Has any one worked out how much it costs to keep a cat for a year. Including everything from insurance, food, injections and absolutely everything . Just interested to see some answers.

I have one cat, I pay £8.40 a month to the vet on their pet scheme which covers vaccs, wormer and flea treatments plus 3 checkups per year and some discounts on other stuff. That plus insurance is almost £270 per year. I spend about £30-50 a month I think on commercial cat food and raw food so in total around £750-870 a year and that's not including toys or if there is a medical issue in which case I would have to pay £80 excess on my insurance or however much treatment is if its something minor thats you can't claim for e.g Arnold had a gunky eye and the vet consult and eye drops cost £45.

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it would be far too difficult for me to work this out because my cat literally eats so many different types of cat food ranging from the cheapest to the highest price just because she likes the variety but I'd love to know how much she costs me. .especially since I've had her for 17 years so far

I originally budgeted £60 pcm per cat, but in actual fact it works out cheaper at about £450 per cat per annum, which includes food, litter, vaccinations and insurance.

This year has been more expensive we paid the £150 donation to get the kittens, £200 for the cost of neutering plus blood test, £200 was also spent on litter tray/litterlocker, food bowls, cat tree, basket etc.

However I am NOT going to put the actual cost inc. toys, as that will just push the figure up to embarrasing levels, and thanks to MoggyBaby and a few others today, my Zooplus rewards account went up through yet more toy purchases

Eeek!

However, the pleasure they give me = priceless!

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I heard an average cat costs 17grand over its life time

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It's a lot like nuts and bolts - if the rider's nuts, the horse bolts!
- Nicholas Evans

How much does having a cat cost.I dont know,I dont want to know,it will scare the s*** out of me.All I know is that I will pay what ever is necessary to keep him healthy,well fed and safe.He will repay me over and over by being a contented,happy cat.

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I never think about it

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How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. - Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.lambchopsiamese.webs.com

I'd rather not have a heart attack, so no Ive never worked it out.

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I would be WAY too scared to even atempt to work this out, plus I think my partner would instantly re-home all my cats if they saw the final total.

I know from seeing my bank statement that I have spent a total of £745 in the vets in ONE MONTH , I have however sadly lost 2 pets this month and so that includes their cremation costs Plus we do not have insurance as with so many animals it's easier and more sensible to put money aside.

I also spent £145 in pets at home yesterday on various toys, treats and food but that was for the dog as well.

Basically the answer is A LOT!
(but once you have a cute little kitty you will barely notice the money and care about it even less)

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Well. There are large differences in calculations, I should think, depending on where you live, whether the cat is indoor or outdoor, and how much you're willing to invest in quality of food for your cat and how much you're willing to buy toy wise.

Insurance can range from £4.50-£15/month depending on level of coverage, so annually that's £54-£180.

Foodwise if you feed high quality dry like Orijen, you'd be looking at £116.80/year (based on Hobbs's calculations on A-Z dry food). If you feed low-quality dry like GoCat, you'd be spending £62.05/year. If you feed high-quality wet food like Grau Gourmet, it's £306.60/year. If you feed cheaper wet food (not necessarily poor quality, because Felix is poorer but more expensive for some reason!) like Butcher's Classic, it's £160.60/year. Obviously this varies by cats vs kittens, and size/weight of cats as well. I haven't done any calculations at all on rawfeeding, since that entirely depends on whether you make your own (and whether you have cheap sources) or you buy some from Darlings/Raw-to-Go/Natural Instinct.

Booster vacs are around £23-£35 per injection per year depending on which vet you go to (and where you live), but there's a vet company that is doing £99 for life per cat, which is a flippin' good deal and I'm sad I don't live anywhere near their branches.

Then you have treatment for worms and fleas. Drontal is £6.49/2 tablets from Pets@Home, so if you treat once every 3 months, that's £12.98/year. Frontline is £27/6 pipettes, if you treat every month that's £54/year.

If your cat goes out for toileting needs, then you may never have to spend anything on litter. If your cat toilets indoors, then you have to spend on a litterbox and litter. Litterbox can be cheap or expensive depending on quality, size and design but it's basically a box, so cheaper ones are around £4. Litter can also vary depending on type. Pets@Home non-clumping wood pellet litter is £2.69/5L, so if you spread that over a month (I don't know it will, more likely to last only 2 weeks but I change my litter tray regularly and use Nature's Gold, which is far more expensive...), that's £32.28/year or £64.56/year if 5L pack lasts you 2 weeks.

Cat toys, scratching posts, cat trees and bedding... boy, there's a huge variation from household to household. Some people spend next to nothing other than £1 toy mouse and some cardboard boxes, others spend hundreds of pounds on their cats. I have a ceiling cat tree for my one cat and all my visitors think that's spoiling the cat, but I see it as a necessity as he is an indoor cat and that's his only furniture (other than his bed, which is on one end of the sofa and his first ever scratching post from kittenhood). If you spend a lot of time on petforums, you will end up spending LOADS because we're all enablers.

There's also cat grooming brushes, clippers, etc, which vary in costs as well.

If you owned the cat from kittenhood, your first year will involve neutering, which is around £60ish, and microchipping if wanted which is around £20. Some breeders will have vacced the kitten, others may not have and vacs are going to be around £40-60 for 2 rounds.

So if you have an adult cat and you have the cheapest insurance and you feed it cheap GoCat biscuits and it goes outside for toilet and you live in a cheaper part of the country, it'll be £206.03/year excluding cat toys/bedding/trees/scratchers/brushes/clippers. I you have an indoor adult cat and you have lifetime cover and you feed Grau Gourmet wet cat food and you live in an expensive part of the country, it's £653.14/year not inclusive of toys/bedding/trees/scratchers/brushes/clippers.

There will be more costs, obviously, especially if your cat is fussy (change of various cat foods that may end up in the donation bin), nervous (investment in Feliway diffusers and Felifriend) or sickly (vet fees that is not covered by insurance, eg excess to pay). But cats are pets and are entirely dependent on their owners for care (despite what the cats themselves may think) and pets are a luxury, so if people can't afford to treat their pets right, they shouldn't be having pets in the first place!

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My lifelong ambition is to be a crazy cat lady. The only obstacle is my OH.

Who will go and who gets to stay? Stay tuned...