Looking at getting a kitten – is Gumtree a sensible place to look for one if we’re not after a rescue cat? Any pitfalls to look out for in such a transaction?

Help much appreciated.

Try your local vets – they’ll probably have loads of contacts of people wanting to find homes for kittens.

Possible pitfalls I guess are the same as buying a puppy from such a source. Major health problems, inbreeding etc. You could approach it the same way as people do with dogs and actually choose a breed of cat that suits your lifestyle and go meet the breeders. Or why not look out for a rescue that are rescuing a liter of kittens rather than cats and not support people who just let their cats/dogs etc churn out offspring like nobodies business.

I was reading a thread t’other day about someone trying to buy a cat on gumtree and it seemed everyone was trying to pull one scam or another.
Most popular was that the cat was free but they were willing to ship it for £200

£200 posted

In the current down turn, animal shelters have huge waiting lists of pets they can’t take in to re-home, so I’d take a look at your local Blue Cross etc. Lots of rescue cats come from homes where people can no longer afford to look after the cat any more.

Nooooooooooooo!

Please get one from a reputable animal charity like blue cross or cats protection. It’ll be spayed, it’ will have had its jabs etc it also may be chipped

Better than Gumtree

Please get one from a reputable animal charity like blue cross or cats protection. It’ll be spayed, it’ will have had its jabs etc it also may be chipped

^basically this

some rescue centres will offer to spay a kitten as part of the adoption cost once its old enough.

If you are going with Gumtree try to look for adverts that state you can see one of the kitten’s parents, that it’s the very least 8 weeks old, has been handled regularly and whether it is house trained/flead/de-wormed. These are all signs that the owner knows their cats.
Don’t pay over the odds, as far as I’m concerned you’re doing the owner a favour taking a non-perdigree off their hands so I’d pay a maximum of £20 if the cat has been de-wormed and flead.
We’re getting a couple of little black kittens this weekend for our Daughter as our old moggy died a few weeks ago. She is very excited but obviously I am in no way moved by the thought of two cute kittens in the house – ahem.

fasthaggis, you git!

I shouldn’t have clicked on the link – now all I can see are lonely cats in St. Helens, desperate for a new owner.

My resolve is slipping.

🙁

Well our two are not lonely anymore. 🙂

[thread hijack]

So, how much does cat ownership actually cost these days?

And, most of the cats in the St Helens place are not inside cats – so how do you get a cat used to living in a terraced street, and crapping in someone else’s yard, not ours?

[/thread hijack]

Ours cost £200 chipped and spayed ,part given to Cats Protection as a donation ,then the rest to an approved vet as we promised CP to have them done .
Jabs once a year ,a few worming tabs plus food will rock it up to about £800 a year *

* just a guess

Ta fasthaggis!

As you were.

So, how much does cat ownership actually cost these days?

£50 per year for checkup and vaccinations
£11 per month for food
£5 per month worming/flea treatment
£16 per month insurance

That’s for our 6 year old female outdoor moggie.

Thanks for the info – will start at the vets and see what they say, as we’re definitely after a kitten to rear rather than a grown-up cat.

So, how much does cat ownership actually cost these days?

Depends on eating habits and general health.

Ours rarely needs taking to the vets but insists on eating his own body weight in Gourmet Pearle on a daily basis.

Strongly recommend keeping on top of the worming & flea treatments and getting affordable health insurance.

Affordable health insurance =
?
Edit: Before I get flamed, it was a joke. We will be looking for a cat/kitten when we move soon so the links above look useful.

We pay £10 / month to Vet for flea and worm treatment, and they cost about £10/month in food each as well. No insurance.

£11 per month for food
£16 per month insurance

Is it just me that finds it odd that insurance costs more than food?

thing is, it’s not car/house insurance, it’s medical insurance.

It’s entirely possible to go 10 years or more without making a claim on your house/car insurance. The chance that a cat will end up needing some expensive treatment is close to 100%.

the insurance company needs to cover £X,000, in about 10 years of payments.

i’m not suggesting it’s a good idea, but instead of pet-insurance, we’ll be putting £20/month in a pet-bills savings account.

ask a vet about kittens, he/she will be desperate to house some, more-or-less constantly.

gumtree? nooo. just nooo for animals.

local vets is good start or linky above as mentioned.

