monthly cat cost

[pinkmanbitch]

I'm in the process of relocating the 'street cat' to a permanent home (there is a thread in chat if anyone fancies reading). It seems to be going well so far .
I have told the new 'owner' that I will pay any costs that may arise. I tried to calculate his food and came up with around £26 a month (2 whiskas pouches and a bowl of tender&crunchy go cat per day. ish). Would that be about right?
I intend to set up insurance for the cat too; does around £7 a month sound right? For accident and health insurance?
He's (roughly) 10 or 11 and seems in perfect health at the moment.
Thanks

We have two cats and buy:

12kg of Purina cat biscuits every three months £44 (delivered by Amazon)
4 x 12 tins of asda fish flavour cat food per month @ £5

So about £100 every three months for two cats which would be about £17 a cat per month (I think!)

One of my cats eats loads, the other not very much.

Neither of ours are insured but if boy cat has a fight and ends up in the vet with an abcess it can be £60 to treat and that's not covered by insurance.

Flea treatment and working stuff is about £10 per cat per month.

Annual shots are about £40-50.

If the new owner is on a low income they might be able to use the PDSA.

Oh and toys, bed, brush, blankets....

Worming not working.

And insurance only kicks in for big stuff, £60 generally doesn't even pay for the excess.

bed/ brush/ blankets/ toys are accounted for, I moved them up to the new home a few days ago. He had previously been living in a neigjbour's shed (fed and watered but with no permanent home).

It's just the disposable stuff I'm wondering about really. I thought £26 a month seemed a lot for just food for one cat but according to my calculations, that's right! plus another £3 or so for treats.

I wanted to get insurance for him because he's getting long in the tooth and although he's been very healthy up until now, who knows what he'll develop in his old age. Plus he lives on a busy main road so I fear him being run over.

Do you need to de-flea a cat to prevent fleas? He's never had them to my knowledge but maybe he should have monthly spot on to make sure he doesn't catch them.

thanks for your reply!

I never even considered worms . do you get tablets for that?

thanks. can I buy worming tablets in a shop? I'm sort of optimistically thinking that this cat has never seen a vet or had any flea/worm treatment in 10+ years so...maybe he's some sort of super immune cat... prob not.

he would HATE to be put in a box and taken to the vet for just a check up but do you think he needs that?

actually, in order to sign up for pet insurance, does he need to be registered somewhere?

Advantage flea and tick stuff is £25 for three treatments, one a month.

Worming tablets are quite cheap.

I'd look at bulk buying food online and getting it delivered monthly or three-monthly. Saves a lot of money and less hassle.

We don't need cat litter but again, buying in bulk if needed is cheaper and easier.

I put his details (inc age) into moneysupermarket and accident plus health insurance came up at around £7 per month which I thought was very reasonable

Yes take him to be checked over. His teeth, eyes and ears need to be looked at as well as his general health.

And get him microhipped.

A lot of insurance companies refuse to insure a cat older then 7-8 years and premiums and excess can be quite high for the ones that do insure.

Ok I guess once he's relaxed and become used to his new home we can take him to the vet for a check up (any idea of the cost?). full length gloves will be required .

If you have only been quoted £7 a month I would check what the excess is and also upper limit pay out per year. My cat was at the vets a couple of weeks ago with a bladder issue and whacked up a bill of nearly £400 so it can soon add up.

About £40 to £60 for a check up. They can give you the flea stuff too.

To get him in the box, put the box on its end, pick cat up by the scruff, push back legs in box (cat will assume the star fish position), drop him in and shut box.

You wil have no issues getting him back in to come home again :o

Cat costs can vary immensely. My old cat had two packets of whatever was on offer and about 3 cat crunchies a day. Never ill, was de flea'd about 4 times a year (not monthly, never caused a problem) and wormed 4 times a year. No cat litter as went outside. Not insured. Cheap.

New cat - got from Cats protection. Aged 10. Has since developed diabetes. Thank god for pet plan insurance. He is insured for life so his diabetes Will always be paid for - many companies only cover for 12 months. Total cost so far in 3 months is ?1200!!!!! Petulant have paid out no quibbles. The cost Will go down once he's stabilized.

Insurance ?20 per month
Dry food ?15 per month
Wet food ?36 for 48 pouches - only has half a day. (he's on special diet, this is the cheapest I've found it)
Insulin ?13 10 days
Plus syringes and sharps bin
Wormer and flea treatments.

I can't recommend pet plan enough.

I would say your cat doesn't really need two sachets a day if you want to cut costs. Mine was having one but at the price they are he's on half now with as many biscuits as he wants.