How much does your dog cost?

[bakewellbride]

We've had our greyhound for 3 months now and I love him to pieces but he is so expensive! Just wondering what the average is, how much do you spend on your dog every month?

I just worked out we spend £130 a month plus £50 every 8 weeks on kibble!

Is that more than what you spend?

£89 per month on food
£65 per month insurance
£23 per month vet pet plan

plus occasional treats/toys/antlers 🤭

edited to ask what the breakdown for your monthly spend is?

I have a greyhound! We've had him 8 years. He costs £16 for flea wormer and vaccines, £50 Ish every month for food, £10 a month ish for annual teeth cleaning by vet, and now he's older it's £40 a month for arthritis meds. Looking at that - ouch! £116 ish.

We self insure rather than paying for petrol insurance. They're usually very healthy dogs. We have had three occasions where he's needed to be stitched back up after gashing his leg open (they have very thin skin), and that has been about £2000 altogether, which averages out to about £20 over the time we have had him!

So yeah, £140 a month probably, factoring in extra treats or toys. Good job he's cute! I won't be telling DH that figure though (he's more my baby)

£130 is less than we spend for our dog, even just the basics so his food, insurance, plan with the vets for flea/worm is around £150-160, we do a big shop for him once a month for treat top ups & natural treats which is about £30ish sometimes more, and that’s not including our dog walker

Thanks I feel reassured that the high cost is normal and I'm not the only one!

Vet monthly plan £23
Insurance £36
Weekly run at exclusive hire dog field £24
Wet food £30
Other (denta sticks, treats, poo bags) £15

Plus the kibble mentioned in my OP.

Also just remembered the groomers but that's only a couple of times a year (£25).

Much more than our original plan of guinea pigs but he is so worth it.

A lot. £160 a month food, £150 dog walker. Treats and toys say £40. Insurance £36

A school mum who is single and does not work has just got a puppy and I honestly wonder how the hell she is going to afford to keep him. She's got 6 kids!

@21ZIGGY ouch a dog walker, the costs just never end! I bet a good dog walker is well worth it though x

Some people only think about the price of food and won't pay for the regular care a dog needs.

£50 on food (kibble, wet food, treats and chews)
£30 insurance
£10 on worm counts (£30 every 3 months)

£90 total

@PlantDoctor really? That is so sad. In the 3 months I've had a dog I've learned how rife not doing things properly is- not walking enough etc. Before I got my boy I didn't realise how common it was and feel really naive looking back.

I didn't realise not spending on stuff that mattered was common place too but there we go. Poor dog. It's a cane corso too, not exactly a breed you want crashing around a large number of young children. So not thought through 😢

I have 2 small dogs, it's around £200pm in total:

£85pm insurance (one has allergies)
£40pm vet VIP plan x 2 (wormers, flea/tick treatments)
£45pm on kibble (£90 every 8-10 weeks, one has expensive hydrolysed protein)
£20pm grooming (cockapoo every 6 weeks, terrier twice a year)
£10pm on plant based chews and treats

That's without dog beds, harnesses and leads, toys and antlers, first aid and dental stuff etc...

Christ I might sell the cockapoo (jk)

Absolutely this. The amount of go fund me pages that get shared just on our local dog page for vet treatment is crazy, all asking for others to fund because they didn’t pay for insurance. And don’t even get me started on the amount of dogs that have stolen my dogs ball out of walks and we get “ah sorry my dog loves balls but least it’s only £1” it makes me want to scream, if it’s only £1 buy your own bliddy dog a ball for the walks!

I have 2 dogs - a Shih Tzu and a Yorkshire Terrier and it costs about £150 every month

2 medium sized dogs here. For the two of them:
£70-75 on food
£40 for the deflea/wormer/vaccs plan at the vets
£30-40 kennelling costs (spread out over the year; we go away a couple of times a year and it tots up very fast)
£10 membership of a gundog club plus monthly training sessions
£30 on petrol to go on long walks, get to club sessions etc
£5 treats and poo bags
£30 towards new waterproof clothing, wellies, dog beds, leads,

So £220-240 a month for the two of them. Just over a hundred quid each.

