To ask how much a cat costs to keep?

I have a boy and a girl and insurance is the same for both (£100 a year each). And it’s quite a good plan.

food is £15 a month from Amazon (for both) but we do dry food only. Litter is £20 a month - but ours share one big tray. We did do the one tray each + one extra for years but they just kept using the same one all the time so we now just have one giant one.

ours are indoor mainly so don’t get into scraps (other than with each other). Annual check up and vaccines are about £60 each.

If you intend letting the cat outdoors then I’d recommend fitting a cat flap that works of the microchip which costs approx £170.

Yes to be fair I checked back and boy cat costs £15 a month and girl cat £8 a month. I then get discount for having two and discount because my home insurance is with the same company. That is good insurance and they are young. It could be lower or higher and many people don't bother with the insurance... I'd be concerned if one of them developed a chronic condition like diabetes... without insurance that will be a lot on an ongoing basis to foot ths bill. Or ofcourse a big expensive op. But I'm more worried about an ongoing condition.
They are absolutely worth all their quirks and I wouldn't be without them.

The costs are basically..
Insurance (goes up every year)
Worming bi-monthly (quality brand)
Antiflea monthly (quality brand)
Food - the average cat eats 3 wet sachets a day or a combo of dry food and sachets.
Scratching post - replace bimonthly
Cat Litter (and 2 litter trays needed for 1 cat)
Assorted toys

good advice here

also @caravancapers we got our baby via RSPCA and microchip, all health checks and neutering came for free !

amazon has fab offers on wet and dry food

we get a particular Amazon brand for dry food, not only it’s super cheap but apparently delicious (around 5 neighbourhood cats come daily for that particular treat 🙄)

xx

Approx £30 a month insurance
About £45 in food (wet and biscuits)
£15 every 4 months for flea treatment

Though there are cheaper insurance and food options, they are pretty cheap to keep.

I just searched back on another thread I put their Insurance details on.
MaleCat is more :
Our latest Tesco quote was £172 for female (from £136) and £293 for male (from £231)

% wise he's quite a bit more .

My cat is a fuss bug and only eats food that doesn’t smell. £9 for 12 tins and he eats 3 per day plus a bit of kibble. So £2.50 per day on food c £75 plus insurance currently £22, plus vet health plan £16. Total £113 ish.

I think my boy costs slightly more for insurance but it's negligible. Boys are more susceptible to urinary problems but kidneys seem to get most cats in the end.
I will says boys are significantly cuddlier in general so horses for courses. If you like an aloof independent majestic being, females may be better, if you want a gorgeous softie lap cat, boys tend to be the best bet. Not an exact science but not just anecdotal.

Most ££ for ours is the Cats Best litter , mine have 2 huge trays ....and no they don't shit in the neighbours gardens , they come indoors , do their biz and go out .

Most things are a 1-off but x2 for two cats
The cats were £80 each , chipped&neutered
Cat door set into a new glass panel
A few trays to find the best ones
Big tower / scratch post
Carry boxes

We haven't used Catteries for these two , DC are adults living at home . Our MaleCat would go into orbit in Cattery or a CatSitter . He doesn't even like a plumber or electrician coming in !

DD and I had guinea-pigs before , they cost a fair bit on hay ,pellets, vegetable . Vet fees not so bad but finding a Cavy Savvy vet was trickier

We buy wet food without cereals, and our moggies are very healthy and the wet food helps avoid bladder crystals and other dehydration issues. At roughly a can per cat per day, multipacks from Asda or Morrison’s work out at £8 for 12 cans.

we haven’t done vet insurance though I do think it’s a good idea, but we have savings that would likely be more cost effective for us, since none of our cats have needed vet care until they were extremely ancient. If you are on a budget then insurance is a better idea.

Flea treatment can be an expense but you can either get it as part of a vet plan, do a standing order with Pets at Home or Amazon, or just bulk buy.

They are very cheap unless you have a scrapper.

My 11 year old Bengal costs me about £90 a month. £55 on pouches for cats with urinary issues, £10 on lickelix to mix in the wet food to make her eat it! £5 on urinary biscuits, £12 vet plan for flea/worm treatments and £28 insurance.
She also goes to a great cattery when I go away that is £25 a day but all of this is worth it when you take into account just how much pleasure I get from her.

Each month:
£12 for the vet club where I get 2x yearly check ups, vaccines and his flea/worming treatment
£23 for insurance (pedigree)
At least £30 for food/treats etc
£20 cat litter
He's only one so still gets toys and various things like that bought for him. So I'd say around £15 - £20 a month on that

Our cat (who we had to have put to sleep about 6 weeks ago) cost us about £110 per month in her latter years, not counting pet sitters when we were on holiday:

• £50 on insurance from age 15 (cheaper when she was younger). We went with Many Pets who offer free video consultations 24/7 which we found very helpful
• £30 on premium vet club which included boosters, flea and worm treatments, and free consultations
• £20 on food - Hills prescription diet, first for obesity when we rescued her and latterly for kidney issues. We've always just fed our cats a high quality complete dry food which, we're told, helped keep their teeth very healthy (and helped minimise dental treatment which can be expensive)
• £10 on good clumping litter (which changed my life 😃)

Oh and insurance £6 a month

I have two cats but when we had one it was £15 a month for vet plan including jabs and flea and worming prevention treatment, food probably a fiver every week or so. She has one pouch a day and some dry food. Then cat litter every month and some liners. Not much at all.

We have 2 - don’t insure them. £35 for food a month. Odd bag of litter. Pay a friends teen to pop twice a day if we are away abs bond iv mine can feed then. They are telling you not to flea preventatively now, so we worm and do boosters.

I have two who cost me approx. £1500 a year for both. Not including care when I'm on holiday (£10-15 a day for both) and set up costs (probably around £200-250 plus vaccinations and adoption fees). The £1500 covers insurance, food, flea and worming treatments, litter.

I probably pay around £100 or more per month (altogether) for my 2 cats, but the food I buy is quite pricey and they are fussy.
Insurance costs around £35 for the two of them. They are 8 now. I don't allow the cost to keep creeping up every year if they don't have anything I need to continue cover for - I cancel and start again to get the cheaper price. They tried to significantly raise the cost after I claimed when my cat had a one-off injury by calling it a 'condition' - it was 6 years ago and no issues since.
When I go on holiday family members stay with them.
They have the odd trip to the vets which can be expensive as it usually comes out of the blue. Dental work is the most expensive as it often isn't covered on insurance. I had to pay £750 for one cat to have extractions.
They are lovely though and I wouldn't want to be without them.

Oh and just to say my kittens were only 12 weeks old when I got them. The rescue gave us a voucher which covered the cost of neutering. The rescues are often overrun with kittens, so don’t feel guilty if you want to get a little one.

Do you mean like the one on the ad below your post. I have done very well with nearly unused scratching posts at boot fairs or local Facebook groups. Boy cat loves them; girl cat - only the stair carpet will do.

It can vary quite a bit depending on how much you want to spend on food and insurance. I got 2 kittens this year (both moggies from our local rescue). The initial cost was a cat tree. It was a nice one from Zooplus which I think was about £140. Then there were feeding bowls, litter trays, claw clippers, cat food, litter and toys.

Ongoing costs:
I buy them nice food, so mine get a mix of wet food from Untamed and dry food from Royal Canin. Ive started to add fish oil to their wet food. One bottle lasts more than a month. So monthly cost estimate is:

Insurance £36 (for both cats) I’ve insured them with a high level of cover of up to £20k per cat). Male cats cost a lot more to insure than female cats.
Wet food plus oil: £65
Dry food: £32 per bag
Healthy Pets Club: £32 (for both cats)
Cat litter - I use cheap wood pellets which are about £10 per bag. I probably get through 1 1/2 to 2 bags per month.

You could do it a LOT cheaper than I have. They can have cheaper food. I think the Sheeba Kitten wet pouches are about £5 for 12 pouches. And I think you can insure them for a lot less than I have.

I do get a multi pet discount on the wet food, insurance and healthy pet club.