Rough Estimate: How much do your pets cost?

[Firebird]

I'm looking for a general yearly estimate, but if you have lifetime numbers handy (cost of the pet, equipment and toys you had to buy, initial vet visits), I would be interested in that too.

Also, what kind of pet(s) do you have, and how many?

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I have 2 cats and my catfood/litter/treat bills run about $20/mo. A well cat visit for vaccinations is about $300, so under $600/year for 2 cats.

[zuzu]

Cats or dogs? It depends on breed, size, etc. I pay to have each of my 3 dogs groomed every 6 weeks, so I probably pay way more than the average pet owner. I'd say just for routine food and yearly vet care, it should be $300-400 max a year. But again, it depends on the type of food you buy. Lots of variables in pet care.

[Deleted]

I have a maltesse/shit szu mix.

Biggest expense for our dog is vet and more so when we first got him. He was 3 months old when we got him and his vet bills was easily about $500-$750 for all his shots within the first year.

He is turning 2 this july and it's about $200/year: mostly for his regular shots, flea collars, etc. Our last biggest expense was getting him fixed.

We get him groomed every 3 months at $70. So $280/year.
Food is about $20-30 /month but also depend on the brand and what you buy. If it is dry food, will cost you less.
Toys etc... my wife spend about $100/year on toys, clothing and other things for him.

So I would say after the first year which would hit you hard if you are not prepared for it, it would be about $500-$750/year for a dog.

[teppe2]

We have currently one cat (9 years old) and our monthly expenses for food and litter are between $20 to $30. That said, last year she needed surgery for a hernia ($1000), last month she had blood in her urine and tests plus medication came to $700 (was told she was stressed out, they put her on Viagra ). She is also asthmatic and gets 2 medications to control it. One is $150 every 4 month, the other is about $30 per year.

Teeth cleaning on a yearly basis is another $250 to $300, we use Revolution for flea and tick control because the other ones did not work anymore and a 6 months supply is about $90.

Our dog (Labrador) cost about $50 per month (food, flea, tick and heartworm medicine), yearly dental was $350, otherwise he was pretty healthy until he turned 14 when he developed cancer. Surgery was about $3000, cancer came back a year later and we put him to sleep ($400 for euthanasia plus cremation). I trained him myself so there was no cost for obedience training, dog license was $5 a year. We did however travel with him including overseas ( cost for tickets or rooms because we had to stay in certain hotels )and at times boarded him when we couldn't take him, can't remember how much that cost though.

We love our animals and they are worth it but the costs are the reason we generally do not have more than one at a time.

[973beachbum]

I have a 17 year old labrador retriever. I spend about 20-30 a month on food plus another about10 for heartworm. I get his shots every year for about $70. His favorite play toys are the kids and that is a whole nother expense!

[cael]

We have a kitty. I'd say we spend maybe, $30ish on food and litter monthly for her. Have only had one vet visit so far for a new-'patient' check up when we got her, that was $100. She'll go back in the summer and needs a few vaccine boosters I think, so that may be a bit more.

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2011 13:54:36 GMT -5 teppe2 said:

was told she was stressed out, they put her on Viagra ).

[raeoflyte]

Somehow for 2010, our animal expenses were only $100-$150 per month and that is for 4 dogs, and 4 cats. (We're dumb....very, very dumb).

DH is a vet tech though so vet bills tend to be low and we can get pretty good discounts for related services. Every now and then we'll get hit with a high bill, but were obviously very lucky last year.

Dogs are more expensive--toys are pricey, and get destroyed quickly. (Cat toys last forever as long as you can find them back). Quality dog training isn't cheap either, but in my opinion more important than almost anything else.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

We have two dogs we spend about $50-$100 on food, it depends on who feeds them. We get the 50 lb bag and I follow the serving sizes, DH just dumps food in the bowl.

Well vet visits cost about $150 off the top of my head, you don't have to do everything at once. They both have the 3 year rabies shot so that takes down the costs of well visits. DH has taken them the last few times so I can't remember.

Spaying I think cost $200 each? The procedure and an overnight stay. Nuetering is cheaper for male dogs.

Kennels cost $99 each and were one time purchases.

Toys it depends, I rarely buy toys for them because my Aussie takes good care of hers and my lab destroys hers and is content with a stick she finds in the backyard, so no point in spending a ton on toys.

Our Aussie recently cost us $800 to get a non-cancerous tumor removed that was as big as a baseball and would have started to impede her mobility (it was right under her left front leg).

