Running costs - of a cat?
Discussion
I know there's a lot of cat fans on here, so hopefully this should be a good place to get this answered; I'm after getting a cat - probably a kitten round about 12 weeks old, and hopefully house trained and wormed etc prior to purchase. I was just wondering what are the standard running costs of a cat (typically) in people's experience? Including vet bills etc.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Riknos said:
I know there's a lot of cat fans on here, so hopefully this should be a good place to get this answered; I'm after getting a cat - probably a kitten round about 12 weeks old, and hopefully house trained and wormed etc prior to purchase. I was just wondering what are the standard running costs of a cat (typically) in people's experience? Including vet bills etc.
Thanks.
Pet insurance! PetPlan will be about 10/month and will cover you for most nasty vet bills (ours certainly has).Thanks.
Food is probably somewhere between 20-30 / month.
GF has a rescue one, buy dry food from the vet which works out about £20 a month, insurance about £8 a month and about £200 a year on vet costs for various jabs and flea treatments etc. Fine unless something major happened when the 10 or 20% you pay towards any insurance claim could become a large bill.
Food: Ours is on dry food only, costs about £8-10 per month
Treats: Maybe £1-2 per month
Flea / Worm Treatment: £6-8 per month
Vets Bills: Checkup is about £30/year
Insurance: Between £8-12 per month
Total £25.50 to £34.50 per month.
Of course, it is entirely possible too do it on less (no insurance, cheaper food) or more (expensive fresh cooked food etc) but £25-£35 is a realistic figure for most. This is per cat.
Treats: Maybe £1-2 per month
Flea / Worm Treatment: £6-8 per month
Vets Bills: Checkup is about £30/year
Insurance: Between £8-12 per month
Total £25.50 to £34.50 per month.
Of course, it is entirely possible too do it on less (no insurance, cheaper food) or more (expensive fresh cooked food etc) but £25-£35 is a realistic figure for most. This is per cat.
Ours is about £7 for insurance, £15 for a bag of Hills science plan, flea treatment is a tenner for three vials and you use one per month, worming powder is a fiver for three treatments (again, one per quarter. Litter is about £7 for 10kg of Catsan from Makro and is regularly on offer. Add another £50 for one offs like beds/toys/scratchy posts/tickle sticks/treats/litterbox etc and they're pretty cheap.
Neutering was £100 including microchipping her and her yearly jabs are £45, but I might have made that up.
All in all, not that dear. However, she has eaten about £100 worth of headphones in the last two years, but your cat might not be such a little b
d as ours.
Neutering was £100 including microchipping her and her yearly jabs are £45, but I might have made that up.
All in all, not that dear. However, she has eaten about £100 worth of headphones in the last two years, but your cat might not be such a little b
d as ours.Riknos said:
I was just wondering what are the standard running costs of a cat
Depends on the model. A long wheel-base Maine Coon will consume more fuel than a Smart-esque Devon Rex. Similarly, the more flamboyantly coated examples will require more upkeep in terms of detailing - both regularity of application and work involved to preserve shine.Unusually, this is one of the few areas where a cut'n'shut is actually your best bet.
Merlot said:
Crusoe said:
GF has a rescue one, buy dry food from the vet which works out about £20 a month, insurance about £8 a month and about £200 a year on vet costs for various jabs and flea treatments etc. Fine unless something major happened when the 10 or 20% you pay towards any insurance claim could become a large bill.
You are being fleeced by your vet!Blimey there are some expensive cats on here! Ours will only eat Sainsbury's or ASDA cheapy cat food it wont touch Whiskers or any other brand I have bought in an emergency. Ours costs about about £12 a month in food, about £6 a month in cat litter and about £50 a year for cat and dog flea treatment.
Too old for insurance, as is our dog so I guess there is a risk of a big bill.
Too old for insurance, as is our dog so I guess there is a risk of a big bill.
at some of these costs.Mine is an indoor Bengal.
Big bag of Whiskas chicken dry food (with real chicken flavoured bits
) £7.99. This lasts about 3 months.A few drops of olive oil on the food (keeps her coat shiney) cost is negligable. It might be a litre every couple of years.
Tit-bits off our plates. Negligable cost.
£3.79 bag of cat litter lasts a fortnight.
£20 yearly jabs and the vet says that she is the healthiest cat he sees all year.
