To ask how much your dog costs per month?

[Iamawomenphenominally]

My home has a dog shaped hole in it. 😔

But it's been a while now, nearly two years and I know costs of everything have gone up so much! If I do explore finding a new dog to re-home I'd like to do so with my eyes wide open to monthly costs.

Pet insurance, flea and worming/pet plan, food, treats, grooming, dog walking, etc.

Please share with me your monthly costs for each thing.

I had a greyhound and would likely get another so my only grooming costs would be claw trimming if they didn't like me doing it. But they do put away a fair bit of food 🙂❤️ and I like to have pet insurance.

I'm mostly at home but if that changes in the future I'd like to be aware of the average costs of walkers or doggy day care too.

Please share your costs if you can.

Dog 1

Insurance 120
Petplan 20
Food and treats 80
Other shit that I buy - 50

I took a grooming course and bought the stuff to do it myself which was about 300 all in, but that's the cost of 3 grooms so well worth it.

Dog 2

Insurance 10
Petplan 20
Food and treats 25
Other shit that I buy 50

Also groom her myself.

Worth every single penny.

Should probably throw in the cost of a new brush and hoover every year too 🤣

I agree in principle, but the essentials are still pretty pricey. If I take mine down to absolute basics:

Food - £60 for high quality dry food - spaniels are notorious for sensitive stomachs and this is the cheapest option that also agrees with my dogs. No treats (but that would probably just incur a vet visit when he eats something else - he'll eat chunks of wood, chews on stones, eats blankets/cushions...)
Insurance - £125, rising annually
Vet plan as noted above for vaccinations etc- £42
Kennels - essential to accommodate my job - £150-200
Poobags - £5/month.

That's still £382 minimum a month. I have a fairly well-paid job and my dog costs are a huge % of my monthly salary. I often wonder how other people manage.

For our 3 year old
insurance £45 a month
food and treats about £60 a month
grooming £50 every 6-8 weeks
vet care plan £20 a month
day care £23 a day. Range in our area is £18-30 a day
then extras like toys etc

Large lurcher rescue
18 a month vet plan flea worm and boosters
40 a month food
Insurance 50
I recon just over a hundred a month but I get millions back in love
Thank you for rescuing a greyhound. The most loveliest dogs but the most overlooked in rescue ❤️

Everything apart from absolute essentials can be as cheap or as expensive as one wants to make it.

The essentials become expensive once the dog develops a health issue, needs regular medication and insurance through the roof (uninsurable elsewhere so can’t switch). The only way to cut those costs would be to have the dog put to sleep, which as long as he has a decent quality of life I’m not prepared to do.

Boxer dog puppy... Insurance £60pm, food and treats £70pm. No walkers or grooming.

Large sighthound per month

Food/treats - £120
Insurance - £30
Enclosed field rental - £35
Training - £100-£150
Accesories/toys - £40 approx
Worming/flea/sundries - £40 approx

It's expensive - 1 cockapoo 1 labradoodle:
Food/treats £100
Worming etc £20
Insurance £35
Grooming £80 every 8 weeks
Occasional dog walker, £20 per hr.
Kennels £550 per week 😭
Annual jabs £140

£51 insurance
£60 medication not covered by insurance
£37 food

He doesn't need a groomer and has never had fleas or worms so we don't routinely treat him. No dog walker or kennels required

15 year old Staffy

We lost our Labrador last year, he was 10 years old and was costing us

£95/month insurance when he was 10
£120/month for 2 dog walks a week
£11/month for vet health plan (worming, fleas/tick, vacs, health checks) cheap as the price was fixed when we took out the plan
£60/month on food and treats

We groomed him ourselves and did his nails with a Dremel.

Other expenses - overnight boarding, insurance excesses, toys, chews, decent weather proof dog walking clothes for everyone who goes walking.

Other things to consider are crates for home to keep them safe when they are a puppy, or in the car.

