it is better for both human and cat if you adopt kittens in pairs

with Christmas upcoming many people will be getting a Christmas kitten. If at all possible, you should adopt a pair of kittens. Most rescues and shelters will be thrilled to help you find a pair that get along and would love to go to a home together.

For you: It's less work, the kittens will play with each other and socialize with each other as well as you. Plus kittens learn to play gently with a friend and are less likely to bite/scratch you.

For them: Cats are meant to be social and if you adopt a cat/kitten alone you are committing to be their WHOLE social life. When you're at work, when you're busy, when you just spent an hour with the cat and now have other things to do, your cat is left on its own with nobody to play or socialize with. If there is second one they can keep each other company and chase each other around the house. Having a second kitten/cat can drastically reduce their loneliness and dependence on you for any and all stimulation.

It can be hard for an adult cat to accept new animals so it is much better to adopt 2 kittens at the same time so neither has to feel threatened or territorial. Here is an article from someone much more qualified than me explaining how important this is for your animal's wellbeing

TLDR: less work for you, significantly better for the wellbeing of your future cats, adopt kittens in pairs

My mom is soooooo ready for a holiday pet. She’s 80; my dad has dementia and sleeps a lot / isn’t the best of companions at this point in his life. My biggest concern is having the litter box not be a burden for her (she’s in Tx and I’m in Oh, so I can’t exactly come by twice a week). Once I figure out the solution to that problem, holiday kittens are in her future!

Personally I’ve had the litter robot and the littermaid version. Littermaid is nice for big cats, but require proprietary bins, and so is eternally hitting your wallet. Plus the rake frequently needed cleaned and would get stuck just from litter kicking up into the tracks. The litter robot is smaller (my big cat won’t use it), but otherwise far superior, imo. The drawer uses standard kitchen trash bags and is so well designed that I barely even feel like I need to wash my hands after changing it. Plus, it has an app that tells me when it’s been used, and how full the bin is. It’s worth every penny (unless you have a giant Maine-coone).

It’s not cheap, and it’s a giant piece of furniture (just not inside where the cat goes), but I’m totally sold. My husband bought it “unsanctioned”. I was like, “You spent HOW MUCH on a cat toilet?!?” But he was right. Totally right.

There's a couple of services I get advertised to me on Instagram where they send you disposable litter boxes that you toss once a month or every few weeks. Cute cardboard ones with patterns on it- getting that sort of service might work for your mom!

There’s like a 60$ one at petco, you just change out the trays like once a month (more if multiple cats). It uses crystal kitty litter, and if you don’t want to spring for the trays every time, you can just get a bag of crystal kitty litter and change the tray every other time and then just change out the litter after the trays first use. Really easy and convenient, and you can get a good attachment too if the kitty prefers privacy/you don’t want a super obvious litter box out.

I also use slide. I've tried the crystals, the pellets, the natural stuff. By far slide is my favorite. Pellets get smelly too fast, crystals turn to dust fast, the natural ones I've tried also don't do well for smells.

Some more info people may find useful:

I have 2 cats and 2 cat boxes I scoop both in the morning and in the evening. I fill up the boxes, scoop until the litter becomes low, completely empty the boxes and scrub them clean, then fill with new litter. I never add more litter into a used box, it only makes me waste litter because it'll start smelling and I'll clean the boxes out even if the litter isn't low. When checking prices for slide, I know its a good deal if its less than $1 per pound of litter. Example, a 30 pound box for $22 is reasonable. But a 30 pound box for $30 is a bad deal. Different stores, different prices.