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Costs of owning and operating a kitten
hardxcore_conservative
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hello all.
I live in Toronto and am considering purchasing a pet kitten for my girlfriend (who is recovering from surgery) via Craigslist or The Human Society.
I assume there are initial veterinary costs involved in addition to food and other routine expenses.
Can anyone provide insight regarding initial costs/upkeep/practical tips?
I live in Toronto and am considering purchasing a pet kitten for my girlfriend (who is recovering from surgery) via Craigslist or The Human Society.
I assume there are initial veterinary costs involved in addition to food and other routine expenses.
Can anyone provide insight regarding initial costs/upkeep/practical tips?
hardxcore_conservative on
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I'd go through the humane society, they offer vouchers for spay and neutering and shots depending on your area. Craigslist can be sketchy.
That being said, you can probably expect to put out at least several hundred dollars in vet fees during the first year, even on a kitten with perfect health. It does usually taper off pretty sharply after that first year though. Higher quality food costs more, but typically results in less expensive health problems over the course of a cat's life. If you rent your living space, check with your landlord about their pet policies. Some flat out refuse pets, require a pet deposit, or some even require the animal be declawed.
First off, going through the Humane Society is a better- nay, a great idea than just some random person on Craigslist. You can get your new cat spayed or neutered before you pick it up, and that is a good thing because we don't need more stray cats running around.
As to what age you want, what kind of surgery did your girlfriend have? Kittens are active, they run around a lot... generally they want to play-play-play and if it's some major surgery she went in for, a kitten wouldn't do. She might have more luck with a cat who has settled down and is quieter- a lap cat, if you will.
You also have to think about how she would be dealing with both ends of the cat- feeding and cleaning up after it. Cat waste is still waste, so maybe you should get a litterbox that either cleans itself or is easy to clean/change so she won't be exposing herself to dirty litter.
But the number one thing you need to find out before going any further: Does she even want a cat to take care of? Owning a pet is a big responsibility, so you really, really need to know if she honestly, truly wants to own one before you go any further. Pets do not make good surprise gifts.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Do NOT buy from a pet store. Pet stores very frequently carry pets that were bred illegally. There's nothing wrong with the animals themselves, usually, but its a horrible industry, illegal breeding, and you shouldn't be supporting it. If you want a kitten, get one from a registered breeder, otherwise go to a cat shelter and get one there.
The reason I say adopt an adult cat is that they are much harder to adopt out for shelters, because everyone wants the cute little kittens .You're most likely saving that cat's life by adopting it, as it may well have to be put down if no one adopts it.
Another benefit for adopting an adult cat is that their personalities have usually already emerged and you can tell that from meeting it briefly in the shelter. A kitten can develop into a very active cat, or a very lazy cat, or a friendly cat or an unfriendly cat and you have no real way of knowing.
Did you talk it over with her?
Does your girlfriend want an eighteen year commitment to a pet?
If any of the above is a no, then dont do it.
Cat/kitten can be as expensive as you want it to be, but I would say around 40/50 usd a month. Less if you only feed dry food.
After that first year, though, $100 a year for his regular vet visit and toys are cheap because I realized his favorite things in the world are scrunchies (5 for $1 at the dollar store), those fuzzy balls from the craft aisle (50-100 for $3 depending on the size), and crumpled paper (free in my mailbox every damn week). That right there is the best advice I'll offer. Cat's don't care if you spent $25 on that awesome mouse-in-a-doughnut toy if a bottlecap catches their eye.
If you're worried about cost, I'd definitely consider a cat in the 8-12 month range. Their personality will also be a bit more predictable - you really never quite know what a kitten will grow into. The surgery thing, too. A kitten will demand a lot of attention and energy. Many adult cats will, too (if Loki doesn't get a solid hour of chasing the laser pointer before bed he won't let me sleep), but many others are content to sit on your lap for a couple hours, and if you get a kitten you can't be sure which you're getting until you're already invested.
But seriously, both of these questions:
Don't surprise somebody with a pet. Nearly all of the non aquatic pets (and several of the aquatic ones) my wife and I have in this petting zoo we call a house were the sad results of somebody not asking these questions or not realizing the sheer implications of the second one.
I got her at 5 weeks (feral, a friend found a liter) so it was $450ish between spaying and vet visits for worms and tests. And I would say the $25/month is a very fair estimate on food and litter. Definately be prepared to play a TON. I tried super hard to make sure my kitten was friendly and wanted to be around people and I think I may have tried to hard. She is now 10 months and she still comes up to people with toys/random objects and wants to play.
In conclusion, make sure she wants a pet and protect anything you don't want to get batted around by the kitten. Also, be prepared for a possible discipline nightmare. Some cats are better than others but generally it seems that they do what they want when they want.
That said, if you go through with it, hit up your local shelter and/or rescue programs (they seem to be just about everywhere these days). Figure ~100 bucks to get started (taxes, tags, shots, laser eye implants, etc.). Other than that, they are very low maintenance/cost pets assuming they stay happy and healthy.
