How much does it cost to keep 2 (young) cats?

SkintMonkey

My husband and I are keen to get two youngish cats from a local cat rescue. We have been looking our at our budget (this is our weekly shopping budget and general household budget) and wondering how much it would cost us a month to keep (food, insurance, vet bills etc) two cats.

Many thanks.

pollyanna24

We have a young (nine months old) cat and we don't spend that much on her.

£11 a month insurance
£20 ish a month on food (iams)
£2 ish a month on litter (although we don't do this anymore, that's what the garden's for).
£20 ish for six month supply of Frontline and Drontal (can't remember the website now though).

We spend £30 on a cat flap and £110 :eek: to get the hole cut in the double glazed door for the cat flap.

Can't think of anything else we spend on her. Make sure they are neutered or spayed before you get them, although this is usually standard from a rescue home.

Plus I paid £60 for my cat from a rescue home.

We didn't buy her a bed cos I knew she wouldn't sleep in it, cats always find their own place.

You can get kitty sets from Argos or Wilkos real cheap (litter tray, scoop, food bowls, scratching post etc.).

MrsTinks

Insurance will depend slightly on where you live so best bet is to call somewhere like Directline and get a quote I have 2 cats and they roughly cost me £10 on the top plan per month (despite making a claim for over £1500 for one of them...) Cat food is down to how much you shop about and if you feed dry or wet food etc. Mine are mainly on dry with the occasional pouch for the smallest (she has always been small and the runt so has always needed a bit extra food wise...) and a large bag of GO-cat seems to last a while and they are about £3 I think maybe a little more.

The real pricey part is worming and vaccinations. Call your local vet to find out how much they charge and if they will do a discount for 2 cats. Some vets do some don't. Most rescues will have neutered the cats before rehoming, make sure this is the case because this op is not cheap! And they should also some chipped and vaccinated and wormed when you get them. If in doubt then ask the rescue if these have been done and if they haven't and haven't got any policy to ensure the cats are at least neutered then find another rescue!

And good luck

cupid_s

We have one cat. She is 2 years old so would eat a lot more than a kitten. We buy food that is about 30p a can, then give her tuna as a treat and she has cat biscuits as well.
This costs us about £7.50 a month. Litter costs about £4. She isn't insured (she rarely goes outside and when she does doesn't want to go further than the back garden) but she had fleas recently and that cost us £60 at the vets but those treatments will last for almost a year - making only another £5 a month.

So in total that's about £16.50 a month. I'm actually surprised it's that much though. It used to be more until she got fat and we had to put her on a diet.

I have no idea about vaccinations as we've only had her for 6 months. Then one off things such as toys and an automatic feeder (£20) are just bought as christmas presents for her!

jcr16

we have 4 cats. all about the age of 5. the2 boys eat all days long and the girls like it just at brekkie and dinner time. i buy 2 trays of cat food from morrisons which are 24 cans for £6.99 a month and 1 bag of cat biscuits tesco value £1.29 which last about 6 weeks.

we don't insure them we save a bit aside for vets bill's. our cat flap was a tenner and hubby fitted it himself, we have got a metal double glazed back door. only took about half hour. as for bed's , they don't have any. i use to have them in every shape size and colour, but only one cats used it and she would sit on the top of it and squash it down. so now they use a piece of fleece blanket folded over to make a nice soft bed. which they love.one of our cats crawls under neath it and hide's, lol. she a real snuggler.

jcr16

also every 4 months i buy flea collers which cost £1.77 each in tesco.

Ted_Hutchinson

Our cat gets.
90g cat crunchies daily at 9.5p tesco's = 67p week
no cat litter goes outside.

Has had 2 treatment courses at the vets twice in 15yrs (fights not sure what with) but total vets bill to date is less than £150. so £10 a year.

Definitely costs us less than £50 a year.

SandiRaRa

My cat costs me roughly £18 a month. That gets me a big bag of IAMS and 48 pouches of wet food. He mainly has dry food and one or two pouches a day. I don't have pet insurance, the few times he has been to the vets (fighting injuries!) it has cost about £40ish. Cat flap was about a tenner and we cut the hole in the (wooden) door ourselves so he can poop outside for free!

Don't bother buying a cat bed as previously mentioned, chances are they will prefer to sleep on anything you leave lying around!

Murtle

I have M&S insurance which work out at about £12 per month for two cats, this will depend on location and age but worth looking at their nil excess so if you do have to go to the vets you shouldn't have to pay the excess.

Food it depends on what you feed them and can vary hugely.

I buy biscuits from www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk which aren't cheap but I am happier with them then IAMS etc.
I also buy whiskas tinned cat food from Costco

Worming and defleaing gets done on a regular basis as they like being out doors meeting other wildlife!!

Cat litter can be bought quite cheaply, just becareful if you get kittens as they should use special stuff.

Not sure what else but good luck

x x

bucksliz

Any more recommendations for insurance? We've just had a kitten from RSPCA rescue and it looks as though she is going to be a sickly cat. Already spent approx. £100 on vets fees this month :eek: I've never bothered with pet insurance but a nil excess policy would be interesting. How do they work? do you end up not paying any vets fees?

loumac

Firstly, well done for choosing to have a cat from a rescue centre! There are so many needing loving homes.

I have two cats and had them both from Cats Protection and both were neutered, wormed and chipped.

Mine cost £4.11 each a month for insurance from Churchill (reduced as I have my car insurance with them).

Mine both only eat dry food and a box of Go cat at less than £2 a box lasts about 10 days putting it down twice a day.

Do your research when it comes to vets. Local to me we have the Pet vaccination clinic who offer reduced rates and I get mine wormed and fleaed there. At least half price to the high street vets.

Anyway, good luck!