How much does your (medium size) dog cost you pm?

[stupididiot12345]

after many many years of pondering, we are now close to biting the bullet and getting a dog. Either a fox red lab or a Viszla, but more likely a lab. I feel our lifestyle suits a dog - house with large garden, backs onto huge woods so plenty of options for interesting and varied walks, we have 3 boys who play sport all weekend so our time is often spent on pitches so dog could come along too (although I appreciate not all pitches allow dogs on).

my reservations are surrounding the costs of boarding services while we are on holidays (maybe 2 x yearly) although so have lots of family who may be willing to help. How many monthly or year should I expect a dog like this to cost me including food, insurance, grooming, flea/worm treatments, general supplies? Any other costs that I might not have considered

Also grooming is £60 maybe once every quarter and flea and warm treatment- get this from Amazon

I've a 10 month old staffy. His rough monthly costs are:
Food -£65
Natural chews, like rabbit ears £20
Insurance £30
Vet plan £25, that includes his vaccinations and he has 2 free vet consultations a year and 3 vet nurse ones
Training sessions £40

Daycare 1 or 2 a week usually at £35 a day. Kennels is £26 a day for holidays.
Being a staffy, and so little fur, he doesn't need regular grooming, I did take him last week for a bit of a trim and wash and it was £25.

I don't think I'd get much change out of £500. But she is older and insurance is nearly £200 of that. While I'd like to, I can't ever imagine having two dogs!

We’ve had labs for many years. Currently only got one, age 11, and looking to get another shortly.

We insure them for the first two years or so, to ensure there isn’t anything lurking/plus covering daft puppy stage where they’re more likely to injure themselves. Once they’re not insured we have a credit card with £6k limit plus £15k savings that could be used if necessary.

I feel that insurance is a gamble, and if you have the means to get yourself out of a sticky spot (and you’ve tried to lower your risk with a puppy from health tested parents/insured for the first few years), then it’s perfectly reasonable. We have had a few incidents post being insured- surgeries (mast cell tumour removal and foreign body removal), plus a few ear infections, I think stitches for a cut leg, and a few months of medication in old age. Overall we’ve been lucky and we’re much better off having that money saved.

A bag of working dog salmon and rice food is circa £30 a month (obviously it is more when a puppy).

We groom at home and bath them ourselves when necessary, clipping nails etc.

We don’t use dog walkers. We’re lucky in that if we do go away family help. A few years ago we had a friend’s vet nurse student daughter stay with them, I think it was about £30 a day.

Small incidentals like worming and in the summer flea prevention.

We don’t buy multiple leads/collars etc nor toys every month, so we don’t have the same costs as others. Obviously there will be some costs for things like beds etc, especially with a new dog, but they aren’t regular ongoing ones, and we now have multiples and spares.

3 working Cockers and 2 border terriers here. All of them in total probably about £100 a month in food.

That's it.

We do not insure beyond puppy days.

We do not annually booster beyond puppy vaccinations (even the vaccine manufacturers state the vaccines last a MIN of 3 years, often lifetime).

We worm every 3 months (about £15 for all of them)

We absolutely do not prophylactically treat for fleas. Totally unnecessary chemical overload which would affect would waterways as our dogs swim. If our dogs ever gets fleas or ticks we treat them but they very rarely do

Toys and beddings are occasional buys.

Grooming we do.

No care costs needed as I'm home 90% of the time

We lost our most recent dog at 15, he hadnt seen a vet since his 16 week puppy vaccination. I know theres luck involved there but I strongly believe overloading our pets with chemicals is causing a lot of problems.

Agree and I treat my dogs exactly the same and I work in a vets .

Every day I have clients worrying because their dog's vaccine booster is a week overdue and I always want to say my dogs" are 12 years overdue but I just duly book them in.

My Labrador is four. His food is £35 every six weeks, plus a digestive supplement that is about £2 a week. Sainsbury's insurance c£450 for the year. Care plan at vet's £19 a month. He's never boarded. I do a scent course once a month which is £30. Everything else is non-essential.

@Fluffywhitecloudss Why do you routinely treat for worms? Your argument for not treating for fleas applies to worms too.

This plus a dog walker £200 that's twice a week. £38 per night for overnight stays holidays etc.

Labs are wonderful but so destructive. First few years they chew and eat everything, shoes undies, carpets anything left lying. Destroy toys i minute's. Decent large crate is definitely required.

But we love them forever lol

I’ve a spaniel.
insurance £102 pm
food £40 pm
medication £50 every other month (arthritis)
boarding £25 per day (Usually parents look after her but if we go away with them she boards at the kennels)
she’s me second spaniel. First lived til 13.5 and my current girl is nearly 12. Wouldn’t be without a dog.

I work with dogs, so no walker was required. £38 per night is a bargain. It is a lot more than that around here.

Easy to teach them not to chew, so I didn't ever have that experience. I did go through a few gundog dummies though.

About £100 a month.