Recently adopted a kitty. Thinking of getting him a sibling. People with one or multiple cats, please answer these questions.
\- Do you have pet insurance? If yes, please tell me the name, how much do you pay monthly per cat and your experience with reimbursement of medical expenses.
If no, how do you plan your finances in case of emergency/ disease/ disorder due to old age?
\- How much do you spend yearly on your cats?
This is my first time having a pet, any help would be really appreciated. Thank you.
7 comments
I adopted two cats that came together. Not paying insurance but every month put aside 10,000 (5000 each me and partner) for emergencies.
Where did you get your cat from? Ours came from the streets so in the beginning they weren’t doing to well, had to take them to the vets loads. After they eventually got healthy and clear, it’s just yearly blood tests which cost about 10,000 for each cat.
For food, one of the cats are quite picky and only likes the brand Hills, which is more on the expensive side 3800 X 3 per month. I would advise avoiding the really cheap brands. Again one of the cats is a fatty and likes to eat more, so it will depend on your cats how much they need but 2~3 bags a month.
We get about 2 cat litter bags a month at around 2000 total.
Since you have one cat already and want to introduce it a new one, make sure to take time. It’s advised to keep the new cat in a room away from the original and slowly introduce the smell of the new cat to the old. Take some cloth, t shirt or something and rub it on the new cat then let the old cat smell it. After a few days you can introduce them slowly. There are also smelling devices you can plug into the wall the give of pheromones to help calm cats.
When they get along, be prepared for the whirlwind of mayhem early in the mornings when your carts decide to chase each other like Tasmanian devils.
I have a 10 year old cat. He could be 11. He was estimated to be between 2-5 years of age when we got him.
He’s a mature man now. A mature man with kidney issues, we get him Royal Canin Renal. ¥5700 for 2 kg.
3 packs of cat litter for a month.
I also buy the pretty expensive cat litter perfumes which come in pebble shape, those are about ¥600 each? Could be ¥700.
Wet food is ¥60-¥110 per pack. That’s slightly under ¥3000 per month. He demands one every single day.
He got a full health screening plus dental surgery this year and the combined procedures costed ¥100.000 total. I may have to take him to another full health screen (X-ray, bloodwork, check up etc) this year because our vet told me to keep an eye on his toilet habits and he cries every other day in the litter box 😓 It will cost about ¥50.000
Vaccines are ¥5000 I think plus a quick health checkup. Annual. You can also get blood work done after a few years of vaccinating the Kitty to see if it’s still in effect. That’s what we did. Blood work was about ¥10.000 or ¥15.000?
The surgery was sort of an emergency surgery, so I would say keep at least ¥150.000 in savings for the cat. My friends cats had pretty complicated surgeries here and it was ¥150.000 each.
Have two cats which we adopted from ARK. No insurance. No specific pet emergency fund. 5mil JPY general emergency fund. We’ve had them ~6 years now and medical expenses have been minimal, but wife spends a small fortune buying the very best cat food for them, along with the very best snacks. I think they may eat better than I do… We have four cat towers, and more cat toys than I can count.
Idk if this would help but I have a frenchie. Our pet insurance is from e-pet. She’s 4 years old and her insurance cost 4,000 yen per month. It’ll go higher as she gets older.
From my experience, I’d rather pay 4k a month and get 70% back from what we payed the vet rather than spending lots of money when something happens to my fur baby. Vet bills can easily go 10,000 yen in one visit and surgeries would cost a fortune. Just be careful with cheap insurance and make sure to check what kind of sickness and operations it covers.
We have three cats. No insurance. But from earlier experience we know that their health can take a turn for the worse, and vet bills of 10万 and more are easily possible, even more so (and higher) when they get old. We make sure that this will not become an issue by saving up and have enough on the side just in case.
Vet bills are expensive. I would recommend getting insurance for the first year.
Surviving infancy is expensive. Once he is an adult you don’t need much the insurance and the vet visits will be less and less.
I have two cats. I got them when they were 1 year old from Ark. Looking at their medical records they went to the vets a fair amount in the first year (colds mainly). Since I got them (it’s been 1.5 years so far) I’ve only had to take them to the vet once, and that was for ear mites in the first 2 weeks (not sure how they got them – it’s supposed to be cat to cat transfer only).
Since then nothing. They are house only cats and have been vaccinated, etc. Unless they break their legs running around I don’t see them getting sick until they are much older. You can buy insurance once they get to 5-6. They are very active and I don’t let them get fat. At least that is my plan. I have been told make sure they get their teeth checked. This is a big cost when they are older. I plan to get my two cats teeth cleaned soon. Not sure is a cleaning is on insurance anyway.
About insurance. I’m not sure how common this practice is but the insurance is all two tier. The cheaper insurance goes out of its way to be a pain in the arse, with no online claims. You have to pay up front and claim back, by post, including all the documents. In 2023, this is clearly a tactic to get to you pay for the “proper insurance”, which is all automatic. It’s actually pretty expensive for two cats. Right now, I don’t see the need. Better to just save up or keep the cash and invest it.
As for expenses. I bought a load of cat food when it was on sale last year. The stuff lasts for a least a year. I also buy 2kg chicken cuts of ささみ from the 業務スーパー and freeze them after cooking. I then mix in a little bit of cooked sweet potato or pumpkin. This is way more cost effective for getting them protein and the filler helps keep them regular. I get a good 20 meals out of the 2kg and it’s way higher protein. The rest of the diet is dry food or dried fish snacks from an auto feeder. I used to give them other snacks but they are so expensive and highly processed.
Litter is the flush-able stuff. I don’t change it as much as I should, but I have an extractor fan right above the litter trays.
I would guess 100,000 on both of them a year. Definitely stock up on cat food if there is a sale.