Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: Tiggy's Mum on January 16, 2011, 18:38:47 PM
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As I work in the Public Sector I recently looked into how much Job Seekers Allowance was in case the worst happens and then I don't find another job to go to straight away. I've worked all my life including part-time jobs whilst doing my A-levels, never been out of work for even a day - I'd get the princely sum of £65 a week! :Crazy:
Anyway, I started totting up my outgoings to see how much everything was. Lets just hope I don't find myself out of work as the boys alone would take up over 50% of the monthly income!
Frontline - £5.66 for both cats (done monthly)
Drontal - £1.14 a month for both cats (based on quarterly worming)
Boosters - £5.00 a month for both cats (£60 a year)
Feliway - £15.00 a month (not essential)
RC sensitivity - £60 a month (Riley only)
Bozita - £22 a month (Lu only)
Cats Best Litter - £18 a month (could switch to a cheaper brand)
Insurance - £14 for both cats
Total £140.80 which is over half of the total monthly income if I was unfortunate enough to find myself on JSA :Crazy: That would leave £119 to pay all bills and food - simply impossible! The only saving could be ditching the Feliway and switching to a cheaper litter. Riley's food is essential and Lu's food, although very good quality, is one of the cheapest around.
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That sounds a lot for RC sensitivity - does he get through 2kg a week? :Crazy:
I know what you mean about the benefit system not being fair. In other countries it is based on previous salary but reduces over time (as an incentive to not stay on benefits) When I was made redundant in 1998, I had worked solidly since the Monday after my 16th birthday (in 1978) and yet was told I would get £50 a week. Also, I would get no help with mortgage interest as I took my mortgage out after 1992 (had I rented, the rent would have been paid) The helpfully informed me that after 6 months, I would get 10% towards council tax. Obviously it wasn't sustainable - I needed to get back into work but it would have been silly to take the first job that came along rather than hold out for something better paid using my skillset. It took me around 4 - 5 months to find something in my own field and I ended up overdrawn by £1000s and had to remortgage to pay it back - and that was being really careful with money.
I have never worked out cat costs. I certainly don't use stronghold every month and we haven't had fleas since Clapton got them 5 years ago. I don't do it at all in deep winter then about every 6 weeks and only monthly between June & September.
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That sounds a lot for RC sensitivity - does he get through 2kg a week? :Crazy:
It's the wet pouches Mark, he eats a minimum of 3 pouches a day :shy:
To be fair I would get my council tax paid but even so I'd be up :censored: creek with no paddle so please keep fingers crossed that I never need to claim!
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Eeeeeeps, that's expensive!
I honestly don't have a clue how much Memphis costs per month.
I'm having him vaccinated every 3 years. He does not get regular Frontline/Drontal so the cost is next to nothing per month. He eats Felix Trays - once box lasts 12 days and can either be around the £3.50 mark or 2 for £5. Dry food (Orijen) is only £16/£17 every three months. As for Insurance I pay in one lump sum and forget about it until the following year. Litter is OKO every couple of months or so.
He is dirt cheap for the basics.
It's all the extra things .... Toys, beds, hot water bottle, treats etc which add up and cost a lot.
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Having had to sign on last year and now actually having even less money to live on since becoming a student and my hours getting reduced at work I can tell you it isn't easy! I had better get this job I have interview for tomorrow or I am seriously up the creek without a paddle and will certainly not be going on my study trip to Italy at the end of Feb (what makes that worse is I will be the only one from first and second year not going).
Anyway, back to the question. I have costs for 2 as of course, I don't know what it's going to be now I have 3 (I must be flipping mad, can't even afford the 2!).
Approx 2kg of dry per month between two: £10- £13 (PAH or Royal Canin when on BOGOF if I can)
Bozita or Animonda Carny or similar: £8 (this is an approximation, I get 4 meals from 1 tin of Animonda).
Flea and worming, only as and when, we've had fleas twice and worms never so it works for me, so this cost is negligible.
Insurance: £12 for both.
Litter: Cat's Best, usually they both go outside through choice, there's always the tray available so maybe 1 bag every 4 months! More at the moment as they being kept in for a few weeks.
Then annual boosters which I have skipped this year due to cost and also the fact they aren't essential every year (I know not everyone agrees with this).
