Dogs are costing me a fortune

[GinFizz3489]

I have two chihuahuas aged 8.5 and 9 and they are costing me a fortune.

We are now paying nearly £200 per month on pet insurance as one dog has a pre existing condition and we've been told today my other pup has a heart murmur albeit moderate and no immediate concern.

Every time we go to the vet we are at least £80-£100.

With the cost of living it's becoming stressful. I would never want to give up my dogs- they are like my children but I feel it's only getting worse. The vet said today he could send my pup for a heart scan at a specialist and all I could think about was the sheer cost of it.

I've only ever made one claim on my pet insurance and it continues to rise each year and I can only imagine what it would cost if I added this heart condition to it.

If anyone else in the same position :(

Sadly hardly any independent vets left. none in my area .This has resulted in all the vets being really expensive I've just paid £700 for a cracked tooth to be removed from my 8yr old dog .
I had to literally make the vet come back to the table to show her where the whole of the front enamel was hanging off .Her advice was to keep an eye maybe xray it .
She acknowledged she hadnt seen the broken bit .
I paid £80 for her to miss the issue
I clean my dogs teeth and had spotted issue quickly and knew exactly what was wrong

I really think some of our vets are scared of the pets they are examining , it's a topic of conversation on the local Facebook.
It's all young vets and you seldom see the same person twice .
My dog is very tolerant

I really worry that smaller pets are going to be neglected as costs continue to rise

I don't really trust most of these vets now. When I got my 2 kittens and had their jabs done, the vet tried to convince me they had fleas. They absolutely didn't. I can only assume she was trying to sell me some expensive treatments. When they were neutered she had me forking out for body suits instead of cones saying how much better it would be for them. One slipped it off with 5 minutes of being home, the other cat half got it off and got tangled in it and went mental! Waste of time and money. They were actually fine without anything and healed perfectly well.

I don't have pet insurance. I keep some savings aside. As my cats are indoor and unlikely to get out, they're not going to get into an accident. I will deal with any illnesses as and when.

Cat food and litter have both leapt up in price and my cats are fussy about what they'll eat and poop in! At this point I can't really afford insurance anyway.

@PermanentTemporary I don’t understand your statement? You don’t really want to provide health care for your pets because there are people who don’t have health care? Do you hesitate to feed your pets because there are starving people? 😳

Re. vet costs, yes, they are extortionate. Our 18 year old cat just had a ‘geriatric blood panel’ and exam to check if the monthly medrol shots he needs are causing issues. Almost £300.

10 minutes with my vet costs almost £90.

Whereabouts are you that you're paying that kind of price?

We pay £18 for a consultation.

Mine insurance isn’t too bad at the moment (Manypets) but dreading next year year as we have claimed. Debating about putting money aside, but a friends lab cost £8000 at age of eight, so a hundred pounds a month from now onwards.

There was a thread under ‘Doghouse’ I think, about how much dogs cost. I’ll see if I can find it. I reckon my dog cuss me £100+ a month with insurance, worming/flea, food, etc.

My dog had a nasty eye infection, cost of consultation including staining eye, full check over because he was there and she thinks I run him up a bit on the thin side and eye anti biotic £36!
I think prices vary hugely from region to region.

Interested in people's opinions on boosters. Are they really not necessary and where's the evidence for this?

I've found that kennels and doggy day care type places always ask to see an up todate vaccination record plus kennel cough. One time, my dog's record just had the vaccine stickers and date but no vet signature and daycare rang my vets to check and wouldn't take my word for it 🤦‍♀️. I'd like to stop boosters as the last lot cost £77 but kennels don't seem to allow this....

It's a legal requirement that your dog must be vaccinated to go into kennels, boarding or daycare.

The only exception is if your dog has a medical reason for not being vaccinated in which case they can accept a titre test.

@lifebeginsaftercoffee looks like I'll have to carry on then!

The only way around it is if you have a dog-sitter coming to care for your dog in your own home.