The cost of having a kitten
Sun, 12/03/2006 - 11:09 — Katje
Yes, having a kitty is an awesome experience, and they are utterly cute and adorable, and fill your life with joy. And it is often thought that cats are handy pets coz they do not demand a lot of care and money. But this little bundle of joy does come with a great responsibility and cost to the owner…I always compare it to having a child you do not have to send to school. Please be aware of the potential costs you might have to make for your kitty, so you will not hold it against him/her later when it happens. This way you will be prepared ;)
Note: These are the estimated prices in Belgium, in the year 2006, please keep this in mind.
| Anxiously awaiting the kitten the breeder promised you, all vaccinated and chipped and ready | 450-500€ |
| A sweet stray kitten from the shelter or the street, with or without vaccinations | 0-65€ |
| With a stray kitten you might want to do a blood-test to see if it is ill(test for the three big virusses:FIV,FIP, FelV): the drawing of the blood and interpretation later is done by your vet | 25.9€ |
| Analysis of the blood at the lab | 60€ |
| 1st series of inoculations to protect your kitty (around 9 weeks) | 23.9+16€ if indoor cat 23.9+29.4€ if outdoor cat |
| If you want you can have them vaccinated against a rare but deadly disease: FIP | 25.9€ |
| Deworming every 2 weeks at first | 5.8€ a tube |
| 2nd series of inoculations (the booster around 12 weeks), repeated yearly! | Same as before |
| Placing a chip so that when your kitty gets lost you actually have shot at getting her/him back (outdoor cat?) | 43.1€ |
| 4x a year deworming with a pill | 3.55€x4 |
| Scratching post so your couch is safe | 25€ |
| 2nd Scratching post since the first one is too small now for your kitty to stretch comfortably and is now using your couch after all for this | 50€ |
| Frontline for 6 months to keep fleas and ticks at bay(outdoor cat) | 24.2€ |
| Advantage 40 against fleas for indoor cats under 4 kilos | 13.35€ |
| Advantage 80 for over 4kilos | 14.2€ |
| Littertray (indoor kitty) | 3-50€ |
| Cat toys to save your furniture | 10-100€ |
| Earplugs for when your kitty demands your attention during the night(indoor kitty) | 5€ |
| Sterilization Castration |
115,6€ 52.8€ |
| Catfood for your little darling | 5-20€ for 2kg |
| Cat litter your kitty likes(indoor kitty) | 4€ a bag 10L |
| Having the abscesses your kitty gets through fighting taken care of (outdoor kitty) | 50-80€ an abscess |
| FLUTD=feline lower urinary tract disease, very common in male castrated cats, but also possible in females (bladder filled with crystals, very painful) | 80-200€ |
| Prescribed food so he does not catch FLUDT again | 22,5€ per bag of 2kg |
| Teeth cleaning twice in a life-time about (foul smell and constant tooth ache, not to mention chronical infection the poor kitty suffers coz it does not use a toothbrush) | 85-120€ depending on the amount of work per time |
| Surgery broken paw if your kitty gets unlucky | 200-500€ |
| Taking a blood sample when kitty is getting a little older to check if he has kidney insufficiency( a frequent killer amongst older cats) | 25.9€(drawing and interpreting results) + 60€(analysis blood) |
| Giving kitty a special kidney diet so you can enjoy him/her a couple of years longer ;) | 21.95€ a bag of 2kg |
| When that day does come you can grant your kitty a peaceful goodbye instead of suffering needlessly… If you will | |
| Bury her/him in the backyard(illegal here) | 51€ |
| Cremate her/him | 75,5€ |
| Cremate her/him individually | 148,5€ |
| Cremate her/him individually with urn | 178,5€ |
