Baz - Blue point Birman boy practising "the stare"...
Recently I entered into a lively discussion with a dinner guest on the subject of – you guessed it – the cost of pet ownership. My guest, let’s call him Sam (not his real name), held the view that the return on investment (RoI) for a Birman (he deliberately kept things personal) or any other pedigree cat (or any cat, for that matter) is so poor that he considered it to essentially be an additional, if optional, tax.
Nothing if not provocative… even if, as in my view, Sam’s ability to quantify the “benefits” – in purely financial terms – of Birman ownership is obviously highly questionable. Sam and his partner don’t have children either – but I refrained from drawing this to his attention nor did I enquire as to his views on the RoI on child “ownership”. Such will-power 
Anyway, the conversation ebbed and flowed for a while before it became apparent that no good was going to come out of pursuing the argument and so we moved onto another topic (thereby averting the very real prospect of having to evict an unwanted dinner guest from the premises before dinner had even been served).
However, a seed had been planted… and the idea of comparing the TCO (total cost of ownership or should that be TCCO, total cost of cat ownership?) of a pedigree Birman (well, in my case two Birmans) to that of a moggie as the subject for a blog post was hatched. Just as an exercise, you understand.
Clearly some assumptions would need to be made, but how hard could it be?
Well, actually, a lot harder than I thought.
First of all, how long to cats live? Or, in other words, how long is a piece of string?
A few minutes spent on google and it rapidly becomes apparent that the major factor impacting feline life expectancy is whether or not they are indoor or outdoor cats. Outdoor cats have the fairly grim average life expectancy of between (low end estimates) 3 to 4 years and (high end estimates) 5 to 6 years. The figures are even worse for “permanently outdoor” cats, i.e. feral cats, who apparently punch out at 1 to 2 years (starvation being added to the list of prevailing cuases of death). Clearly the outdoor cat population is not generally dying of “old age” save where advancing years impact on their ability to evade traffic and other mobile dangers and Darwin’s “natural selection” is possibly augmented with some additional “unnatural selection”.
In general terms, however, it appears that Birman life expectancy (for indoor, like mine) is around 15 years; mixed breeds (moggies) tend to be slightly higher, say 16 years (if indoor). [Ed. The factors that affect cat mortality are quite interesting too - have put this subject down as a future blog post topic]
So, in order to make this exercise tractable I have assumed the following for both the Birman and the Moggie (aka “Mixed Breed”):
- a lifespan of 15 years,
- indoor cats,
- the same diet – both in quantity and quality of foodstuffs,
- insured,
- neutered,
- male,
- micro-chipped,
- the same equipment, furniture and toys,
- no genetic, chronic or acute medical conditions,
- regular (at least annual) vetinary check ups,
- no hand me downs or pre-existing cat paraphenalia – all needs to be acquired,
- medium body, semi long haired coats (i.e. consistent with Birman build and coat),
- only modest “home modifications” required (for the purposes of keeping them indoors),
- the cats are purchased – i.e. not gifts, and
- not for show – family pets only.
Again, in order to preserve my sanity – such as it is – not attemp has been made to account, or take in to account, for:
- costs associated with the demise and associated “funeral expenses”,
- increased costs of utilities and other family budget items (petrol? holiday arrangements?) directly attributable to cat ownership,
- increased “wear and tear” or depreciation factors due to, say, claws and/or feline clumsiness (or indifference),
- any apportionment of a “time cost” (if you weren’t feeding the cat, grooming or brushing it, cleaning up after it, what would you be doing with that time?), or
- any external factors – like rates of inflation, exchange rates, specific cost variation in, say, the price of beef or vetinary costs.
Okay, here goes:
Birmans vs Moggies – TCO Comparison – One Off Expenses (largely actual)
| Fixed Costs | Birman (GBP) | Moggie (GBP) |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Costs | Birman (GBP) | Moggie (GBP) |
| Kitten | £ 400.00 | £ 50.00 |
| Cat carrier | £ 23.00 | £ 23.00 |
| Food and water bowls | £ 12.50 | £ 12.50 |
| Dry food dispenser | £ 11.99 | £ 11.99 |
| Cat play furniture w/ scratching post | £ 34.90 | £ 34.90 |
| Plastic placemat (eating area) | £ 2.59 | £ 2.59 |
| Brushes (fine and normal) | £ 12.98 | £ 12.98 |
| Claw clippers | £ 6.29 | £ 6.29 |
| Sleeping basket | £ 15.99 | £ 15.99 |
| Neutering & Microchip (Vet) | £ 49.63 | £ 49.63 |
| Bespoke wooden/heavy wire screen doors(2) | £ 200.00 | £ 200.00 |
| Cat toilet & mat | £ 27.99 | £ 27.99 |
| Total | £ 797.86 | £ 447.86 |
Birmans vs Moggies – TCO Comparison – Variable Expenses (annual, estimated)
| Variable Cost Items (Annual) | Birman (GBP) | Moggie (GBP) |
|---|---|---|
| Variable Cost Items (Annual) | Birman (GBP) | Moggie (GBP) |
| Food (weekly * 52) | £ 512.20 | £ 512.20 |
| Health/Dental Checks (Vet) (annual) | £ 35.00 | £ 35.00 |
| Insurance - PetPlan Classic2 (monthly * 12) | £ 169.80 | £ 160.20 |
| Cat Toilet Xstal Litter (monthly * 12) | £ 96.00 | £ 96.00 |
| Total | £ 813.00 | £ 803.40 |
TCO = Fixed Costs + Life Expectancy * Variable Costs
From the tables above we end up with:
TCO(Birman) = £ 797.86 + 15 * £ 813.00 = £12,992.86 (or £2.37 per day)
TCO(Moggie) = £ 447.86 + 15 * £ 803.40 = £12,498.86 (or £2.28 per day)
So over the lifetime of the cat the difference in the cost of ownership comes out at 9 pence a day and you could run the cost of either a Birman or a Moggie by giving up a daily coffee and muffin at your local Starbucks. If finances are that much of an issue, I suppose you need to ask yourself – in whatever terms you use to measure value – whether you’d rather have the coffee and muffin or a furry, four-legged friend.
Look, the above is just an exercise. In no way is this serious or rigorous, under no circumstances should the reader think, “that’s it, I’m giving up the coffee and muffins and I’m going to get myself a cat and lose some weight in the process”. There are a myriad of other factors that need to be considered in the decision to acquire (or not) a Birman (or a pair of Birmans) or any other cat or kitten. Hopefully, other than a little bit of entertainment, this article just makes the reader aware that the cost of owning a cat far exceeds – by orders of magnitude – the purchase price of the kitten. If you are, or have been, a cat owner then, you already know this.