siikuhi ha takai.

It is read:

しいくひ は たかい。

A few reading notes:

• 飼育費 = しいくひ
• は is written ha but here it is pronounced wa
• 高い = たかい

So the full pronunciation is:

ShiikuhI wa takai.

飼育費 means the cost of raising/keeping an animal or animal care expenses.

It is made of:

• 飼育（しいく） = breeding, raising, keeping animals
• 費（ひ） = expense, cost

So 飼育費 is a compound noun meaning something like:

• feeding and care costs
• the expense of keeping an animal
• the cost of raising it

Depending on context, it could refer to pets, zoo animals, livestock, etc.

は marks the topic of the sentence.

So in:

飼育費 は 高い。

the topic is 飼育費 and the sentence says something about that topic:

• As for the raising costs, they are high
• The cost of keeping it is high

A very natural way to think about は is:

• speaking of ...
• as for ...

So this sentence is not just a simple word-for-word X is Y structure. It is more like:

As for the care costs, they’re high.

This is a very common beginner question.

The particle は is normally pronounced wa when it marks the topic.

So:

• as a regular syllable in a word, は can be ha
• as the topic particle, は is pronounced wa

Examples:

• はな = hana = flower/nose
• わたしは is pronounced watashi wa

So in this sentence, even though it is written は, you say wa.

In Japanese, adjectives like 高い can act as the main predicate of a sentence.

That means 高い does not need a separate word like is after it.

So:

• English: The cost is high
• Japanese: 飼育費 は 高い

This is very normal Japanese sentence structure.

You can think of it as:

• topic: 飼育費 は
• comment: 高い

Japanese often puts the main descriptive part at the end.

Here it means something closer to high in the sense of costly / expensive.

高い can mean different things depending on context:

• physically high / tall
• high in price
• expensive
• costly

Since 飼育費 is a cost, 高い is understood as:

• high
• expensive
• costly

So natural translations would be:

• The care costs are high.
• It is expensive to keep.
• The cost of raising it is high.

Because this sentence is in the plain style.

• 飼育費 は 高い。 = plain / casual / dictionary-style statement
• 飼育費 は 高いです。 = polite

Both are correct.

The version without です is common in:

• casual speech
• written explanations
• dictionary examples
• textbook example sentences
• neutral narrative style

So the sentence is not incomplete. 高い can finish the sentence by itself.

Yes, basically.

• 飼育費 は 高い。 = plain style
• 飼育費 は 高いです。 = polite style

The core meaning is the same. The difference is just tone/register.

Use 高いです when speaking politely to:

• teachers
• strangers
• customers
• coworkers in formal situations

Use 高い。 in casual conversation, notes, headlines, or neutral written style.

Japanese often leaves out things that are clear from context.

In English, you often need a subject:

• It is expensive to keep
• The care costs are high

In Japanese, if the topic is already given or understood, you can simply say:

飼育費 は 高い。

The sentence does not explicitly tell you whose or what care cost is high. That usually comes from the surrounding context.

For example, if people are talking about elephants, pets, or a certain animal, this sentence would naturally mean:

• Its care costs are high
• The cost of raising that animal is high

Sometimes, but the nuance changes.

• 飼育費 は 高い。 = As for the care costs, they are high
• 飼育費 が 高い。 = The care costs are high / It is the care costs that are high

Very roughly:

• は marks the topic and often sounds more general or contrastive
• が marks the subject more directly and can sound more focused or more like new information

In many beginner situations, は is the more natural choice for a simple topic-comment sentence like this.

It is one compound noun.

Even though it is made from smaller parts, Japanese treats it as a single noun:

• 飼育 = raising/keeping animals
• 費 = expenses

Together:

• 飼育費 = care/raising expenses

So the sentence structure is:

• 飼育費 = noun
• は = topic particle
• 高い = adjective/predicate

Yes.

高い is an i-adjective, and it can directly modify nouns.

Examples:

• 高い山 = a high mountain
• 高い値段 = a high price / expensive price
• 高い飼育費 = high care costs

But in your sentence, 高い is not directly modifying a noun. It is acting as the main predicate:

• 飼育費 は 高い。 = The care costs are high.

高い is an i-adjective.

You can tell because it ends in い in its dictionary form.

That matters because i-adjectives change directly:

• 高い = high / expensive
• 高くない = not high / not expensive
• 高かった = was high / was expensive
• 高くなかった = was not high / was not expensive

So you can make related sentences like:

• 飼育費 は 高くない。 = The care costs are not high.
• 飼育費 は 高かった。 = The care costs were high.

Yes, it can be natural on its own, especially in:

• textbook examples
• short comments
• written notes
• conversation where the context is already known

But in real conversation, it often appears with context before it. For example:

• この動物はかわいいけど、飼育費は高い。
  • This animal is cute, but the cost of keeping it is high.

On its own, it sounds a bit context-dependent, but that is completely normal in Japanese.

A more literal-feeling English gloss would be:

• As for the keeping costs, they are high.

That helps show the function of は.

But in natural English, you would usually say:

• The care costs are high.
• The cost of raising it is high.
• It is expensive to keep.

So the Japanese sentence is simple, but English may express it in several different natural ways depending on context.