[illinicheme]

We've got two cats and a dog (German shepherd). Our yearly costs are in the $1000-1500 range, not counting kennel fees for the dog. (That's probably another $500-1000 per year, but is highly variable depending on how much travel we do in a given year.)

We've had the cats for 8 years and the dog for 5 years. Lifetime, they've been pretty cheap as none have had major health issues yet. The most expensive incident was a "fever of undetermined origin" that one of my cats had about 6 years ago. It was about $600 worth of saline, meds, and tests over the course of a week. Fortunately, he recovered. (It looked awfully touch and go for awhile - he could barely move. The best the vet could do was "sometimes it's nearly impossible to tell what's going on.")

[kdamron]

We have a Border Collie not quite a year and a half old and an engine cat (he crawled into my car engine when he was a kitty and just stayed with me). Dog is generally more expensive than kitty, she has vaccinations about twice a year, heartworm, flea and tick medicine, stuffed animals which she destroys regularly, food, puppy treats and on and on. Probably about $50/month general, lifetime much more expensive as she had a bout with parvo last year which cost about 4K.

Kitty takes the pet version of xanax to keep him from biting. Not sure where he gets those vampire tendencies, but he has a taste for blood. Vet visits and medicine costs around $150 a year and between $20/30 a month for food/treats and litter.

Oh yeah, and a new closing litter box to keep puppy out of the cat litter...

[Deleted]

Toy poodle here.

Dog free to me because a good friend made her a gift, would have been $300. Shots and first check ups $120, $148, $148 = $416 High quality food - $40 for 3 months. Carrier (not to be confused with kennel) $30. Kennel - loan from friend. Leash, food dishes and toys $10 at the dollar store (not what I did but I'm not admitting what I spent). Grooming at 4 months $42. Treats that she will do anything for $5/bag lasts about 2 weeks. Add on to this 4 rolls of toilet paper destroy, carpet cleaning detergent, and that smell killing disinfectant spray.

[Gardening Grandma]

I've been tracking our expenses (not just pets) since 2006. For the years 2006 though 2010, we've averaged 2922/yr. That's for two dogs, both older and includes a couple of surgeries.
The breakdown is 567/yr on food and 1903/yr vet (includes prescriptions). The rest is "other" (grooming, toys, beds, supplements, vacation boarding, and everything else).

These are two older Golden Retrievers, fwiw.

[steph08]

I budget $120 a month for my two boxers. That covers a high-quality kibble 30-lb bag every 2.5-3 weeks and I put the leftover money into their own savings account for vet bills and misc. expenses like toys, flea and tick meds, etc. Both of my dogs are young (2 and 4) so the only vet expenses we have had are regular shots, neuters, and one emergency vet visit for a pulled neck muscle. So $1440 a year. That doesn't count the cost of buying them though.

[telephus44]

1 cat here. I would estimate $20-$30 a month for food and litter. I have had as many as 3 cats, that ran closer to $50 a month. A lot depends on the cat. I had one who peed all the time and had hairballs so needed special food, I've had others that will eat store brand food and sparingly use bulk litter.

Yearly checkup / rabies shot is about $150.

I do agree that animals are more expensive if you get them young. Shots, getting them fixed, etc. I would also recommend knowing what lengths you will go to for a pet before you get one - if you're the type that will drop $10,000 on surgery and pay $300 a month for meds for the rest of the pet's life, know that about yourself before you adopt. I don't know an exact dollar figure in my head, but I have had to have a few cats put down, and some of the figures I was quoted were beyond what I was willing to pay (say, $3000 for testing and then you'll probably need surgery).

[midjd]

We have a 7yo Maine Coon and a recently-inherited 11yo Lab mix... spend about $20/month on cat food/litter and $20/month in dog food. Vet expenses might average another $20/month (they're both healthy, knock on wood... just a yearly checkup and some occasional Frontline). Oh, and we have a rescued snapping turtle who only eats deli-sliced ham, so there's another $10/month.

I don't think I've added that up before - sheesh, more than 25% of our grocery budget on three (what I thought were) low-maintenance animals!

[angel007]

We have a 3 y.o. tiger kitty, that we obtained from a shelter as a kitten. We had the in-house Vet fix her shortly thereafter, got her her next round of shots, etc. so around $200. for that initial first couple of weeks..

She got sick the first year that required a visit to same Vet and a couple different antibiotics, all of that was about $125.

Yearly Vet check ups (sometimes immunizations) run $75-$150./yr.

