How much does your dog cost you per month?

[alwaysfuckingworried]

Especially if you use a dog walker or doggy daycare? I have longed for a dog for years, and curious if dog ownership costs are rising a lot.

But still cheaper than therapy ! My dog gives back more than enough to warrant my monthly spend on her.

They are not cheap pets. I have two (small dogs before someone accuses me of starving them)
Walker £20 pw
insurance £15 each a month.
food - one of them is allergic to fresh air so grain free food with no chicken is about £50 for 12kg which lasts maybe 2 months, they also get wet food which is about £20 a month.
They have been kennelled for 4 weeks this year which is a lot, about £600 😬 usually PIL have them to be fair.
Chews/treats etc add up
we go to a doggy social once a fortnight at the local secure field which is about £8.

I don’t really add it up or budget to be fair this is just off the top of my head. I wouldn’t have got them if I felt I’d be scraping affording them.

I don’t want to know but I wouldn’t be without one! I adore my Springer. They are just the best.

For a medium sized one year old per month:

• dog walking: 240
• insurance: 45
• food and treats: 50
• toys etc: 20 (she ruins them fast)

Initial cost of around 400 for the normal doggy stuff required, training a few hundred at the beginning.

Prior to that we had an older uninsurable dog and we didn’t need a dog walker so she was actually quite cheap by comparison as she didn’t really need much vet treatment. Total luck of the draw though, could have been a vastly different story.

About £18 per month for a pet plan which covers vaccinations, flea and worming treatment. Teeth cleaning every few years, last time it was £270.

Food about £20 per month, he weighs less than 9kg so only eats about 120g dried food per day. Probably another £10 on extras. I have a savings account rather than health insurance so no monthly premium.

About £50 per month for routine costs.

£45 food (tails.com subscription includes chews and treats)
£20 insurance
£17.99 vet package
£60 intro to grooming for anxious rescue dogs (3 sessions)
£15 special dental stuff
£20 other.

Best part of £200. Which is more than I budgeted for but totally worth it.

More than my child.

My vet package includes flea/tick/worming treatment plus two vet visits and two nurse visits per year. It’s certainly been worth it. They’ll do nail trims and anal glands too.

It’s called Years 😊

A quick sum for our small dog..
food and treats (butternut box) £60 a month
flea, wormer £12
walker (2 weekly 1.5 hr walks) £100
insurance £60
Extras averaged out over the year (leads, collars, house sitter if on hols, coat, bed, blankets, toys) £60

so probably £300 a month.

Insurance £60/year
Food reduced to £4/week, she hated the expensive stuff we bought, loves Aldi & Lidls
Doggy play and stay £8/session 2-3 times a week
Grooming anywhere between 1 month to 3months depending on how much she needs it - £35/groom
Treats, god knows, when DH in charge £1/ week, when me and kids in charge at least £10/week 😬😆

I have two whippets and a small springer, they per month cost -
£120 in dry food
£60 in supplementary raw
£10-20 in balls because they're always losing them and only like chuckit balls
£40 in treats and doggy peanut butter
£26 flea treatment every three months

Annually this year I'd say
£200 in coats and jumpers
£150 in new beds
£200 for a chest freezer for their raw and bones
£60 on collars
£250 in canicross equipment
2k vet bills

I dont bother with insurance as they're fairly healthy breeds, apart from vaccines that's the only vet visit they've needed for 3 yrs and don't need a dog walker or sitter because I'm stay at home, they just take 3-4h of my time every day in all weathers instead 😭

We have three dogs - an Akita, a Chihuahua and a medium-sized Romanian Heinz-57. Monthly costs:

Insurance - £94
Additional "just in case" payment to the vet - £50
Misc medication (flea treatments etc) - £50 on average
Food - £120 (very specific dietary needs)
Treats - £30
Toys - £40

So £384/month on average. That vet payment just builds up in our account, though, so that if we have any emergency treatments it's all covered even before insurance, no matter the state of our finances.