Elderly patterdale x with health issues per month :
insurance £150( but that covers all of his medication which would be £130 without insurance + insures him for anything new , so in effect £20 )
food £60
dental treats / treats £ 10
chicken for pill taking £10
grooming + teeth cleaning £ 80 ( goes every 2 weeks as he has skin issues )
vet care plan £18
supplements / medication not covered by insurance £25 ish .
So £350 ish . Obviously we could save money by bathing him ourselves etc but it’s less stressful this way . Worth every penny .

Basset hound owner here.

About £7-900 a month

Insurance £50
Dog food £100 (special diet)
Dog walker x 3 a week £150
Doggy day care x 2 a week £400

Treats worming flea treatnment etc and vet bills will average the 7-900.

Best money spent every month

Edited to correct auto correct 😀

Boxer

Insurance - £75 a month (had big claim when she was younger)
Food - about £45 a month
Flea/tick/worming - £10 a month
Toys/treats £10 a month
Grooming - v little!

Thanks everyone! It varies so much doesn't it!

And like others have said you never know what's around the corner eg allergies, food requirements, ageing putting insurance up etc.

My old greyhound needed a very large crate, a house coat, an outdoor coat, a martingale collar and lead, dog bowls, bed (for her to ignore in favour of mine) 🤣. But she was the loveliest. I miss her very much.

Well, except the ongoing medicine he turns out to need. And the preventative treatment that definitely saves money in the long run. And the specialist grooming because of his trauma around being handled. Not everything else is an extra that you can take or leave. Dogs can easily become twice as expensive as you planned without wasting any money on extras.

10 year old Frenchie.

Insurance -astro-fucking-nomical - £120 per month.

Vet scheme for flea/worming tablets - £14 a month.

Special diet from Pets at Home - £40 a month.

Poo bags, treats - £10 a month.

So just shy of £190 a month.

But if she was on the special diet the vet wanted us to stay on, it would have continued to be £160 a month on food - so just over £300 a month.

We have also had about £1000 of vets bills over the last year, which we got about £700 back, so that's about £30 a month, so that makes £190 actually £220. But we have spent an arm and a leg on various special diets.

I love my dog but I will never get another one. Can't be doing with this financial shenanigans in my old age!

Mine is around £250 a month (12 year old, big dog, health conditions). The only non-essential cost in that is £15 pm for a training class but he absolutely loves it. I've found that food and vet costs have gone up a lot in the 4 years I've had him.

6 year old border collie, per month.
£100, insurance £30 medium policy, flea, tick and worm treatment £20, get prescription from vet and buy my own, chews, toys £10.

I would definitely have insurance for a greyhound, my friend has a rescue who has had a lot of paw issues, all treatable, but expensive without insurance.

What I will say is I would find the money no matter what if my work said I had to go back to 5 office days I would leave

My dogs saved my life and I will give them whatever they need (and lots of things they didn’t know they needed)

Spaniel, 11 years old
£207 p/m insurance (would have cost us thousands if we hadn't been insured as she's got a few issues so although it sounds a lot it's been worth it)
£35 p/m food and treats etc
£17 p/m for Vets health plan which includes vaccines, flea and worm treatment

No dog walkers or daycare.
No grooming, we do it ourselves.

I can't think of anything else. She is worth every penny.

Akita cross
insurance £50
Pet club with vets £23
food £35
Training/ enrichment classes £55 (every weekend)
workshops 50-150 month ( but not every month)
Hire of dog field £10 a time, not every week, but if she doesn't have lessons/ workshop or needs extra runs.

forgot groomer- £55 every 3 months

the training is £55 for a month bug classes every weekend that should say

Honestly it varies so much.

My little old pensioner (spaniel) costs £500 a month (she has arthritis and £60 of that is her monthly jab, other medication £100, food, insurance, grooming, flea, worming, etc)

My big fluffy golden baby costs me £300 a month (£170 is on food, £30 insurance, £100 misc such as flea, worming, toys etc)

100% worth every penny. They’re family.