Cats

Cats are picky about their toys. Not in a thoughtful, considered way — in a “I will ignore this $20 feather wand for six months and then go absolutely feral for a crumpled receipt” kind of way. I have three cats and a floor covered in toys that cost real money and got maybe 90 seconds of attention before being abandoned under the couch. After testing 7 cat toys across four broad categories — wand toys, kicker toys, catnip-stuffed toys, and independent play toys — I found that the best cat toys share three things in common. They move unpredictably (cats are wired to chase erratic prey, not linear paths). They have texture variety (crinkly, fuzzy, crinkly-fuzzy). And they reward persistence — a toy a cat has to “catch” or “kill” keeps their attention longer than something that just dangles. ...

Cats are natural climbers. In the wild, height means safety — a vantage point to survey territory and escape ground-level threats. Your housecat still has those instincts even if the biggest threat is the Roomba. That’s why the top of the fridge, the bookshelf, and that precarious stack of boxes are prime real estate. Wall-mounted cat furniture solves a few problems at once. It frees up floor space (no giant cat tree dominating the living room), it gives your cat a dedicated vertical route through the room, and it turns bare wall space into an enrichment zone. We tested 7 wall-mounted cat shelves and hammocks to find the best options for different spaces, budgets, and climbing personalities. ...

My first cat litter experience was scooping a plastic grocery bag with a dollar-store scooper. The dust cloud that erupted when I poured fresh litter in still haunts me. I didn’t know there was a better way. The right cat litter makes a difference you notice every day. Less dust. Less smell. Less tracking across the apartment. And with so many types now — clumping clay, silica crystals, pine pellets, walnut shells, grass seed, corn, wheat — picking one is harder than it should be. I tested seven types across all the major categories. Here’s which ones earned a spot in my scoop. ...

Cats are vertical creatures. In the wild, they climb trees to survey their territory, escape predators, and find warm spots to nap. Your living room is their territory, and without vertical territory, they’ll claim your curtains, bookshelves, and the top of your refrigerator instead. A good cat tree gives them a dedicated territory that doesn’t conflict with your furniture. The trick is finding one that’s sturdy enough for a full-grown cat to launch onto at full speed, covered in material they actually want to scratch, and that doesn’t take over your living room visually. We tested 7 cat trees and condos in 2025 — from a $40 basic scratching post to a $300 multi-level condo — to find the best options for different cats, spaces, and budgets. ...

Some cats shed enough fur each spring to build a second cat. Others get mats in their armpits no matter how often you brush them. And some just hate being brushed full stop. Over the years I’ve gone through a lot of cat brushes — the cheap ones that barely catch loose hair, the aggressive ones that make your cat flinch, and a few that actually do what they’re supposed to. ...

Living with a stressed cat is rough. Hiding under the bed, spraying walls, over-grooming patches of fur off their belly, yowling at 3 AM. These are all signs your cat is anxious and can’t tell you any other way. The options for managing feline anxiety have come a long way though: pheromone diffusers that mimic the “feel-good” chemicals mother cats produce, calming treats with L-theanine and tryptophan, compression vests that work like swaddling a baby. ...

Walk down the cat food aisle and you are hit with a wall of options. Grain-free. High-protein. Limited ingredient. Vet-recommended. Fresh-frozen. Freeze-dried raw. Every bag promises to be the one your cat actually needs. We tested 7 of the best cat foods across dry, wet, and raw categories with a panel of eight cats (and their very opinionated humans). We looked at ingredient quality, protein content, carbohydrate levels, how well cats actually ate each food over a two-week period, and value for the price. Some winners surprised us. Here is what we found. ...

Cats are natural-born explorers. In the wild, they stalk through tall grass, squeeze through narrow spaces, and pounce from hidden covers. A good cat tunnel brings that instinct into your living room — a dark, crinkly passage they can charge through, hide in, and ambush their siblings from. Most cats go absolutely nuts for them. Some will sprint through a tunnel twenty times in a row. Others use them as a cozy nap den. ...

Most cat owners don’t think much about the bowl. You grab whatever is lying around, fill it with kibble, and call it a day. But the bowl matters more than you think — and the wrong one can cause whisker fatigue, chin acne, poor posture, even your cat refusing to eat. Cats have sensitive whiskers that broadcast sensory data to their brain all day. When those whiskers rub against the sides of a deep, narrow bowl every time they eat, the constant stimulation gets overwhelming. That’s whisker fatigue — and it’s why some cats start pawing kibble onto the floor: they’re trying to eat without the bowl touching their face. ...

Walking a cat isn’t like walking a dog. Cats don’t heel. They don’t pull toward fire hydrants. They freeze mid-step because a leaf moved. And if the harness fits poorly, they turn into a furry liquid and slip right out of it. Cats have a weird anatomy trick — their collarbones float, unattached to the rest of the skeleton. That means they can compress their chest and back out of anything that isn’t snug. We found 6 harness-and-leash sets that stay on, feel comfortable, and won’t send you sprinting across the park. ...