The Best Cat Toys, Litter Boxes, and Other Supplies for Your Furry Friend (2024)

Cats are beautiful, interesting, weird creatures. If you’re lucky enough to be loved by one, it’s your God-given responsibility to give them a comfortable and fun home. Cats require a specific environment to play, scratch, and relax. Based on years of testing with our pets, these are our favorite cat toys, litter boxes, and other feline supplies. Even if our cats rejected a particular product, we still examined overall construction, design, and value to determine whether it may be useful for other kitties. They can be finicky, so you may have to consider a few to find the right fit.

Check out our related guides like Our Favorite Fancy Cat Furniture. More of a dog person? We’ve got you covered! See our Best Accessories and Tech Essentials for Your Dog guide.

Updated April 2024: We’ve added new favorites, including the Eufy 360 Pet Camera, Tuft and Paw Porto carrier, K&H Portable Car Seat Kennel, plus health recommendations like Chewy’s free telehealth service and soft cone collars.

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Basic Cat Rules and Tips

Don’t listen to the cat haters: Cats do form a connection to their human owners. While they may be more low-maintenance than dogs, they require thoughtful care. Here are some basic dos and don’ts when owning a cat.

Do: Separate food and water. Use multiple litter boxes for multiple cats. Give them ways to hunt their food. Ensure they get exercise and playtime. Give them places to hide and feel safe. Regularly trim their nails. Give them love and affection!

Don’t: Declaw them. Leave them unattended around these toxic plants. Accidentally harm them with common essential oils like eucalyptus. Feed them a vegan diet, milk (yes, really), or these other toxic foods.

Best Litter Boxes

A litter box is essential. What kind you get depends on your cat—not every cat likes enclosed boxes, and others need high sides to shield your walls from urine (sometimes they aim high!). A good rule of thumb is having one box per cat, and one on each floor if you live in a multilevel home. You’ll find cheap, standard litter boxes anywhere you can buy pet goods, but we have a few recommendations we’ve tested.

Tuft and Paw’s products are modern and beautiful (and usually quite expensive). The Cove is simple but is elevated with detachable sides and a place to hold its scoop and small dustpan. If you forgo the sides, it costs $149. The newer Cubby ($69) is a simplified version for less than half the price. It doesn’t have the built-in holder for the scoop and duster but has the same elegant look.

Any medium-size plastic storage bins (without the lid) are cheap and work well for litter boxes. I typically get these from Target instead of the multi-packs on Amazon. If you get a tall one, consider cutting out an entryway and sanding it down so your kitty can easily get in and out—I use a rotary cutter and sandpaper sheets to do this.

More Litter Boxes We Like

• Smart Paws Extra Large Litter Box for $59: So far this has been a great investment. It’s large but light, even with litter in it, and it dampens some of the sound from my cat who likes to scratch the sides all night.
• Good Pet Stuff Hidden Litter Planter for $67: This box nicely blends into small spaces with a clever plant disguise. My only gripe is that it needs to be replaced more often than other boxes. It felt like it got grimy quickly, and no amount of washing could cut it. There’s a similarly designed planter from ExquisiCat we haven’t tried.
• Kitty Poo Club Disposable Boxes for $16-$29: Can’t decide on a box? Kitty Poo Club delivers disposable, recyclable boxes to your door every month, with or without litter. The cardboard has a thin plastic coating inside, so it shouldn’t leak, as long as you’re replacing it. Standard-size boxes are $16 without litter and go up to $29 with litter, depending on which type you want. XL boxes are $18 on their own and $60 with litter.

Automatic Litter Boxes

Robotic litter boxes are big and expensive, and experts warn that not cleaning out a box every day could mean missing potential signs of sickness. But we tried two that changed our minds. Both are still large and pricey, but they have connected apps to keep track of your cat’s bathroom habits. You’ll know if something is up, but you can still scoop less.

Whisker’s Litter-Robot 4 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is sleek and futuristic-looking, with a bigger drum that will likely appeal to larger cats. The cleaning cycle is quick and nearly silent. It does a great job of concealing odors too—the smell is shocking when you open that waste drawer. Read our review for more about our experience using it.

The Casa Leo (formerly called Smarty Pear) was the first…