Ragdoll Cat Cost – How Much Does a Ragdoll Cat Cost to Keep?
In addition to the price of a Ragdoll cat, one of the other questions I get frequently through e-mail is the average monthly or yearly cost of a Ragdoll cat. The price of a Ragdoll cat is covered on this page – Ragdoll Cat Price – which is literally the amount you paid for the kitten or adult cat.
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A Ragdoll cat cost really includes:
- Initial Costs – If you are buying a purebred pet, then there is the cost of the pet plus shipping (if they are being flown to you) – but there might also be the ethical responsibility of spaying/neutering, plus the optional costs of microchipping, vaccinations, etc.
- Veterinary Costs – Wellness visits to the vet or for unknown illnesses – there might be a need for blood work, dental cleanings, medications (flea control), treatments, etc. as they age.
- Emergency surgeries – You never know what can come up – after all, you are dealing with a beating heart. So there are never any guarantees. Whether it’s a genetic disorder undiscovered, a disease undiscovered or because your cat ate something or got into something they shouldn’t have, this is something to consider. This happened to my sister after adopting a rehomed cat. Luckily, she kept the original owner’s pet insurance – which helped to pay 90% of the $10,000 cost that saved the cat’s life
- Pet Insurance – This depends on your state (location), breed of pet, species of pet, age of pet and any pre-existing conditions
- Necessities & Accessories – Cat carriers, collars, leashes, harnesses (not all cats need those nor do all owners want them to have them)
- Food – This will vary based on the diet of your cat. But regardless of what type of food you feed your cat, this expense will always exist.
- Litter – Litter comes in many different kinds.
- Toys, Beds, etc. – There are many fun and useful cat products.
- Pet Sitter/Boarding your cat – Do you like to travel? You will have to pay for a pet sitter or pay for your cat to be boarded at a facility
- Damage to carpet, furniture, etc. – whether it’s vomit, diarrhea, cats clawing furniture – they are all potential expenses that you might incur if you welcome a furry friend into your home. Whether it be needing to reupholster a couch or bringing in a professional carpet cleaning company, the potential is there.
- A kitten is usually more expensive because of vaccinations and what not. A cat can still be expensive because of food, litter, vet bills, etc.
A kitten is usually more expensive because of vaccinations and what not. A cat can still be expensive because of food, litter, vet bills, etc. Do you have an idea of what you spend on or budget for your kitty every year?
If you can include in the comments a breakdown of what you spend and also maybe say if you feed dry food, wet food or raw food (as the costs of those vary considerably), maybe where you live, the type of litter you use, the age of your cat, the health of your cat, etc. You can break it down by the month or the year.
Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, I created Floppycats to connect, share and inspire other Ragdoll cat lovers around the world,
Me and my wife are currently looking into adopting a sweet little ragdoll kitten that is 6 weeks old. We would love to say yes immediatelly but are afraid of the costs since we are a little bit on a budget (I love my job 3 months ago and just found a new one, payment is way worse though…). Can you ellaborate a little more on how much the costs will be in the first 12 months? I am sure we will get out of this financial struggle in a bit, but for the next few months we just have to sit tight I guess. Another comment said we should expect around $2000 USD, which is really a lot! Now I hoped when researching the topic I could find some source that said it was lower, but I even found this blog post– https://thecasualcatblog.weebly.com/blog/the-costs-of-raising-a-kitten-a-complete-guide –proclaiming I would need over $800 just for the vet in the first year, totalling at around $2500 with everything included!
Now this just sounds absurd to me, but since everybody is talking about these numbers, what is your take on that? I really hope it’s not that much so we can adopt that little girl (it’s a female kitten and we would probably call her Nala).
Thank you for your oppinion and I hope to hear from you!
Hello, I’m about to get my ragdoll cat and I’m calculating the cost of switching to FF pate (classic in the USA) and Primal nuggets Freezer dried then over to frozen raw and the cost per week if my ragdoll get to 20lbs (which my breeder said the last litter had a male at 8 months old weighing 18lbs, so it’s very possible he could be 20lbs) with my current cat being 8-9lbs is $35.72 plus tax for 49 nuggets (35 a week for 20lb ragdoll and 14 a week for 8lbs tabby)of Primal freezer dried nuggets a week and $24.50 plus tax for 35 cans (10.5 for 9lb tabby and 24.5 for 20lb ragdoll) of Fancy Feast Pate (classic) that’s $60.22 a week :O I can not afford that!! That can’t possibly be right… can it?! How is everyone feeding their pets so cheaply?
I have two cats (one Ragdoll and one Siamese, 2 years old and 1 year old)
Vet: approximately $80-100/year for vaccinations
Litter: $100/year
Food: $846/year
Unexpected expenses: varies per year… Last year, it was around $2500 because we had a couple of visits to the emergency vet for one of them eating chocolate and needing a stomach pump, and one having stones. So far, this year is just thinks like new porcelain bowls.
Toys: around $50 a year
$1,700 Food
72 Litter
0 Vet Visits
0 Flea Control, etc.
500 Unexpected Expenses (mostly as a result of Floppycats.com product reviews!)
0 Cat Health Insurance
0 Did I forget something? (I hope not!)
$2,272 Well, that’s shocking!
Great post, Jenny! Hmmmmm. Let’s see now….
Miss Pink Sugarbelle is almost 3 years old now (she’ll be 3 on Oct 7th) and in very good health.
All costs below are annual estimates based on what we spent last year:
1. Food (wet, incl dry treats) $600
2. Litter $225
3. Vet Visits: $75.00
4. Flea Control, etc.. $0.00
5. Unexpected Expenses: $100.00
6. Cat Health Insurance: $0.00
7. Fun Schtuff (toys, catnip, etc…): $100
GRAND TOTAL OF ANNUAL EXPENSES/BUDGET: $1100
We live in Lawrence, Kansas (USA). Miss Pink Sugarbelle uses Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat Ultra Clumping Cat Litter. 🙂 <3
Big hugs!
Patti & Miss Pink Sugarbelle
Love it, Patti! Thanks for breaking it down and giving perspective by giving her age, etc.
You are most welcome. Happy to help! 🙂 <3
Mew Mew uses only the finest in litter and the most advanced automatic litter box and her own bathroom (stashed in my bedroom). So that is the most expensive thing. I suppose she would poop anywhere I set up, but I am totally lazy.
Mew Mew eats well, and since I changed her dry food to a better brand, $8.00 a bag, and she gets a small can of wet food a day, she has less knots in her long hair.
She is an indoor only cat, therefore no vet visits. No fleas, no contact with other cats. She is, however, next to my cable bill, my most expensive outlay. Oh well. I am just an old lady with a cat.
i figured i spend about 5000 dollars a year on my 3 cats. that may be a low figure. if they have to go to the vet then it’s more. i don’t regularly take my cats to the vet because they are always pushing pills and food and vaccinations on me. get sick of it. any animal is expensive to keep. they require care just like kids. good thing they don’t go to college.. lol.