Multi-cat home expenses
Sharing a recent email:
Dear Mary Anne,
My name is Patrick and my wife and I live in Illinois. There are feral cats all around us as we live the farm life. People see we have acreage and suddenly there are cats everywhere.
Monica (my wife) wants to bring them indoors. We read with great interest your articles on www.felinexpress.com and we were wondering- what are your food bills like for your cats?
Hmm- never really thought about it really. So I sat down and figured it out.
Seventeen cats- get fed canned and dry food daily.
120 cans of canned food per month @ $0.43 per can= $51.60 per month
This doesn’t account for special canned kitten food during the kitten season when I am flooded with cat, nor does it take into account the containers of KMR that I go through depending on how many baby kittens I have to take care of.
3 bags Purina Indoor Cat Chow per month @ $13.59 per bag = $40.77
3 bags of Stall Dry (my substitute for expensive cat litter) $12.95 per bag= $38.85
Total in just food and litter alone- figure $132.00 a month
Add to that vet bills which thankfully after the building of the enclosure, has only been spaying and neutering the newcomers. No emergency visits recently (knocking furiously on wood).
My house doesn’t smell like a cat box, thanks to www.citypet.com and his litter room air purifier. I also don’t factor in the multiple trips upstairs to change out the cat boxes (12 upstairs, 4 downstairs, and 3 massive ones in the cat enclosure. My cats are not overweight, they are all healthy. I still have to worm them though on a regular basis because the field mice come into the enclosure from time to time and meet an untimely death. My vet is wonderful, he supplies me with the right worming pills and I don’t need to take every cat into his office to be seen. THAT would be a nightmare, for him and for me! LOL Although these cats are socialized, they only trust me. Strangers beware, they have teeth and claws and will not hesitate to use them.
The cold weather will soon be starting as this is the first day of Fall. I put up the cat teepee on the porch again this year. It offers the barn cat a warm cave-like environment and they curl up inside and snuggle down and fall asleep.
I can’t resort to a store-bought cat teepee. This one is improvised, using a second-hand armchair, a large cardboard box (the type a full refrigerator arrives in). I cut the box down one side to open it. Taking the box, I fit it around the outside of the armchair, folding the ends up over the top to make a roof. Securing the cardboard flaps down with duct tape, I drape the top of the box with a lightweight sleeping bag (unzipped). The chair is already covered with several layers of blankets for padding. Bringing the blanket down to form a gentle slope over the front of the chair, I secure it all with bungee cords. Makes for a cozy warm cage.
I also have a heated cat bed outside which they use as well. It is a thermal pad so it only generates warmth when somthing warm-blooded lays on it. Also have several heaters for the water bowls so the water won’t get to cold nor freeze.