Cost of keeping a dog

[Officedepot]

On average, what would you say is the cost of keeping a dog for a year?

[SpanielFace]

I think it's massively variable depending on the age, size and breed of the dog. Smaller dogs eat a lot less food, cross breeds get ill less often (on average) than pedigrees, older dogs have more trips to the vet. But I just googled and it came up as £1100 a year, averaged over the dogs lifetime (taking feeding, working, flea treatment, vets bills etc into account).

[PartridgeInASpicyPearTree]

I think it's almost impossible to generalise as it depends on so many factors, size of dog, what level of insurance, what type of food and whether you can store in bulk, what wormers etc you plan to use, whether you qualify for any cheap veterinary care. I would research all of this for the dog you are thinking of getting and make sure it will work before committing. A local dog walker I know had to sell his beloved motorbike to save his older dog when he was attacked by another dog so it's good to have some money put away for when they are older and can't be insured at reasonable cost.

We jokingly call SpicyDog "ten grand dog" because we had to buy a second car to ferry her around in

[Twattybollocks]

Generally it's more expensive for puppies and older dogs, puppies because they eat stuff they shouldn't, older dogs for chronic health issues. Some breeds have a genetic disposition to certain problems.
Heinz 57 dogs are usually cheaper to insure.
For the last year my dog has cost me about £8 a week in food, a spay operation, several new beds as she chews them, and a small fortune in squeaky toys. She has been wormed and vaccinated obviously, but no other vet trips thankfully as she has now swapped bin raiding and eating socks for rolling in fox shit and shredding toilet rolls. Oh yes, I spend rather a lot on fox shit removing shampoo!

[LetThereBeCupcakes]

According to the PDSA Animal Welfare Report (www.pdsa.org.uk/pet-health-advice/pdsa-animal-wellbeing-report/download-paw-report) it costs between £16,000 and £31,000 to own a dog (lower for a smaller dog) for it's lifetime. I have baby brain so can't do the maths to work out cost per year :)

I'm not sure I believe that though - it also says it costs £9,000 to own a rabbit for it's life. I own rabbits and can't for the life of me figure out how it costs that much.

It depends on so much though - ours go to daycare, obedience and agility classes - all extras to most people, fairly essential to us. That alone costs an extra £100 a month for the two them. They have good quality food - £40 a month, all vaccinations and preventative medication. We paid for swimming lessons for them after pupcake 1 failed to work out how to do it himself (he's a Labrador. What's that about?). We also bought a new car (estate - was a struggle getting two labs in a corsa). We're probably a bit OTT with ours.

[LetThereBeCupcakes]

Oops, sorry: www.pdsa.org.uk/pet-health-advice/pdsa-animal-wellbeing-report/download-paw-report

[IncognitoIsMyFavouriteWord]

ok my 3 little dogs are quite cheap.

If I add all the main things up like food, vaccinations, insurance and flea treatment it comes to nearly £800 in total for all 3.

That doesn't include kennel fees for when I go away. And all the extras like new leads chews etc.

I own a York a jrt and a wire dachsund.

They must not eat a lot

[IncognitoIsMyFavouriteWord]

the £800 is over a year

[Twattybollocks]

9k for a rabbit? Bloody hell do they live in gold plates hutches? I had 8 rabbits, all bar 2 lived for 9/10 years and I probably spent about £200 at the vets and £250 on food hay and bedding over the year. That's for all 8 of them!

[LetThereBeCupcakes]

twatty I know! My two are pretty pampered - even factoring in the cost of adaptations to the wendy house they live in (lots of ramps, tunnels etc), I can't get anywhere near £9K. There are some interesting elements in the report but it raised a lot of questions for me (like where on earth do the figures come from?)

[Booyhoo]

i save £100 a month into an account to cover everything for a golden retriever and two cats. i got hit really badly last year with a cat death and 3 emergency operations so it cost more last year as i dont have insurance. so that was over £1200 last year.

[Booyhoo]

and my new years resolution is to have no unscheduled vet trips!

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

Well, it costs me £46 every two months for food, £11 a month for insurance, £20ish every three months for flea treatment, £6 every three months for worming tab, £20ish a year for vax, plus approx. £300 so far at the vet (insanely suicidal spaniel). Add in to that toys (prob. £5 a month), treats (maybe £3 a month) and assorted equipment (beds, leads, collars, harnesses, brushes, shampoos, dog rocks etc).

Roughly, I'd say it's cost us £70 a month to have our dog so far. He's 18 months old.

[OwlLady]

I have two collies and realistically it's about £60-70 p/m for food (though one is younger and eating more atm) £40 a month for training the younger one. £20 insurance for the younger one and I put £75-100 into an account each month to cover the older ones vet bills if she needs to go in as I cannot insure her any more and that was wiped out last year so that's why the figure is so high atm. Plus there are things that will need paying out for dependant on breed (like fur cutting I suppose :o) I think you have to be realistic about the cost of having a pet or animal. I have chickens for example and have to pay for care for them when I go away on holiday( I take the dogs with me)

[OwlLady]

and yes boosters/worming etc all costs money