How much does it cost to keep a cat?

GreenNotM wrote:

Do not forget the cost of your cat to the environment

Cats are protected perdators - they kill millions of birds, amphibians, mammals and insects every week in the UK.

Cat litter helps to fill land fill sites.

Rach - put some bird feeders, nesting/insect boxes up in your garden, or window - encourage wildlife into your garden, let your lil one enjoy the natural world, not a barren lifeless one - destroyed by an alien hunter.

They are not alien hunters, they are animals, a part of nature itself. In nature all animals kill to eat and survive. Ever been to Kenya? if you had you would witness animals and how they live in the wild. You want to attack all animals for just doing what nature intended?

I completely agree with Ember999 (above) but to get back on topic - my cat eats IAMs dry cat food. My local petshop sells this, repacked into plastic bags, much cheaper than the normal bags. Its exactly the same product but about half price - I think that they're taking bags close to the sell by-date (or damaged ones?) and selling it on in this way. Always worth a trip to your local shop to see if it can do better than the supermarket!

my mum has just moved abroad and we have "inherited" her cat so this thread has been really usueful thanks everyone

just one quetion through is it essential to the cat to the vet every year for jabs etc, my mum never did but i would if she is gonna need it

she is an outdoor cat (lived on a farm for a while) and is always outside (can't keep her in most of the time) but when something is wrong with her she always wants to come in and sit quite so i would know if she was poorly

Costs less than a packet of cigarettes or a takeaway a week and will be a lot healthier.

To keep a cat you need a cosy chair, a soft bed, warm fire and a generous heart.

My cat is 15 now, apart from being speyed at five and half months old she has never been to the vets. She is healthy and still looks fresh and well. She costs no more than £3.00 a week to keep. Approx three tins of supermarket brand cat meat about 36p and a box of some sort of muchie biscuits about 80p. She is wormed 3 times a year with drontal cat tablets ( get them from the vet,they do round and tape worm ), she wears a flea collar thro the spring/summer and that is her entire running costs.

We live in a rural area so she has never had jags, but doesn't come in to contact with other cats, and she doesn't have a litter tray, goes outside for that.

I love cats, dont think a home is a home without one.

Remeber you cant tell a cat, cant dictate to them, you are blessed if they love you and want to stay with you.

We have had a cat for years he has a yearly innoculation, as he is over 15 years old he is probably immune but it is worth it for the check up, he has program to control fleas and only 3 legs , one of the back ones amputated after an accident some years back although he can still climb, jump and be a little devil when he wants.