Animals are expensive to properly take care of....my two dogs - lab and mix in avatar cost around $250 a month and that does not include any shots. The lab is on prescrip science diet food that just went up by 30% (30lb bag almost $60) rimadyl ($3.00/day), glucosomine, add in frontline and heartworm meds for both...couple boxes of treats for the month and they are pricey. $220 for the surgery sounds just a little high, but you are getting shots and a full exam too, so it's not really that bad.
I was just at the vet on Monday for Brutus' shots and my vet (wonderful wonderful man) has had to take on a second job to make ends meat...he works at the zoo now too, treating animals. The economy in my state is just terrible and it shows....he said the first thing people cut out when times get tough, is their animals vet care, and he is a very very reasonably priced vet, who does take payments if people can't afford things.
We currently do not have any cats, I'm not much a cat person either, but they are great for rodent control. I will not have an outdoor cat unless they are spayed/neutered....I don't need/nor want 50 cats! I do not feed strays either. Just the other day a cat came into our yard and it was young and very very skinny....although I don't care for cats much, my heart was just breaking, it was meowing so loud/crying. I resisted though and I did not feed it (I know that sounds cruel), it left after a few minutes and I haven't seen it since. When I did have an outdoor cat, my cat was the only critter that could get to her food (as to not attract other cats/critters)...I kept her food in the garage that had a cat door, the cat door would only open by magnets, which were attached to her collar. I don't like outdoor cats to wear collars, but it kept other animals from getting at her food and other cats from sticking around.
It is important to get your cat neutered/spayed, maybe your vet will take payments?
