Please tell me honestly how much your cat costs a month including insurance

[Squirrelsnut]

I would love a cat, so would DS. DH is understandably worried about the cost of living crisis and is reluctant to take on more expense.
So please tell me how much a youngish cat costs to look after.

We have two cats. Indoor only. Adopted at approx 1 year old, had all their jabs and were neutered at the rescue centre, paid £150 for them both.

£35/month for food and litter, and the occasional new toy.
£20/month vet plan for check ups, jabs, deworm and deflea.
No insurance - our vet bills in 5 years have been £30. We have a credit card for emergencies.
Cattery is £15/night if we go away (or friend does it for the price of a bottle of wine if it’s just a weekend as cattery won’t allow collection on a Sunday).
Probably spent about £100 initially on litter trays, food/water bowls and some toys.

Food is about £20 per month, which is a mixture of tins (was cheaper than pouches) and dried food. Flea/worming treatment is another £5 on average. Outdoor cat so no litter.

I don't have insurance, and total vet fees for the last 2.5 years is £0. I got her from a rescue so all early stuff (injections, spaying etc) were already included in the price. I save £10 per month towards potential vet costs though.

It's a good question. I have enough put by to pay a large vet's bill. And for a very large bill I would take a pragmatic approach.

Our cat cost about £25 a month in food and £30 every 3 months for flea treatment.
No insurance and we only vaccinate her if she’s going to a cattery (twice in the last 5 years).
She spends most of her days either in our garden or next doors, she’s not really a wanderer but she only toilets outside so no litter costs either.

We've had her 7 years and she’s cost us £500 in vet fees in all that time, once when she got a tummy bug and she was vomiting and needed antiemetics and once when she got a throat infection and needed painkillers and antibiotics.

Interesting to see such very different vet prices through the thread!
In North Wales, neutered 18 month Siamese approx costs per month = £80 give or take a bit.
wet food x 3 pouches per day = £33 plus extra treats
dry food + toys = £10
tracker subscription = £8
Insurance = £14
vet prescribed flea and worming treatments & annual vaccination = £12
litter = £5
cattery fees per night (if needed) £10 for one, or £14 for two.
Admittedly, both my cats are fussy eaters so above price is based on Sheba and an expensive dry food, but I don’t go for the super-expensive grain-free/raw meat wet stuff. I’m also in a popular holiday area where a lot of drivers are (to put it politely) unaccustomed to country lanes, so they both have trackers and good insurance which obviously adds to the expense.
I’ve had other cats previously who were happy to eat tins so food prices can reduce drastically. I’d say, without going OTT, but allowing for some extras, you should budget for about £40 pm.

£10 vet plan (fleaing, worming, annual check up and jabs)

£14 insurance

£20 food (1box dry food per week plus treats)

£44. Absolutely worth every penny, he makes our lives lovelier every day.

About £50 but I'm a bit slack with worming tablets. I think that cats are a good pet. They aren't overly expensive and they are good company.
Our dog however costs about £170 a month. Defo go for the cat!

We have 2 cats. One is more expensive than the other due to being more accident prone.

So I'll tell you the expensive cat cost first

Monthly
Food - £15
Insurance £15
Pet plan at vets £20
Extra medicine £10 (this is the annual cost worked out monthly)

Pet plan at vets covers his annual vaccination and regular flea, worm and tick treatments but we mainly bought it because we could have unlimited vet checks.

This car insurance started at £10 but has gone up annually due to being accident prone

Cheap cat
Food £15
Insurance £10

That's it.