Do you all holiday with your dog because unless you can leave the dog with family or stay in UK, holiday care is expensive. I paid £800 this year for a house sitter to care for ddog whilst we went abroad for 13 nights. Kennels are slightly cheaper.

Food £50 per month
Treats approx £20 pm
Dog walker 1 day a week £60 pm
Kennels 2 weeks per year £192
Vaccinations £70 per year
Toys/bedding approx £150 per year
Insurance £17pm

Yearly cost =£2304

Bloody hell anyone want a 2 yr old lab??

You lot must all feed your dogs on caviar, or gold-leaf decorated bones - how do you spend so much on dog food?

We have 1 cocker spaniel. He eats dry food from the local agricultural merchant - about £15 for a 25kg sack that lasts a few months. Plus one or two £1.50 blocks of “pet meat scraps” from our butcher, sometimes a few bones. Definitely no more than another £5/mo.

The dog is getting on a bit now, so we have what I think of as super expensive insurance -£66/mo. When he was younger, I only had liability insurance for him as he was so healthy and I was prepared to take the risk - it used to cost me £6/month. And he has never needed the vet other than a regular annual check.

The dog groomer is £40, every 4 months or so, so £10/mo.

I buy a new collar every couple of years, I’ve bought 2 leads in 8 years. We mostly WFH, no dog walker or dog daycare - what’s the point of having a dog and paying someone else to walk it?

Dogs really don’t have to cost very much to keep!

Oh yeah
flea and worm in £90 per year

My goodness I thought my cat was high maintenance at £30 per month 😮

What insurance do you have. My lab is double that and he’s only one year old!

Daycare £200
Food including treats £50
insurance £35
Vet plan for vaccinations, flea and worm etc £15
Toys and replacement (!) beds averaged over a year £10

Bargain - cannot think of anything I’d get more from for £300 a month.

@Riverlee

Cover my pet

I've been with them 3 years. The first year it was about £13 Had a claim a couple of years ago. DDog ate a 750g bar of chocolate resulting in a emergency out of hours vet trip costing nearly £300. Claim process was very easy.

You lot must all feed your dogs on caviar, or gold-leaf decorated bones - how do you spend so much on dog food?

Mine has a chronic stomach issue so we need to feed him decent wet food which tends to be quite a bit dearer than a bag of kibble. His treats also need to be carefully picked so as to not cause digestive problems. And I supplement his food with a fibre supplement otherwise his poo is runny which causes anal gland problems.

If your dog is generally healthy you probably have no reason to spend a lot of money looking for the best food that they can tolerate. However I consider myself lucky in that I know other dogs that have been diagnosed allergies of most common proteins and their diets are far more expensive than my dogs.

Feeling quite lucky compared to some. 2 year old healthy lab. Zero initial cost as she came from a family dog's litter.

£20pm insurance
£18pm vet plan (flea and worm treatment annual booster jabs annual health check and 10% off treatment/meds)
£25pm food (good quality dry food bought in bulk/when on offer)
£15pm approx toys/treats (mainly the odd toy as most treats are small pieces of fruit/veg rather than processed stuff)

No dogwalker as we both wfh and no petsitter costs as she goes to family if we are away somewhere not dog friendly (we also have their dogs at times so works well). No groomer as labs really only need a good brush every week or so/the odd bathe if gets mucky.

@dontbenastyhaveapasty I'd feel guilty for feeding them low or mid quality food since getting on a health kick and realising how much better I feel, and my spaniel's allergies have cleared up lovely on more expensive food. They were fed £20 a bag dry for about 5 years of life and were fine on it apart from the spaniel's itchy skin though

I can't believe how much everyone spends!

I have a lovely big, very well trained, very healthy dog, pay monthly £50 on food and £25 on insurance, and vets/vaccs/tic etc works out £20.

People having someone to walk the dog if they go out for 4 hours? Grooming? I groom my dog myself with brushes, twice a week and you really shouldn't have a dog if you are out at work all day. They get unhappy.