How much do dogs cost?

[midnight]

I have a question. I'm thinking about getting a dog and was wondering if I did, how much would it cost on a monthly basis? I need to make sure I can fit it into my current budget, so anyone who has a dog and can give me an estimate of the monthly cost, it would help me out a lot.

[CRFSaver]

I think that is a hard question to answer. A lot of it depends on the type of dog, size, where you are in the country etc. Obviously if you get a big german shepard they will eat you out of house and home. My advice would be call a local Vet and ask him how much a year will be?

Rabies Vacination
Heart Worm Pills
Registration

Also, be careful about getting any "specialty" dogs. My room mates have a "German" German Shepard and as beautiful as he is, they have to buy a special food for him and buy all these special supplements that cost an arm and a leg or he craps all over the house.

Also, please dont buy from a pet store. Many times they come from puppy farms. Find someone local so you can meet the mommy and daddy dog and see their temprament and how they deal with people. My parents have had to Mutts and they have been intelligent and great dogs.

You can always consider adopting from the shelter too. Lots of dogs looking for someone to love them.

[mccartygirl]

Figure $20-40/month depending on grooming, type of food, etc. You don't really spend $20-40/month but on what we spend a year that's about what it breaks down. We buy Eukanuba in the huge bags at PetSmart for $35-40 but they last our puppy forever. We have a Westie. He gets groomed every 6 weeks. The vet visits are only 2x/year and it comes to about $150 total, unless he gets sick. The heartworm pills are $3/month. It definitely gives you a little idea of the costs of children It all depends on what you get. Big dogs eat a lot more than my 23 lb dog, big dogs cost almost double to board at the kennel. I love my puppy but they can be very expensive. One way to save is to learn how to groom the puppy yourself. By puppy I mean our 8 yr old dog

[PennyPincher]

I have a BIG 105-lb Rottweiler/Lab mix. I adopted him from the SPCA ($50, I believe.)

Monthly, I spend about $25 on food, despite his size. I use Pedigree dog food, and get the 52-lb bag from BJs Wholesale. Then I get some rawhides and other treats.

Vet visits are usually part of his boarding when we travel. They charge me $20/night for boarding. Some places are less, but they are great to him, and I get his other stuff done while he's there.

I would budget about $500-600/year to be safe.

Good luck on your decision.

[BAGAGT1]

One big, Big, BIG, recomendation if you want to own a dog on a budget, is to get a mixed breed. Pure breeds have a higher tendency to have health issues due to all of the inbreeding. I have a pure breed Cocker Spaniel, and she is a wonderful dog, however, she did eventually get cherry eye which is quite common in the breed, and it cost me $900 to correct. A lot of pure bred dogs have common birth defects that you will need to do your research on. So if you can't afford much of a dog get a mixed breed, there's never any gaurantee that your dog won't get sick, but it reduces the chances significantly.

[Dingoluv4eva]

my dog is cheap..

initial investment $800 for purchase.. a puppy maltese..
after that the shots were prolly another 200 maybe all together..

but once thats out of the way..
u got toys spent like $50 they last for years..
than u got food.. big bag $20 lasts a couple of months..
give it water cheap

the occasional shower every week or so.. 15min shower cant be too much.
ummmm what else...

spending time with it, is prolly the priciest... u'd rather be studying, or searching the web for something, or cleaning out the car, find a second job etc etc

so the dogs get lonely, so since time is money, i think thats the most expensive thing when it comes to a dog... it requires a lot of time to have it be happy.

[Fern]

just adding to what dingolu4eva said, the worst thing you can do to a dog is to separate it from its human family, whether that means tying it up outside or making it stay ina doghouse away from the home. Dogs are very social animals, just like us, and to them, their human family is their "pack," and that's where they will be happiest.

[Bruce Wayne]

I'd say the main expense is the food so it depends on what you want to feed it (and what it wants to eat).

Our dog is quite fussy so the food bill tends to be pretty high, especially in relation to other costs. Plus he's a big dog so gets through alot.

Other than that your love and attention are the other main 'costs' to factor in, allowing time to walk them and care for them.

[MrsChambers]

I have two pugs, Buddha is almost a year - and Bethany, she is almost 6 months.
Buddha is a VERY picky eater... so we HAD spend lots of money just trying to figure out what he will and will not eat...
Bethany eats anything you put in front of her.

We spend about 40$ a month on wet food (science diet MIX-IT with some ol' roy stuff that Buddha likes)

We spend about $20 a month on Dry dog food. (Max Nutro for puppy's)

The food that we buy tends to be on the "higher end" side of things... If we could get away with feeding them cheap stuff, we would.

But then there are the UNEXPECTED expences.... like when Buddha was screwing around and fractured his hip.... $1,200.00 later..... I can't see straight.

Me, I would budget a solid $40 a month, and what-ever you don't use... SAVE IT for when you need it..

but the cost of my pugletts means nothing to me in the long run becuse what I get back from them you can't buy in no store!

PEACE

[shengmei]

That depends on where you get the dog. If you get the dog from a breeder, the immunization, deworming series, spay/neuter, flea treatments, microchipping, and registration could cost $300. However, if you adopt from an animal shelter, all of those things would be done for you.

Also, both Petco and Petsmart gives you $150 in coupons if you choose to adopt.

Also, you would be saving a dog's life.

I have often read that puppy food is more of a bang for the buck because it is twice as nutritious as adult food.

