How much to keep a bloody cat?

[OfficiallyUnofficial]

Because we suddenly have one. Used to have cats years ago but no pets for a while now, too busy with work and 3 young DC.

Anyway DH has come home with a cat that his old "mate" was going to put down because he's a cunt is moving. Not on the top of my "stay in touch with" list now.

So, we have big house and garden, rural so roaming room but it'll have to be hard to take on the local farm cats.

Mate says she's spayed, chipped and vaccinated.

So if I give in and keep the cat what kind of cost are we talking with litter, dry feed (apparently), vetting, insurance etc? How can I check she's spayed and vaccinated? How do I re register the chip?

Help oh oracles of cats?

He says she's 8 months ish.

[Godotsarrived]

Ask for the name of the vet she was registered with. They will be able to tell you if she has been vaccinated and spayed. If not make an appointment with a local vet to check her for spay scars and assume she is not vaccinated. Visit and re start would cost about £99 in my local vets. Flea treatment and worming about £5 a month. Dry food 89p a week from Aldi ( works fine for my two) insurance about £8 a month. Cats are cheap :)

[MilkTwoSugarsThanks]

First thing is a trip to the vets to get her checked over.

Tbh cats aren't very expensive, unless you want them to be. They can cost a small fortune in Dreamies... but only if you enable the addiction

Shop around for your insurance, but get more information about her from your vet first.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I'll have £5 on her not being spayed, neutered, vaccinated or ever having seen a vet in her life.

He needs to transfer her chip to you by contacting the company that it came from.

Litters not too bad, they usually eschew the covered cat tray you buy for privacy and wee in the neighbours front garden where everyone cat see & judge you for not providing a tray.

Flea and worm stuff, private prescription off vet and buy online.

Carry boxes are cheap in Wilkinsons.

Well done for taking her on.

[cbigs]

Can we have a pic? What's her name?

[OfficiallyUnofficial]

He name is now tuna, chosen by the kids (she came without one ).

I think that's her staying isn't it? I have a cat.

[NeedACleverNN]

No. She's obviously miserable and your clearly don't know what you are doing with her.

Better send her to me to make sure

enjoy your new cat op

[Fluffycloudland77]

Yes, you have a cat named Tuna. She needs to stay inside for a couple of weeks so she doesn't get lost.

She's a gorgeous little cat.

[cbigs]

Awwww tuna is lovely!!! congrats on your new family member.

[OfficiallyUnofficial]

Thank you all I shall o doubt be hanging around asking stupid questions for a while!

[NeedACleverNN]

Tuna is a fantastic name for a cat!

I wanted to name Toots Sushi but dh wouldn't let me

[BagelGoesWalking]

Definitely keep her in until the vet's checked if she's spayed or not! Otherwise, you'll be having a lot more than one

[Fluffycloudland77]

Stupid questions are ok with us. I can't imagine she's had the best time if she wasn't even named.

People on here take more time naming cats than their children.

If she starts miaowing really loudly and writhing around on the floor she might be in heat.

If she hasn't been neutered it's a flipping miracle she's not had a litter already.

Your Dh is a lovely man for rescuing her. Lots of men wouldn't have cared.

[Penfold007]

OP it's too late Tuna had already chosen your family as her new home. Tell DH to get her medical and insurance details then a quick check in with a local vet. She is lovely.

[MilkTwoSugarsThanks]

Aww OP, she's lovely!

I've had cats all my life. I still ask "stupid" questions even now!

Tuna is a fab name - your kids can be proud of that one

[RubbishMantra]

Nice one OP for adopting her. He probably got her free off Gumtree or suchlike as a "surprise" for his exGF, and she's eventually realised what a twat he is, and left him. Hence the move.

Poor cat, didn't even bother to give her a name.

Do you have a Pets at Home in your area -usually situated on a superstore collective type place. They have an in-house vet and are very reasonably priced, about £65 for both sets of jabs....But beware of the up-selling - ie - I'll give you this for cleaning her ears. Poor DH would believe they were giving him a goody-bag of free stuff, then scratch his head when presented with a huge bill. They're very good if you can practice "No, I don't need that" before you go.

Oh, and toys. They can be anything from a scrunched up bit of paper to (my favourite) anything from Purrs In Their Hearts. Except the valerian toys. They stink like mouldy feet, washed with Gorgonzola.

Congratulations on your new family member.

[OfficiallyUnofficial]

Oh balls I've just lost an hour of my working day playing with the sodding cat

[NarcyCow]

Aw : ) We used to have a friendly local stray we called John West.

We budget 50 a month for our cats, including food, litter, accessories Christmas and birthday presents and regular vet stuff. That covers two of them.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I didn't know if my stray had been vaccinated so the vet did them all. He had been neutered ( would've been 40 quid) spaying is around 60)


£10 per month plan with the vet- flea and worming treatment,claw trimming and 10% off vet visits.

£6 per month insurance.


About £ 7 per week food.


Cat flap so no litter tray.

Microchip cat flap £80- gulp!

Microchip - £10

Cat tree -£60

Toys- £20

Dyson Animal handheld to cope with moulting -£200


Congratulations!

[iloveeverykindofcat]

Cute cute cute. Excluding the cost of catios/expensives outside protected areas that nutters like me some people choose to invest in, cats are not expensive. If you can get her on a good raw meat diet like Nature's Menu (works out about 90p/day per cat if you have good freezer space) that will save on future vet bills. My other cat eats Thrive because I'm ridiculous she's fussy and its high quality, which is about £2 a day, but don't be a sucker like me and get her hooked on the expensive stuff.

Aside from that

• Spay and first checkups/any vaccs that need doing - about £100. Agree that vets in Pets at Home or similar are probably cheaper.
  

• Insurance £7-10 pounds monthly
  
• Cat litter about £15 monthly
  
• Flea and worming about £25 annually if you get Drontal/Advantage online. If you can pill the cat, it works out much cheaper than getting the spot on from the vet
  
• Toys/misc - a few pounds monthly, mostly because I like buying things for them
  

That's it!

[Wolfiefan]

I agree with ilove. The cheap cat food is not ideal. Get her on a high meat content if you can and preferably grain free. My two won't touch the high meat content so they are on Felix wet food but a good(ish) dry food.

[greendiary]

Well done on saving Tuna. For spaying/micro chipping please speak to your local Cats Protection - they often do deals to get both done for a minimal price.
For instance one of my local CP groups are celebrating National Microchipping month by chipping cats for £15 and neutering them for free (they normally only neuter cats in their care) so it might be worth asking!

[tabulahrasa]

As a warning it's pretty hard to tell if females have been spayed, so plan on keeping her in until she either goes into heat or you can rule it out if you can't get her current vet's details.

[NeedACleverNN]

We just started using the natures menu raw frozen nuggets!

Toots loves them and she has had no reaction on them either

[iloveeverykindofcat]

It's good stuff. I order just enough at a time to get free delivery. The only downside is freezer space.

[DontCallMeBaby]

BIL has just acquired a cat under somewhat similar circumstances. Apparently you must buy her ALL THE THINGS thus putting other family members to shame with their barely adequate cat care.