How much do you spend on your cat?

[Pissyduck]

We are looking to adopt a cat over the next few years, and I just want to pick people's brains about how much it will cost to cover everything.

Ideally we'd love to adopt an adult cat, and would consider a senior cat. We have no children and don't live on a busy road so might be able to provide a nice retirement home for an older cat. I think we will want to pay for insurance rather than just paying any vet costs when they arise.

So tell me about your cat, and how much you spend on

• insurance

-vets bills not covered by insurance -flea treatments etc -food -anything else!

We spend (toddler cats) £26 on insurance for both a month. £2.50 on box of wet food a week , £1.50 on dry food a week. £5 on litter bag a week.
What we didn’t factor in tho is that they’d ruin our carpets by scratching … and chew through wires …. That cost is endless!!

£4.50 wet food a week and £2 every 2 weeks on dry food. £11.50 flea and warm treatment per month. No traffic where we live so no insurance but got a very deep cut and cost us £250!!!! ( got infected). No cat litter. £45 for week in cattery when we go on weeks holiday.

Oh also yes costs for holidays… we pay £8 a day for someone to come and feed the cats twice a day and clean their litter trays

Check through insurance conditions carefully. Insurance for older pets have lots of clauses/ conditions which means you can end up spending a lot even if you have the insurance.

Many independent vets have been taken over by large companies, and vet costs have gone up considerably.

I stopped paying insurance on my cat as he was very healthy. When he got to 14 years, he suffered from triaditis, then was diabetic for a year before he died. It was horrendously expensive, but to be honest, I still still think I broke even.

I think it’s best to buy good quality wet and dry cat food. I’m not sure if I would use chemical flea treatments now, but I really enjoy grooming cats.

It’s a lovely idea to take in senior cats. Rescues have a hard time finding homes for them. (Black cats seem to be unpopular as well).

I am cat free at the moment, but seriously thinking about some fostering. The cinnamon trust also fosters cat that belong to elderly people who have to go into hospitals etc.

We don't have insurance, we paid £35 for vaccination this year, £5 a month for flea/worm and food is £23 a bag and lasts 6 weeks. She does old blankets and sofa rather than cat bed and refuses a litter tray so uses the corner of the lawn (no digging for this princess). Insurance would be £34

I have two kittens, 7&8 months and they do cost me a bomb tbh. I'd say £8 on litter a week sometimes more if I get the more expensive brand to stop the smell🤢 5 boxes of x12 Felix pouches £20/week (one is extremely picky so can't go own brand). 2 cartons of kitten milk per week for picky one 70p each (he was taken from his mum too early so very delayed). Bag of kitten biscuits one a month £5. They're indoor so no flea or worming monthly unless I suspect they get them from being out on lead a few times a month. At least once a month I buy a pack of £3 toys as they shred them to bits or mysteriously lose them. Can't go without toys as they are very boisterous😂 All in all probably around £28 weekly sometimes slightly less sometimes slightly more. They are spoilt rotten though and have about every cat toy on the market so I can't complain. The initial cost of them is ridiculous though, with the two of them I probably spent around £400 for all injections and chips etc

I have 1 cat and 2 kittens and never had insurance. The vet asked if we'd like to take it out, I said no and she said it was probably only worth it for dogs. Our current cat has only been to the vets for illness once in 16 years and that cleared up without treatment.

We spend around £10 a week altogether for their food. Flea treatment is around £15 a month for all cats. You can get good deals online

Flea, worm and cat flu injections cost £70 each. I expect spaying/neutering will be a bit more but I get free microchipping too so really not alot

About £10/week on food. Then monthly:

£10 on litter
£13 on flea and worm treatment plus jabs (on a scheme)
£25 on insurance (10 years old, top of the range insurance)

Plus about £10 a day on pet-sitting/cattery for holidays.

£137 insurance
£28 vet plan
£10 food
£10 litter

I'm surprised at how little some spend on cat food!

I have two cats and on average spend about:

• £20 per week on cat food (greedy sods!)
• £2 per week on cat treats
• £20 per month on flea and worming treatment
• £15 per month on insurance
• £13 per month on cat litter

Per cat.
Insurance - (not quite sure!) About £25?
Vet plan (covers vaccinations, flea treatment, money off drugs/treatment) - £15 a month
Food - I probably spend about £10 per week on food per cat
I reckon maybe £50 a month, you could spend more/less but insurance is worth having. Costs can very quickly rack up - one of mine was unwell recently, blood test £200 a pop. Had 2 so far and another one in a few weeks time..

