How much do you spend on your pets?

I can confirm that they will, based on a particularly traumatic childhood memory.Or rather, I can confirm that they will catch and play with fish. Not necessarily eat.

Vet costs vary wildly depending on locale, I think. Our vet charges $35 for an office visit, unless she does tests or something like that, in which case she usually doesn’t charge for the visit itself. Yearly shots for our cats, who get the full battery because they do go outside, run $145. Bloodwork runs about 100 But only happens every couple of years now that they’ve gotten old. Not at all when they were young, unless they were sick.She would do blood glucose for Mr. obnoxious regularly if I didn’t check it myself most days. Since I do, she doesn’t bother.

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My cat costs average out to $139.74 for the past ~4.5 years. Most of the time that’s one cat, about six months of two cats. That includes a big spike of vet costs (>$3k) in May, so probably less than $100 a month for food, litter, treats, flea treatments, and occasional vet visits. (We weren’t very consistent with the flea treatments until we had fleas in September–now we are!)

The average for me was ~$75/mo with relatively healthy cats, interspersed with a couple very expensive years when they’ve gotten sick (early kidney disease/failure, cancer) and passed. Remaining cat is on a special diet for his kidneys also so I expect the monthly average to be at least a little higher from here on out, but I haven’t got a new baseline yet.

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Fleas like warmth so they tend to cluster around doorways of houses when the weather turns cold, then hitch a ride in on our clothes :slight_smile:

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Lots of people have provided details on some setup costs (litter box, scoop, pet furniture, carriers (recommend one for each), bowls, spay/neuter, vaccinations, etc etc etc) so you don’t need to hear that from me. In the last few years (since I have been tracking) I’ve not done flea and tick meds because I lived in the dry west and fleas and ticks were relatively uncommon, but I might need to start this coming spring now that we are in a humid climate with lots of ticks. (Tick borne diseases are no joke, and fleas and ticks can absolutely get on them even as indoor only animals because they can catch a ride in on us, and it sucks.) I’ve used Feliway when I’ve had prior multipet households when introducing new animals, but my current two are littermates and don’t need it. It absolutely is worth it though (even if it is pricy).

This year my average monthly costs have been ~70/month. However, they have not had their wellness checks this year because of REASONS. Their vaccinations (rabies and FVRPC, both recommended despite being indoor only (and rabies is legally required)) are 3-year vaccinations now, which is nice. Last year I had an additional ~$1700 bill, which was their annual exams + vaccinations + bloodwork (which I typically have done every year to have a good baseline and to catch anything as early as possible), PLUS the Derp needed a dental PLUS multiple extractions, which was a lot. The previous year their annual exams + vaccinations + bloodwork was ~$340 for the two of them. So far, neither of them have needed emergency or off-schedule treatment at all.

The above includes food (high quality kibble + canned), treats, litter, + incidentals (a cat tree this year, might need another litter box (it’s recommended to have n+1, though I’ve generally gotten away with just n), I’d like a new pet fountain, etc.). I don’t buy many toys, they like playing with random shit generally, plus my parents sometimes send stuff. I highly recommend the Cat Dancer though. 1 million percent. Also highly recommend a pet fountain, especially if they are on dry food or partially on dry food. Cats are desert creatures (or evolved from them) and traditionally got nearly all of their water from their food, and some cats do not have a good instinct to drink, which can cause problems, and flowing water can entice them to drink more.

I am a BIG BIG BIG proponent of regular medical care, my pets are members of my family and I want them to have the happiest, healthiest lives they can. This includes dentals if they need it. Dental disease in pets can be extremely painful for them. It’s a crap shoot though how much they will need - some cats have a lot of trouble and some have nearly none. I’ve had 2 cats with essentially perfect teeth that only needed a dental a few times in their lifetimes, one cat that had terrible teeth when I adopted her at age 4, and one that we thought had stomatitis (which would have been bad news for his teeth) but which it looks like not to be the case - but he will likely need a dental every year (or nearly). Dentals are tough because they have to be anesthetized, and if they need extractions that’s extra.

Treatable conditions are also something you can’t really predict in cats (except maybe purebreds, IDK if it is as prevalent as in dogs). My first cat was very healthy until age 6. She got an infection in her mouth (unclear how, but she might have bit something sharp and it got infected). She was prescribed steroids to help with the inflammation and within a few days (maybe even 1 day?) went into severe distress. She had undiagnosed undifferentiated myelopathy (a heart condition not caused by a physical defect). Cats with myelopathy can’t be on steroids, it puts them into heart failure, and if I had waited even 24 more hours from when I got her emergency care she probably would have died. Her condition was treatable by putting her on low dose diuretic (to minimize any water retention, which can happen with myelopathy) and low dose blood pressure medication (to reduce stress on her heart). They were inexpensive (maybe $30/month? I can’t remember, it wasn’t a lot). The vet said she might live a normal lifespan and have a normal life, or could have a much shorter lifespan, but it couldn’t be predicted. She lived a normal happy life for 7 more years. Her last year of life was complicated by the fact that she could not be on traditional steroids, but until then her condition was 100% treatable and her quality of life was excellent.

