How much does your cat cost you per month?

[ATownCalledGallus]

And what does that all cover? Trying to budget sensibly here ...

I have a big Maine coon cat and he costs me about £30 per month in food, £12 in insurance and £11 in a pet plan at the vets which includes his flea and worming and yearly injections.

Oh and about £6 in litter per month (he usually just does the toilet outside but we have a tray for when it’s pouring with rain as he won’t go out then)

DCat is almost 1 year old.

£10/ month insurance - will increase as car gets older
£11/ month healthy pet club (covers all flea treatments, working treatments and vaccinations - cheaper than paying for these separately)
£25/ month (approx) food (1 pouch of Felix a day plus James Wellbeloved dry food)

Cattery is £9/ day if needed

Cat goes outside now so no need for litter tray but that was another expense early on. I'd guess £6/ month for litter and pet disinfectant.

I've paid £90 in vets bills so far for minor issues that weren't worth claiming on insurance for, due to excess of £60/claim

Neutering / microchipping were covered by the rescue centre cat came from).

We pay yearly for insurance (discount for annual direct debit); works out around £6 per month, would be more if we were paying monthly.
£12 per month for healthy pet club at the vets (all worming, fleas, ticks, vaccinations)
Big bulk bag of dried food worked out at £7 per month - cat is quite new and we are still on the first bag.
Tinned food works out at about £3.50 - £4 per month, buying 12 tins at a time, 1 tin lasts 3 days.
Not sure how much we spend on cat litter.

My BSH one year old:
£6 a month insurance
£20 a month dry food (Applaws)
£7 a month litter
Around £10-15 a month treats, eg Dreamies, cat milk, soup etc. All unnecessary!

I have an oldie, who is increasing costing me more money.

£9 pw on pouches and yogurt treats (when I had her brother they had cheaper tinned cat food but she pampered now).

She has hyperthyroidism and arthritis, costs me £90 every 3 months for blood test (to check her thyroid levels), vet checks her over and has taken to either cutting claws back or cutting matts out as she isn't looking after herself. Buying long term medication online costs me around £30-35 pm, it'd be more like £50 pm direct from vet.

Flea drops and worming, ave £5 a month as she doesn't go out much.

We've always put £15 aside each month instead of insurance, other than blood tests have never had any massive one off bills so have never drawn on this.

I forgot to say, she's worth every penny!

£12.99 on vet plan
£16.00 on insurance
food varies, she's not a big eater and I buy a 4kg every other month I'd say so £10 a month
£4 Cat litter

£42.99 per month.

I reckon about £30 a month on insurance, food and flea/worming.

Plus numerous trips to the vets which all came in less than the excess.

Plus jabs.

Plus shit loads of toys.

£38 a month insurance
£100 a month wet food
£10 a month dry food (we buy a £40 bag and it lasts approx 4 months)
£15 a month for litter

= About £163 a month

Then add random amounts for toys / grooming products / cat litter tray liners and cat sitter when we go on holiday

Only one cat.
One very, very spoilt cat.

FluffyPersian - wow, that's a lot on wet food! Which brand do you buy if you don't mind me asking?

10 quid a month vet plan for vaccinations/ worming/ flea.
6quid a month for cat litter
20 quid a month on dry cat food
4 quid for annual cattery stay

X2 cats 80 quid a month treats they like cooked chicken so tend to give them a little of ours. Not currently insured but I'd cover it and they can not access road, no neighbours so little chance of encountering poison etc.

Crikey. I feel a bit mean reading all these. Never occurred to me to get cat insurance. Ours was a stray so not at all fussy about food and spends a lot of time outside.
Food: 1 supermarket brand pouch in the morning, supermarket brand dry food for the rest of the day, maybe £8?
Litter: Tesco value clay based about £2.
Vet: cost of annual injections divided by 12 - maybe £4? Can't remember the cost.
Worming and flea treatments: I order these in bulk online about once a year to keep costs down so I can't remember how much they cost individually. I try to worm her every 6 weeks instead of 3 months as she's a hunter and eats all manner of small rodents.

On the insurance front, I pay 12.45 per month each cat. Lifetime cover, £8k a year claim. £75 excess and 10% contribution.