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The boys are looking very expensive by comparison!
I guess I would just have to stop vaccinating/fleaing/worming and concentrate on food, litter and insurance only so maybe £10 dry, £20 wet, £10 litter and £14 insurance. Even though normal food now gives Riley a runny bum I can't see any other way to provide for them :scared: Keeping everything crossed that my job will be safe :crossed:
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Felix Trays - once box lasts 12 days and can either be around the £3.50 mark or 2 for £5.
They are 2 for £5 atm in Sainsburys, as well as the pouches. I think the trays are £3.75 normal price so quite a saving. The trays seem to be more substantial than pouches? - also easy to recycle.
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The boys are looking very expensive by comparison!
I guess I would just have to stop vaccinating/fleaing/worming and concentrate on food, litter and insurance only so maybe £10 dry, £20 wet, £10 litter and £14 insurance. Even though normal food now gives Riley a runny bum I can't see any other way to provide for them :scared: Keeping everything crossed that my job will be safe :crossed:
Also surprised how much OKO you get through. A bag lasts around 6 weeks (per tray) here (they say 1 bag = 10 weeks for 1 cat on the bag)Also it is cheaper from VetUK - about £6.70 I think (also on offer at Zooplus atm) I paid £7.90 in PAH the other week :Crazy:
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I use the Cats Best Nature gold now, it's just gone up to £9.50 for a 10 litre a bag at Jollyes. I bought two bags just before Xmas and have about 1/3 of one bag left. The litter would be easy to save on, I'd just switch back to chick crumb.
Anyway I really hope this is all hypothetical and I guess I would just take the most anti-social hideous job going (cleaning loos if I had to!) to get a wage coming in rather than have to rely on £65 a week!
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I got my 2 boxes of Felix last week! I never buy too much wet food at a time .... I just can't stand the smell of gone off cat food and anything can happen.
I do find the trays better than pouches - the chunks are a lot bigger. Half a tray provides half a bowl of food, which for Memphis is the perfect amount for one meal. I always found with the pouches the amout of meat to jelly ratio varies depending on flavour. The chicken also seems to have a lot less chunks than the others.
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I am too scared to even think about it and had to dump the insurance for the birmans cos of it increasing to £100 a month! I have a slush fund for them which I add to each month but one or bothe have been ill ever since this started.
The biggest cost however is the car and the way petrol is going up I may just have to do bigger shops and not go out, not that I go out much anyway. :(
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I only flea in summer
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The hardest thing I find is that although it is cheaper and higher quality to buy from Zooplus it's very difficult to have the money together at once to buy in bulk, even just one £29 order :-[ So inevitably you end up buying bits and pieces when money is trickling through which ends up costing more :tired:
I spent 5 months unemployed despite applying for everything going (aside from cleaning as I know I'd be terrible) but no-one ever called me back. I was over-qualified for the minimum wage jobs and not quite specifically skilled enough for things I would usually have gotten an interview from. Even now, applying for part-time jobs, despite being a student and therefore not fussed, it's still practically impossible to get an interview :tired:
I hope it doesn't come to anything for you Helen :shy:
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£120 food and £100 insurance per month. £180 litter twice a year. Only flea Ginger in summer and never really the 6 indoor cats unless there is a problem. Vaccinations when they are due. Vets bills are horrendous at moment as they have all been ill with the exception of Ginger. The excess on the oldies being £105 plus 20%. Hopefully they will get over their eye problems soon ;D.
Also public sector so also worried
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Have you tried just cutting out wheat Helen?
Since I strictly cut wheat out of Alice's diet, there is no more blood & mucous and poos are firm. She just has wheat-free dry and felix pouches/trays which are cereal-free (jelly ones are anyway)
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I am too scared to even think about it and had to dump the insurance for the birmans cos of it increasing to £100 a month! I have a slush fund for them which I add to each month but one or bothe have been ill ever since this started.
If I were you Gill, I would insure them as Moggies with a basic insurance such as Argos which is about £4 a month. At least that would cover most things (£3000 I think)
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Zooplus minimum order is now £19 Shona :hug: I really feel so privileged to earn such a good wage when I look at what other people have to survive on :hug:
Yikes Cazzer - that's a LOT of money, fingers crossed for you too :hug:
Have you tried just cutting out wheat Helen?
