Looking for chores cat loving kids can do? These simple cat care tasks are great chores for kids from preschoolers to teens.
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Thank you to Nicole from CatVills for this guest post.
Before we dive into the chores, let’s go over a few ground rules. Most of them are common sense but still worth repeating.
Stick to age-appropriate versions of each chore. We’ll talk about that in more detail below after each idea, but in general, you don’t want to give your young child a chore that involves touching your cat’s waste. In other words, save litter box duty for older teens (or better yet, yourself).
Teach your kids good pet hygiene and make sure you're modeling it yourself. While you don’t have to wash your hands after petting your cat, it’s a good idea to wash them before and after feeding time.
Finally, remember that the chores should be enjoyable for your cat. Don’t ever let your children hold your cat down or force anything on them, whether it’s food, grooming, or even cuddles.
As long as you follow basic safety rules and use a healthy dose of common sense, there’s absolutely no reason why kids as young as preschool can’t help in some way with the following chores!
5 Easy Cat Chores for Kids
1. Picking out (and picking up!) cat toys
This is one of the simplest and most fun cat chores for kids. Even your toddler is capable of helping you pick out the best toys for kitty and rounding them up when it’s time to put them away.You can even use it as a fun way to teach preschoolers sorting skills. Use a divided bin (it can be a small bin with homemade cardboard dividers) for cat toys and ask your child to put different types of toys in each section. Toy mice in one section, string toys in another, and ball toys in the third, for example.
2. Playing with kitty
House cats need mental and physical stimulation to keep them in tip-top shape. If there’s one thing kids know how to do best, it’s play! Just make sure you supervise younger children while they give kitty a good workout.Examples of things they can do include rolling a ball for kitty, “fishing” for kitty (dangling a long string toy for them) or racing a laser pointer around on the floor for your cat to chase. Since laser pointers can damage both your child’s and your cat’s eyes, it’s best to leave this one for older kids.
3. Helping with feeding time
Getting your kids involved with feeding your cat is one of the best ways to teach responsibility. It also helps them better appreciate the work you do in feeding them!For very young children in preschool and kindergarten, stick with simple tasks like gathering up the food and water bowls to bring to you. Elementary school kids can help clean out the bowls and fill the up the water bowl, while older kids (middle schoolers and teenagers) can actually do all of the work once you show them how much food your cat gets.
4. Grooming your cat
Grooming your cat helps keep his fur looking beautiful and cuts down on the amount of hair flying through the air (and inevitably landing on your favorite black sweater). Again, kids as young as preschool age can help out as long as they are supervised.Try using a grooming mitt instead of a brush with younger kids. Older kids can use a brush once you show them the right way to go about it. Cats rarely need baths, but if yours does, it’s best to do that chore yourself, especially if your cat abhors bath time.
5. Sweeping up around the litter box
While it’s best to save the actual litter box chore for yourself, your kids can help clean up all that scattered litter around the box. Older children can also carry the bagged waste out to your garbage can. If you’re curious as to why kids shouldn’t be cleaning up the litter box, it’s not just because the chore is a little too gross for young children. It’s also potentially dangerous.Toxoplasmosis, the same bacteria that keeps pregnant women away from litter boxes, can also affect children. While it usually only causes a mild infection, it can be particularly dangerous to children with compromised immune systems. Plus, kids are more likely to breathe in dust and other nasty particles when cleaning out the box. There are so many other great chores they can do, so really, just let them out of this one!
If you do decide to have your older child or teenager help clean out the box, do them a favor and go with a stainless steel litter box. It will significantly cut down on the odors that they have to deal with and make cleaning the sides a lot easier since messes won’t stick to it.
These are just a few simple chores that kids of nearly all ages can do to get involved in caring for your family cat. Basically, as long as you’re considering both your child and your cat’s safety, kids can get involved in just about every aspect of pet ownership! Along with bonding opportunities and responsibility lessons, you might even find that cat chores give your kids a new appreciation for all that you do for them as well!
Get the FREE printable Cat Chore Chart
Ready to have your kids help with cat chores? Grab the FREE printable cat chore chart below to make assigning and remembering cat chores easy and fun.
About the Author: Nicole is a writer and editor at CatVills.com, a site dedicated to helping both new and seasoned cat parents lead the very best lives possible with their kitty companions. She’s currently a pet parent to three cats and two dogs.
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