We got a 5month old via the Cats Protection League a few weeks back.

They were very helpful (unlike the RSPCA), charged £55 and for that it had;
– been dewombed (if she’d been too young they would have paid for the op for us further down the line)
– injections (again they’d have paid for this after, if she hadn’t been done before we collected her)
– micro-chipped
– a months insurance
– wormed
– flea-treated
– litter trained

She’s loopy and ace, I’m not sure that the CPL arranged those features though.

We’re letting her out of the house for the first time this weekend… Eeh, they grow up so quickly… 😆

“Nooooooooooooo!

Please get one from a reputable animal charity like blue cross or cats protection. It’ll be spayed, it’ will have had its jabs etc it also may be chipped”

Hear, hear!

This little fella just cost me £70 at the vets today for yet another cat bite abscess/falling out of trees:

So, how much does cat ownership actually cost these days?

About a fiver in month in food. If it want’s more it can go and catch it.
I’ve also told it, that as it’s basically an illegal immigrant to the house so it’s got to sort out its own vet bills.

I’ve also told it, that as it’s basically an illegal immigrant to the house so it’s got to sort out its own vet bills.

You should have asked for a Health bond before it moved in…..

I forgot to say, ours came from the CPL, already spayed, chipped, and litter trained. £50 donation was made in ‘payment’ for her.

I second all the suggestions of getting a rescue, unless you’re desperate for a pedigree, in which case you want a reputable breeder, not Gumtree.

http://www.catsforgold.com/

OH had a lot of kittens brought in the other week.

Definitely go to a charity if there is one near you or your local vets. they will have had all their checks and jabs etc, should be microchipped if from a charity etc. You will have to pay a donation to the charity but that is fiar enough as it covers all the stuff they have done and pays for their hard work. From a vet it will probably be free, especially if it’s your local one as they will be getting a new client!

Definitely get it from a responsible place, cats protection or other..

We got out 4 year old short hair silver tabby called Marley in August.. I don’t even like cats, I just like her!

We had been getting visits from the Neighbours cat, the wife started to feed it and it kept coming back so I said lets just get one..

We went to “look” at the cats in the re-homing centre, we saw Marley looking properly scared and uneasy in the corner of her pen, I went in to see her, she then hid behind a blanket.. I fell in love with the little menace there and then, the wife went in and she came straight up to say hello to her..

We picked her up 3 days later, “give her time to settle in, she won’t come out her carry box for ages”… They said! I opened the box and she was out in a flash, explored the whole house and took residence on my big chair in the man cave and promptly fell asleep all night!

Next day she was a bit shy, but eventually came down for food, took another day to use the litter tray, then started sitting with us in the living room… Normally cosied up to me! She sits on the windowsill now and is more independent as she know we aren’t going to abandon her. She is a house cat tho, goes mental at the sight of other cats, we let her out once and she was scared stiff!

She romes round the house like she owns it, sleeps at the bottom of our bed, sits on my chest to wake me up at weekends, sleeps on our bed all day, gets bed head, always looks guilty, plays at night and eats when we eat.. Proper little madam but I’m not embarrassed to say I love her to bits and wouldn’t change her for the world.

If I could post a pic I would! Always happy to see the wife, normally happy to see me and more so when I feed her.

Costs are:
£11 per month insurance
£15 per month in food (max, including biscuits and treats)
£4 per month in cat litter
£2.50 per month in flea treatment

boblo, your cat looks like ours.

‘cept ours can operate the computer:

he’s a rescue cat, and an indoor cat at that. He doesn’t want to go out. Which is good because the three we had before him all got run over 🙁

and he’s the nicest cat we’ve ever had

so don’t discount rescue cats

We got two kittens last November from an animal sanctuary, they’re a brother and sister who have completely different personalities. We had to wait until they’d had all their vaccinations.
The people from the sanctuary asked us lots of questions about where we lived, was it our own house or rented, busy or quiet road etc etc, they then came and did a home inspection to see if they’d let us have the kittens.
We paid £60 donation for each of them.

Our tomcat came from a cats protection, he’s 8 now, he’s as nice as pie and patient with the kids, smart and friendly and merciless killer of pigeons, rats mice and squirrels !

Posted?

IMAG0319 by Mike Smith 79, on Flickr
This one was a rehome from manchester, always worth talking to your local vet and