Animal Expenditures: Routine to Futuristic

I'd only had fish until I started living on my own, when I adopted my first kitten. With just her, I didn't find the costs to be too out of control. (It took me awhile to have a clear idea of the costs though because of trying nearly every cat litter out there in hopes of one that was cheap and didn't smell up my house. Thankfully, I found one now)

Anyway, about 2 months ago I took in a stray male kitten to befriend my lady cat. While things are great, the amount of food and especialy litter that they go through is amazing. I estimated that I need at least one bag each week, at about $7 USD - for a cost of about $370 a year. That isn't accounting for the cost of food too, but at least they are this close to being on the same diet. All worth it for it for the joy they bring, but it can be pricey.

As for toys, my cats are low-maintainence. The most popular toys in my house are a jingle skunk on a string or any type of pen or highlighter.

Based on my vet experiences so far, I find the AVMA's estimate of costs per animal to be low. But it might also confirm my fears that I am getting seriously ripped-off - good thing they go so occasionally.

Great article and I loved your pictures!

We had a Samoyed for thirteen and a half years. In India you do not spend much on pets. We did not spend more than USD25/Year on Pinto including vet visits. He ate what we ate. Poor chap, he had to be a vegetarian too. Except for the daily boiled egg.

Downside. We never could take a holiday family as a whole in all those thirteen and a half years as there was nowhere we could leave him.

Bioramani

I've never really calculated the cost of the "little guys". With 3 cats, down from 4 when Pippin passed away suddenly last year. I'm sure the expenses are a noticable chunk of the family budget. The largest cost we would attribute to the cats though would be the Dodge Durango we drive. A recent cross country move dictated a vehicle that could house the cats as we refused to even consider "shipping" them. I think thay had a more comfortable trip than my wife and I did. We closed of the entire back of the vehicle giving them enough room for the litter pan, food and water dishes and each of the three had their own open carrier cage equiped with nice fuzzy blankets. Even then they had enough room to roam & frolic or sit by a window and watch the country pass by. The trip was Montreal to Edmonton by way of Iowa (to visit the grand kids).

So add the $12,000.00 vehicle to the 20kg of litter a week, the 15 kg bags of food and cat treats by the case it would be a scary figure. Toys? Cats don't need toys. Don't you know EVERYTHING they can see is a cat toy. Vet bills, other than getting their shots and documents to cross the border, have been minimal. Keeping the cats indoors 100% of the time really saves on vet bills. At least we don't have to send then to college.

Wouldn't give em up for anything.