To ask how much a cat costs to keep?

[caravancapers]

We are desperately saving for a house deposit but would also desperately like to get a cat. How much do you spend on your cat each month? Anyone managed it on a budget?

Putting off getting a cat until after we have a house deposit isn’t an option as it’s a 10 year project (long story) and we’d like to have a cat while the children (teens) are still at living at home.

We both have very good job security so it’s not a case of one day being in a position were we can’t afford to keep the cat, we just want to see if it can be done on a budget.

We have dogs, cats, horses and rabbits. The cats are by far the cheapest and easiest to keep. I can’t give you a price because we don’t insure and we don’t do monthly work/flea treatments. So our costs are only feed and vets bill if we have any.

I pay £15 a month for his vet plan, which covers flea and worm treatment, vaccines and an annual check up.
Then about £20 for his insurance (he’s pedigree, might be less for a mog) and around £20 a month on food.
The expensive things are when he gets into fights and needs vet treatment, usually around £80 but if he needs a lot of treatment it comes off the insurance.

I have a 16 year old cat. Her insurance is £18 per month. I spend around £10-15 per week on her food. Her flea and worm treatment are £60 every three months. I think people get this cheaper online but I know this stuff from the vet works and I can't be bothered messing around and I don't want infestations. Then her booster are around £60 per year - this is a massive hike because since Covid vets' fees have gone wild. So far she has not ever cost me more but sadly I recently had to have my other cat pts and he used to get in fights now and then (he was neutered) and the cost of treating the infected bites used to be just under my excess...

Her insurance has gone up with her age, btw.

That doesn’t sound too bad. Is the £20 on food pouches or is there a cheaper food you use?

Roughly (depending on any deals on food etc) I spend monthly, £25 insurance (with a low excess), £30 on food/treats/bits, £10 wood pellet litter, £10 flea and wormer, £10ish on misc items such as ear cleaner/over the counter meds for diarrhea/hairballs/wipes. That's usually a worst case month coming in at £85.

I paid the 99 quid one off thing for life with the vets which gets a yearly checkup and boosters. Her flea treatment is monthly and parasite 3 monthly. About 44 quid for 3 months worth of something. Insurance is about 18 quid a month with John Lewis and her grub. Spay was a one off fee

Then sundries on top.

Our cats cost us £15 each in vets plan which covers flea/worming treatment, annual vaccines and 6 monthly check ups. Then about £20 a month on food (that’s for mid range food, so the more premium felix and purina biscuits). We used to insure them but after working out how much it would cost over their likely lifetime we decided just to cross our fingers and pay vets fees when they come up (which so far has been never for 6 cats in 9 years!)

Ours is £40 a month insurance, £15 a month for the vet pet plan (which covers her flea & worming treatments and two health check ups a year) and about £20 a month for food. So about £75 a month - and she’s worth every penny 😊

Our small rescue cat is 18 and still loving life. Cost is probably about £10 a month for food (she has a small appetite). That's it.

I'd forgotten about the microchip - that used to be free (after insertion) but to keep her registration alive the company now charges £10 a year.

Two cats - I feed good quality food (Orijen dry & Untamed wet) which averages out at about £50 a month (£25/cat). I buy Advantage flea treatment and Drontal dewormer from Viovet or Pet Drugs Online, works out about £3-4 per cat per month. Cat litter is probably another £15. Annual vaccines are now free as I paid for a "Vacc4Life" scheme, it was £99 each at thd time but we have saved more than that by now.

BoyCat is 5, I managed to get a very good Fixed for Life premium when he was a kitten so whilst its about £45/month it will never increase. Unfortunately nowhere seems to offer these now.

GirlCat is nearly 15 so her insurance is pretty expensive - it now over £90/month. It doesn't cover a preexisting heart condition or dental treatment (we paid around £450 for a dental last year). It did cover her busting her knee a couple of years ago, requiring £2k+ orthopaedic surgery, without a quibble though.

My 2 cat rescues are indoor. So i self-insure but save into a separate account. £150 pcm. Litter is about £5 per week, food: regular £15 a week, but one of the cats likes meat so she gets a share if we are cooking meat. Her teeth were £500+, occasional flea/worm £20 each. I haven't dared yet investigate the chip charges. Such a cheek to charge after the law changed.

My 2 - £11 & £14 per month insurance (female is cheaper. The fact Both are neutered makes them a bit cheaper than if they werent) i paid for vacs for life so £200ish quid for first vacs but annual boosters are free.

Fleatreatment - I get mine from amazon £18 for 6 treatments which is like 12 weeks for both. Works out £6 a month

Food. Back of whiskers biscuits - usually 3 bags a month for 2 of them £5.25 a bag
Wet food - they get a pouch a day, £20 a month atm but their fav punches are £2 for 6 in supermarkets at moment. You could do it cheaper.

So £65 a month for 2

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.

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.

This is all really helpful. Thank you everyone!

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 🐈‍⬛

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.