Cavapoo puppy

[stripesorspots]

Hi, Potential first time puppy owner here, looking at a Cavapoo. Will be fully health checked when we get her. Can anyone give me an idea of approximate monthly costs - food/pet insurance/grooming and anything else I haven't thought of please! Just trying to work out if we can afford her..... Thank you!

Vets bills are the biggie in the first two years, vaccines, getting them neutered, the check ups afterwards. We buy a big bag of dry food (Pet shop which works out cheaper but was recommended by neighbours and groomers in terms of nutrition) and a 40pack Of wet food (supermarket). Grooming - he goes to the groomers roughly every three months (we brush him daily but he’s a cocker and his coat gets shaggy quickly and to get his nails checked too). Add in his favourite treats from the pet shop;)

Also add in some toys/teddies for when they’re ‘mouthing’ (biting!) and he ruined his first dog bed!! Also training classes and books (easy peasy puppy Squeezy was our bible- taught us to remember he was only young and the puppy stage can be hell but the more relaxed you are the more relaxed they are, and also to love them when you want to cry!!)

Approx

Food £50-£80 pm
Groom £20 pm (£40 every 8 weeks)
Insurance £30 pm
Pet health club £30 pm (incl vax and flea/worm)
All the bits you need to buy for them to come home, around £200-£300
Doggy day care £30 pd

Worth every penny for my lovely little cavapoo!

@olivebranch31 has yours been easy to train?

We have a 3 year old Cavapoo and he is a delight - we all love him to bits!! He was pretty easy to train and cracked toilet training in about a week - his recall is still a bit hit and miss when squirrels or seagulls are around though!
Cost wise - food, insurance and vet pet plan (for flea/worm/vaccinations) are main outgoings. Food wise there is so much choice and you can spend as much or as little as you want. We bought very little when we first bought puppy home - just a crate, a few toys, food/water bowl and harness/lead really - you don't need half the things you see in the pet shop (however tempting it may all be!) Good luck! I don't think you'll regret it!!

Oh yes - and forgot grooming! That's £50 every 8 weeks - and definitely a necessity!!

Insurance. It climbs as they age, we're currently paying £75 a month for our aged pooch!

Not only do the premiums rise as they age but the percentage of the claim that they pay put usually decreases.

We pay 40 a month fixed for life for insurance for our cavapoo. This was over the odds when he was a puppy but well worth it in the long run as the price will remain 40 a month through his life.

Cavapoos are often fussy eaters. Ours wants whatever we are having! We use high quality kibble and add appropriate human food (eg tonight he had leftover pasta and peas) as toppers, or freshpet sausage meat. Prob about 30 a month.

Grooming we pay 50 every 8- 12 weeks.
He has a dog bed, brush, harnesses (2, so one can be in the wash) and lead, and toy wise he has one favourite soft toy, and otherwise finds his own tennis balls on walks - he has about 100!! I think the female dogs might sometimes have a couple of favourite soft toys but our boy ignores them all apart from the one he had when we first brought him home.

Alan is a really easy dog btw, active on walks, calm at home. Loves chasing squirrels and a bit barky in the window at passers by when bored, but spends quite a lot of time snoozing. He's snoozing beside me now. He was relatively easy to train and a dream to walk off lead - he never runs off as he basically wants to be near his people. He will go after a squirrel and then come straight back.

He's a fab little dog and has enhanced our life a lot. Pic of Alan in the bluebells :)

That depends who you are insured with . Our nearly 14 yo dog has a Direct Line life policy and aside from the excess they pay it all , there is none of this percentage business

why??

just get a toy or mini poodle. Whip smart, easy to train, loyal, lovely, gentle. And quiet.

i’ve met some nice ‘cavapoos’, I’ve met some absolute neurotic nightmares who have toy poodle Velcro-ness mixed with cav anxiety who whine non stop

A lot of the costs will depend on your lifestyle and abilities in a sense.

If you can do all the walks and grooming yourself, and will be taking the dog with you on days out or UK holidays then it's considerably cheaper than if you need to pay for a walker, daycare, grooming and boarding.

There are some unavoidable expenses like insurance, flea and worm treatment, vaccinations, food, treats and equipment like collars etc. which they grow out of pretty fast as a puppy.

