To celebrate International Cat Day, GoCompare pet insurance has considered the cost of keeping your kitty in 2022.
With the nation spending a collective £2.5bn on cat care products, GoCompare has compiled a list of money-saving tips during the claw-st of living crisis.
Take out pet Insurance
Research found that almost half of the UK’s pet owners (43%) do not have pet insurance. This oversight could make cat ownership much more expensive as uninsured owners will have to fork out for costly vet bills themselves. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, uninsured cat owners spent over £130 million on vet bills that could have been covered by a policy.
Buy food in bulk
When purchasing cat food, online retailers that offer a subscription service often have a discount for regular or bulk orders. This makes it easier to work out a budget for your kitty and reduces the cost per kilogram by around 50p.
This may not seem like much, but with the average cat consuming 2-4 pouches of wet food per day, it certainly adds up. An order of 120 Felix Original in boxes of 12 costs an average total of £38.50, providing enough food for your cat for one month if your cat ate 4 pouches per day.
However, buying the same amount of cat food when ordering in bulk on a subscription service comes with a smaller price tag of £32.78, offering savings of £5.72 each month, or a whopping £68.64 per year.
Inside vs outside
Insurance price trends show that indoor cats are normally cheaper to insure than their outdoor counterparts as they are less likely to suffer from accidents or infections. The average cost for insuring outdoor cats was £291, £49 more than indoor breeds at £242 per year.
DIY cat toys
Not only do cat toys help you to bond with your cat, but they stimulate your feline’s hunting intuition without the need for any wildlife casualties.
With the average cat toy costing around £8.60, you may be able to save money by making your own DIY cat toys from free, everyday materials. Try cutting out strips of old T-shirts to make a teaser toy, or sellotaping loo roll tubes to make a food maze to test your feline friend.
Adopt don’t shop
If you’re not yet a proud pussycat parent but looking to buy, it may surprise you how expensive purr-chasing a cat can be. Animal lovers who choose to adopt a cat will only pay around £182, whereas the average price of buying a cat from a breeder is a whopping £720.
For more information on the cost of owning a cat, visit GoCompare’s handy guide.
