How much does it cost to take care of a cat each year?

Question

Yea. My mom wants to know approximately how much it costs to take care of a cat every year... like costs for shots, food, litter and things.
(I have to find all this crap out if we are gonna get cats sooo... help me out please!! ~)

Answer 1

Ok....
Not sure where you are but i'm in Australia but the prices are pretty similar
What you'll need: (for the year)
Collar: $5
Toys: $20 all up for the year - you wouldnt need to get her anything too special, they tend to like anything that moves most of the time
Scratching Post: $15 (always a good investment to make sure your furniture is safe)
Bed: $20 (was a waste for us as our cats refuse to sleep in them)
Litter Box: $10
Litter: $10 a month for us - buying in bulk is always better. Although you have to think is your kitty going to be an inside or outside cat, in which case if it's inside you're going to go thru litter a lot quicker... (Our kittys are inside at night, outside during the day)
Dry Food: with food, again, buying the 10kg bags is always going to be better than buying a 1kg box every time. We got a 10kg bag of dry food and we've used around a third of it within around 3 months. That's adult food though... when they were kittens they used to go thru a $20 2kg bag within a couple weeks
Wet Food: again, buying in bulk.. only around $10 a month..
Annual Shot: $50 for vet appointment, $20 for vacine
Treats: for the year, $30 or so.. maybe more depending on what your kitty likes.
Not sure if i've missed anything.. I guess you always have to be prepared for the unexpected injury or illness with them. Although the amount of money we spend on them is nothing compared to what they give back to you :)

Answer 2

I can only give you some figures for the U.S. I just got two new kittens, so my prices are recent. The first thing you want to do is have your cat checked by the vet, to make sure there are no worms, ear mites or fleas. You may or may not want to have the cat checked for feline leukemia and feline AIDS. (No, they won't be transmitted to you, just give you some peace of mine about them.) That first vet check will also probably include booster shots. So look for a cost from $100-$140, although you might find a lower cost vet. Sometimes, much of that may already be done.

Then there will be the cost of spay or neuter. Often, the rabies vaccine will be given at the same time. Spay with rabies will run about $200, but neutering (male) will cut the cost in half. Again, some good vets will charge less.

Some shelters include spay/neuter in the adoption costs. Shelters often charge anywhere from $25 to $75, depending. And rescue groups often want that range of costs to help cover their costs.

So now you are probably adding up the costs, and getting scared at the costs. Well, perhaps your adopted cat has many of these already done. Then, those are not a concern. But you will need a yearly vet check up, and those run around $80, but includes shots. And regardless, an initial vet check (sort of like a second opinion) is very useful.

Now, for food and litter. Maybe $10/month for clumping litter, and food may run $10-20/month depending on what you feed your cat. If a kitten, then kitten food for the first year; otherwise regular adult food. Any food that has the seal of the AAFCO (in the U.S.) will allow your cat to thrive. Although I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for, and I stick with name brands.

Toys for your cat can be very cheap. Even wads of paper will do the job. A cardboard scratcher will be important, but they run less than $10 and last a long time.

So, if the cat you adopt already has much of that covered, and spay/neuter is included, then vet costs will be for an initial check up, and there may be some follow up booster shots needed, but then no other visit may be needed for a year.

Then you have the monthly food and litter costs which I gave you some price suggestions. And the best way to keep costs down is to have an indoor only cat.

Answer 3

You're in luck, because I read your question and I got curious about just how much it does cost so I worked it out quickly and personally I came up with between $275 and $400 per cat per year. That includes food (I use wet & dry), litter, and a yearly vet exam + rabies & FVRCP vaccination.

At the beginning though you need to account for more, which is also covered in the link: shots, spay or neuter, possibly a microchip i.d., collar & tag, litter box & scooper, brush, a carrier, toys (which don't have to be expensive) etc. You also need to account for vet bills that may come up if your cat gets sick or injured - this can vary dramatically.

I highly recommend adopting a cat from a shelter, you will save a life, it will cost less, you can find a cat that is already spayed or neutered, and at least where I live they guaranteed the cat's healthy going home, and up to date on shots.
I also recommend looking carefully at vets, they vary widely in price. The cost of the yearly exam & shots is only $60 per cat for me, and the vet has actually been much more reliable for treatment than the previous vet I used who charged 2-3 times as much.

