How much do adult cats cost to keep?

[WhoeverYouWantMeToBe]

I would love a feline friend for myself and 10-year-old ds.
If I get a cat it'll be from a sanctuary locally that re homes all their cars after they've been fully vaccinated, neutered and microchipped so none of those costs. They ask that a £60 donation made for the actual cat.

How much do adult cats cost on a weekly/monthly basis with things like food and litter? Also what about pet insurance, is it a rip-off or is it better to save that money each month to keep for any unexpected vet trips?

My mum is trying to put me off saying I need to think of the ongoing expense.

[TheHobbit]

Its not a lot. I have two cats. I feed mine on Butchers Choice and for 6 tins its £2.72. They have one each a day so will last 3 days. That's it really. I don't buy cat litter and they aren't insured as yet due to their health and age.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

Cheap as chips really -till you hit vets bills.

Our cat eats dry food only supplemented with wet mice.Flea and worm every so often.We don't do boosters,or insurance.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

I don't buy cat litter -he goes outside.
Oh -castration/spaying is an essential cost.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

Sorry,just saw that neutering is done already....

[putthehamsterbackinitscage]

Food wise spends on what you buy but can be less than £5 a week to £20 if you buy expensive stuff...

Litter for indoor cats - I use clumping and a £30 order from zoo plus lasts at least 4 months for 2 cats, 2 trays

Vacs - I paid for vacs 4 life £99 and no costs for boosters every year....

Insurance - mine are insured on a pays for life policy..... £22 a month for 2 young cats... Excess if they do need anything is £65

Flea n worm treatments £100 a year each from the vet.... Stuff that works and is easy to apply to back of the neck

Toys n treats extra

[putthehamsterbackinitscage]

So for me about £50 per cat per month plus treats....

Well worth it ....

[grunty]

We buy a big bag of Hills Cat Food from the vet and that lasts for ages. Don't scrimp by buying cheap food as quite a few go on to develop urine crystals and kidney problems. Cat litter again, if you buy in bulk it lasts ages.

Insurance is maybe £15 a month (DH pays). A broken limb for example can take you well over £1000 so insurance is definitely worth it in my opinion. We do the boosters as well as catteries won't take them for holidays otherwise. Our vet charges us at cost only though, as my DD used to work there.

[coppertop]

My cat is insured. I pay about £15 a month (maybe slightly less?). He is a relatively low-risk cat as he is a moggy who refuses to leave the house.

After four years of never needing to make a claim, he became ill and ran up costs of £3k+ in less than 12 months. Even if I'd saved every penny of those premiums, it wouldn't have come close to the actual cost of treatment.

Otherwise he's relatively low-maintenance. I buy his food in bulk, which works out at about £15 a month. He needs litter because he won't go out but that's about £1.50 for a 10l bag.

[RubbishMantra]

For 2 cats each month is approximately:

£50 food.

£30 litter

£35 insurance

£15(ish?) toys/treats could be much more

Worming & flea-ing. £10 bought online (Advantage & Drontal)

£100 booster vacs p/a

£200 vet bills p/a (above excess)

So for 2 furry, purry, floofies - around £165 pcm. Bargain they are!

[Corygal]

Mr Cory is insanely fussy and has to have his food and milk varied constantly. Plus he has expensive catsan litter. And he eats way too much.

Even so he costs me 11 quid a week tops.

I can't get vet insurance as he is FIV but as he is an indoor cat he is not that pricy, only needs a thyroid pill at about 20 p each daily.

Worming and flea-ing cost about 3 quid each every quarter, you can buy them in Tesco now. Bargain.

[FushandChups]

Wow - some cats on here have it better than me

Food - about £3 a week (Aldi)
Litter - minimal as he goes out
Insurance - £9 a month
Vet monthly plan which includes flea,worms & annual - £10

Think that totals about £30 if you throw in a pack of dreamies every now and then

Wish I could splash more but honestly, cat is happy and healthy and I feel secure knowing he is covered should bad things happen.

He is currently snoozing where my head should be, gently snoring - the costs far far outweigh the benefits! Go for it

[FushandChups]

The benefits far far outweigh the costs of course - what a crappy typo

[SecretNutellaFix]

My two cost about £20 in cat food and £6 in cat litter every three weeks.

They are house cats and when last they saw the vets it was because they needed to be vaccinated to go into cattery for a weekend. If you are going to let them out, then insurance is probably a very good idea. Mine have always been house cats and we have a contingency fund in case of vets bills.

They will be twelve in February and I hope around for a good few years more.

[sashh]

If you are on a low income have you considered fostering? I did it for 10 years, it cost you nothing in terms of money, you do spend time with them though.

[RubbishMantra]

"the costs far far outweigh the benefits" I think this myself, sometimes.

[MinimalistMommi]

We pay approx £18 per month for cat insurance for life policy from pet plan. Litter is £1.30 from Sainsbury's, a bag last at least two weeks. Our Ragdoll is fed on raw diet and the frozen blocks cost about £6.50 for ten days. Just spent £6.99 on a flying frenzy cat wand thing, the most AMAZING cat toy ever! Our kitten adores it and goes flying through the air after it.

[MinimalistMommi]

Should have said he is an indoor cat so doesn't need vacs etc.

[Arlagirl]

Dry food only here so maybe £10 a month. No litter as she goes outside.
Yearly visit to vet for checkup.

[PinkSparklyElephant]

Harry only eats dry food and a bag of James Wellbeloved lasts him at least a month - £12.
Insurance with Petplan is around £20.
Litter is minimal as he hardly uses the tray but he only likes Catsan.
Vaccinations are around £50 a year.
Advocate (flea and worm) is around £40 for 6 months.
Profender is around £18 for 6 months.

[Kim82]

I have 3 cats. We buy 3 large boxes of whiskas and Felix food pouches - around £10 each for 44 pouches and it lasts a month, we get monthly flea treatment from the vets at £21 and insurance is £9 a month between them. Boosters once a year cost £105 (£35 each).

So for one cat it'd be £10 for food, £7 for flea treatment, £3 ish for insurance per month so £20 then a yearly payment of £35 for boosters.

[ThrowAChickenInTheAir]

Around what others are saying but what really shoves up the cost is the cattery when we go on holiday. About £16 a day so the overall cost of a holiday does go up.

They are absolutely worth it though. We LOVE our cats and can't imagine life without them.

[Fluffycloudland77]

It's really not that much to feed them, unless they live on caviar & goose.

[tiggy2610]

My two indoor kings cost us around £10-£15 a week in food, litter and their dreamies addiction

They are actually really fussy eaters and will regularly turn their nose up at what we put down for them, until we discovered Lidl cat food pouches which they love! Only cost around £2.80 for 12 which is almost half of what we would pay for felix/whiskers etc... their fave biscuits are go-cat indoor which costs around £4 for 900g and lasts a while.

Definitely get insurance. Ours is £15 for the both of them but a few years ago King 2 developed a bladder infection which resulted in an emergency vet stay and 2 nights on IV antibiotics - the bill was over £1500. The wanker vet actually said to us "...here will be the total cost. Or it's £35 to put him to sleep"

[ThatBloodyWoman]

Kim82

Who do you insure yours through?Any problems with them or are they ok etc etc?

[CleaninQueen]

Male cat has specialised food as health problem which costs about £15 for 2 weeks worth.
Insurance is 25 a month. For him
Litter is about 10 a week as he likes expensive crap
About 4 a month in treats
About 10 for him to be flead at the vet
10 for Worming

Female cat
Raw fed 15 pw
22 a month insurance
Litter is about 12 a month as she goes out a lot
About £4 in treats
20 for flea and worming treatment