If my cat had been 12 or 13 when he got so sick I would have had him put down. It wouldn’t have been fair to him to go through all the torture of the medical care if he didn’t have at least another 5 years or so ahead of him to enjoy the life I’d be saving. But since my cat is 4 I am not going to put him down for something that can be fixed for a few thousand dollars. I chose to adopt him and bring him into my family. I care for him, feed him, scoop his litter, sleep in bed with him, etc. every single day. He comes running to the door when I come home from work at night. I made the choice to bring him home and I have no problem taking responsibility for him. I would not ever give my cats away because I was moving or have them put down because they had a fixable medical emergency. I can understand why other people would do those things but I just can’t. My conscience wouldn’t let me.
Hmmm. We have three, and this year we’re probably going to wind up spending around $1,500 for them.
Of course, one of them is a new one and had added expenses of his snip-snip (feral rescue kitten) and treating all three for the earmites he brought with him (the rescue group failed to treat him for them - of course, they also told us he was a “she”) that brought up the total some. They added about $600 to the bill for the year. Also, we sprang for the Pooping Machine (autocleaning litter box), which was another $200.
We go through about one honking bag of Science Diet every 6 weeks ($35 bucks a bag), and two of the large containers of litter a month ($10 bucks per container). So that’s $110 every other month or $660 a year, give or take. We probably spend 10 - 15 dollars a month on treats and random toy acquisitions, so our yearly cat budget for three still comes in under $1,000 (discounting new cat acquisition costs).
I’m with WhyNot on the subject of large vet bills, and I love my kitties dearly. It’s possible I might spend more than $500 on any individual animal vet care if (and pretty much only if) it was essentially a one time deal in an otherwise healthy cat (who would return to health as the result of a procedure). This is because I’m certain cats understand the misery of medical procedures and equally certain they don’t understand why they’re required to undergo the misery, which makes it pretty much torture.
One other item you may need to budget for is pet sitting or boarding when you travel, if you do.
Also, are you prepared to have your furniture damaged by claws? Because that is a distinct possibility. We go with slipcovers around here.
Keeping your cat inside will keep it safer and healthier, lowering your cost per year but most likely increasing total cost of ownership, if you will, since the cat will probably live longer.
I think the best value in acquiring a cat is often from a shelter with adoption fees. We paid around $100 to get a young spayed female with all shots. This is often cheaper than a free kitty where you get the vet work yourself, and less hassle. With a good shelter, it will also have been screened for health problems.
Once, when looking at the prices for those hypoallergenic cats (7K apiece, last time I looked), I compared the cost vs. benefit.
A year of psychotherapy, at 100 bucks a week, = 5,200. Two years = 10,400. The cat is likely to last longer than that, so just looking at the psychotherapy avoided, we get payback in less than 2 years.
Obviously there are costs with owning a cat. Throw in an extra grand a year for food and veterinary bills (most cats don’t cost that much at the vet, at least not in the early years). and after 2 years, that hypoallergenic cat has cost 9,000. Still less than the psychotherapy for those 2 years. And that doesn’t take into account the savings in stress-reducing pharmaceuticals, automative costs (higher fuel usage due to driving while stressed - I find this myself, and Mythbusters bore that out - also the increase in tickets / accidents due to DWS), heating costs (turn down that thermostat - a well-chosen cat will come to you to warm him up and in turn add warmth to you)…
OK, that’s all slightly tongue-in-cheek, but I have genuinely heard quotes of about a thousand bucks a year for owning a cat or dog, averaging out costs for veterinary bills and food.
BTW, we didn’t even seriously consider plunking down 7K for a hypoallergenic cat. If it didn’t work out and the animal did aggravate my allergies, the risks were too high (severe risk to my asthma and the kids’, and then we’re out a fortune for an animal we’d have to get rid of).
You joke, but my cat has made me a lot happier than any therapist (granted, none of them have done a thing for me, so that’s not a very high bar). Now if I could only get him to stop attacking everything that moves - which includes me, often when I’m fast asleep and rolling over in bed.
You buy your cat toys? My cat used to play with the cut off end of a guitar string. I even taught her how to play fetch with it. And she loved empty plastic garbage bags. If you’re looking to save money, you should never have to buy your cat a toy. 
Elderly cats are expensive. The first ten years, apart from vaccination and spaying/neutering, they’re cheap & trouble free. I wish I could say that about any vehicle I’ve owned.
Get the cat. A young one.
I’ve never bought a cat toy before this in my life, actually, but they were sort of an impulse buy. She has a ball thing that spins a feather around and a “fishing line” with a “fish” on it, and then I had to go and buy something for my niece’s cat, too, since I felt bad and they’re being quarantined from one another for now.
There are few things more hysterically funny than causing my kitten to leap for her fish, bounce off the edge of my bed, then do a back flip back towards me only to land on her feet, ready to go flinging for her fish once more.
I’d say that ours work out to about $300-$400 a year each (we have seven). It was more when each was a kitten, owing to the extra vet visits necessary; but once the first year passed, I’d say it averages out to about that much per year per healthy cat. That covers food, litter, an annual vet checkup, and assorted other expenses, such as toys. We do use a pet sitter when we’re away, but we also get a group rate from our vet at annual checkup time, so that helps offset the pet sitter’s cost.
Note that when things go wrong, they go wrong fast, and the bills can skyrocket. A middle-of-the-night trip to the local 24-hour emergency vet when one of our guys was showing severe distress disclosed that he’d had a heart attack. (Rather surprising because he was only four years old, but just as in humans, it can happen at any age.) X-rays were taken and assorted drugs and oxygen were administered, and he showed no signs of improving. In the end, we made the decision to put him down. Bottom line, six hours after he demonstrated there was something wrong: $1500. Be prepared.
Depends on the cat. We have 5, and I bet we didn’t spend $200 a year for the whole lot of them. Once the initial spaying/neutering and general check up happens, you don’t need to go to the vet unless there’s a problem. YOu will have fewer problems if they’re inside 100% of the time.
However, now that we have an AIDS kitty with glaucoma, it is costing quite a bit more. We have to go for eye pressure checks, have daily expensive meds, and have to see a specialist a few times a year. If he appears to be sick, we will need to take him to the vet since his immune system is compromised.
Where I am, in NC, the cat is legally required to have an annual rabies vaccination. The vet will probably strongly recommend other annual vaccinations. True, no one is likely to show up at your house doing a rabies shot audit, but it could become an issue if your cat bites someone, so a new pet owner should learn about the local rabies law.
The law is the same here; you are correct. However, I don’t vaccinate my cats once the initial one is done, unless we have to bring them in for something else (which is very rare, indeed).
Worming, flea control and shots. Vet visits. Buying top of the range food.
Oh and covering their fights if they get an infection.
I would guess $2,000 a year. That is without the cost of purchase. And assuming they are neutered.
If you get one of the approved breeds it can be as little as $1 a year. The approved breeds are dead and imaginary.