When one of her cats fell sick, first with diarrhoea, then later with calicivirus, Joan Bingi did not see the bill coming. By the time treatment was done, she had spent Sh18,500. It remains the biggest bill she has paid in more than a decade of keeping cats.
“The one thing that I had not anticipated about becoming a pet owner is their treatment costs,” she says. “These include vaccines as well as boosters.”
Joan has four cats now, two adults and two kittens, and her monthly spending shifts depending on who needs what. She got her oldest cat in 2014, after a stray wandered into the family compound.
She spends about Sh4,500 a month on the four cats, though the figure goes up when kittens are in the mix. Most of it goes to food. A large compound helps her avoid heavy litter costs, since the cats have room to roam.
For years, healthcare was not a concern. Her cats stayed healthy, and she assumed that would continue.
“I guess there was a kind of protective bubble around me because the first time any of my cats fell sick was like five years later in 2020,” she says. “After that, it’s like the bubble burst. I was paying for treatments year in and year out .”
She now budgets roughly Sh3,500 a month for food and tries to put aside another Sh500 to Sh700 for vaccines and treatment. When that is not enough, she dips into her personal savings. “Health-wise, I spend more on my cats than myself, but it’s my love for them that enables me to do so,” she says.
Build a dedicated fund
Joan’s experience is exactly what Joyce Gikonyo, a financial advisor at ICEA LION Group, sees as the biggest blind spot for pet owners. People budget for food, but medical costs catch them off guard, especially as an animal ages.
“Medical emergencies such as surgery can cost hundreds of thousands of shillings,” Joyce says. “As animals age, they can also develop chronic conditions requiring regular medication and specialised care.”
Her advice is to build a dedicated fund for the pet before the bills arrive, not after. “Have a seed amount as a starting safety net; this depends on all the variables outlined above. Build on the fund monthly,” she says.
William Papateti, a 29-year-old accountant and creative professional, learned a version of that lesson without the big bill. His cat once fell four floors and broke its leg. He braced for an expensive vet visit, but nature took its course.
“He rested for two days, only eating and pooping, then the leg healed on its own,” William says.
His routine costs are more predictable. He spends about Sh2,500 a month, with a kilo of dry food lasting a month at Sh765, wet tuna packets at Sh100 each for about five packets, and litter at Sh1,250. He has also bought toys and accessories, a neck bandana, catnip, a scratcher, a nail cutter and a ball, ordered from China through AliExpress for about Sh1,000. He has skipped neutering, which would cost roughly Sh7,500.
His advice to anyone thinking about getting a cat is to set aside about Sh3,000 a month “for the cat to be comfortable and happy.”
Joyce says this kind of routine spending is exactly what should be separated from the occasional, unpredictable costs when a household plans a pet budget. Recurring items like food and litter can be forecast with some accuracy, she says, while medical and emergency costs need their own cushion. She points to money market funds as one practical tool for owners.
“Money Market Funds are useful tools that can help separate the pet expenses from the domestic ones,” she says.
Sh25,000 monthly
Gilbert Otieno’s expenses sit in a different bracket altogether. He owns two Siberian Huskies, Tiana and Bella, and paid Sh90,000 and Sh100,000 for them, respectively. Tiana is two years and two months old. Bella is one year and four months old. He bought both as puppies, drawn in by the breed’s blue eyes.
The purchase price was only the start. Gilbert spends up to Sh25,000 a month on food and vaccines, depending on the dogs’ age and needs. Puppy vaccinations cost more early on. Now that both dogs are adults, annual vaccinations run about Sh10,000, and a typical month costs him roughly Sh15,000 for food and vaccines combined.
His biggest single expense came when Tiana developed an ear infection after swimming and needed an urgent vet visit. The bill topped Sh15,000, and he did not have the cash on hand at the time. “I had to find a way to take her for a vet check-up,” he says.
That scare pushed him to start keeping an emergency fund, especially since Huskies, he says, have a habit of eating things that are toxic to them.
The smaller costs- treats, chew toys, cleaning products, leashes and grooming supplies- add up in ways he did not plan for. Keeping the dogs entertained is its own expense too. Walks are free, but toys and enrichment items are not, and Huskies need both regularly.
“I wish I had understood how much the smaller expenses add up. Especially toys, leashes and grooming products. Not to mention the commitment,” he says.
Pet insurance
This is precisely the kind of gap Joyce flags when she tells clients to think beyond the animal’s purchase price. Food, medical care, grooming, housing, and items such as beds, leashes and toys should all be part of the initial calculation, she says, along with training costs and the risk of property damage. She also recommends pet insurance as a safeguard against a bill like the one that caught Gilbert off guard.
Arvin Munyiri Murimi’s costs are more modest, but still caught him off guard. The 28-year-old senior art director, who calls himself a cat dad, spends between Sh2,000 and Sh5,000 a month.
“What I failed to budget for was the food and cat litter, especially with the cat being a house cat,” he says.
His cat has stayed largely healthy aside from routine deworming.
“I think it’s greatly attributed to the fact that he has a good diet. Apart from that one time I spent Sh5,000 on medication and specialised food,” Arvin says.
He is reluctant to set a fixed monthly minimum, arguing that cost depends heavily on how the animal lives. “It depends if it’s a house cat or one that goes out and comes around to sleep,” he says.
Ms Gikonyo says that variability is normal, and it is exactly why she tells owners to build their pet budget around their own animal’s circumstances rather than a generic figure. Food costs shift with an animal’s size, breed and health. Grooming needs depend on the breed. An indoor cat and an outdoor cat will never cost the same to keep, even within the same species.
She further advises pet owners to separate recurring costs from occasional and discretionary ones, cut spending where it is safe to do so, such as buying food in bulk or grooming pets at home, and keep the pet’s finances apart from the household’s day-to-day money.