What on Earth is wrong with your cats? My family have had a few cats, and they've cost nothing bar the tins of food (el cheapo). They've all been fine. Our main cat lived til like 13 years.
They are quite content to do their thing imo.
Well, we rescued them as kittens from a family who no longer wanted them because they couldn't afford them.
So from the start there was the basic costs of getting them done and microchipped etc etc. Then we found out the one cat had some kind of chronic infection where he had constant diarrhoea for two years. So he was back and forward to the vet every couple of weeks to try new treatments and have blood tests, stool samples, x-rays etc. The vets couldn't find out what was wrong with him, but basically he pooed liquid in various consistencies for 2 years. So he cost us a fortune in vets bills - anti biotics, injections, steroids etc. He was diagnosed before we had chance to take out insurance, then they wouldn't cover any existing conditions
Then one day he came home and one of his front legs was gashed open from the pad of his paw to his elbow, bleeding badly. So he had to have emergency surgery to reconstruct his leg, and re-attach his paw/claw tendons as they had been cut through. Then post op treatments of pain killers, antibiotics etc etc. Then the cost of recovery consultations to make sure the operation was a success and he could be discharged. It was in the waiting period of his new insurance policy, so they wouldn't pay out
The other cat we found out has a condition where he gets crystals in his urethra, which block him completely so that he can't wee. It is life threatening and can kill a cat in a matter of 12 hrs. Luckily we spotted his strange behaviour and caught it in time. He had to have a couple of days in the vets for observation and he is now on special urinary food for the rest of his life. A mixture of biscuits and meat pouches. But they cost 3x the price of normal food. A box of pouches is £12 for 12, and he has 1 a day. The biscuits cost £16 a bag and they last 2 weeks (we share them between the two cats). So the on going cost of his condition is a big one (approx £780 a year just for his food, then we have the other cats food on top - about another £120 a year. I thought it was more yesterday, but it turns out his food is only about £4 a box for 12 pouches)
Then the one with the urinary problem got hit by a car. Cue a trip to the vets for x-rays etc. Luckily he got away with his life but most of his claws had been ripped out, the pads on his paws were gashed open and raw, and he had muscular/bone bruising. Luckily nothing was broken, but he was in a lot of pain. Apparently it was because cats always land on their feet, but because the car had punted him somehow, he landed and slid along the tarmac on his paws. Well, that is the only explanation the vet could give for his injuries anyway. The other thought was that he had been dragged along under a car. Either way, he was pretty beat up. Insurers started giving us the run around, so we just paid for it ourself and sacked the insurance off. Waste of bloody time.
Then there have been multiple bite wounds on both cats over the years that have been infected, and needed treatment. Cat saliva is full of bacteria, and bites quickly become infected. Both of ours have had several bites that have meant they can barely walk. The area swells up, and fills with puss and blood. The Vet has to shave the fur and squeeze out the infection and on a couple of occasions use stitches to seal up the wound. Then we have to pay for anti-biotics and pain killers etc. Due to the high number of cats in our area, they fight a lot. As such insurance.....well its just not worth having because our two have been to the vets so much that most insurers don't want to know
Multiple instances of muscle and tendon damage too because our one cat thinks he is an acrobat. Likes to get onto roofs then try and jump down.....
Pretty much every time they go in to the vet we get a bill for about £100 (EDIT - but a lot more for some of the visits - we are talking multiple hundreds)
Then there are booster injections, flea treatments and so on and so forth.
Also the cost of having the animals at home guy come when we go away on holiday. We don't believe in catteries, so we use a home visiting pet carer. Our one cat is quite anxious and suffers with separation anxiety, both from us and his brother. We feel that leaving him in his home environment is kinder than packing him off to a cattery. We pay about £200 for 2 weeks cover.
So it all adds up! But we wouldn't be without them
It seems depending on who you ask, a cat could cost between £400 and £2500 per year. This article
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2042014/How-does-cost-dog-cat.html
claims that the average cost of keeping a cat is £1000 per year, almost as much as a dog. Yet in the comments people were saying that was way too much.
I had budgeted for £35 per month, and places like Cats Protection said that would be enough to cover everything from food to litter to insurance. However I'm sure Buffet is telling the truth about his cats, so the cost of ownership obviously varies *hugely* from one person to the next.
The article is not wrong. You are right that cost can vary greatly. But as we have found out, you have to plan in contingency for other problems that may arise. We felt it was our responsibility to deal with the problems our cats face because it would be unfair on them to have them put down or given away because of something they can't really help. They are part of our family and we do our best to let them live a happy life and be there to get them help when they need it. It is a big commitment, and we have to make sure we plan our lives to take them into account. IE Income, holidays, weekends away etc.
My best friend has a cat that has cost him barely anything in the 8 years he has owned her. Ours have cost a fortune. I guess we just got unlucky. But the point is - could you afford it if you were unlucky and got an accident prone cat, or one who likes fighting, or one who has on going medical issues? Or one like us where all three apply?
Some people don't care - if a cat starts to cost money they just have it put down and get another. We are not like that, and perhaps it is our outlook which has helped relieve us of so much money just as much as the issues our cats have had over the years.
But we are what we are. I accept we are probably at the extreme end of the spectrum with how much our cats have cost, but we are not unique.
I guess it is a chance you take with pet ownership.
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