Running costs - of a cat?
Discussion
I have 3x bog-standard moggy. Get Applaws biscuits and tins of wet food, probably around £20/month, insurance a bit more, indoor cats so they're safe from local scrotes and traffic and don't need de-fleaing etc quite as often. Much better value for money than Sky in terms of entertainment, the youngest one's absolutely bonkers.
Imagine having something like this lot to entertain - fun video! (SFW)
Imagine having something like this lot to entertain - fun video! (SFW)
Mobile Chicane said:
Do cats need washing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyi8ly5dRkUMy girlfriend thinks it'd be cruel and wouldn't consider doing it to our cat, I couldn't stop laughing......
She didn't find me giving this a go funny either (it works btw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTLw75K8RZg
Dry food is great - if they can have it, and if you can leave it out without them pigging on it. One of ours has suffered twice from potentially fatal urinary tract blockage, so needs to be on a wet diet as a preventative measure. He's on Hill's M/D to control his girth, which we buy online.
The other two are on dry food, which they have to be given in another room - he prefers the dry food to his own diet food (obviously) and a moment's inattention door open and he has his face in the dry food scooping it into his gob like a starving labrador. And now the vet says the two girls are a tad overweight, which means switching to a light food and measuring it out instead of letting them have whatever they want. Sigh.
The other two are on dry food, which they have to be given in another room - he prefers the dry food to his own diet food (obviously) and a moment's inattention door open and he has his face in the dry food scooping it into his gob like a starving labrador. And now the vet says the two girls are a tad overweight, which means switching to a light food and measuring it out instead of letting them have whatever they want. Sigh.
blueg33 said:
Again on the insurance side. One of our has a heart condition diagnosed when he was 7 months. He has 2 different drugs each day and a ultrasound scan every 6 months. The Insurance have been paying out a minimum of £100 per month for the last 5 years, ie £6k to date.
His brother was run over and killed and although he was irreplaceable the insurance paid out £600 (his purchase price), which we used to buy a new kitten for my daughter.
Insurance is about £9.00 per month for each cat
This endorses what I said earlier - You should get a young adult mog, rather than a pure bred kitten.His brother was run over and killed and although he was irreplaceable the insurance paid out £600 (his purchase price), which we used to buy a new kitten for my daughter.
Insurance is about £9.00 per month for each cat
Mazda Baiter said:
at some of these costs.Mine is an indoor Bengal.
Big bag of Whiskas chicken dry food (with real chicken flavoured bits
) £7.99. This lasts about 3 months.A few drops of olive oil on the food (keeps her coat shiney) cost is negligable. It might be a litre every couple of years.
Tit-bits off our plates. Negligable cost.
£3.79 bag of cat litter lasts a fortnight.
£20 yearly jabs and the vet says that she is the healthiest cat he sees all year.
We don't buy her toys or any of that crap, when my little girl gets bored with a toy, it might become the cat's.
Most of the time she is asleep anyway.
Once while cycling through the Phoenix Park (Dublin) I spotted a man walking a dog, well I just saw the tail behind the tree...weird tail, so I turned around, and it was a cat on a leash! a little Bengal boy! Amazing.
If your cat has this kind of condition it's probably going to cost you -
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?xl=xl_blazer&v=9C...
Funny, but also sad.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?xl=xl_blazer&v=9C...
Funny, but also sad.
sparkythecat said:
blueg33 said:
Again on the insurance side. One of our has a heart condition diagnosed when he was 7 months. He has 2 different drugs each day and a ultrasound scan every 6 months. The Insurance have been paying out a minimum of £100 per month for the last 5 years, ie £6k to date.
His brother was run over and killed and although he was irreplaceable the insurance paid out £600 (his purchase price), which we used to buy a new kitten for my daughter.
Insurance is about £9.00 per month for each cat
This endorses what I said earlier - You should get a young adult mog, rather than a pure bred kitten.His brother was run over and killed and although he was irreplaceable the insurance paid out £600 (his purchase price), which we used to buy a new kitten for my daughter.
Insurance is about £9.00 per month for each cat
We have had 4 cats in the last 10 years. 3 Pedigree bengals and one moggy. One Bengal has a heart condition, one got killed by a car and the other is fit and healthy. The moggy had stomach, problems all her life.
You cannot possibly make assumptions based on such a small sample. There are plenty of ill moggies and plenty of healthy pure breeds. Plus a moggy is more likely to be inbred than a pedigree, as moggies tend to made pregnant by local cats, who then make the moggies kittens pregnant etc (a bit like rednecks and their cousins). Breeders of pedigree cats go to great lengths to mix the bloodlines. For instance our bengall kitten is 4 generations from an Asian wildcat and has no relatives at all in her bloodline (we have the family tree and its cross referenced), wheras next door moggy was made pregnant by her own brother who lives in the same village.
I like moggies and pedigree cats so I am not biased either way
We have two kittens / cats
Got them both from a lcoal rescue centre
Purchase cost: £60 each - this included neutering and microchipping when both were old enough plus first course of innoculations, de fleaing and worming.
I've set up a direct debit witht he vet which costs £18 per month in total, this covers both cats yearly innoculations, flea treatments for the year, (the decent expensive stuff) worming treatment for the year and two checkups per year per cat.
I totalled up what we'd spend on all of the above and it worked out at almost the same amout as the direct debit - the bonus was i pay it monthly rather than in lump sums.
We have insurance through Pet plan which i think is about £14 per month for both cats.
Food wise - i tend to buy whatever is on offer from the petstores. I'll try to make sure though that they either have a decent wet food or a decent dry food with high meat content in one or the other - so for example one week they may get applaws wet food, or iams wet food which i'll match with a cheaper dry food - ie go kat / whiskas / felix.