I would also highly recommend training classes if you've never had a dog before which is another expense to consider.

Thanks @Floralnomad I hadn't realised that. Was just trying to warm the OP about possible future costs but that's also a good thing to look out for if the OP is getting insurance quotes.

i’ve met some nice ‘cavapoos’, I’ve met some absolute neurotic nightmares who have toy poodle Velcro-ness mixed with cav anxiety who whine non stop

I've seen a couple of Behaviourists say that around 90% of their enquiries are from Cavapoo owners. That alone would put me off!

Cavapoo isn't a real breed, the dog is a mongrel so it's very hard to predict behaviour and health issues. As the dog is a mongrel is it bred from two pedigree dogs or dogs that look like a Cavalier and a Poodle? Cavaliers are riddled with health issues so health wise, I'd budget for the highest insurance you can find and save plenty on top incase the insurance runs out. Behaviour wise, could be an absolute nighgmare as a PP has said.

Just a heads up, both parents need genetic testing. Health checked usually means a vet has checked it and it doesn't have any visibly evident current issues.

Cavs are the most poorly bred, unhealthy dogs there are, there's no way I'd get one even if it's crossed with a poo. Also all the poo's I know (I'm a dog walker) are very clingy and hate being left alone.

If you're not sure you can afford a dog then I would really, really recommend that you don't get one.

I’d caution against any ‘poo’ mixes given health issues and grooming costs. They’re not cheap to own and are high maintenance.

That said, if you’re determined to get this particular mongrel then I’d strongly suggest you get the best cover insurance you can (£15K) which will likely be £30+ a month minimum. To feed it well + all the other incidentals you’re probably looking at £150 including grooming every 4-5 weeks

I can’t edit my post again! But to add that you need to make sure the parents else health tested. Not just the puppy. A vet won’t test a puppy for defects or hereditary issue as they just do a quick once over.

Cavs and poodles can both have serious issues including glaucoma. My cocker just had a £6K op and will need medication for the rest of her life at £100 a month (and that’s not going via the vet!)

Mongrel owner here 🙋🏻‍♀️

I have a larger poodle mix, so my grooming costs are around £70 every 6 weeks.
Their grooming needs are very high maintenance - I don't think you can realise how much so until you have one. I had spoken to my groomer before I picked my dog up, booked him in as soon as he was able and got the brushes and combs she suggested. We went a year of him having a lovely, long fleecy coat, but then he went through his coat change, was starting to get tangles (not matting) and it became so difficult to keep on top of, so he's been getting a shorter trim since then and he's much easier to groom.

Both his parents had genetic testing, which isn't always a given with mixed breeds. I would look for one that has - especially as it'll be mixed with a cavalier.

I get worm and flea treatment stuff from Amazon and do my three every 12 weeks. The vaccinations the vet does annually £50 each, this year's cost. The vet tried to up sell a package of them providing the stuff for worm and flea, it was ridiculously expensive.

As others have said, there is no ‘fully’ about the term ‘health checked’. It doesn’t imply any of the official health testing that you should be looking for when buying a puppy - all it means is that at a particular moment, a (hopefully scrupulous) vet didn’t find any major issues.

Given your choice of dog, I hope you have extensively researched the misery of puppy farming and the often poor health of the resulting puppies, along with the tricks used to make buyers think they are buying from lovely family homes?

You need to make sure you have good insurance, with lifetime cover for ongoing issues - and you should note that insurance has a 14 day grace period where illness cannot be claimed, so make sure it is in place either two weeks before you collect the puppy or two weeks before any insurance provided with the puppy expires, or you could find yourself with problems.

puppy costs

insurance
monthly worming tablets
vaccinations
puppy training classes
treats
toys
food
crates
bedding
leads,
collars

wine

If you're not sure you can afford a dog then I would really, really recommend that you don't get one.

Coming on here and asking for advice and realistic costs is a great thing for a first time dog owner to do though. There could be costs you haven’t thought of.

Dog boarding or a pet sitter is something to consider if you're planning holidays that don't include dogs. Look into it even if you have someone that says they can help as circumstances change.