What's a reasonable amount of money to spend on a cat per month?

For the two boys, I spend between $45 - $60 a month. But their both really spoiled. A lot of that is food and cat litter but I do like to buy them toys and such.

Originally Posted by mzjazz2u

Gosh, I don't know why I seem to spend so much less for my three. It's perplexing me!

And I buy what is considered premium food and litter.

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I buy so many toys, take them home, she won't play with them and so I go out and buy more. Also, I buy Dori at least 1 collar a month. She has quite an assortment

Tanya thats me as well with the toys!.

Theres at least two in every room but most of them are in their room and the kitchen

I do that with toys too, so much so to the point that I turned a shoe box into a cat toy box for the smaller toys. I have a real problem turning away from anytoy that I think the boys might like.

Ocassionally I'll buy the more expensive toys like the Cat Spa (they didn't like it at all.), electronic mice that are radio controlled that Samwise loves and such but I think I'm finally running out of those. At one point my friends call my apartment Cat-topia because of all the toys.

I have three cats, and figure my expenses look something like this:
1 15 lb bag of Chicken Soup =21.99/month
3 Nutro NCC pouches a day at .53 a pouch=1.59*30=47.70/month
2 40 lb bags of Swheat Scoop at 21.99=43.98/month
4 gallons of Poland Spring water= 6.00 a month
toys=approx 10-20 a month
treats=approx 5 a month
So that is a total of 144.67, or approx 48.22 per cat per month. It can vary a little up or down, and a lot with vet bills, but that seems to be about average. The bag of CS does last a bit longer then a month, but I don't quite know how long, so I figured it in as a monthly expense.

That's right, I forgot about the daily spring water!
Traci, I also frequently find the more expensive and fancy the toy, the less Sierra is impressed! Her favorite toy is still her simple cat dancer!

Sam likes playing with quarters, scraps of paper, grapes and elastic bands. All of which I pick up when he's done.

Nutro pouches are $.79 each here. Cans of the gourmet food are $.69. They each get two servings a day. I give them Royal Canin kibble, a small bag lasts about a month, that costs $14.00. So not even the most expensive food, its fairly pricey.

I think that it would be a lot less expensive to feed them kibble, but I am still trying to get their weights down, so its wet food twice a day for the forseeable future.

And my estimate of $45 a month each does not account for toys. That's just basic necessities. But that is in Canadian dollars, and at Canadian prices.

Wow, this has been enlightening. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one moving towards debt for my pets.

As some of you pointed out, the cost is worth it, which I heartily agree with. The benefits of living with these creatures far outweigh the costs.

Maybe I'll get another cat anyway. I'll have to think on it a little more.

In the mean time, I think I'm going out and buy some of those little sponge balls my cats love to play with so much.

Buying the toys is the fun part for us.

Then we bring them home...place them all over the house for the Cats to find...and give the cats the paper bag the toys came home in to play with.

I never really thought about it. I have 3 cats. I know that I buy at least 3 bags of litter a month. I usually buy about 2 bags of dry Iams a month, and then each cat gets a can of wet food a day. The wet food usually costs about $1 for 3 cans, so I spend at least $7 a week on wet food. I would imagine I spend about $50 a month all totalled on all 3 cats.

Originally Posted by grampngram

Buying the toys is the fun part for us.

Then we bring them home...place them all over the house for the Cats to find...and give the cats the paper bag the toys came home in to play with.

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Cats are like small children... they'd rather play with the packaging than the toy. Right now I have one paper bag propped open in my kitchen, the lid from a large box lieing upside down in my living room, and a small square cardboard box on its side in my bedroom. I leave those all out, because the cats prefer them to the cat tree and cat beds that I bought for them.

Originally Posted by grampngram

Buying the toys is the fun part for us.

Then we bring them home...place them all over the house for the Cats to find...and give the cats the paper bag the toys came home in to play with.

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How true!!

We average about $300/mth for our four - food, treats, litter and toys. I have a large toy chest for all their toys. We have separate budget categories for their medical bills, which last year were $1500, so the same was budgeted for this year.

Well, I don't know about the food costs, as I really haven't kept track of how long a bag lasts. However, I have often referred to Red Cat as my million dollar baby, because of all the vet costs. He may not have actually cost a million, but I do know that in the five or so years I've had him, the vet bills have totaled in the thousands. Thankfully, Purdy has not been that expensive, as my retirement funds are limited and I just couldn't afford another expensive cat.

Originally Posted by squirtle

ACK $60/month....... ACK BF saw!

I think Dori needs a part time job

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Hahaha!!!

At least 10-20% of what I earn.

With my impending cat's adoption (I hope, if I am OK'd), I was starting to think about, what getting to young cats would cost. Now that I can see that on average most of you spend $500 a year and have more than one pet, that makes me know that I shoudn't have a problem being able to care of two cats.

Thanks,

Jason

Ok, I must be a super tightwad because if you look at my cost for my one cat per month, it's rather low. I stopped buying toys because she prefers free stuff like paper bags, hair ties, and yarn.

MONTHLY COST

Purina ONE 3.5 lb bag $ 4.69
World's Best Cat Litter $ 9.00
MaxCat Treats (bag lasts 2 months) $ 0.99
$14.68

Vet (yearly) is about $70.00 for checkup and shots.

Originally Posted by twofatcats

However, I have often referred to Red Cat as my million dollar baby, because of all the vet costs. He may not have actually cost a million, but I do know that in the five or so years I've had him, the vet bills have totaled in the thousands.

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If it makes you feel any better, the vet bills for Marshmallow totaled in the thousands after only a month or so of his cancer treatment.


... we'll be paying that off for a long time.

I guess I'm not spending enough... 16LB bag of Purina One is ~$15 and 35lb tub of litter is around another $15, I'd say they each last just over or just under two months... that means $15 a month for Zero.

Oh yeah, there's soft paws too, I go through a pack about ever other month, about $20.

So I guess that's $25 a month.

Originally Posted by MissCharlotte

MONTHLY COST

Purina ONE 3.5 lb bag $ 4.69
World's Best Cat Litter $ 9.00
MaxCat Treats (bag lasts 2 months) $ 0.99
$14.68

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You should buy the 16lb bags and save a few bucks (after you make up for the big rubbermaid bin to keep it fresh).

OK now:

Dry Food - $20
Wet Food- $35
Litter - $10


Total: $65.00 Minimum and toys when needed.

But as soooo many here stated the return is Priceless