My second cat, in addition to winning the genetic lottery for terrible dental luck, developed IBS, also around when she was 6 or 7. Her IBS was not treatable with diet changes (boy did we try) but was 100% treatable by low dose steroids, and she also lived symptom free until she was almost 14. Her medication (prednisolone) was around $21/month. Near the end of her life her symptoms became much worse and meds didn’t help, but for the entire rest of the time she was a happy cat who ate normally and played and was the best and her quality of life was excellent.

My current cats are around 3.5 and aside from the stomatitis scare (and the fact that the Derp probably needs annual dentals forever) they are healthy (touch wood). Since they are so young still, if they developed a condition that was possibly treatable and which their quality of life was still good, I would likely pursue. If they were older, or if their quality of life was not very good I would have to think seriously about what to do. Things like cancer or kidney failure can be really difficult to treat, impact QOL significantly, and be very expensive on top of it all. Things like thyroid issues, diabetes, IBS, heart conditions, can be managed very well and lead to normal QOL. (Well, until they can’t. But, it’s pretty obvious when that happens.)

I self insure because I can pay a $2000 vet bill and be ok. If I couldn’t, I would consider insurance.

(Oh, I also had a dog who was very expensive, but she was a super senior when I adopted her at age 14, and although I didn’t necessarily know all of her issues when she first came to me I did know she was “old” (and therefore would likely have increasing issues). I just wanted to give her a nice comfortable life in her golden years after having been neglected for a long time. She lived with me for 3 years and I don’t regret spending the money one bit. But she was very expensive.)

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I think I said dental was $300 per cat in your journal but it’s probably way over that and I misremembered. Sometimes they have to get x-rays and teeth pulled as well. Aslan needs to go see a dental specialist with a personal anesthesiologist because last time he went under we think he had a stroke, so it’ll be almost $3K this time.

I highly recommend you feed a high quality, grain free wet food. Wet food is much better than dry because it’ll help prevent kidney disease. I think a can a day per cat ends up being around $3 a can. We feed mostly raw (you can buy it frozen) which is more expensive but our cats do super well on it and their poops are relatively less stinky :slight_smile:

Wet raw feeding improved my brothers cats poos sooooo much it’s insane.

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My dogs need yearly dentals and cost between 500-1k. I would google grain free food for cats because in dogs even younger ones it’s killing them by causing heart disease.

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I spend a lot on my pets but so far they’ve all lived 20+ years so it adds up over their lifetimes.

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Cats are obligate carnivores and all commercial cat foods contain taurine, so it’s not a concern for cats! But if you’re feeding homemade food you definitely want to add in heart meats for the taurine.

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Even with dogs though, this seems to be highly breed specific. I do recommend researching it, but the grain/beans issue seems to only be in labs/retrievers last I looked. (We don’t feed grain free personally, but I like providing nuance when its available)

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I belonged to a closed group on Facebook that had many veterinarians on it and the studies showed dogs of all breeds. The breeder that gave me my last Maltese sent me a invite. I only stayed on it a few months though so not really knowledgeable or up to date on it.

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This! When commercial cat foods started adding taurine (even the cheapest of the cheap garbage brands) conditions caused by taurine deficiency in cats almost disappeared, so it’s very important. You can also add taurine supplement that you can buy, if you are doing homemade and want to be sure or don’t want to do heart meats or the like.

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Unfortunately not breed specific. We’re one of the universities doing research on this and that was part of what tipped veterinarians off that something was wrong, seeing the cardiac issues in breeds that usually don’t have any.

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Damn, that’s good to know. Do you have a sense if it’s the exclusion of grain or the over inclusion of legumes? I’ve seen both theories floated but haven’t done a deep dive in a year plus.

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I have to admit I was really hoping you’d chime in because I was too lazy yesterday to find the research my former Drs sent me :rofl:

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:rofl: Feel free to batsignal me as needed.

I’m trying to find something published, but most of what I know comes from hallway chats with our board certified cardiologists. So far I don’t think they’ve pinpointed why the grain free diets are causing DCM, but definitely that they were/are doing so.

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I read this as “bored, certified cardiologists” and just went along the sentence thinking “oh, I didn’t know you could do animal cardiology for fun.”

Derp.

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Aha! Found a write up about the September symposium on DCM in JAVMA. I knew I had seen something about it really recently!

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I am so, so curious to see the science behind this develop. The afflicted breed pool widening makes it feel way less bbbbhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Eta that submitted early when I went to get the baby, not sure how I did that. I think my point was just like, it’ll be interesting since it’s a less clear cut list of possible causes/genetics now.

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