Cat medical care is expensive, but there are steps you can take to reduce your costs. Although you will never be able to predict how long your cat will live, you have to make sure you're prepared for it to fall sick, to get injured or to develop some kind of inherited disorder. Vet bills can easily run into the thousands, but by taking out the right kind of pet insurance, you can make sure that your cat gets the treatment it needs without breaking the bank.
How Long Will My Cat Live?
The life span of a cat will depend on a number of factors. It's lifestyle, diet and genetic makeup will all affect the length of its survival. On average, cats live for around 15 years. Some healthy cats can even live for longer than 20 years.
Although the lifespan of your cat will be influenced by genetic factors that are out of your control, there are several things you can do to try and make sure medical bills stay at a minimum. The kind of diet you feed your cat will greatly affect its length of survival. Exercise is also important. Obesity can cause many additional health problems, so taking good care of your cat's health will reduce the cost of its medical care over the long term. Minimum Medical Costs
Even if your cat never falls ill there will still be minimum medical costs each year that you will have to make provision for.
Vaccines will be the main cost. These are necessary for your cat's health and, in most states, are also a legal requirement. Whether your cat is an outdoor or indoor cat, vaccinating it will make sure that it's protected against some of the more serious feline diseases, several of which are incurable.
The cost of vaccines will depend on how many vaccines your vet recommends for your cat, and how much they charge for each one.
After vaccines, there are other smaller costs. These include things like buying the medication to worm your pet. Outdoor Cats and Indoor Cats
There are many arguments for and against keeping an indoor cat. However, cats who live indoors their whole life have a considerably longer life expectancy than those who are allowed outside. This is for the simple reason that outside life is more dangerous for a cat. There are risks of being hit by a car, being accidently poisoned or attacked by other animals. They are also exposed to more dangerous diseases. Indoor cats are much safer in comparison, and are therefore likely to live longer.
It's impossible to accurately predict the lifetime cost of medical care for your cat. However, you can work out the annual costs, such as how many vaccines it will need, worming medication and any other medication it might require on a regular basis. Multiply this by 15 to get the estimated total cost and add any one-off treatments such as neutering.
Cat care can be expensive but the healthy, happy long-term companion you could have as a result is worth the investment.