How much do you spend a month per kitty?

beccory

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Hi guys, I need some advice and some answers. As I've said in other posts, our kitty is 12 years old but she spent 11 years of her life with various other cats, so while we are at work and while we are sleeping she gets very lonely. So, we would like to get another cat, to be her companion. We have my landlord's permission to do this, and there are no "pet fees" for our apartment complex. My question revolves around regular upkeep costs. We feed our cat only wet food, Iams to be precise, so that runs around $20 a month. Then there's litter, vet costs, pet insurance, toys, and unexpected expenses. I am a full time college student with a part time job- I make only about $500 a month- and my boyfriend, whom I live with, works full time making about $1200 a month. Our rent is $625. I'm just not sure we'll be able to afford a second kitty.

For those of you with two cats (or more, really), how much per month do you spend on cats?
For everyone, do you think it's a good idea to get a second cat, or should we hope she adjusts to single cat lifestyle? Do you think we'd be able to afford it?
Thanks!
 

minxie

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With six cats, I spend about £65 (approx $120) on average per month altogether (that includes food, toys, treats, vet bills averaged out)...

I estimate that it will get slightly cheaper as the four kittens get older. At present, their kitten food is slightly more expensive and their recent vetinary care has been quite costly with health checks, vaccinations (and soon to be neutering).

It will also get a little less costly if I start spending less time in the 'cats' section of ebay!
 
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beccory

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Really? with 6? wow, I was estimating it would cost us about $110 for just two cats, per month. hmmm.
 

solaritybengals

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Actually we budget this out exactly and it varies from month to month. We do a raw food diet and with everything else it comes out to about $80 for 3 cats depending on the month. This does not include vet visits.
 

phenomsmom

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I just got my new girl but the costs haven't gone up much since getting her. The vet bills are adding up quickly though since she is getting her kitten shots. But you can set money aside to help with vet bills so it doesn't come as an unexpected expense.
 

jenny82

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I think you could do it. Do you have anything in savings for any emergency vet visits? I've never really figured out how much I spend per month on my two cats, but off the top of my head I'm guessing $50 per month? I'm not sure. And it's definitely cheaper if you stay away from expensive toys and cat trees. You can be creative in making your own cat toys. Hope this helps!
 

minxie

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Ah I forgot to mention I get discounted food and litter from a handy relative that owns a pet shop! Some months it can be double that (e.g. when I got the cat tree). But if its just basic food, litter, annual vaccinations and toys/collars/treats, its comes to about £65.
 

babyharley

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I'd say about $50 or less a month. Thats food/toys/litterect. Of course its a bit spendier right now since Davidson is in the middle of going to the vet for his kitten checkups/shots, ect. Its not bad tho, really not as much more as having 1 cat. Just double the food and litter!


And as for litter, we don't use as much more than we did when we just had Harley. They only use 1 litterbox.... they won't use 2, only one, so we go thru the same amount that we did when we had only 1 cat
 
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beccory

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Originally Posted by Jenny82

I think you could do it. Do you have anything in savings for any emergency vet visits? I've never really figured out how much I spend per month on my two cats, but off the top of my head I'm guessing $50 per month? I'm not sure. And it's definitely cheaper if you stay away from expensive toys and cat trees. You can be creative in making your own cat toys. Hope this helps!
That helps a lot, thanks! I have about $500 in savings, but the BF has a lot of debt to pay off, which is a big problem. We're probably going to end up getting pet insurance, to take care of the emergency vet visit problem.
Oh and I craft a LOT so making toys is no prob!
 

jenny82

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Pet insurance is a good idea.
I keep telling myself I need to look into that!
 

mirinae

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We buy expensive cat food in bulk and cheap litter in bulk (the cats prefer both, so whatever makes them happy works for us), so I would say on average we spend about $40 CDN a month. We don't buy cat treats, since our cats don't really care for them -- we occasionally pick up sample packs from the vet's office, but they last forever because our guys are seldom in the mood for them. We don't have pet insurance but we are on something called a "Wellness Plan" that our vet offers; it basically gives us a discount on food, medication, treats and toys (purchased at the vet's, of course), as well as all check-ups and vet visits, for a yearly fee of about $75 CDN. The first year we had Oz, I figure we saved that much money and more by being on the Plan, because Oz came home from the Humane Society with a variety of health issues that took some time (and medication and multiple vet visits) to clear up.

It's only really pricy for us when our cats are due for their yearly vet visit: we take both guys together (Oz helps calm Spike down), so we pay for two vet exams and two rounds of vaccinations (if necessary) all at once. Really, though, we'd be paying the same amount of money if we took them separately, we'd just be paying it at different times of the year.
 

blueyedgirl5946

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Our local Farm Bureau sells pet insurance. I went there to ask about it and they told me it was so expensive, more than it was worth.
 
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beccory

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Originally Posted by Bugaboo1

Our local Farm Bureau sells pet insurance. I went there to ask about it and they told me it was so expensive, more than it was worth.
There's a bunch you can apply for online that I'm looking into. they seem to start at about $10/month, with pretty good benefits. Because my kitty is a senior it'll cost more, though... but i think, that, because she's a senior, it's even more important.
 

icklemiss21

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Ummm pet insurance is $40, food is about $60, Litter is $40 and various other toys and treats, probably another $20-30, so per cat, about $40 canadian each... but the cost per cat goes down as you get more as they share toys and litter etc.
 

icklemiss21

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Originally Posted by Beccory

There's a bunch you can apply for online that I'm looking into. they seem to start at about $10/month, with pretty good benefits. Because my kitty is a senior it'll cost more, though... but i think, that, because she's a senior, it's even more important.
If she is indoor only, some plans do not cost extra for seniors, I think its worth it, we would have got into a lot of debt with Scullys various vet bills since we got him two years ago if we didn't have insurance
 

booktigger

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I was only working this out the other day, i spent £50 on wet food that will hopefully last a month (although I did overbuy as I paid less per box if I bought more, but molly keeps pinching Toms cheaper food, so will buy less next month and mix it), £20 on dry food, which tends to last about 3 months, litter is now costing me £5 a month (the rescue are getting it me at their discount, I might start using it for the fosters which will cost about £10), insurance is £25 a month, and I am going to start giving the vets money each month to pay for the annual blood tests and boosters so it isn't a large lump sum, which I think (although they haven't got back to me with prices) will be about £22 a month. This is all between 3 cats, and doesn't include toys, as to be honest, I have bought so many that dont get used, I am going to try and stop buying more. I dont suppose £120 ish a month is that bad for 3 cats!!
 

furryferals

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I'm not psychic,I just see through people
I am not even going to attempt work it out

Royal Canin for meir,Purina pro plan senior for meir,James wellbeloved for the 'others'not to mention the Chicken breast,

I know if I did work out the 'finances' it would be more than what I spend on myself,not that I mind at all,
I just don't want to feel Like I know why my kitties laugh at me
 

urbantigers

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At the risk of giving myself a huge shock (good job I was sitting down) I've just calculated that I spend about £100 ($188) per month on my 2 cats. That includes insurance, regular vets bills (vaccinations plus cost of one consultation per year per cat), cattery fees (averaged out to a monthly cost), small toys and, of course, food and litter. It excludes one off expenses such cat trees, unexpected vets bills (only pay the excess due to insurance), neutering, cat carriers etc. A large proportion of the montly total is taken up with wet food (about £30) which is expensive. I actually think I was quite conservative with that as I've calculated that on the cheapest brands I feed Jaffa and special offers - I do often feed him more expensive stuff. Mosi's kitten food costs more than the adult food I'm feeding Jaffa.
 
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