First-year kit for a cat, priced

Battersea adds up a cat's one-off kit at £232.50, using the middle of each range. Its figures carry no date, and its page was last updated on 6 July 2026.

Here I've priced four real items against that. Two come with a warning. All of it comes from store listings and charity tables, read on 2 November 2026. I haven't used any of it with a cat, and I read the prices from a Portuguese connection, so a UK visitor could see something different.

Kitten or adult? Read this first

Pets at Home's page for its clumping clay litter says "Not suitable for kittens". Its page for the Catit Pixi fountain rules out small cats and kittens, too. Neither page says at what age that ends, so ask the store or your vet.

So two of the four items below wait. Pets at Home lists Catsan Ultra as suitable for cats and kittens, at £8.99 for 5 L. Food and water go in bowls, which you need anyway.

Four items, priced

At the prices read on 2 November 2026, those four come to about £91.

What I'd check on each

The den is hand wash only. I'd find that a nuisance in a kitten's first year. zooplus also warns it may ship from outside the UK and take longer.

The carrier is the one you can't put off. You'll need it for the first vet visit. It's rated for cats and small dogs up to the weight in the table, so a heavy adult cat will need a bigger one. It has a metal-coated front door and a plastic top door. Weigh your cat.

The fountain is optional. Neither Battersea nor Cats Protection lists a fountain in its cost table, and you'd still want food bowls. Pets at Home says filters are sold separately and advises cleaning it weekly.

The litter is the item you'll rebuy most often. Both charities put litter at £20 to £30 a month, which is £240 to £360 a year, and that's a far bigger number than the bag price suggests. Pets at Home advises a 7 cm depth and a full change every 7 days. What each cat litter type costs compares the alternatives.

What's still missing

Battersea's other one-off lines, undated:

• Scratching post: £30 to £50
• Toys and puzzle feeders: £40
• Litter tray: £10 to £25
• Grooming tools: £10
• Bowls: £10 to £20
• Microchip: £20 to £30

That's £120 to £175. With the four items above you reach about £211 to £266, at the prices read on 2 November 2026. A cat flap adds £40, or £40 to £60 by Cats Protection's reckoning, before anyone fits it. Compare the two options in SureFlap vs PetSafe if you're going that way. Cats Protection suggests more than one litter tray, and PDSA budgets for two.

Cats Protection says, in undated advice, that microchipping is a legal requirement in England, with a possible charge of up to £500 if you don't comply. Its figure for the chip is £20 to £30.

The bigger first-year sum

PDSA estimates about £366 for set-up, calculated in 2024. That includes first vaccinations and neutering, so it isn't comparable with a kit list.

For a bought kitten, Cats Protection gives £70 to £90 for vaccinations, and neutering at £50 to £100 for a male or £100 to £300 for a female. Those lines can outrun the kit. Battersea and Cats Protection both include the microchip and neutering when you rehome from them, and Cats Protection's fee of £100 to £120 for a kitten also covers first vaccinations and a health check. On those numbers I'd look at adoption first.

More kit sits in the bed listings and crates and carriers. The pet cost calculator takes it from the second year on.