I regret getting a cat

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It is too expensive. Annual vaccinations, insurance, flea and worming. I wish I hadn’t got her to be honest. How do poor people afford pets?

I’m wondering if my cat is heading into a thyroid situation as she’s 15 and getting thin. Can you tell me what to expect? How much, how often?

I got mine vaccinated as a kitten and for the first few years but after that I stopped. Immunity from the vaccines probably lasts a good few years once they’ve had a few.
I don’t flea and worm treat regularly. There is actually evidence to suggest that over treating with flea treatment is making the fleas resistant to it. There really is no need to do it every single month. I just do it once or twice over the summer months.
I do have insurance. Because you never know if they will get sick and injured and I don’t have the £1000’s it would cost in veterinary fees to fix it. That’s the one thing I wouldn’t be without. We are so ill informed in this country the cost of healthcare because we have the NHS. Healthcare for us and for pets is expensive.
My friend is currently on a drug which costs £40,000 a year!

Our cat doesn’t have any of those things and she’s managed to reach 12 without going to the vets, apart from being spayed and vaccinated when she was a kitten.
Shes an outside cat but has never had fleas or ticks.
We’ve never bothered with insurance either.

Pet ownership hasn’t become more expensive but the amount of unnecessary stuff the vet guilts people into paying for thesedays is ridiculous. People have started treating animals like children.

My cats are probably the least expensive of our animals. But we have multiple horses, dogs, rabbits and reptiles.

But yes, pets are expensive. Most of my earnings, after my bills, go on the animals.

I don’t have insurance on my pets. It’s a relatively new thing - we never had it when I was young. I had it fur my dig but it hit to £70/month and I’d never made a claim so o stopped it. He got mast cell cancer but it was £1200 to fix and at 13 if it required chemo I wouldn’t have done that to him. My cat needed an eye op which was about £1300. Both were cheaper than if I’d been paying insurance all this time.
When you get a pet you should research first. Food shelter and an annual check up plus flea/worm treatment at the minimum and that in itself cost a fair bit. Throw in the odd vet visit for whatever, a pet sitter or kennels, and god forbid something major like a chronic illness, car accident or operation and it will soar. It’s about £1000/year to keep a cat, add another £400 for insurance. The trade off is the companionship of a beautiful creature!

I've had cats pretty much all my life and we have never bothered with pet insurance. We would have paid out far more in insurance premiums than we'd have ever got back in claims. You could always set up a savings bank account and put £5 per month into that instead.

They definitely need flea and worming treatments. You do not want a house full of fleas, or your children catching toxoplasmosis.

They should be vaccinated too as that is the responsible thing to do, not only for the health of your own animal, but to help prevent disease spreading among other pets in the local area.

I disagree

I don't either - dogs need it because they go out and about with other people and animals around, but cats generally tend to stick to their own territory even if they go outside. Yes some wander, but you have to decide what your individual cat does. I'm paying £30 a month for insurance atm, but I'll stop it when she gets older.

We don't insure ours.

They're as expensive as you want to make it. Ive got 5 cats that have been accrued as strays over the 15 years. Ive paid insurance all that time but I've stopped it for the older 2 as I've never once claimed on it and its shot up to a ridiculous cost per month. Flea and wormer I use johnsons, its great stuff. I also spray around with indorex a couple of times a year. Food is felix dry and wet , I buy in bulk once a month when in offer.

Vets try and sell all this useless stuff that doesn't need to be had . My cats are all vaccinated from kittens upto about 5 years old then I've not bothered. Nothing wrong with them . The older 2 are at the age now where if something serious were to happen or an impact in quality of life over what I could cover on a credit card with a decent limit I would have them pts.

Why? My cat got urinary stones when he was only 2 years old. Indoor cat, good quality food, super healthy. If he hadn’t been insured it would have cost me about 2k! And it’s super common in cats.

I had another cat (female) who developed a liver problem when she was 5 years old. She wasn’t insured. That cost over a thousand.

Please ask yourselves if you could afford a bill for up to 5k if your pet had a medical emergency. If the answer is no then please get insurance! I have 2 healthy indoor cats and still pay £20 a month each for them. It’s worth every penny to know they’d be covered if they fell ill.

Supermarket treatments are useless. Please don't do that.

You absolutely should de-worm your cat at the very least.

Our cat had his vaccinations and gets flea/worm when needed. Super cheap food. Pointless scam to do it through the vet every month.

Off the shelf flea treatments don't work. However there is an argument that we over treat for fleas. Cats can go many years without ever getting fleas. However, if they do get them, then only the stuff from the vet will get rid of them.

Why didn’t you think about whether you could afford it before you got one? It’s not rocket science to realise cats need vet care, consider what you’ll do if you go away etc.
People acting like this is one reason why there are so many cats in shelters.
I’ve no sympathy for you TBH.

My cat at the moment doesn’t have fleas or worms so no need to flea or worm her.

I've had 3 cats all lived to around 18 never had insurance hardly ever went to the vet. Never needed too. Only had kitten vaccinations. I get advocate from the vets but get a prescription so I can get it cheaper online.

If you don’t have insurance, do you have the funds to pay for treatment. We claimed over £4,000 in one year from our insurance company for our cat when she was eight years old. Thankfully successful surgery and no ongoing issues.

No not really because of ing a cat is so commonplace and I didn’t realise I would have to get monthly flea and worm treatment from the vets. Didn’t think insurance would be so much.
it’s reassuring that so many on here don’t do that though. How often do cats catch fleas? If they get fleas, and you have to treat the cat, do you then have fleas in all your soft furnishings and on you?

I’ve rescued her from a shelter.
So many people on low salaries have pets so I didn’t think it would be that much.
im on minimum wage myself.

If your cat gets fleas you will need to Indorex the carpets etc. And would be bitten. Plus it’s horrible for your cat. And if they have a flea allergy you could be looking at more vet bills.
The things you are describing are basic pet ownership costs. Where did it come from? Rescue? Hand it back? Honestly doesn’t sound like you even wanted a pet.

I have four cats that go outdoors. No fleas at all since 2019 and no treatment given at all during that time. When we've had fleas in the past we've treated the cats with vet quality products and treated the house with Indorex. It's a bit of a pain - but doesn't take long to clear them.
You still haven't mentioned anything positive about having your cat though.

We vaccinate and flea/worm drops from vet. She eats dry or wet supermarket food. She does get matted fur so we have a small battery clipper. We would not go down the route of tests/regular drugs, operations. We have the view that if an animal cannot be cured/prevented from pain then it would be PTS time.