Her food (dry and wet) runs about $20./mo, and her litter runs about $15./mo.

She was the runt of the litter, the last one left at the shelter from her litter, a little pudgy @ 10lbs., now...and quite spoiled! "HRH....Miss Bailey"

[dcmetrocrab]

Can't remember how much start up was for our kitten. $30 for a litter box + scooper, $15 litter box scatter mat, $70 for a sturdy cat scratching post/perch, $70 for first checkup (kitten was already spayed, had first set of shots), misc toys, combs, kitty toothpaste = $100? Food, dry/wet, and litter runs $20/month. 5-6lb of quality dry lasts 2.5 months, supplimented with wet (one big $1.80 can lasts a week), sometimes raw meat scraps. We use $14 50lb bags of chicken feed for natural kitty litter + Feline Pine.

[Cookies Galore]

We have a nearly 11-year-old tortie (cat), who I've had since she was roughly 8 weeks. Her spaying and vaccines cost $250? It was definitely between $200 and $300 10 years ago. I spend $20-$30 a month on food and litter. She eats mostly dry food, but I give her wet once a week as a treat.
I buy her cheap balls that make noise (I've never spent more than $4 on a bag of three) and she has a scratching post set with refills that are $6(?). She really likes bags and boxes, so I just let her play in whatever box I get for a couple of days. We bought a new toaster oven tonight, so she's hopping in and out of that box. I try to keep bags away from her because she can't figure out how to get out sometimes.
Her last vet visit (wellness check and vaccine boosters) cost $75; next year it should only be $65 because she won't need the rabies shot.
We've been trying to convince her to get a job or at least do some chores to earn her keep; she fails miserably, but she's mighty cute so we keep her around!

[TheOtherMe]

Way back in 1979, I had to put a 1 year old cat down with FeLV. Long before you could vaccinate against it. I paid about $200 to find out what was wrong with her and about $100 for cremation. Couldn't believe at the time that it cost so much to find out the problem. I knew she was really sick when I took her in.

I had a male cat at the time and he was tested continually for FeLV. At first, the test was like $300 and had to be sent away and I didn't get the results for 2 weeks. Since he had been exposed to FeLV, all food dishes, litter boxes, etc. had to go and be replaced.

I ended up spending a small fortune on him in his 16 year life span. I am not prepared to go to those lengths again. I had a young male who had the same urinary tract issues as my first cat and I wanted to put him down. Vet wouldn't do it, but she did let me relinquish him to her, she did the surgery and found him a new home.

[Deleted]

We have a cocker spaniel that we got from the Rescue for $175. She's been to the vet twice for non-well visits. Once she hurt her neck; the other she had an ear infection. Together, that was about $200.

It costs $50 to have her groomed, but I manage to make that every few months by bathing her myself. It's $200 for her annual vet visit, but that's because she has two meds (heartworm and flea) that are included. Her flea pill is $15 every month, and she HATES it. Since it's a battle to get her to take it and we've never seen a flea, we are going to discontinue it when we finish this box. We have to go back for the meds again in six months so probably another $100 or more for that visit.

Her food is cheap. She likes Beneful, and there is always a coupon and a sale at Target before she runs out. Maybe it's not the "best" food, but I'm not sure we eat the "best" food either. she eats the healthy weight version. Her snacks are milkbone training treats. I think those are $6 a jar.

She does love her toys, though. She gets one for Christmas every year. Then she gets two from my oldest grandsons on her birthday. They have fun going through PetSmart to pick them out. (I pay.) She destroys the others, but I keep sewing them up until every limb is gone. We look like a war hospital sometimes. My younger grandson got her an octopus last time because it has so many legs to chew.

She does have her own savings account though. She gets $25 a month put into "Abby's" account. It isn't used for expenses that we can cover, even the $200 yearly visit. It is being saved toward that day when the vet says she needs extraordinary care (something catastrophic). Since we started young (she was only 2 and is now only 3), hopefully we can save enough. I would have trouble spending thousands, but I honestly consider this HER money. I know that's silly.

[TD2K]

To adopt my dog was just over $100 from the local shelter. Vaccinations run maybe $50 a year and maybe another $75 to get his anal glands emptied when needed. A big bag of dry dog food costs about $30 at Costco and that lasts likely 4 months. My last two dogs were also low cost for the most part, one had kidney failure and we put likely about $500+ into her. She wasn't the same after that and when her kidneys failed the second time we had her put down.