We have thus far (fingers crossed) in 20+ years of dog ownership (most of this of 2+ dogs at a time) spent only a few grand at the vets in total (I deal with things like cut pads myself). We bath the dogs at home (using either whatever DH is using or whatever was cheap at Poundland).

If I didn't have them, I'd probably be campaigning to have a horse, so DH should be counting his blessings. Plus he likes dogs far more than he likes horses.

Sadly I see it a lot where people get a puppy then complain about the cost of food. When I ask about insurance they say they can’t afford it, so it’s terrifying to think of dog’s suffering because owners can’t afford treatment. I’ve seen dogs with matted coats because people don’t think about grooming costs.

Worst is people getting high energy dogs because ‘they’re cute’ then struggle with their needs. One person I know got a spaniel mix puppy when she has mobility and pain issues. Now she’s massively struggling with an out of control dog (that she lets off lead with no recall).

8 month old puppy, giant breed.
Insurance £54 (but will go up in May when we renew)
Kibble £60
Wet food £15-£20
Treats & extras £40
Dog field £20 (half hour weekly for a fiver)

@Mrsttcno1
And don’t even get me started on the amount of dogs that have stolen my dogs ball out of walks and we get “ah sorry my dog loves balls but least it’s only £1” it makes me want to scream, if it’s only £1 buy your own bliddy dog a ball for the walks!
One of mine is a serial ball thief. I carry a relatively new spare ball as a matter of policy, so that if by any tiny chance I couldn't get the stolen ball off her, I could provide another one.

I have been known to send her off to look for balls that other dogs have lost. Back she often comes with them, very pleased with herself.

This is definitely the reasonable thing to do! If only the local dog walkers would do the same, we have to take 2 balls out with us on a walk because there’s always at least a 50% chance one of them will be stolen so we’ll need a back up. He’s 3 now and not once has one of the little thieves owners had a back up ball to give us instead!

I've got a medium sized mixed breed.
I roughly spend a month
£50 dog food
£50 insurance
£7 flea/wormer (both are every 3 months so divided total cost by 3)
£40 dog training classes
Between £10 and £20 for treats, the odd toy and other bits. More expensive one off purchases like a new collar, harness or lead I tend to do for his birthday or Christmas because it feels more justifiable 😂
I do all grooming and nail trimming myself to try and save money there.

I have 9 dogs of various sizes, 2 cats, a rabbit and foster dogs (I cover the fosters food, rescue covers any vets bills). Costs around £800 a month I think off the top of my head. It’s just me and my husband no kids to pay out for, we would save a bit if we didn’t have 5 of them groomed each month as that’s £225 but it saves me time.

Ours cost a fair amount a month, we pay around £25 for vet cover and same again for insurance. Prob about £50 on food/treats. £150 for 1 day a week doggy daycare, we weren't going to keep this up once he'd grown out of the puppy stage but he absolutely loves going so we'll keep it up while we can still afford it. He also needs grooming every 6-8 weeks which costs around £50. So around £200-225 a month! It's scary when we add it all up!

7 month Labrador
Insurance is £95 a month
Food £110 a month
Vet plan £18 but due to increase to £36 now he's over 25kg.

One of costs such as training clubs £80-100 a course
Kennel costs

Then it's things like food stuff for his kongs, yak chews etc, toys, coats, slip leads because he likes to roll in stuff and gets everything filthy so we end up with plenty of spares.

Pet insurance 28
Food £52
Doggie day care £125
General bits/ treats/ poo bags etc - £10
Flea/worm etc around £20
Plus holidays day care/boarding- maybe 300 a year?

So around £250 a month I suppose average.

I spend a fortune on my German Shepherd:

£130 raw food
£375 dog walker
£45 insurance
£28 vet plan
£50 (approx) on treats and toys throughout the month

I think she's worth it though she makes me happy, I don't mind the cost.

About £70 a month on food, 21 to the vet for jabs, fleas and worming, £38 for insurance (will shop around next year, he's only 18 months), and a £10 plushy a month to protect the furniture and probably another £10 in there somewhere, that's before what we paid for him, oh dear, bit late to do anything now... so about £140. We seem to be using doggy daycare a lot less now he's a bit older, which was hideous but sometimes necessary, at the moment mum will have him when we go on holiday which is a massive bonus.