First pet? What to buy in week one, and what to skip

The first trip to a pet shop goes one of two ways. You come out with a bag of whatever the shopkeeper reached for, or you come out with a squeaky toy and a jumper and no food. This list is the middle: what the animal needs in its first week, what each thing costs here, and what can wait.

Prices were read off Nepali shop pages on 5 October 2026. Where we could not find a published price for an item, we say so rather than guess.

A puppy

Plus the vaccine course: from Rs 4,500 at a private clinic with home visits, or about Rs 1,000 at a charity clinic. See the vaccination schedule.

Can wait: shampoo (a puppy needs few baths; ask your vet which one), a crate, a harness, toys beyond one or two.

Skip: clothes, perfume, calcium supplements unless your vet prescribes them, bones, and anything small enough to swallow.

The first week with a puppy

• Day 1. Show it where the water, bed and toilet spot are. Keep the house quiet. Expect crying the first night.
• Day 1 to 3. Feed what it ate before, three to four small meals a day. New home plus new food equals diarrhoea.
• Day 2 or 3. First vet visit. Take whatever card or paper came with the puppy.
• All week. Take it to the same toilet spot after every sleep, meal and play. Praise it there. Don’t punish accidents; it has no idea what you mean.
• Not yet. No street walks and no meeting unknown dogs until the vaccine course is finished.

A kitten

Plus the vaccine course: Rs 6,500 for three FVRCP doses and rabies at BunoPets; HART Nepal has posted Rs 1,000 for the Tricat vaccine.

Can wait: cat tree, bed (it will choose its own spot), wet food by the box.

Skip: milk (many cats can’t digest it), collars with no safety release, dog food, laser pointers as the only toy.

The first week with a kitten

• Day 1. Start it in one small room with food, water and the litter tray at opposite ends. Let it come out when it is ready.
• Litter. Put the kitten in the tray after meals for the first two days. Most learn at once. Scoop daily; a dirty tray is the usual reason a cat goes elsewhere.
• Windows and balconies. Kittens fall. Net or close anything above the ground floor before it arrives.
• Day 3 to 5. First vet visit, in the carrier.
• Other pets. Swap bedding between them for a few days before they meet face to face.

A fish tank

The aquarium price guide has every tank size and filter type.

Can wait: plants, decorations, a second light, test kits beyond a basic one.

Skip: fish bowls with no filter, more fish than the tank holds, and buying fish the same day as the tank.

The first weeks with a tank

The first week of fishkeeping has no fish in it.

• Day 1. Rinse the tank and substrate with plain water, no soap. Fill, treat the water, start the filter and heater.
• Week 1 to 3. Leave it running. Add a pinch of food every day or two to feed the filter bacteria. This is cycling, and skipping it is why first fish die.
• Week 3 or 4. Add a few fish, from a local aquarium shop. Float the bag in the tank for twenty minutes first so the temperatures match.
• Every week after. Change a quarter of the water, treated. Feed only what is eaten in two minutes.

Three rules for any first pet

1. Vet before toys. Book the first visit before the animal comes home.
2. Same food first. Ask what it was eating and buy that. Change later, slowly.
3. Buy small, then buy big. A small pack tells you whether the food suits. The large bag is where the saving is, once you know.

Where the animal comes from

Gharpaluwa sells supplies, never animals. For a dog or cat, adopt: Sneha’s Care, KAT Centre and Animal Nepal rehome animals in the Valley, often vaccinated and sometimes already neutered. The cost of keeping a dog has the links and the monthly figures.