To not allow my dp to get a kitten?

[Monica2012]

my dp and I live together. We have no kids yet but do have 3 lovely rodents that we keep as indoor pets. My dp has wanted a kitten for ages, and now his friends cat has birthed a litter, they have offered us one for free. I'd also love a kitten but with the guinea pigs an mouse I have the feeling it wouldnt work out so well! Also, with regards to vet bills, cattery costs and insurance, I've told him he'd be responsible for sorting and paying for all that, and he's fine by it. Should we get a cat or not?!

I don't know about guinea pigs, but we had a cats and hamsters for years with only one ill-event, when my mum left the top off the cage and the inevitable happened.

As far as money goes, cats aren't too bad. We may be lucky that ours like Lidl and Aldi cat food best, which is £2 a bag and lasts about a week. Insurance is about £12 but I think our cats are more insured than they need to be, and our vet runs a healthy pet club, which for about £12 a month pays for vaccinations and worm and flea treatment, which works out cheaper than paying for the treatments individually.

In my experience (6 cats over 25 years, some concurrently) they're pretty low maintenance. We bribe with wine ask a friend or relative to pop in and feed them if we're away, and if it's only a couple of nights I've used an electronic cat feeder in the past. Litter trays only last until it's old enough to go outside. If you don't hate them, you'd probably get fond of one quite quickly.

Cat + guinea pig works fine, ime, cats don't seem to work out that it's a rodent or something they'd like to kill. Our cats sit in middle of guinea pig run & completely ignore them.
The mouse won't live that long, will it, max another year? Or do you want more mice in long run? Cats did kill my pet mice, so no way I'd let them come close to meeting. But it's only a short-term problem.
My cats cost £5 week each and falling (big expenses were adoption fees + neutering).

Only get the cat if you are 100% committed keeping it for life. Cats can live for 15+ years, and it is really unfair to take it while young, and then get rid of it when its older and therefore less desirable and more difficult to rehome.

I have two cats, and plan to breed mice in the future. I don't have any mice at present though, so can't comment on the interaction. If the cats were too interested in the mice, I would probably keep a cat-free mouse room, but I don't know if you have the space to do this.

Lol Geraldine, my dh Is besotted about our young cat, he brought smart price biscuits for our kids and best prawns for the cat.