Time spent...

[JustOneMore]

How much time do you spend on your cats? Including cleaning, quality time, etc. What do you do during that time? How many cats do you have? As someone who doesn't have a cat I'm just trying to get a realistic expectation of how much time I'll need for my cats.

[Pushkabounce]

I have 3 and on an average working day ill spend an hour in the morning and about 6 hours in the evening. On my day off I spend pretty much all day with them

[Yuki'sMum]

I've had my kitty for 4 years and she's an only cat. Honestly I'd say 5 min a day for washing out her food and water bowls, couple of minutes brushing her and trying to clean her teeth lol. Scooping the litterbox only takes a minute as we keep it in our bathroom and its easy to sweep up any tracked litter. Once a week it gets dumped and scrubbed. I play, cuddle with her, talk to her throughout the day. Her big playtime is in the evening so hopefully she'll sleep through the night. I've had other pets and have to say she's the easiest to care for. Of course none of this feels like work to me her affection and the joy she gives me is more than enough reward.


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[Jakiepoo]

It's hard to tell and it depends on how busy I am any particular day. I mean actually things that feel like work such as cleaning the litter, preparing food, and cleaning his dish, brushing his fur, probably adds up to about 20 minutes or so. The rest of the time is spent playing, and petting, and he sleeps with me at night until he feels awake or hears a noise.

Cats are up for as much time as you're willing to give them, if some days it's not so much don't worry, because they don't mind their alone time either. I mean, if you're getting more than one cat, you really don't need to worry because they'll spend time and play with each other if you're too busy. But the actual work of caring for them isn't long at all.

[GhostTown]

Originally Posted by Jakiepoo

Cats are up for as much time as you're willing to give them, if some days it's not so much don't worry, because they don't mind their alone time either. I mean, if you're getting more than one cat, you really don't need to worry because they'll spend time and play with each other if you're too busy. But the actual work of caring for them isn't long at all.

Well said.

[MowMow]

well, I work 8 hours a day (+10 minutes for commute) and I sleep for 8 hours a night so...

about 7 hours and 50 minutes on the weekdays and 16 hours at night.

However...they sleep with me at night so that may count as time spent on them since we sleep in a kitten pile.

[GhostTown]

I took this as "time spent giving them (group or individual) direct attention".

[Arianwen]

It's a bit hard to answer as some of the cats sleep with me so I even spend time on them while I'm sleeping!!!!

[SamSim]

Cats are fairly low maintenance animals. As kittens, they love to play and interact A LOT more then when they grow up. Cats can mostly preoccupy themselves and, depending on the cat, are fairly aloof and self-maintained. This of course is not ALL cats. When I was young, my house cats were fairly low maintenance. If they wanted pets, they came and jumped on your lap. Once they were done, they would leave. These were also indoor outdoor cats so they had other things to preoccupy their lives with either then human interaction. They did not seek out human interaction a whole lot (making them actually quite boring for my 6 yr self who just wanted to cuddle and cuddle and CUDDLE lol).
The only fully indoor cat I've ever had has been my current 9 yr old torti Meenu, and she is VERY interactive. She will follow me everywhere (even the washroom), answer me with a meow every time I say something, sleep with me and my fiance, she plays fetch for heavens sake! So I end up interacting with her a lot ( and I absolutely adore every minute of it, so does she). The amount of one on one time your cat will require depends largely upon the cat's natural personality. I think you'll find that once you get your cat, too much time is undefinable, because you will want to spend lots of time with him/her, it never feels like a burden having to take care of a cat!
In terms of upkeep - low maintenance. You scoop out the litter box once or twice a day. Feed and clean the water dish about twice or three times a day (with a kitten maybe a bit more) and, well, thats a about it for daily tasks! Give them a brush session once a week (Meenu LOVES to be brushed so I do it a few more times a week) and clip the nails when they get sharp.

[Susan]

I would say a little over an hour a day, but that's on the basis of how much time I spend with or for my cats, doing nothing else. I answered in that fashion since you said you wanted a realistic expectation of how much time you will need. So, it doesn't include the time that they may sleep with me, or the time Abby spends on my lap when I might be watching TV or reading a book, or time that they just happen to be in the same room with me, or the time Abby and I spend having our little chats!

It includes about 20-30 minutes of play time, about 20 or so minutes of grooming (Abby takes 2-3 minutes and Muffs takes the rest, because Muffs is a pain when it comes to being groomed!), another 10 or 15 minutes for feeding, litter boxes, water fountains, etc. On top of that, there's probably another hour per week of pet shopping...driving to pet stores to buy food, litter, etc.