Mine is a 15-year-old recently adopted senior with CKD so I do have him insured but this is unlikely to cover much -

Insurance - £45/month (but this was a 20% off offer for one year)
Medical bills - at the moment he needs biannual blood tests for his kidney disease so around £150 a time. Plus cost of his vaccinations. Last month had an infected wound from a previous injury which cost over £250 to get treated.
Food - £100/month. Needs a special renal diet
Litter - £20/month

Plus he gets lots of other toys and treats but he's completely worth it!

Two young adult cats. Approx £30 a month on food, £10 on litter, £5 per cat on insurance. We don't bother with flea & worming treatment as they're indoors. £12 per day cat sitting when we go away.

Vets bills are where it can really add up, as so many things are excluded from insurance. Both cats have had tooth problems and we discovered that dental is excluded from many insurance policies, so we had to pay out of pocket £200-500 for dental extractions last year. Even a vet consultation is about £40 a go. One of the cats is on a steroid cream at £38 a tube. Annual checkup and vaccinations can be £100. All of this is less than the excess on the insurance policy or not covered as routine so we've never been able to claim it back.

We self-insure by putting money aside in a savings account every month and use this for regular vet visits. Actual pet insurance would kick in if one of them needed major surgery, had a chronic illness, etc, where treatment can run into thousands. The benefit of maintaining an insurance policy even though they're young and (relatively!) healthy is that anything that occurs later isn't a pre-existing condition so is more likely to be covered. Something to consider with an older pet.

We have three adult cats (aged 2, 5 and 6).

Litter - I buy in bulk online and spend £37 for 60l which lasts 3-4 months on average.
Insurance - £25 for all three of them. That gives them each 15k lifetime cover with Tesco.
Food - around £10 a week - a mixture of Felix wet and prescription dry as one of them has bladder crystals.
Medication - £10 per month for the youngest. Not covered by insurance as it's mostly herbal stuff but it helps.

They were all neutered and chipped as kittens and I don't vaccinate as they don't go outside.

I buy wet food, biscuits and litter in bulk so it's cheaper. Petstop do 6 for 5 on his kitten food.
Flea/worm treatments are 38 ish euros for 3 months.
Insurance is 16 euros a month.
I can't resist buying him new toys and I have no idea how much I've spent on them in the last five months.
Filters for his water fountain are 28 euros for a box of 12.

I have one cat that we rescued, approx 5 yrs old. Spend approx £12 for a large box of wet food (40 sachets) lasts approx 1 month from Costco wholesale
Large bag of dried IAMS when on offer for £8 - last approx 3 months
£60 yearly booster vaccines
£22.50 for approx 6 months worth of flea and worming treatment through vets uk
No pet insurance
No litter tray
Try to give a tin of premium chicken/ tuna weekly costing 70p a tin for a treat.
We have a cat flap from the utility where the cat can sleep, come and go as he pleases. Set up water dispenser and gravity dry feeder for when we go on holiday. Great for shorter breaks. The neighbours keep an eye out for him. Also my MIL pops round daily to give wet food.
Rescues make great pets, mine always seems so grateful. Good luck with choosing your new companion. 😀

I have a senior cat (he's 16 this year).

Insurance £66 per month (high as he's an old cat who has developed an old cat medical condition)
£3.50 a week on wet food (whiskas 11+)
£16 a month on dry food (purina 11+)
Flea treatment is fairly cheap. Maybe £5 each time through an online Vet store.
Cat litter £1.89 a bag which lasts about 2 weeks. I buy cheap so I can replace it more frequently as being old his bladder and bowels arent what they used to be.

Two 9 month old kittens:

• £50 a month food (both wet and dry)
• £10 a month litter
• £25 a month insurance for both
• £30 a month pet club (so jabs, worms, fleas, 6mth checks and as they were kittens also microchip and % off neutering)
• £5 a month on toys

They've had dodgy tummies the last week or so and the amount of ££ I've spent on chicken, fish fillets and cans of tuna is a bit eye-watering (as well as the £120 odd on a fecal sample examination... noice!)

Buuuuut - would spend double that if I had to as they enrich my life beyond measure.

Insurance 2 cats £21.50

£28 on wet food per month

£10 on dreamies

£16 on dry crunchies every 3 months

Cat litter 10 per month

One 4 year old cat, adopted 4 months ago.

£27 a month insurance. Went for the lifetime plan as we don’t know her history and didn’t want any surprises.
Food: about £10 a week. Very fussy cat.
Flea treatment: a few pound a month.
Sundries: have bought several automatic feeders that are never quite right, various toys she doesn’t use and a very expensive cardboard cat scratcher which she adores.

She is worth every penny, as a first time cat owner I would highly recommend getting a cat. Our Dcat is an awesome addition to our family and we all adore her😻😻

As much as she wants me too, she’s a total despot.

Just £10 on Cat litter