The cost of fostering kittens

I’m going to keep a running tally of the expenses involved in caring for two one newborn kitten, from day one until she’s about eight weeks old.  Some expenses, like a crate, towels, bottles, and a heating pad are things I already own, so this will just be a list of perishables and unexpected expenses.  I’ll update things like “bags of cotton balls”  as I use them.

  • 4 bags of cotton balls (on sale for $1 each): $4
  • 1 tin of KMR powder: $17.99
  • 1 tin of KMR weaning powder (“2nd Step”): $8.69
  • vet visit for subq fluids and syringes: $17
  • 6 jars of meat baby food @ 79 cents: $4.74
  • 1 bottle of Johnson’s Buddies Instant-Foam Easy-Rinse Shampoo: this stuff is fabulous - I wish I’d discovered it sooner.  It’s a foaming shampoo in a very solid pump bottle.  Sit it on the edge of the sink, and you can dispense small amounts of gentle foam to quickly clean tiny butts: $3.79.
  • a small bag of Nutro kitten kibble, about 4 lbs.: $11.29
  • 72 x 5.5 oz. cans (three cases) of wet food, at approx. 89 cents per can if I’m lucky: $64.08
  • a small litterbox and a bag of something like Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract litter for potty training: about $22.  I tend to send the litterbox home with the adoptive family.

The latter food expenses may seem a bit excessive, but with kittens you have to plan for waste.  While weaning, there will be a lot of food which gets walked in and slopped on the walls, but not eaten.  Also, depending on how long a foster parent keeps a kitten prior to adoption, the kitten will be eating solid food for at least three weeks, and perhaps even seven weeks, so you will go through a surprising amount of food.

There are other expenses which are difficult to calculate because they’re mixed in with products we already buy and use on a daily basis.  For example, when I foster, I use much more liquid soap, laundry detergent, and bleach than I normally would.  I tend to buy a lot of cheap little toys so I can send them home with the kittens when they’re adopted, but my cats play with them too.  I’ve also made some new purchases of things like the Doggles Comfort Pals Cat, and some new towels, but I’ll be using those again for other litters, and won’t count them now.  It’s still my dream to buy my Pet Intensive Care Unit, too.  It will be a large outlay upfront, but I think it will really come in handy.

Last but not least, there are veterinary expenses.  In my sample list, I had to take a kitten in for sub-q fluids, and that cost $17.  Once a kitten reaches the age of 8 weeks it needs vaccinations, and then it needs another set of them at 12 weeks.  When the kitten weighs at least four pounds it can be spayed or neutered. 

In conclusion, the cost of raising one foster kitten me about $145, and the average cost comes down a bit with more kittens sharing one litterbox.  I guess I could save with homemade food recipes and reusable washcloths instead of cotton balls, but raising them takes up so much time already, there’s no way I could add in more work.  After having done this a few times I’m starting to get it down to a science, and perhaps with efficiency will come monetary savings.

Writing this entry reminded me of a local man who didn’t get his cat spayed, but allowed her to roam outside.  Not surprisingly, the cat ended up giving birth to nine kittens.  The man called the vet’s office because he wanted the kittens taken away—he didn’t want his cat raising kittens in his house.  He didn’t offer to donate a penny, but expected some stranger would fix his mess by hand-feeding nine kittens for weeks and paying all their expenses, just because he couldn’t be bothered having his cat fixed.  Using the calculations above, his refusal to spay his cat at a $77 dollar clinic was going to cost some foster parent about $1000.  Luckily, he was eventually convinced to let the mother cat raise the kittens, but the guy was still a jerk.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/23 at 11:22 PM

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  1. Personally, I’m curious, but do you REALLY want to know how much this is costing you? (Well, yes you do as you are going through the effort of tracking it, but I think it’s going to be even higher than you fear.)

    Posted by Diana  on  01/24  at  11:20 AM

  2. Awwww…I just read the kitten saga. :( I’m sorry about Miles. I raised a kitten a long time ago from about 3 weeks old and you are right, it’s a lot of work and emotion too. (And money.)

    Posted by Carina  on  01/24  at  05:48 PM

  3. I definitely want to know what the costs are, good or bad.  Flippy and I have had steadily less money as our jobs and health have been changing the past few years, and I really need to know when/if I can afford to foster.  It allows me to be truthful with people who want me to foster, too.  When I said I’d foster Miles and Madison, our bank balance was under $300, so costs are definitely a concern and I (unfortunately) can’t pull money out of my ass (yet… I’m working on it).  I was able to tell the people who wanted me to foster that I needed them to pay expenses, but I just took a ballpark guess of $100 per kitten.  This will give me a more accurate inventory for the future.

    On a related note, our employers offered us a raise of sorts last week.  I pulled out the calculator and realized that Flippy and I are being paid less than $10 per hour for what is a “skills + experience” position.  I wrote back and documented our hours and income potential, and asked for $20.  Yesterday our boss wrote and said he was, “working on a response”, and I don’t know if he’s going to agree with us or tell us to take a hike. 

    I can’t believe I’m in my 40s and earning about $9.50 per hour :p

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  01/24  at  07:11 PM
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