One of mine got hit by a car last Friday night. Broken pelvis. Surgery was yesterday. Bill as of this morning: £4,500

Even the initial diagnosis would've been more than that!

So, for those of you who aren't insured. Think about it!

Do most people have insurance? We never have.

I've had 4 cats in approx 15 years, still have 1. Currently only 1 cat has ever cost us any money which may have been recoverable on insurance. Must have spent nearly £1500 on her towards the end due to medication and tests etc. It might end up being the same with her sister as I wonder if she's more likely to develop similar problems.

Consequently, with no insurance and 1 cat I think our monthly costs are:
Food - £15-20
Litter - £15
We don't pay for injections as we paid a one off free of around £130 a number of years ago. We don't flee or worm her as she's an indoor cat so doesn't seem much point.

Do most people have insurance? We never have.

Yes - ever since my old cats got sick and needed £2000 worth of treatment within months of each other. They were both indoor cats and previously perfectly healthy.

We could afford it (just) but it wiped out our savings. My current cats have been insured since the day we brought them home! We've never had to claim so far but at least I know we won't be thousands out of pocket if one of them gets sick. It's only £12 a month for two cats.

This has got me wondering : do you need to know how old your cat is to get insurance? Surely you pay more for an older cat, but if you took in a stray, how would the insurers cost it?

£19.26 a month for insurance ( just checked the policy-£231.57 per year) but I got the lifetime insurance with pet plan.
£60 ish every 6 months for flea/ worm treatment from the vet.
£15 month average in food I think - but I tend to buy big bags of dry food ( he won’t eat wet) so it’s easy to lose track.
£10-30 month for his lovely cat sitter if I’m away for a weekend.
£40 -50 on miscellaneous things eg. vet appointments when he eats something stupid- this obviously doesn’t happen every month though.
££££ on toys, games, beds to keep his highness satisfied .... he appreciates none of it 😂😂😂😂
Bloody hell, it really adds up! And I thought a cat was the easy option for a pet 😹😹😹

Approx £6 per month for wet and dry food. Installing new conservatory door with cat flap will cost hundreds though.

£19/month insurance - Petplan, rather more expensive but my vet friends all recommended it. It's just gone up because she's 9.

£15/month on a vet plan that gives worming, flea treatment, injection and an annual check up

£15/month on biscuits - we buy the expensive stuff like Lily's Kitchen, with a really high meat content. Also buy some soups and treats.

Then there's cat litter, not sure how much that is.

Ah yes, + cat-sitting / cattery fees, about £10/day minimum.

Then rarer purchases like grooming brush, scratch-post, toys that she refuses to play with.

A cat flap that only lets your cat in will be around £90, plus you have to fit it/pay a handyman.

Hope DH doesn't see this, or we'll have a nice cat-skin rug.

4 cats
2 old girls. £67 insurance
2 others. £36 insurance
3pouches if food a day each £4.50
Dry food/cat milk £1.00
Total a month for food =£165
Vet bills a few hundred a year
Cattery £500 a year
Probably after other bits around £300 a month for 4 cats.

There's no insurance where I am. Vets bills topped £1000 last month
...it's also around £1.20 for a tin of Whiskas, 80p for a sachet.

I am flying back after the Easter holidays with a suitcase full of food off Amazon

do most people have insurance

We didn't when I was younger and had cats, but when one got run over the bills were horrendous. Nowadays vets are really high tech, with lots more treatment options, procedures, MRIs etc. Bills can easily go into the thousands/tens of thousands. Without insurance you may need to make a difficult decision. Also worth getting lifetime insurance. It goes up, BUT any illnesses continue to be covered, whereas cheaper plans will cover your animal that first year, but after that it's excluded, which is useless.

Cat has only had one emergency vet visit, not covered as it was pre-existing from when she was a rescue cat. It was an easily treatable illness etc but cost us about £150 just for 1 appt and some really basic meds.

£5 flea treatment

£5 insurance (exactly the same as petulant offered but another company....I really shopped around.

£20 -£25 at least in food. They eat a vast amount, always have done, even though they're tiny.

£5 flea drops.

I've paid for Vacs4Life with vets for pets.

So that's £40 each.

They no longer use their litter tray.

They've also got through quite a few collars, scratch posts, beds, toys etc.