5/06/2015

Litter robot in Korea, cat costs and pet care




The cost of having a pet in Korea was one of my concerns before we pulled the trigger and had Jack and Mason (as if I gave birth to them! hah..)

They are of Abyssinian breed, which was a total of 800,000won for both of them in a pet store (I know..) in Daejeon(we were there for a concert and not to buy a cat...two cats).  It was an unexpected "destiny" purchase.  As ashamed of I am for buying them at a pet store.  There are few events that you can't really explain logically.  As soon as we saw them, I knew they were ours, our babies.

But obviously, you can get them much cheaper at a shelter here.  There are many.  One of the famous one in Seoul is, NABIYA cat shelter.



Cat food is about averagely twice the price(USD).  There are many selections online.  I try to avoid corn as the main ingredient.  It's not what they're supposed to eat you know.  Their wet food is also twice the price compared to the states. 

But there are a few Korean cat food brands that are of cheaper price.  I like to check the main ingredients and see how much fat it contains.  You might have your own preference on what's good for your fur babies, so I know mine as well.  The boys likes their "grain free duck"(Natural Choice) the best (sadly it is out of stock a lot!) so I end up mixing and trying different brands.


freebies and cat toy

The doctor visits aren't as expensive as the double cost of pet food.  Their vet shots would be around 30,000won and visits would be less than 10,000won for a minor check up.  We are lucky in having a really great affordable vet around here.

To neuter them costs about around 250,000won - I don't remember the exact amount now... But it varies through out clinics.  I would recommend going to a reputable experienced vet because we had a horrible experience with Mason having an open incision(internal) that we didn't realize until it burst a week after their surgery... :(  and that was another doctor visit, about 70,000won to stitch him back up... it was a really scary experience for me, but everything is good now.   Unfortunately it's not as cheap as going to SPCA and such...but it's not too bad when you find a good vet.

So I would highly go to a rep. vet. 



Other than that, it hasn't been expensive as I imagined.  The "cat hotel" costs can rack up though if you have to have them taken care of while you are overseas or away.  It's averagely about 35,000won a day nowadays.  You can also have a friend look out for them, which I think is the best for the cats.  



Please think about the whole life time care and experience in having pets.  They are like babies to us - really like infant babies.  Because of these boys, I haven't had the "baby itch"(?) at all. 



To make our lives tad bit easier:  here's LITTER ROBOT.
checking out the bot


We splurged a bit and got the LITTER ROBOT earlier this year.

It has made our lives much easier.  Lazy humans?  Let's say, we like to be time efficient?! :)


It spins around to discard poops in the bottom bin.  It has a greatsensor that works well and recognizes when a cat is inside or not.  We change this bin only once a week and it actually has saved us on litter cost too.


I got this for 740,000won here in Korea from an official Korean distributor of Litter Robot.  It's twice as expensive as the states.  It been worth the monies though.  It saves us time on changing and cleaning the litter.  Over time, I think the convenience makes up the for the price tag.


It took about 2 weeks in total to get them totally used to it.  We had to do some disciplining and many "no no!" to get them used to not touching it while it spins it cycle.  But they've been good so far.  Only Jack touches and play while it spins with it once in a while when he is bored out of his kitty nostrils.


One big reason we got this robot was for our time away.  The bot can take care of their poopy duty for around a week for two cats.  Food and water is easy.  There are so many automatic feeders nowadays.  Last time, we had our good friend visit them every so many days and the litter robot did the dirty job.  Our friend just had to come in 3 times for the two weeks we were away.  He just had to clean the box twice (throwing poop bag and putting new in).

So it saved us on "cat hotel" costs then.  And easier for the cats too, since they are not leaving their comfort zone. 



As for flying them, I hear that cats are much easier than dogs.  To fly them to USA(mainland), You need rabies vaccination (and proof paper from vet) and health cert 10 days before flying date.  Just those two things.

You take these two forms to Incheon Intl Airport on 2nd floor where they translate the forms for you.  And take the forms to your check in counter.  Make sure you call the airport way ahead to check for any other requirements and to double check everything.  You always want to make sure.   Again, these requirements might change anytime, please do your research and not rely on this info alone ^^

I hear there is also a service that ships your cats overseas via air cargo.  I haven't used them, but I hear about it online.  You can check them out here.  They can deal with you in English as well.
http://www.cwhospital.com/eng.htm
 


So far our babies have made our lives so much more enriching.  We giggle and LOL everyday because of these guys.  And because they are of "hyper active breed" - they never stop being curious and kitty-like.

I would def. recommend the Abyssinian breed to any cat lover that came to tire of "lap cats" that do nothing much but eat and poop and eat.  I love cats, but sometimes, they can be a bit of a bore when you had enough lap cats in your life and want a lil excitement and can't get a dog yet.  The Aby breed is great then ;)






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