diff --git a/doc/whats-new.rst b/doc/whats-new.rst
index 1ade92f8588..ae66f9d33ae 100644
--- a/doc/whats-new.rst
+++ b/doc/whats-new.rst
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ Internal Changes
   By `Jimmy Westling <https://github.com/illviljan>`_.
 - Use isort's `float_to_top` config. (:pull:`5695`).
   By `Maximilian Roos <https://github.com/max-sixty>`_.
+- Remove use of the deprecated ``kind`` argument in
+  :py:meth:`pandas.Index.get_slice_bound` inside :py:class:`xarray.CFTimeIndex`
+  tests (:pull:`5723`).  By `Spencer Clark <https://github.com/spencerkclark>`_.
 - Refactor `xarray.core.duck_array_ops` to no longer special-case dispatching to
   dask versions of functions when acting on dask arrays, instead relying numpy
   and dask's adherence to NEP-18 to dispatch automatically. (:pull:`5571`)
diff --git a/xarray/tests/test_cftimeindex.py b/xarray/tests/test_cftimeindex.py
index 725b5efee75..619fb0acdc4 100644
--- a/xarray/tests/test_cftimeindex.py
+++ b/xarray/tests/test_cftimeindex.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from datetime import timedelta
+from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 from textwrap import dedent
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -345,65 +346,86 @@ def test_get_loc(date_type, index):
 
 
 @requires_cftime
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("kind", ["loc", "getitem"])
-def test_get_slice_bound(date_type, index, kind):
-    result = index.get_slice_bound("0001", "left", kind)
+def test_get_slice_bound(date_type, index):
+    # The kind argument is required in earlier versions of pandas even though it
+    # is not used by CFTimeIndex.  This logic can be removed once our minimum
+    # version of pandas is at least 1.3.
+    if LooseVersion(pd.__version__) < LooseVersion("1.3"):
+        kind_args = ("getitem",)
+    else:
+        kind_args = ()
+
+    result = index.get_slice_bound("0001", "left", *kind_args)
     expected = 0
     assert result == expected
 
-    result = index.get_slice_bound("0001", "right", kind)
+    result = index.get_slice_bound("0001", "right", *kind_args)
     expected = 2
     assert result == expected
 
-    result = index.get_slice_bound(date_type(1, 3, 1), "left", kind)
+    result = index.get_slice_bound(date_type(1, 3, 1), "left", *kind_args)
     expected = 2
     assert result == expected
 
-    result = index.get_slice_bound(date_type(1, 3, 1), "right", kind)
+    result = index.get_slice_bound(date_type(1, 3, 1), "right", *kind_args)
     expected = 2
     assert result == expected
 
 
 @requires_cftime
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("kind", ["loc", "getitem"])
-def test_get_slice_bound_decreasing_index(date_type, monotonic_decreasing_index, kind):
-    result = monotonic_decreasing_index.get_slice_bound("0001", "left", kind)
+def test_get_slice_bound_decreasing_index(date_type, monotonic_decreasing_index):
+    # The kind argument is required in earlier versions of pandas even though it
+    # is not used by CFTimeIndex.  This logic can be removed once our minimum
+    # version of pandas is at least 1.3.
+    if LooseVersion(pd.__version__) < LooseVersion("1.3"):
+        kind_args = ("getitem",)
+    else:
+        kind_args = ()
+
+    result = monotonic_decreasing_index.get_slice_bound("0001", "left", *kind_args)
     expected = 2
     assert result == expected
 
-    result = monotonic_decreasing_index.get_slice_bound("0001", "right", kind)
+    result = monotonic_decreasing_index.get_slice_bound("0001", "right", *kind_args)
     expected = 4
     assert result == expected
 
     result = monotonic_decreasing_index.get_slice_bound(
-        date_type(1, 3, 1), "left", kind
+        date_type(1, 3, 1), "left", *kind_args
     )
     expected = 2
     assert result == expected
 
     result = monotonic_decreasing_index.get_slice_bound(
-        date_type(1, 3, 1), "right", kind
+        date_type(1, 3, 1), "right", *kind_args
     )
     expected = 2
     assert result == expected
 
 
 @requires_cftime
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("kind", ["loc", "getitem"])
-def test_get_slice_bound_length_one_index(date_type, length_one_index, kind):
-    result = length_one_index.get_slice_bound("0001", "left", kind)
+def test_get_slice_bound_length_one_index(date_type, length_one_index):
+    # The kind argument is required in earlier versions of pandas even though it
+    # is not used by CFTimeIndex.  This logic can be removed once our minimum
+    # version of pandas is at least 1.3.
+    if LooseVersion(pd.__version__) <= LooseVersion("1.3"):
+        kind_args = ("getitem",)
+    else:
+        kind_args = ()
+
+    result = length_one_index.get_slice_bound("0001", "left", *kind_args)
     expected = 0
     assert result == expected
 
-    result = length_one_index.get_slice_bound("0001", "right", kind)
+    result = length_one_index.get_slice_bound("0001", "right", *kind_args)
     expected = 1
     assert result == expected
 
-    result = length_one_index.get_slice_bound(date_type(1, 3, 1), "left", kind)
+    result = length_one_index.get_slice_bound(date_type(1, 3, 1), "left", *kind_args)
     expected = 1
     assert result == expected
 
-    result = length_one_index.get_slice_bound(date_type(1, 3, 1), "right", kind)
+    result = length_one_index.get_slice_bound(date_type(1, 3, 1), "right", *kind_args)
     expected = 1
     assert result == expected