Since I strictly cut wheat out of Alice's diet, there is no more blood & mucous and poos are firm. She just has wheat-free dry and felix pouches/trays which are cereal-free (jelly ones are anyway)
Yep, he's eaten Bozita (which is grain free anyway) for 3 years with no probs then was taken ill with gastritis, then came the diarrhoea which didn't stop until he went on the RC sensitivity so he was still having it while on Bozita only. I'm gradually introducing JWB which has rice in and *touch wood* he seems OK with that now, am up to 25g a day in addition to the RC wet.
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I cant Mark cos they both have pre-existing problems sadly and also as they are obviously birmans lol, not sure whether vets would play ball cos also registered with vets as birmans!
However I would try it but for the pre-existing problems.
Maybe its a thing that others can think about when first doing insurance but wonder how vets and ins companies would react to the nicety of whether a pedigree has papers or not?
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I don't think they go by papers or not. Molly is registered at the vet and with insurance as a Border Collie (because that's what she is), however, she's not KC registered which means she is a purebreed not Pedigree. As far as the KC are concerned she is a working sheepdog ... As far as AXA are concerned she is a Border Collie.
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Sorry Den, I dont undedrstand any of that lol....totally beyond my one grey cell :rofl: :rofl:
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Lol ok. Well, the short version is if it looks like a lab and acts like a lab, then it's a lab (pedigree or no pedigree). So when it comes to vets and insurance companies .... If it looks like a Birman and acts like a Birman then it is a Birman. It doesn't matter if they have papers or not.
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I daren''t even add mine up :-[
Sack of RC is £34 ( approx - 6 per year ?) -sack of cat litter is £16 -(approx 14 bags of litter per year)
Felix for Winston - can be 2 boxes/trays per week + fish on saturday (£2)
Wiskers supermeat for 3 of them -(20 per week ?)
Sheba and agail for Fifi -about 5 per week.
Vaccinations -only possible having 3 done this year due to age .
Flea in summer -advantage £15 per month -once every 6weeks - only a couple of times through winter . (they don''t go out the garden or mix with other cats)
Worm ionce a year-none have ever had them.
vet bills?!
Pandora is only one insured -£9.50 per month -i put a set amount in bank for the others vet bills.
Forgot to add to this -Smarties Fortekur £34 every 8 weeks + his asthma tablets £4 per month.
I spend the minimum on food for myself and cut right down on all bills -the cats have the best they can .
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The short answer is a lot!
I have the same concerns as Helen, given my precarious employment situation. My calculations are similar to Helen's with maybe a bit less spent on food (not much though!) but more on litter as I use WBCL. I am reluctant to switch to a different litter as I love the WBCL and, more importantly, the boys love it too. I don't want to go back to clay clumping after abandoning it for the dust, weight and it causing poss breathing problems for Jaffa and I didn't get on with oko cats best. Few choices other than WBCL if I want a non clay clumping litter that is fine grained.
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I refuse to calculate but here goes
Vets Bill average £400 a month for injections for the cats - dogs are £220 per year for the 2 including boosters and kennel cough, Program tablets and wormers
Cats worming bill is £150.00 a quarter due to the majority having outside access
Food - 12 tins a day and 3.5kgs of biscuits this does include the outside cats
Sweeties Insulin and Needles £30.00 a month as we use new needles twice a day
Cold Meat treats £20.00 a week
Cat treats always bought on offer as we go through at least 3 tubs of tempatations a week cause they are addicts
Dog food bought when its BOGOF
We also have rescue deals with 3 large companies
Cat Litter is 1 x bag of sadust pellets a week, 1 bag of clumping a fortnight and 1 bag of paper litter a quarter for Miss Storm
Beds and scratching posts not allowed to mention is case OH looks :rofl:
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roughly per month
Bozita £30
tesco nature trays £35
dry £15
litter £30
2x feliway £30
insurance £18
frontline £9
wormer £1.5
Vacs £10 (3x£40 per year)
=£178.5
in the event of non employment i could cut back my food etc alot, ive already cancelled mobile contact etc but i could cut from the above- we probably dont need 2 feliways a month (in my tiny tiny 2bed house :evillaugh:) Litter costs could be reduced substantially- i buy PAH clay i just use it really inefficiently :shify: and they could eat more dry, they do in the summer anyway by choice :-: .
