How expensive is it to own a cat?

I assume "cat" is a euphemism. In that case, it's absurdly expensive.

I assume "cat" is a euphemism. In that case, it's absurdly expensive.

The expensive part is the vet bills. First off, it's really not an issue until the cat gets old. If it doesn't go outside it probably doesn't need shots either. Third, find a vet that isn't owned by a hedge fund. If it gets really sick you can opt to have it humanely put down instead of spending lots of $$$$. Also, don't use emergency vets. They are horribly expensive and will do everything to run up the bill, and it rarely works out well.<br />
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I really hate to be this way, but the vets did it to themselves by pricing themselves out of the market.

I'm going to guess that the ones who have a large number of cats don't take care them as well as those with one or two cats. They probably don't take them to the vet regularly and they won't get their rabies vaccine.<br />
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I took my dog the other day to the vet for wellness check and it was 80 some dollars which I don't think was too bad. So I imagine that a cat would be around the same cost. But what adds up was heart worm test for $117 and then there was preventive heart worm medication and then flea and tick medication. All the those things are optional, so I could have left there with just spending $80, but I do believe in prevention will help save money in the long run. <br />
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I did own cats a while ago. The major expense for them is getting fixed. The male ended up with kidney stones so that was $1000 (1999 money) There were no other issues until they were around 15 years old when they started getting sick from old age. <br />
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My daughter now has a cat and I was very clear that she needs to have an emergency savings for the cat in case something happens. It doesn't have to be much in the beginning, but she needs to save up because things do get more expensive once the cat gets up in their teens. The Vet did mention that she didn't think pet insurance was worth it for cats because generally cats are very healthy most of the their lives. I am referring to indoor cats. Outdoor cats have a very short life expectancy.<br />
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Otherwise your other costs are mainly litter and food and toys<br />
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If you get a kitten, you should get two kittens because it's better for them. But if you get an adult cat, I would just get one.

Fine...serious answer <br />
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- Consider the cost of an annual exam, vaccinations, flea & tick medicine - perhaps $400/year? <br />
- Cat litter, food, toys (that the cat won't use), scratching post/cat tree (or just let them shred your furniture, which they'll do even if they do have a scratching post and/or cat tree). <br />
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Good luck leash training a cat other than if you start out with a leash as a kitten. Do you have a good place for the litter box, where the odor will be contained? <br />
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I've had cats nearly all of my life (that's a LONG time lol). I love pretty much all animals, but cats have always been my favorite. But I can't imagine spending $10k to care for a cat, unless that amount was insignificant to me.

Okay, so let's say your cat gets sick and it's thousands of dollars. Do you just have it put down? I mean - the reason I'm asking is because that's one aspect of ethical kitty care that no one really talks about.

I'm a lifelong rodent owner. If a rat needs a tumor removed, everyone knows the ethical considerations. They have short life spans, the stress of surgery on such a tiny creature, they often don't make it through anesthesia if more than a year old, etc... It's ethically acceptable to pay over 1k for the procedure or to decline.

I just worry about when to pay for certain aspects of cat care and go into debt, when to give up to a shelter if the treatment is too expensive, and when to euthanize. That's my fear - falling in love with kitty and then having to give kitty up or put kitty down because the cost of the medical treatment is too expensive.

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I love animals, but I wouldn't ask anyone to go into financial ruin over a pet. I've had to put down two animals in the past couple of years: one cat that developed cancer. We could have treated, but that would have been ridiculously expensive. She was 12 years old, and her quality of life for what would have been a relatively short time was a big factor. We had to put down our daughter's dog just this past Sunday. Our daughter had paid for a lot of care and treatment. She was on heart medication, and the next step would have been different medicine to make get a few more weeks or months of life. The dog was over 14 years old, so it was another case of being hard to justify the cost. All that being said, if I had a younger cat that was hit by a car and surgery would get her back to "good as new", I'd probably consider spending a large sum to treat her.<br />
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We also have had hamsters over the last couple of years. With a ~2 year lifespan, we haven't spent any money on vet care. When they have developed a tumor or something similar, we've decided to euthanize.<br />
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We've had pet insurance at times for cats and dogs to cover injury and illnesses. We've never bothered with insurance for routine checkups and medications. Insurance isn't too expensive, at least when the pet is younger. We had it for several years for the dog that we just had to put down, but it got very expensive as she got older (IIRC, it was over $1,000/yr once she was around 9 years old).