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?

I think I could also have credit for gym membership. My twice daily walks means I’m not paying out for the gym etc.

After barking, mine would also lick an intruder into submission.

£17 food
£23 insurance
£18 vet plan
£30 dog sitter (2 x 1hr)
£10 field hire (twice a month, shared with a friend)

All per month, plus a few treats, probably an extra £5.

£17 a month on food and that’s it! Small ish terrier who’s around 8 now.

Miniature schnauzer. 7 years old.
Food is £18 a month (his food is £85 a bag but he only has 100g a day)
Insurance £30 a month...was £22 but had a big claim last year
Pet plan with vet £16 a month
£64 total
However I used to pay £50 a week for doggy daycare...£200 a month...blimey

Corrected it in another post. Roughly £40 a month, not £20, £480 a year paid annually. M&S. If I had to scrimp and save it would be the first thing I dumped

I don’t think it’s so much that if you’re not paying out for extras you’re not taking proper care of them so much as there are often extra costs you might not think of before you own a dog.

With insurance particularly it’s not so much that everybody needs it, it’s that everybody needs either insurance or to be able to access the money to pay for treatment - if I didn’t insure mine and also couldn’t afford to get them treatment then realistically I couldn’t afford to have dogs, because just hoping they never get ill or have an accident isn’t realistic. I might get lucky, my 14 year old cat for instance has literally never been to the vet for anything other than her annual check up and jags but It’d be pretty irresponsible of me to just not have any way of paying if she did need something.

Getting insurance is like gamble - you may never need it, but you may.

£18 a month petplan
£22 a month insurance
£30 a month food (approx)
£10 a month treats/poo bags etc
£30 a month dog walker (approx)

Blimey that's more than I thought tbh, they are expensive but he's worth it 🥰

Our pup is 6 months.

Food: £50 every 6 weeks
Insurance: £46 monthly
Worming/vax etc plan: £25 monthly
I probably spend an additional £20 a month on other random bits such as treats, chews, poo bags, other stuff. Sometimes more if he needs something specific.

Other costs we've had are £140 at the vets for a UTI. £100 for a 6 week puppy class.

Insurance for my Goldie is £235 a month...but she is 10 and has had lots of health issues. Dog walker - £150, food, £150, treats £10 (?) and monthly medication £100 - which makes her cheaper than a horse but stupidly expensive for a dog...! Wouldn't trade her for anything though obvs.

My dog got cancer at 18 months, spinal disease at 6 and has had other issues. We've claimed thousands - way more than I would have put aside. Her chemo cost £500 a month for 18 months (for example). I'm very glad I didn't gamble and not take it out.

This thread is fascinating and as someone considering getting a dog I massively appreciate everyone sharing their costs.

I was well aware we’d be hundreds per month for a dog but it’s interesting to see it all broken down and does make you realise that owning a dog really is a luxury.

It’s amazing what some are spending on insurance. Most of us probably pay less for our car insurance!

Are these vet plans definitely worth having?

Vet plans are pretty essential and usually work out much cheaper than paying out of pocket for flea/tick/wormers and annual vaccinations.

I suspect I'll regret this...

£15 food (approx)
£95 insurance
£15 health plan
£95 medication - this would be a lot more but we buy online and administer injectables at home
£145 dog walker
£5-10 miscellaneous (poo bags, treats, doggy ice cream pot at the beach etc.)

I don't count the dog sitting fees (£30 per night) as part of his costs, I consider that part of the holiday costs

A mortgage worth every month!

I have an amost 12 year old lab. We pay £92 insurance which I'm expecting to increase once he is 12, £30 food (raw fed), £10 treats poo bags etc. Thinking about getting him some hydrotherapy sessions in thr New Year too

I forgot grooming....
Thankfully the best thing about covid lockdown was DH learnt how to groom dog. The cost of the clippers has paid for themselves many times over.

Definitely saving on gym membership (pup has got rid of my squishy menopause belly), personal bodyguard/burglar alarm/security cameras. She's good value, our girl ❤

I don't think they're essential, it's worth doing the sums yourself.

We don't routinely treat for fleas and worms. We worm count (worms and lungworm) every 3 months which works out at 10 a month. Vaccinate for Lepto yearly which is £30. Vet plan is 23 a month at our vets so would be nearly double the cost annually.

What an interesting thread.
It's never occurred to me before now about grooming costs or daycare/dog walker charges. We've never had to factor in those and I'm now realising that we're getting off pretty lightly compared to some of you...

See, I would say the total opposite. I think they're generally a bit of a con.

We don't flea any of our animals unless we see evidence of them - and in 10 years of pet ownership, we've spent precisely zero on flea treatments.

We do worm them as the cats go out and hunt, and my dog is a scavenger - but OTC worm treatment isn't expensive and we only do it every three months. It only costs about £20 a go (for four animals) as we buy in bulk.

Vaccinations only cost us £35 per animal, per year - the same cost as a routine vet appointment. If we paid for 4x vet plans, our vets would very much be quids in, lol.

£25 insurance
£48 dog walker (once a week at £12 a time)
£12.50 grooming (every 2 months at £25)
£16 vet plan for worming/fleas/vaccinations
£50 food/treats

So just over £150 a month. About the same as my council tax and car insurance combined

I'm a first time dog owner and am amazed at how much mine costs! A thing that never occurred to me (but seems really obvious) is that a big dog costs so much more than a little one - more food and higher doses of medicine / worming treatment etc as it's per kg of weight. I have a rescue dog so didn't really consider size in my criteria, I was more focused on temperament and have ended up with a v lovely but v big dog!

The other thing is that even with insurance you have to pay an excess for each new illness, excesses increase after your dog reaches 12, and premiums increase each year. Plus pre-existing conditions aren't covered, unless you take out life-time cover - but then you can't change insurers or ever let it lapse. (My dog is now 12 and has chronic conditions that need daily medication. Life time cover insurance has been a godsend for me).

Then there's just the little added extras that creep in - if you go away you need kennels / house sitter or to pay extra to have your dog stay in a cottage or hotel room with you. If I'm out for more than 4 hours I need a dog walker - who earns more per hour than I do! My dog is fabulous and I don't regret getting him, but my goodness he's expensive.

If you’re not fully vaccinating your dog every year then your insurance may be invalid.

My understanding is that worm counting might be inadequate to swiftly detect heartworm (ie the bad lungworm), which is nasty. My dog has had fox lungworm twice which is less serious and both times were where she had gone a couple of months without nexgard. We also live somewhere ticks are rife and they carry some not nice stuff too.

The other thing is that even with insurance you have to pay an excess for each new illness

This depends on the policy, we only pay the excess for the first claim each year.