How much does a cat cost a year (all in)

Lorian

best MSE treat for a cat is a largish pot planted with some Catnip seeds. they are pennies on Ebay.

NewShadow

I've 3 cats.

I feed a mix of dry and wet, plus occasional raw (but only occasional). I only feed grain free.

Ongoing costs
I spend around £200 every 6 months bulk buying cat food and litter.

I donate £12 per month (total) to the shelter I adopted them from, and in return, twice a year they take all three to be vet checked/ flea treated/ wormed - I would pay for any other treatment needed (but haven't had to as yet).

One off expenses
Four cat litter trays (one per cat, plus one) for £15 each

I bought 3 giant scratching posts (c.4 foot high) for £10 each.

Microchipping, vaccinating and spaying cost £50 each

Have I missed anything?

SensibleSarah

My 4 cost me around £400 each a year for food, insurance & routine preventative treatment. No litter as they choose to toilet outside. I've been very fortunate over the last 12 years as they've had no real health problems etc. Any one-offs, such as cat trees, are additional but last for years.

Neutering & chipping also a one off cost, or covered by the rescue adoption fee in the case of my youngest. Vaccinations for life is around £100 per cat.

My advice is to get 2x rescue kittens. In my experience, 2 kittens are less work than one (and twice the fun) and they keep each other company when you're not there.

OldMotherTucker

hello007007 wrote: »

Hi
I am thinking of getting a cat. I wanted to know how much will it cost me a year, all in, including food, litter tray and litter, milk, vets, insurance, toys, gifts, large cat tree, grooming etc...
I have a budget of £300 to buy it so it will be a indoor cat, as I dont want it getting lost or hurt by a car etc... I dont want to buy the basic cat litter, food etc... I want to go for a medium quailty brand.
How much does your furry friend cost you?

Poor lonely creature - not much of a life! Cats are highly intelligent predators who like to roam.
If you want an 'indoor cat'get an elderly end-of-lifer - shelters are full of elderly cats needing a final home. That'll soon eat up that £300 budget.

rita-rabbit

if you must keep indoors get 2

preferrably young littermates

I haven't costed cat ownership but keep costs down buying food in bulk, litter too. shop around & things like litterboxes can be cheap - I prefer a covered one for mine.

I feed Butchers classic tins & raw chunks of turkey gizzards. I don't believe dried food is good for cats - something I discovered is that it's bad for their kidneys & not good for teeth. raw meat is best for cleaning teeth - non of my cats have had teeth removed & lived to 21, 16 & the remaining one is 14 years.

cheapest litter is short-sighted. saying that so is most of catfood on sale in supermarkets - smells, lots of waste in litterbox & allergies spring immediately to mind. since the transition from Felix & go-cat to Burns dried now to half tin & half raw I can see the condition my my cats improve massively - as well as temperament.

rita-rabbit

getting a cat/kitten from a rescue centre will save you money. generally they will be vaccinated & spayed already. if you get an older cat - used to being indoors the rescue may offer follow up deals for medications.

breeders - more likely to get FIV & there are so many cats/kittens already in existence needing a home it's kind of immoral (as well as much more expensive) to buy from them as it incourages much more into existence. obviously that's my personal opinion.

Trina90

I used to think keeping cats indoors was cruel but have known at least six different cats get run over recently (last year and this year), one of which I witnessed. My parents have had two outdoor cats in their lifetime; one got hit and died, the other lived for 18 years (although eventually she went blind so had to be kept in in latter years). So it is really up to you what you want to do - no one can tell you either way is wrong because both have their upsides and downsides. It is up to the owner what they do and not all cats have to go outdoors (some cats aren't even bothered about going out). I have two Ragdolls that I keep indoors and only people who know this breed with understand why they shouldn't be let out - they are very dopey and not likely to run in the opposite direction when a car approaches. I've had them from kittens so they don't know any different. Keeping an adult cat in (and perhaps a different breed) that has been outside before might be less kind, as they are used to this. They have supervised access to the garden (hoping to get a cat-proof fence or something so they can have more freedom). It's no different from how we keep dogs. People have it in their head that cats are more 'wild' but I wouldn't necessarily agree with this. People are so used to the idea of cats being 'independent' free roaming pets because that 's what we've done for so long. In an ideal world, that would be great but there are so many dangers for them.

My two cost about £30-£50 a month for insurance, food and litter.

I'll just leave this here...:)

NewShadow

How did youse get a picture of my dexter!?!

rita-rabbit

GwylimT wrote: »

Food is around £120 a year (we raw feed)
Insurance £180
Flea/wormer £60
Vaccines £0 (we have vaccines for life vets 4 pets offer)
Litter £40
Pet sitter when we go away £7 per day, so obviously a variable cost
Toys £20 at most

I'm really curious about how you costed it & what you feed?

I'm still transitioning mine & have hit a stumbling block - refuses liver or kidney. But truly amazed how much bone broth can be made from a chicken carcass & how much Mia (my 14 yr old cat) loves it. As she won't eat bone & I won't grind it am supplementing with ground eggshell & bone broth.:T

GwylimT

rita-rabbit wrote: »

I'm really curious about how you costed it & what you feed?

I'm still transitioning mine & have hit a stumbling block - refuses liver or kidney. But truly amazed how much bone broth can be made from a chicken carcass & how much Mia (my 14 yr old cat) loves it. As she won't eat bone & I won't grind it am supplementing with ground eggshell & bone broth.:T

We make our own raw, it works out at around 35p a day for our cat.