We don't buy her toys or any of that crap, when my little girl gets bored with a toy, it might become the cat's.
Most of the time she is asleep anyway.
Some good (and suprisingly mixed) feedback here, cheers all.
I like the idea of having a cat who wont touch the expensive food and only likes the cheap stuff - sounds like a winner to me! Especially since I very much doubt they can taste much of a difference, it's not like the difference between a restuarant steak and a tesco value microwave meal, is it?
I like the idea of having a cat who wont touch the expensive food and only likes the cheap stuff - sounds like a winner to me! Especially since I very much doubt they can taste much of a difference, it's not like the difference between a restuarant steak and a tesco value microwave meal, is it?
Insurance a must!
Our male was insured the day we got him. A month later he was diagnosed with a gum condition that means he has to have two injections per month. Cost of injections is circa £60. Insurance covers this.
He is now 7 years old. So, current total is running at around the £4500 mark.
Our male was insured the day we got him. A month later he was diagnosed with a gum condition that means he has to have two injections per month. Cost of injections is circa £60. Insurance covers this.
He is now 7 years old. So, current total is running at around the £4500 mark.
You'd be surprised Rik, ours turns her nose up at pretty much anything that isn't Hills science plan. We've tried her on lots of other cat foods and she wouldn't eat it. We tried IAMS and she didn't eat for two days. She also doesn't really like wet food, unless it's the expensive tuna and prawn stuff which she doesn't get unless it's worming time.
She does like bacon and cheese, oddly. Also, she loves plaice but wont eat cod or haddock, loves tuna but turns her nose up at salmon. Then spends ages using her tounge as toilet paper.
I wanted a dog.
She does like bacon and cheese, oddly. Also, she loves plaice but wont eat cod or haddock, loves tuna but turns her nose up at salmon. Then spends ages using her tounge as toilet paper.
I wanted a dog.
B.J.W said:
Insurance a must!
Our male was insured the day we got him. A month later he was diagnosed with a gum condition that means he has to have two injections per month. Cost of injections is circa £60. Insurance covers this.
He is now 7 years old. So, current total is running at around the £4500 mark.
I'm astounded at this! No cure?????Our male was insured the day we got him. A month later he was diagnosed with a gum condition that means he has to have two injections per month. Cost of injections is circa £60. Insurance covers this.
He is now 7 years old. So, current total is running at around the £4500 mark.
Stablelad said:
B.J.W said:
Insurance a must!
Our male was insured the day we got him. A month later he was diagnosed with a gum condition that means he has to have two injections per month. Cost of injections is circa £60. Insurance covers this.
He is now 7 years old. So, current total is running at around the £4500 mark.
I'm astounded at this! No cure?????Our male was insured the day we got him. A month later he was diagnosed with a gum condition that means he has to have two injections per month. Cost of injections is circa £60. Insurance covers this.
He is now 7 years old. So, current total is running at around the £4500 mark.
hornetrider said:
The most expensive cost of 'running' cats is the bloody cattery bills. We have 3 of the little bleeders and a if we go away for a fortnight we come back to a bill for ~£300 squid.
We have two cats and a magnetic cat flap in the back door.We just leave them a enough dry cat food to last a week or so, plenty of bowls of water all over the house, and leave 'em to it....never had any problems in over ten years.
Cost?....£00.00
hornetrider said:
Stablelad said:
B.J.W said:
Insurance a must!
Our male was insured the day we got him. A month later he was diagnosed with a gum condition that means he has to have two injections per month. Cost of injections is circa £60. Insurance covers this.
He is now 7 years old. So, current total is running at around the £4500 mark.
I'm astounded at this! No cure?????Our male was insured the day we got him. A month later he was diagnosed with a gum condition that means he has to have two injections per month. Cost of injections is circa £60. Insurance covers this.
He is now 7 years old. So, current total is running at around the £4500 mark.
We paid for a private assessement. His condition is genetic (some pedigree in him somewhere down the line). His gums become inflamed and his throat swells. He is unable to keep food down and ultimately, stops eating altogether. The injections keep things under control. We tried the holistic approach - i.e leaving it to see what happened - he became very withdrawn/unhappy and the swelling actually got to the point that he lost a tooth. So, no cure... unfortunately. The side effect is that the injections include steroids - so one upside is that he is a big lad and as such, Top Cat in the area.
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