Here is a little general info, on cost:
http://www.costhelper.com/cost/pets/owning-cat.html

Answer 4

Firstly, there are vet costs. A well visit is about $65 and should be completed annually. They'll need 2 vaccines annually. The Rabies vaccine as well as the FVRCP vaccine, each will cost about $30. Dry food is about $10/month or so, wet is about the same, if you choose to feed your cat wet. Litter is about $15/month. Also factor in that your kitty could catch a cold and need to see the vet, or have a belly ache. You never know. Hope that helps. Good luck. Check out this site.
http://cats.about.com/od/newtocats/New_to_Cats_Getting_Your_First_Cat.htm

Answer 5

The LEAST I had in vet bills for one cat for a year was this---
Checkup $35
Rabies shot (yearly, not the three year) $15
3-in-one vaccination $18

On average though, set aside $100 just in case. You never know when an emergency will come up or if you'll need flea medication ($10 a dose for Advantage, it lasts 6 weeks during the height of summer), de-worming, etc.

You'll probably need 25 lbs of cat litter per month, possibly a bit less, depends on how fast you go through it. I get the cheapest that I can find--it's at Walmart for $2.59 in one of those big red bags. It's a generic litter.

Litter pan -- about $6, but check around, some places are cheaper, some more expensive.

Carrier -- I've seen these at Goodwill for $5, but I got a new one for $25. It's big enough for the cat to stand up in.

Food per month--get a good quality food (no by-products in the first 4 ingredients, no corn in the first 4 ingredients, there should be three meat sources in the first four). Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul is good, it runs $9 a bag, which will last about a month. Wysong Vitality is good, that's $8 a bag (silver bag, only the Vitality is the best, they have others but those are for specific treatments for cats, like kidney function, etc.). Royal Canin Siamese 38 is great, it's $11 a bag. Grocery stores don't have very good foods for cats, check with the pet supplies places.

Toys--make your own.

Collar---only one cat of mine ever had a collar. It's dangerous on some cats, they get caught indoors or especially outside on fences and branches. I've kept collars off ever since then. But I DO have a harness and leash for mine. Harness was $8 and the leash was around $4.

Food bowl -- I use a rummage sale metal bowl I got for 50 cents. Water bow--same deal. Get a no-spill water bowl if you've got a young cat who likes to tip things over.

You don't need a cat bed, they sleep anywhere they want to. No shampoo, cats clean themselves. Treats---I don't buy those, our cats get bits of meat from what we eat for supper if they're interested.

Spaying here is $150, neutering of a male is $90.

Now, as for what I spend on our four guys--they run $70 a month for food, which includes prescription food plus two 6 ounce cans a day, plus $1 tubes of raw ground chicken, about 4 of those a month. All our cats are over 10 years, one is on thyroid meds to keep her regulated, that's $35 a month for her. I've got two diabetic cats, one gets a unit once a day, the other gets 2 units twice a day so there's insulin plus the syringes. One has kidney disease but his pills are really tiny, are cut in half, and the 100 pills were $10 a bottle, so that will last us almost a year. Usually I get flea treatments once each summer, for all four of them, so that's $40. Hudson and Dax's diabetes has to be checked by the vet occasionally, the blood test is $90. He had a bout of pancreatitis in March, that ran me $800 and follow up care was $300. The kidney function in the other needed some blood tests and an X-ray for his chest - which has a mass in it-- so he was around $300 this past June. He looks and acts normal but he's 16 and is starting to show his age, this was preventative care on him. The emergency visit for a broken tooth was $350. ... You get the idea.

If you're getting a pet, you need to be committed to making sure they get any vet care they need for medical problems. Put finances aside to cover this, and you won't be caught low on funds when it's needed.

Answer 6

Well it depends at our vet we had to pay like 300$ or something for shots and stuff like that it was REALLY expensive..
We spoil our cat >_<
Then his treats where umm
$2.00?
Cat Food
California Natural- $3.00 or so..
And his collar was like umm hmm
I don't remember it was along time ago but we bought him another collar that was REALLY fancy and it had Crystals on it so that was about $25.00 or so.. I don't remember.. and his litter box I don't rembmer his scratching post was about 10.00? Because we got him a small one his litter was umm i don't remember.. D; and well here is the things we buy him
Food- 2.00 >_<
Water- From Tap
Food and water bowl- $5.00?
Collar- $2.00?
Harness thing (two separte things) 5.00..?
Collar again- 25.00?
Treats- 3.00?
Wet Food- 2.00 (big box sorta)
Shots- 350.00 >_<
Other things if our cat gets sick or something- 350.00 >___<
And that'll be a total of.. about..
749 per year about.. well actually the collar and the food bowl and the litterbox and the harness wouldn't be per year so 749.00 is when you get a cat.. probably
And then not including the collar, food bowl, litterbox, and harness it would cost.. umm..
707$ per year i think.. but I'm not sure how many times you would have to go to the vet because cats get sick at different times and that's how much it costs for US but i'm not sure about you.

Answer 7

cost care cat year