 2026 · By Anisur Rahman

Card: how to stop a cat scratching furniture. Match what the cat scratches, put a sturdy post beside the damage, reward every use, cover the old spot and never punish. In a 2018 vet-practice survey, owners said 81.5% of their cats scratched chairs or other furniture.

Supplies

Stop a cat scratching furniture

You can’t stop a cat scratching, but you can move it off the couch: a sturdy post that matches what your cat scratches, placed right beside the damage, rewards, and covers on the old spot, from vet and cat-welfare guidance.

Checked November 1, 2026 · By Anisur Rahman

Card: how many litter boxes per cat. One per cat plus one: 2 boxes for one cat, 3 for two cats, 4 for three, in separate spots, with one on each floor. Two boxes side by side count as one box to a cat.

Supplies

How many litter boxes per cat

One per cat plus one, in separate places: what five vet sources say about the litter box rule, how to place the boxes, and what a 3,106-cat study found.

Checked October 30, 2026 · By Anisur Rahman

Card: what to feed a kitten, by age. Cornell's meals a day: three under 6 months, two from 6 to 12 months. Choose a food labeled complete and balanced for growth or all life stages, give water rather than cow's milk, and move to adult food at about one year.

Kitten care

What to feed a kitten

What to feed a kitten from weaning to its first birthday: a complete and balanced kitten food, how many meals a day by age, wet or dry, why no cow’s milk and why vets and the FDA advise against raw diets.

Checked October 31, 2026 · By Anisur Rahman

Card: best cat trees for kittens, a buyer's guide. A good tree has a wide, stable base, platforms an adult cat fits on, a den to hide in, posts to scratch and an easy way down. Vet guidelines call vigorous climbing normal from 9 to 16 weeks.

Supplies

Best cat trees for kittens

What vets and cat welfare groups say a cat tree needs, and four trees compared from the makers’ own specs: height, base, weight limit, warranty. Not a hands-on test.

Checked October 28, 2026 · By Anisur Rahman

Card: how much a Persian cat costs. Posted prices at 17 US catteries on Oct 29, 2026: a median pet kitten price of $2,000, with the middle half at $1,500 to $2,000; spay or neuter included at 4 of 17; a median deposit of $400; and $308 to $1,158 for first vet care.

Costs

How much a Persian cat costs

What 17 registered US Persian catteries charge for a pet kitten (median $2,000, checked Oct 29, 2026), plus what the price includes, deposits, extras, PKD testing and first-year costs.

Checked October 29, 2026 · By Anisur Rahman

How we research

Our full method →

1

Collect real prices

Breeder prices from public listings, shelter adoption fees, insurers’ published prices and retail prices, each one dated, with the raw data kept.

2

Check expert sources

Health, age, safety and the law come from vets and official bodies: Cornell, AAFP, ASPCA, International Cat Care, CFA, TICA, the FTC and the BBB.

3

Show the method

Every guide says where its numbers come from, when they were checked and what we left out. We don’t test products or pets hands-on, and we say so.

Anisur Rahman

Who’s behind Cat Buyer Guide

Cat Buyer Guide is edited by Anisur Rahman and published by PPC Optimizer Pro LLC. We don’t own a cat, so we don’t pretend to review pets or products hands-on: our value is careful, dated research you can check. More about us

Looking for the old Cat Buyer Guide?

This domain changed hands in 2026. The cat breeders who ran the old site, its forum and its cattery lists are not part of this site, and we can’t help with their kittens or accounts. Old links now lead to new guides on the same topics. More about the change