[niki_the_tiger]

Be careful in adopting however... this coming from a few bad experiences... you often inherit other people's problems. Visit the dog a few times... spend LOTS of time with him first and see how he reacts in different situations... he can act cute and obedient when you see him and fall in love with him, then be a terror at home. Other than that, adopting is great and it does save a dogs life...

Most of my pets are adopted from shelters. My first one and latest one are from pet stores though (fell in love with them!). And so far, so good.

I agree with the others on getting a mixed breed to save money... they're usually less finicky. I only spend about $10 on food per month on my husky shepherd mix (buy the 55lbs bags at Sam's Club), plus a few dollars on treats, plus shots... which with her comes to less than $50 a year, I would say. Save for emergencies, however...

My puppy is a husky and we have him on Iams large breed puppy food right now so he's a little more expensive. About $20 a month, I'd say. And all his starting out shots cost us quite a bit (he's due for more too!).

If you get a year or two old dog rather than a puppy, it will probably save you some money... though you miss out on puppyhood!

[shengmei]

I also agree that getting an adult dog is MUCH, MUCH cheaper than getting a puppy. An adult dog does not need puppy food. An adult dog only needs shots every three years instead of every three months. An adult dog is probably already spayed/neutered. An adult dog does not chew up stuff and destroy stuff like a puppy does. You save an adult dog's life when you adopt it from a shelter. It is much better for an older dog to be eating cheap dog food than for it to languish and die at an animal shelter.

Here is a tip for saving money on dogs:

A lot of generic adult dog food is very, very bad for your dog because it has too little protein and fat. However, a generic puppy food is great for adult dogs because it has a very similar nutritional profile as the premium adult dog foods. For example, Albertson's Happy Tail puppy food is about as nutritous as many premium adult dog foods. Every six months, Albertson has a "buy one get one free" special for their puppy food. It is a great deal.

Also, buying food in bulk saves $$$, as long as you have a good dog food container to store the food so it doesn't spoil.

[jeffrey]

For a 50 lb dog in the midwest low would be $285 a year and high would be $2500 a year - that come to a lifetime cost of between $4000 and $39000. For detailed costs you can <a href="http://www.pfadvice.com/2005/10/12/the-cost-od-dogs-cats/#comments">look at these charts</a>.

According to <A HREF="http://www.babycenter.com/expert/pregnancy/pregnancyfamily/1393924.html">another article</A>, when you add up everything (food, toys, training, vet expenses, etc), it will be $400 a month:

<i>As far as cost, you can expect to spend up to $400 a month on your pet for food, training, and other expenses — especially in the first six months, when you'll be buying supplies and going to the vet more often. Buying a dog or cat can set you back anywhere from $100 to $200 for a shelter animal to $2,000 or more for a purebred (plus extra costs for spaying or neutering, vaccinations, and microchip identification).</i>

[niki_the_tiger]

[quote=jeffrey]According to <A HREF="http://www.babycenter.com/expert/pregnancy/pregnancyfamily/1393924.html">this article</A>, when you add up everything (food, toys, training, vet expenses, etc), it will be $400 a month:
[quote]

The only time I have ever spent $400 (and this is on all four of my pets, not just one) in one month was a few months ago when I bought my husky Meiko, had to pay for his shots and supplies, and my cat Shadow got sick in the same month. Then it was more like $600.

Talking about vet expenses, can someone recommend a good pet insurance?

[katwoman]

OP, I'm glad you're asking this question!

I never had a dog before so here is my experience: the larger the dog, the larger the expense. This may seem obvious but it needs to be stated. It costs more to groom my Samoyed (if I can even find a groomer willing to do Samoyeds) than it does for a Westie. Medication costs more since the dosage is according to the size of the animal. Pet insurance costs more 'cause the dog is bigger and it's a pure bred which is subject to medical conditions.

I love my dog. He was 7 when I got him (from a friend) but since he's been with me he had to go on Rimadyl, an arthritis med that costs me $65 every 2 months, hypothyroidism which costs me $50/yr, conjuctivitis which is $10 for a little bottle of eye drops, ear infections (I can't remember what that bottle costs, thank god it lasts a long time), diabetes which is $14.99 for 100 syringes (2 shots a day) and $29.99 for a vial of insulin every 26 days. Sammies are also prone to skin problems so add in the cost of antibiotics and Neosporin.

The above are costs outside of vet visits and lab tests. I didn't mention that he tore his ACL and that cost $1800. Vet insurance wouldn't pay one red cent since that's the only thing they won't cover in the first year of the policy.

My vet says he's now in need of acupuncture to ease his hip pain. He'll be 12 in Jan, the age whan most Sammies finish their time on earth.


If I ever get another dog it will be thru a rescue organization which provides all the intial shots and spaying/neutering and will divulge the dogs medical history and temperment as best they can. Oh, and it will be a mixed breed. I'm not looking so much at saving money as I am at saving heartache.

Please do your research before you fall in love with a dog. This will be one of the most rewarding relationships you will ever experience so make it last for the both of you.

[Firefly]

If you don't buy a purebred and adopt one from a shelter, that can save you some money as well.

[abowers]

Small dogs can be expensive too. My parents got a Cairn Terrier. Small dog (like Toto from Wizard of Oz). She cost something like $500-600 to begin with. But I can't tell you how many problems this dog has! She has some serious allergies which have cost a lot (Benadryl on a regular basis... that wasn't working so now they give her some kind of allergy shot that is made *just* for her, based on blood work they had done!!) She also eats special food. It's ridiculous.