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You really should try Cats Best OKO if you haven't already. I doubt you would even get through 2 bags a month which would halve the cost. As you scoop out the wee clumps, the tray rarely needs cleaning. If it goes up the side of the tray, you can empty it into something else, clean the tray and put it back as the litter is always clean. I only use about 2 a month with 3 cats although Kylie does go outside sometimes.
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Flip, flip, flipping eche guys - what a lot of money :Crazy:
Know exactly what you mean though Helen. I gave up work December 2009 to be full time carer for my mum and I'm glad my mortgage is paid and I get my council tax paid for cos the carer's allowance and income support I get is a laugh (a sick laugh).
I've cut down on my stuff but Bonnie still gets the same. :Luv2: :hug:
Mary
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OK I think Liz is the 'winner' :evillaugh:
It was a real shock adding mine up as I think I used to spend about £40 a cat on them so it's gradually crept up to £140 a month for two!
Like others I would definitely cut back on everything for me and just try and keep the boys going if the worst happened but even cutting everything but food/litter/insurance back they'd still account for 25% of the monthly JSA income!
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We are winners as a family larger than most but then most of mine wouldn't be alive if they weren't here, dear Ace my shredder along with Blue and Riley, Heart conditions no tails, and various other issues have all graced the Clan and we have learnt from those not here and learn everyday from those with us :Luv2:
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I have no idea how much Pooty costs a month, as I buy so much stuff when I see it on special offer for food etc, its hard to work it out :shy:
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Right I am going to have a guess:
Zylkene - £9.00
Cystease - £10.50
Insurance - £23.00
Food - £40.00
Litter - £33.00
TOTAL - £115.50
Worming and flea treatments are done on an ad hoc basis, and we pay for jabs when needed we don't save up for them.
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£70 per month for 4 cats.
Food, cat litter & insurance.
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Oh dear I can't do this :scared: :scared: :scared:. Insurance for 7 cats alone about £60 a month which includes Mom's cat as Billy not covered ......
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I went mad today - Asda had Gourmet Perle at 2 boxes for £7 so I bought 8 boxes AND Dreamies on offer at £1 a packet adn I bought 20 packets. ;)
Oh Bonnie, I'm gonna be on jam and bread for ever at this rate :naughty:
I did save a fortune though ;)
Mary
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My cats must be the only ones that don''t like cat treats !! Tried Dreamies, temptaions etc and none are keen at all .
Now, a bit of cooked chicken for two of them , Fish for another , ham for another and then you are talking ! :rofl:
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Mine dont like treats or human food :-[
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Kylie has never eaten real meat. It looks as if Lazarus is the same. I tried him with fish last week and fresh roast chicken on Sunday but he wasn't interested. I just think some cats are never given it when younger.
Never sat down and worked out how much they cost. I would love to know how much wasted cat food adds up to :Crazy:
Did anyone see QI a couple of weeks ago where they said the carbon footprint of having a pet is higher than running a car?
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just feeding mine costs around £150 a month and that's just food, not treats. i'm scared to work out how much they cost me altogether. i have been on jsa since last december and if it wasnt for my child tax credits and child benefit i don't know how i'd manage
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I waste loads as Winston never finishes his sachet and even if i just gave him half and then the other half later , he wouldn''t eat it - he likes a different flavour each time :-[
As for the Whiskers supermeat -thats all Smartie, Sophie and Pandora will eat -BUT its only the top ,bottom and sides with all the jelly and soft meat scraped off and the yucky bit in the middle goes out for other cats the call at night or the bin.
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I chuck loads out too and nothing I have tried helps, I guess that at least half is wasted.......sigh
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Have to say that we don't waste much food having the number of mouths we do - I recycle the biscuits in to bowls in the family room and kitchen and they are all gone by the end of new food day and the wet is always eaten =- same outside they have biscuit bowls to munch on after the wet is finished and failing that Sunny Collie will have a sneaky bowl visit when we are not watching or have left the baby gate open :rofl:
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nothing is wasted here either. anything the cats dont eat the dogs soon will :evillaugh:
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I forgot about the outside crew when they get the full MOT on capture and thats averaging about 3 a year :rofl: