To ask how much a cat costs to keep?

Cats aren't cheap, but to me they're worth it. Go for a moggy, not a pedigree and adopt from a rescue. If it's your first time with a cat, I'd try to get one that's at least 12 months old - from a rescue, it will already be chipped and neutered and it should also still be very active and fun, but less chaotic than a kitten!

I probably spend 30 pound a month on food for both of them, as they have specific needs. Then insurance is 60 pound for both.

I would get a good quality cat scratching pole and plenty of toys. Dont waste your money on beds 😂.

Had my 2 cats for 20+ years. Literally cat food and flea treatment, and cat litter occasionally as both went outside. Oh and a cat flap. Vet costs were £200 so worked out at £5 a year to each cat.

Mine are both chipped back to the separate rescues. 1 rescue realised they were being charged and has transferred the chip to me. Any changes from now on I have to pay a charge. Probably including the correction of both my name and the cat's name! The other rescue not heard a word.

I pay £13/month insurance, I think roughly same again for his health plan which covers flea and worm treatment from the vet. He is fed smilla wet and scrumbles dry which is more expensive than basic cat food but not much really, maybe £1/day on food, max. So maybe £50/ month. We did buy the AI prey catflap though which was £400 🤣🤣

ETA that we have a reciprocal agreement with our neighbour that we feed each others cats when we're away. It works really well. And if we're both away at the same time then other neighbours are happy to do it. So that is free.

This, our insurance is about a tenner for a moggy.

The only thing is you have to factor in that if your cat develops a sensitive stomach or any ongoing issues this may be a bit more expensive as special diet / meds cost a bit

Cats are well cheap in comparison to a dog for example. We pay about £30 a month for insurance & pet plan (it gets you cheap neutering & it includes flea, worm & vaccinations). £18 bag of food lasts 6-8 weeks, £20 pouches every 20 days (we give 2 per day) and some treats. Had a couple of vet trips for £100-150 each time but we have had him more than 2 years so not too bad.

Things to consider.

• holidays - cattery is around £12-15 a night
• prone to gingivitis on their teeth (biscuits & teeth brushing helps)
• prone to not drinking enough & having kidney issues. Wet food & running drinking water helps. We have a great cat fountain
• decapitated mice & birds are terrible. We moved house a few months ago & now he does it all the time. Prior to this it had happened once only the first night we brought dd2 home from the hospital!
• might trash your house as a kitten

Also really recommend an automatic biscuit feeder. We can leave our cat for a day or 2 if necessary with a neighbour popping in to give him wet food.

We have 3 cats, £44 per month insurance, £38pm for food - grain free as one cat has an allergy. I was £389 at the vet a few weeks ago for annual vaccinations, worming, flea and tick treatment for all 3 - not covered by insurance. Regularly flew and worn treated every month at £34ish. I paid for the treatment at the vet recently as we found a tick on one of our cats. 🐈‍⬛
Cats are wonderful and my children love them so much. We have had them for 8, 7 and 4 years. Eldest DC is 6 and the cats respond when he shouts 'babies' - all 3 come running 🥰 usually because they think they're getting fed

Mine is pretty eye watering for a cat, but she's old, is on medication, specialist, food etc.

Insurance: £55 a month (will only pay 80% after the excess now)
Food: her specialist food is about £50 a month
Supplement: May or may not help with her kidneys, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt £30 a month.
The rest of her vet spells after the insurance is at least a few hundred a year, plus some expensive dental surgeries.

Ah yes I forgot about cattery fees which are £14 per night

I pay about maybe 20/30 quid a month for food. She’s 14 now and I’ve never paid insurance because honestly, she’s needed the vet about 3 times in her life, I just take the hit when she needs to go.
i get flea stuff from some pet pharmacy online- I can’t think of the name off my head and tend to stock up. That’s literally it. She’s a happy little moggy ❤️

Ah yes, @2catsandhappy, the £80 handmade Etsy scratching post that he refused to even look at, let alone touch 😕

I went to the pet shop today and got massive bag of cat litter and her usual food. Both last about a month. Cost: £50

Pet insurance with Waggel is £17 a month

Vet visits not very often, just for a check and flea/worming treatments: about £35

When she was a kitten I had to do her vaccinations and spay her but I was surprised how inexpensive that was. Maybe about £300 in total.

She does like toys and I buy her something every now and then but those are cheap.

I love her. Best decision I have made in years.

I have two and they cost me about £100 a month in total - that's for food (wet and dry), flea and worm treatments, and standard vet bills. There are other things on top like vet incidentals, treats, and cat sitters when we go on holiday (about £14 per day).

Cats are quite cheap as long as they are healthy.
My cat died last night. We've had over £800 of vets bills over the last 6 months. He was 15 though.
It's cost me £230 to have a private cremation so I get him back.
Sorry to put a downer on it but costs do mount up as they get older.
You should also factor in holidays, unless you have a friend/relative to come in twice a day you need either a sitter or cat hotel.
Ive just pause £112 for our sitter to come in twice a day for a full week.

Glad you’re weighing up costs before getting a cat. Mine costs
£19pm for vet pet club which covers his flea, wormer and annual vaccinations
£130pa for insurance
£40pm on food -he has a mix of both wet and dry
£20pa for microchip registration
£5pm on sundries such as treats and toys
£30pa on litter (we have a tray but he rarely uses it)
all in I’d say we spend approx £1000pa not allowing for adhoc vet visits we don’t claim for

We paid about 20 quid at pets at home to chip.

16 yr old male moggy so monthly he costs
£60 insurance
£60 medication
£20 wet food
£7.50 lick e lix for administering medication am and pm
£10 dry food and treats
So £150 a month not including any trips to the vets for extras, maybe once every six months that’s another £150 on average. The insurance pays us back for the medication as it covers ongoing illnesses & just about levels out. But it’s all up front costs.

My boy doesn’t like pouches or wet food so he just eats biscuits and lactose free milk (I just buy Tesco’s own, no need for special cat milk).

Oh and he has the odd roast chicken dinner! He loves a bit of chicken.

All the above.
Then there is the food refusal. Will not eat the food they devoured before.
The cat litter they will not step on.
The litter box they will not go in.
The scratching post they ignore.
The climbing entertainment tree house they walk past to get to the cardboard box.
Catnip and toys.
Collars.

So the bit where they are training you up, the costs can mount up.

The local donation basket in my local supermarket used to do very well out of mines rejects.

I spend about £50/month on food (Wild Freedom, Cosma etc), £18.99/month on vet plan, but stupidly only £15/month on insurance, so the claims limit of £2K/year and no dental cover has meant about £3,000 across two years on dental extractions and excess/overspend on a chronic condition. But he was a rescue who moved himself in while in quite a bad state so it's probably not very representative.
Research insurance more thoroughly than I did. They pay out happily, but the policy is quite limited.
He's worth every penny though 🐈‍⬛

It very much depends on the animal but you must have insurance. My last cat (now RIP) cost me about 5K and that was after insurance paid out. She had a lot of medical problems over the years and lived to 21.
The insurance paid out 20k or thereabouts.
She had to have special food which was very expensive.
It's also essential to get them vaccinated as they can get horrible and very expensive diseases from not being vaccinated which is what happened to that kitty before I adopted her, hence the medical expenses.

Our cat is 13. I pay (I think) £20 pm for the vet plan - vaccinations, flea / worm stuff and health checks and a similar for her insurance. Just paid £250 as a result of an abscess in her face caused by a bite although can claim most back on insurance. To be fair this is the first injury / illness she’s ever had.

shes starting to get a little stiff with arthritis so have been discussing long term anti inflammatory to help with this - she has been on this to help with abscess and it has deffo made her less stiff.

we paid to have her spayed - can’t remember cost.

she is very cheap to feed as the only thing she will eat is Purina One biscuits - have tried fancier things but she refuses them - she’s eaten this her whole life. It’s about £13 for a big bag which lasts maybe a couple of months. The vet says it’s actually a decent food and her teeth are in amazing condition.