[motherto2]

Susanna, it's not silly to have an account for your pet. I have a bichon that's about 1 1/2 yrs. old. Got him when he was 8 weeks. Cost $300, another $150 that night at Petsmart getting kennel, food, bowls, toys, puppy pads, book about Bichons, etc. Took him to the vet for well care, shots, about $200. Nuetered and microchip, around $200. I put $50/payday into an account just for him. Everyone I talked to when I was considering a bichon (wanted for hypoallergenic and personality) asked me if I was prepared to spend an average $100 each month. I decided it was worth it and I could afford it. He has to be groomed every 6 weeks - cost $62 plus $10 tip. I decided to buy him Blue Buffalo food. It's a little pricier, but it's better for him and he doesn't each much since he's a little guy. A 28 pound bag costs around $30 but lasts a good 3 months. I use puppy pads because a) they are notorious for not liking to potty train, so when he took to them so well when I got him, I kept with it. Plus, since I'm single, I don't want to go outside late at night or early in the morning. Works really well last year when he was still a puppy and we would have 8-10 inches of snow on the ground. I've found some that are $10 for a pack of 50, and they last a good month. Toys and treats I couldn't say because he is spoiled with those from the kids and my parents. I'd say about $220 each year for shots, worm and flea meds. Cost to keep me company and plus he's such a darn cute and funny little guy - priceless!!!!

[Deleted]

We have a 12 year old cat and spend about $800 on him but he is on special food. Also we buy petsmart giftcards, if we did not we would be paying about $860/year.

[share88]

My "free" cat has cost $1258.06 in 6 months.

Being a stray he needed some initial medical treatment (bite wounds/dental) and then the usual nueter/vaccine. Otherwise, just food/litter/toys since Yes, he has too many toys.

He is totally worth it though.

I can top most of your "expense" stories though - a lady at work got a small purebred dog (not sure of type). The first DAY she brought it home it was playing too hard and broke its foot (paw?) and needed $4K of surgery!

[share88]

Southernsusana, gave you some karma for the pet account idea. I kind of like it even though I seem to spend pretty freely on my "fur kid" so far. I think I will start one too.

[2kids10horses]

Lessee...

A registered AQHA show quality horse costs about $20,000. A Phil Harris show saddle, with modest silver: $5000.
Trainer for 1 year: $12,000.
Trailer to take horse to shows: $45,000.
Truck to haul trailer: $45,000.
Hay, feed: $1200.
SHoes, vet: $2000
Feed supplements, SHowSheen, grooming supplies, blankets, wraps, halters, lead lines, buckets, $1500
Show entrance fees: $2500.
Gas/diesel: $3500
Show clothes $1500.

Smile on daughter's face: priceless!

Attachments:

[Firebird]

Mar 1, 2011 8:36:11 GMT -5 2kids10horses said:

Lessee...

A registered AQHA show quality horse costs about $20,000. A Phil Harris show saddle, with modest silver: $5000.
Trainer for 1 year: $12,000.
Trailer to take horse to shows: $45,000.
Truck to haul trailer: $45,000.
Hay, feed: $1200.
SHoes, vet: $2000
Feed supplements, SHowSheen, grooming supplies, blankets, wraps, halters, lead lines, buckets, $1500
Show entrance fees: $2500.
Gas/diesel: $3500
Show clothes $1500.

Smile on daughter's face: priceless!

Jesus Christ, man! I'm glad your daughter's smile made it all worth it!! ;D

[2kids10horses]

LOL!!!

We didn't pay anything like that!

Some do. Some pay A LOT more than that!

The horse in the pic cost $5000. We did have to pay about $400/month for 6 months of the year for training/boarding during show season. Vet bills were about $300/year.

We use a $3000 stock trailer. We have other horses, so we have to have a trailer.

We got a used Blue Ribbon show saddle for $2500.

We made the show clothes ourselves.

I already had a pickup truck to haul the trailer.

Don't get me wrong, showing horse IS expensive. We did it a couple of times, and it was great experience for the family.

The horse is now retired, and living in the back yard. (At one time, he was a $50,000 horse!)

We bought him at the end of his career, when he was 16, already trained. He was great... taught my daughter what it was like to ride a great horse, and won her a ton of ribbons and awards.

She was the Reserve Champion at the State 4-H Show, and went on the the Southern Regionals where she placed 7th.

Mind you, the competion in 4-H isn't as tough as the big AQHA shows. The horse was really too old to still be competitve there. In his day, he did go to the World Show.