Also, as mentioned above, consider going a little older than straight up kitten. Not only will you rescue a cat who might be passed over by people who are getting animals for the wrong reason (aw a kitten, so cute, don't grow up!) but kittens are vile, stinky, shit covered little monsters who need constant attention, smell terrible, can't clean themselves, have no personality, and just whine and whine and whine (no, I don't have any children of my own, why do you ask?).
Good luck! I always was a dog person until the missus indoctrinated me into cat geekdom, and I couldn't be happier about our two assholes (the cats, not, uh, nevermind).
Secondly, make sure you're feeding the cat you get decent food. This generally means not from your local grocery store. Iams is the best you're going to find there probably and that's hovering on the edge of being ok.
If you skimp on food now (Meow Mix, Friskies), you're going to pay for it in the long run.
Either go to a pet store or to a more upscale grocery (Whole Foods, New Seasons, Zupans) and get Wellness or something in that area of quality. Best off going to a specialized store though and talking to the people who work there.
Speaking of this, I'd recommend Nutro. They have 2 versions: the boojy expensive stuff and the middle of the road stuff, which is very reasonable but much classier and nutritious than, say, a 300 pound sack of Purina from Sam's Club. We've been pretty happy with it, and it's still very cost conscious.
I will never again say "cat food is cat food, why spend a little more?"
So a month of that stuff runs us about $40 at our local feed store, which is... a lot. Otherwise we have to drive quite a ways to find it, though.
Keeping a cat is not that expensive. Keeping a cat healthy will run you quite a bit more. Adding to the "pets don't make great gifts," "make sure she wants a cat," "get an adult cat," and "be prepared to care for the cat until her incisions are healed" piles, and raising you a "let her pick the cat." Cat are like people. Not all people like all people from the get-go, and it is certainly the same with cats. A cat who is nice and friendly and calm for you may hate the shit out of her for no apparent reason. If you pick the cat, you may end up with it.
It can be done (and I plan to give it a try once I get moved to a bigger place with a chest freezer), but you can't just throw whatever looks good in randomly and call it done - you have to make sure the mix has all the proper minerals and nutrients in the proper amounts, and quality ingredients.
There's what looks to be a decent discussion and recipe posted by a vet here, and I know there's various frozen foods for sale out there too.
We feed our cats Wellness Core canned food atm as ceres does, and they've been fine on it for years with no dry food - still come running at nearly every mealtime.
Typically a cat will cost a lot less than that - $1000 is probably about average, but especially since you're giving it as a gift, you don't want her to take on a burden like that unless she can comfortably afford the cost. Not being able to afford a vet visit, skimping on food or skimping on your own needs to afford the cat is good for nobody.
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I've looked into pet insurance a few times and unless I'm reading the various policies wrong or something, they just don't math out into your favor unless your animal ends up having a condition that requires some sort of regular treatment that the insurance happens to cover. It is my belief that you would be better off throwing the money that you would spend on the pet insurance into some sort of interest bearing account.
The last time I mathed it out, I was looking for coverage for my German Shepherd (yeah I know, apples and oranges, but the ratios should be similar) and insurance companies wanted anywhere from about $80 on up to over $200 a month for varying degrees of coverage - I think for a cat it was maybe a little less than half that. If you figure the animal will live at least 10 years, you can see how that would add up kind of quick. That high cost is why I think its better set aside money in some sort of bank account rather than pay for the insurance. Some of the companies I looked at cut you off when your animal reaches a certain age and most of them would not start coverage on an animal that was already more than 1-1.5 years old.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
The initial email I got from them after I expressed interest:
As it says in there, it was $175 and that includes spaying/neutering and first vaccinations.
After I did the screening process I got the foster mother's phone number, set up a meeting, went to see him, we bonded right away and now I've got a kitten on my lap who keeps jumping on my keyboard as I type this.
Obligatory pictures, spoiler'd for huge:
So yeah, investigate TCR. They have some real cute kittens available, and some older cats too if you want to go that route.
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Yeah, I'd say kittens will run you a couple hundred dollars in vet bills the first year.
Go to an animal shelter or rescue group. Any fees you pay will go towards helping the other animals in the shelter, and they may well be cheaper than a "free" kitten would be anyway, since they often pay for the neutering themselves.
If you do get a kitten, rather than an adult cat, I would recommend getting two. Two really are less work than one kitten. Although, they are twice as expensive.
For food: Lots of store brands like Friskies, Purina, and, yes, even expensive Science Diet and Iams are full of grain. Cats do not digest grain. It goes right through them, leaving you more poop to clean out of the litter box. Look at the ingredients list and find a food that does not include grain, or at the very least has meat products as the first three ingredients. (Petco and PetSmart will have these kinds of foods.)
One of the best foods I've found is, believe it or not, Costco's brand Kirklands. No grain in it and my cats love it. It's also ridiculously cheap, even cheaper than Friskies and all those.
(But it only comes in 20 lb bags, which might take you a while to get through if you get a small kitten!)
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=144115
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