Cost of owning a cat in Bulgaria

Pet food is a bigger cost, more expensive in Bg.... - @janemulberry
"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche! " 😁
- @JimJ

It could work out cheaper!

@janemulberry

We buy Turkish or Romanian brands, way cheaper than the mainstream Western European / USA stuff.

@janemulberry
We buy Turkish or Romanian brands, way cheaper than the mainstream Western European / USA stuff. - @cyberescue1

Lucky you! Our ex-ferals want to see a Harrod's price ticket on anything that appears in their bowls, otherwise they do their Bobby Sands impression...😎

Amazing how quickly ex-feral cats who used to gobble up everything develop a more refined palate!

We don't have a huge selection of the budget supermarkets nearby, so for wet food, our mob get whatever canned stuff is cheapest in T Market (they often have discounts or loyalty card deals on it), or canned Smilla Essentials (the cheapest stuff) delivered from Zooplus Bg. That disappears fast, and I'm not encouraging them to expect anything more expensive!

For dry, our village shop stocks cheapo 10kg sacks, but the kittens have a taste for Whiskas Dry since when hubby was there they managed to rip a bag open and he let them eat only that. So they get Whiskas mixed in with the cheap stuff. It usually costs more per kg in Bg than in the UK, even in the pet shop that sells by the kg from big open sacks it's 5 EUR per kg. One Whiskas Dry variety is currently half price at Zooplus so I've stocked up on it.

Best thing I've found for taming ferals is Sainsbury's cheapo cat treats. I always take a few big bags of those with me!

But even with buying as low cost as possible, our cat food budget is probably more than our human food budget!

@janemulberry

You're lucky! I wish that ours only turned their royal noses up at the cheaper ranges but they actually puke it up and it stays on the plates untouched for days. One refuses to eat any wet food at all, which obviously concerns me, but possible kidney problems years away are outweighed by anorexia today! The other used to prefer dry Royal Canin until the company retired his favourite Exigeant/Fussy variety and replaced it with three apparently inferior ones, which they'll only eat in extremis. The Outside Strays will eat more or less anything, but even they are slowly transitioning from gourmands to gourmets.. 😥 Luckily, "Foxy" still eats anything and everything!

I can never work out why the big "zoomagazini" sell loose dry food cheaper per kg than the dame dtuff in even the big bags; doesn't seem to make sense.

Oh dear on cats with a taste for Royal Canin!

When we adopted our four rescues from Cyprus, that was the only food the shelter used, so we had to keep going with it, at least while  they were young. They've all been on regular supermarket cat food since reaching a year old and are doing fine.

I'm not sure how a shelter for street kittens, many with special needs, afforded Royal Canin! They did have a lovely patron who I believe came from a wealthier Greek family, and perhaps she funded the more costly cat food, along with a mass neuter/spay/release programme.

I love cats and have own them since I was 5 years old. But my gawd, they are fuzzy eaters.

Cats rely heavily on aroma. If food is cold or loses its scent, they may reject it. They fear new or unfamiliar foods because they do not recognize them as safe. They can get tired of eating the exact same flavor and smell every single day.

@JimJ

Ours (4) will eat almost anything. We're buying liquid cat snacks in tubed sachets, just tear the top and squeeze a little at a time, for them to take - five in a box, 90 cents. Then their main food is DM own brand pouches, 12 in a box, 4 flavours, €5.11 (43 cents per pouch). The two girls can eat dry food, because they drink plenty, but the two boys have to have wet food, as they won't drink enough water - we ended up three times at the vet, with kidney stones and a blocked urethra each time - poor cat had to have a catheter. He's fine now thankfully.

To keep the conversation maybe we can discuss the costs of cats. Cats have become more expensive in Bulgaria as well this year.

@Zooldrool

If you go into the pet shops where they sell cats, dogs, rabbits etc you'll find yourself wondering who pays that kind of money - and why!

Hello everyone,

This new thread has been created on the Bulgaria forum at members' request, to continue the discussion about the cost of owning a cat in Bulgaria, including food, veterinary care and other related expenses.

have a lovely day

Bhavna

@Zooldrool If you go into the pet shops where they sell cats, dogs, rabbits etc you'll find yourself wondering who pays that kind of money - and why! - @JimJ

Especially when kittens are so readily available. Go to any street dustbin  at the right time of year and you can pick up several little cuties for free. Or offer food to a pregnant cat, and you could score five or six in one go!

We have TWELVE, in this year's kitten crop. A mass neutering program of every cat we can catch is starting very soon!

@janemulberry

Haha love that your hoovering up all the free cats.

We often go to "zoo shops" to see what they are selling. I was trying to get my 4 year old to buy a parrot army the other day, but he wasn't keen.

Ha, we don't need to go looking for kittens, three local mother cats dumped their weaned kittens on us! No humans involved, though I know dumping unwanted cats and kittens in a different village to fend for themselves is a very real thing.

Parrots! Fascinating creatures, but I'd be wary of taking one on! It's a very long term responsibility, and parrot rescues are full of them. More than one -- you'll be lucky to have a house left! They can be very destructive, chewing on things. Mum used to feed the wild parakeets and cockatoos in Sydney -- they destroyed the balcony!