Another week i'll have a decent dry food - ie iams and match it with felix or whiskers wet food.
They tend to eat 2 pouches each per day plus a bowl of dry food to share between them. Cost is probaably in the region of £40 per month total.
Treats and toys - bough on a whim really - not spent much at all - a treat to them is some chicken from my plate or similar.
Got them both from a lcoal rescue centre
Purchase cost: £60 each - this included neutering and microchipping when both were old enough plus first course of innoculations, de fleaing and worming.
I've set up a direct debit witht he vet which costs £18 per month in total, this covers both cats yearly innoculations, flea treatments for the year, (the decent expensive stuff) worming treatment for the year and two checkups per year per cat.
I totalled up what we'd spend on all of the above and it worked out at almost the same amout as the direct debit - the bonus was i pay it monthly rather than in lump sums.
We have insurance through Pet plan which i think is about £14 per month for both cats.
Food wise - i tend to buy whatever is on offer from the petstores. I'll try to make sure though that they either have a decent wet food or a decent dry food with high meat content in one or the other - so for example one week they may get applaws wet food, or iams wet food which i'll match with a cheaper dry food - ie go kat / whiskas / felix.
Another week i'll have a decent dry food - ie iams and match it with felix or whiskers wet food.
They tend to eat 2 pouches each per day plus a bowl of dry food to share between them. Cost is probaably in the region of £40 per month total.
Treats and toys - bough on a whim really - not spent much at all - a treat to them is some chicken from my plate or similar.
What are people worming there cat with btw?
Tend to use dual action worming tablets, 1 week 2xwhite tablets, 2nd week Pink tablets, 3rd week White again. But our cat is a cowbay, wont eat them in her food, nor tucked into a treat.
Only way is to hold a mouth open and drop in behind her tongue, although the whole process means very sharp teeth and chunks taken out of your fingers
Someone mentioned to me that there a 'spot on' treatment for worming, similar to 'spot on' fleaing? Anyone had any experience?
Im after a less painful method of doing it.
Tend to use dual action worming tablets, 1 week 2xwhite tablets, 2nd week Pink tablets, 3rd week White again. But our cat is a cowbay, wont eat them in her food, nor tucked into a treat.
Only way is to hold a mouth open and drop in behind her tongue, although the whole process means very sharp teeth and chunks taken out of your fingers
Someone mentioned to me that there a 'spot on' treatment for worming, similar to 'spot on' fleaing? Anyone had any experience?
Im after a less painful method of doing it.
PaulG40 said:
What are people worming there cat with btw?
Tend to use dual action worming tablets, 1 week 2xwhite tablets, 2nd week Pink tablets, 3rd week White again. But our cat is a cowbay, wont eat them in her food, nor tucked into a treat.
Only way is to hold a mouth open and drop in behind her tongue, although the whole process means very sharp teeth and chunks taken out of your fingers
Someone mentioned to me that there a 'spot on' treatment for worming, similar to 'spot on' fleaing? Anyone had any experience?
Im after a less painful method of doing it.
Powder mixed into something strong tasting like tuna or a tablet in a cube of cheese.Tend to use dual action worming tablets, 1 week 2xwhite tablets, 2nd week Pink tablets, 3rd week White again. But our cat is a cowbay, wont eat them in her food, nor tucked into a treat.
Only way is to hold a mouth open and drop in behind her tongue, although the whole process means very sharp teeth and chunks taken out of your fingers
Someone mentioned to me that there a 'spot on' treatment for worming, similar to 'spot on' fleaing? Anyone had any experience?
Im after a less painful method of doing it.
PaulG40 said:
What are people worming there cat with btw?
Tend to use dual action worming tablets, 1 week 2xwhite tablets, 2nd week Pink tablets, 3rd week White again. But our cat is a cowbay, wont eat them in her food, nor tucked into a treat.
Only way is to hold a mouth open and drop in behind her tongue, although the whole process means very sharp teeth and chunks taken out of your fingers
Someone mentioned to me that there a 'spot on' treatment for worming, similar to 'spot on' fleaing? Anyone had any experience?
Im after a less painful method of doing it.
Profender for worms, Frontline for fleas and ticks. Both applied to the back on the neck. Easy and leaves the owner with fewer scarsTend to use dual action worming tablets, 1 week 2xwhite tablets, 2nd week Pink tablets, 3rd week White again. But our cat is a cowbay, wont eat them in her food, nor tucked into a treat.
Only way is to hold a mouth open and drop in behind her tongue, although the whole process means very sharp teeth and chunks taken out of your fingers
Someone mentioned to me that there a 'spot on' treatment for worming, similar to 'spot on' fleaing? Anyone had any experience?
Im after a less painful method of doing it.
Wyvern971 said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Do cats need washing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyi8ly5dRkUMy girlfriend thinks it'd be cruel and wouldn't consider doing it to our cat, I couldn't stop laughing......
She didn't find me giving this a go funny either (it works btw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTLw75K8RZg
plasticpig said:
Wyvern971 said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Do cats need washing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyi8ly5dRkUMy girlfriend thinks it'd be cruel and wouldn't consider doing it to our cat, I couldn't stop laughing......
She didn't find me giving this a go funny either (it works btw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTLw75K8RZg
plasticpig said:
Wyvern971 said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Do cats need washing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyi8ly5dRkUMy girlfriend thinks it'd be cruel and wouldn't consider doing it to our cat, I couldn't stop laughing......
She didn't find me giving this a go funny either (it works btw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTLw75K8RZg
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