2 cats on a budget - any advice

glittermonster

I've just split up with my partner and we have 2 cats, (and a 1yo son).

I'm just trying to cut the costs of my cats so I don't have to rehome them!

They are 3 and 2 years old, girls, indoor cats - they are insured with argos both for about £22 a month!! then £30 food (iams and the like) and £8 cat litter (sainsburys ultra clumping)

I will slowly get the them used to cheaper food, that shouldn't be too hard. can anyone suggest good cat litter to try, I prefer stuff that clumps!

Am thinking about ditching the insurance.. putting the £20 into savings I've never claimed in 3 years they've never been to the vet ill. unless anyone can suggest a cheaper alternative.

Thanks for your help ladies and gents

coshboy

I recently ditched my insurance as it was getting higher and higher due to the age of my cats. Now I just put some aside each month and it's mounting up!
On another thread someone recommended Vitalin as a good value alternative dry food. They have a royal warrant and the cat food is £34.81 for 15 kg. Good reviews as well. I know a bag of 15 kg Hills lasts my 3 cats about 3 months but costs twice as much.
I've ordered some to see if mine like it.

http://www.vitalinpetfood.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/VitalinCompletePetFood/_VitapurrAll/280882/Vitapurr

KxMx

As you've had no claims then i'd shop around for a cheaper quote on the pet insurance. You might be able to get a nice amount of cash back too. Would not recommend cancelling unless you could easily pay any bills should they occur- and sounds like you wouldn't be able to. Indoor cats can still have accidents (as a friend found out 1k later, her cat was 4, luckily she had insurance) and develop illnesses the same as outdoor cats.

Touch wood i've never needed to claim on mine, but if Vet bills were to occur I would struggle to pay them, also "self-insuring" would get me nowhere seeing as £10 monthly gets me 7k cover per condition per year.

I don't use clumping litter, but for the one I do buy I shop around online looking for the best price, buy in bulk, free delivery etc

glittermonster

Thanks for your thoughts!

Any recommended insurance companies?

juliebunny

I have several cats and at the end of 2012 worked out that they had cost me around £1 a day each to keep - obviously bulk buying and lots of special offers helps, I'm always on the look out for a bargain for them. This figure includes vaccinations, worming, de-flea etc. No lreally arge vet bills recently, thank goodness but I don't have insurance although I always recommend this for people who couldn't afford a large bill/don't have a nice credit card company or couldn't make life or death decisions without financial considerations.

No expensive toys, they love a cardboard box and scrunched up newspaper! They are indoor/outdoor but do have litter trays.

walwin

glittermonster wrote: »

Thanks for your thoughts!

Any recommended insurance companies?

I've just checked and I pay Axa £11.84 a month for Winnie but she's 13 so it should be quite a bit cheaper for your girls.

I've never had to claim (touch wood ) but I've read good reports from people who have. Also, Axa is the underwriter so your insurance company won't suddenly change as it could well do with Argos.

It's a lifetime policy with up to £7000 vet's fees each year and lots of other benefits.

http://www.axa.co.uk/insurance/personal/pet/

dandelionclock30

I've got 2 cats and Im on a budget.
they have Asda's tiger meat, mixed variety 24 tins for £10.00. One of them has occcasional drybiscuits Go Cat which are a couple of pounds for a big box.I get pet pieces from a butcher which are scraps of meat in a tray for £1.20.
They drink water and semi skimmed milk mixed with water. I dont have them insured but they do have their boosters once a year. I get Asdas clumping cat litter which is cheapish. I also look for deals on the internet for flea treatments and wormers.
My friend has two cats of the same sex and she gets insurance for one of them as they look the same!

lisajane8482

Have you thought about instead of renewing with Argos putting in for another quote when renewal time comes around?

At the moment I pay £5 for my kitten and £11 for my cat (18 months), if I were to cancel and then retake out the policy for the cat it would cost me £8 to insure him. The only thing that puts me off doing that is I claimed on mine for him eating lilies last year and I'd hate to find out at a later date if he had any kidney problems that he wasn't insured due to me cancelling.

Food wise do you wet feed? in one of my posts it was mentioned that Butchers Choice gets good reviews and Wilko's do 6 tins for £2.50. Dry food I'm not sure of as we feed Royal Canin to our cats.

rising_from_the_ashes

coshboy wrote: »

On another thread someone recommended Vitalin as a good value alternative dry food. They have a royal warrant and the cat food is £34.81 for 15 kg. Good reviews as well. I know a bag of 15 kg Hills lasts my 3 cats about 3 months but costs twice as much.
I've ordered some to see if mine like it.

http://www.vitalinpetfood.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/VitalinCompletePetFood/_VitapurrAll/280882/Vitapurr

It might have been me as I did recommend it not very long ago ..... hope your cats like it!

You can also buy 5 x 2kg bags for just over £24 - not quite as big an initial outlay and doesn't increase the £/kg cost a lot

Glittermonster I think I may have responded to you on a different forum? (do you use the same username? mine is different) - but I forgot about the Vitalin when I was posting:o

lisajane8482 wrote: »

The only thing that puts me off doing that is I claimed on mine for him eating lilies last year and I'd hate to find out at a later date if he had any kidney problems that he wasn't insured due to me cancelling.

I'd be careful of doing this as exactly that happened to someone I know not very long ago .... not worth the risk IMHO - otherwise the money you've saved will have ended up costing you an awful lot more!

Ducky101

I pay £5.37 per month pet insurance for my 2 and a half year old female cat, thats with Tesco Pet insurance and i got a £30 Tesco giftcard when i bought it a few months ago.

I used to get branded clumping cat litter but i now get value stuff from the supermarkets, under £2 per bag and neither I or the cat have noticed much difference!

I buy the big 44 pack of Felix pouches from Amazon on Subscribe & Save, thats about £11-£12 per month, then Go-Cat biscuits, 2 packs (approx £4) last a month

kazwookie

glittermonster wrote: »

They are 3 and 2 years old, girls, indoor cats - they are insured with argos both for about £22 a month!!

I'd be ringing up argos anyway and asking / stating things are tight atm, is there any thing cheaper you can switch to / cancell, even if it is not renewal time.

No harm in asking and all that!

Good luck.

£22 x 12 months of the year = £264 worth a try.