To this day, one of my most popular blog posts – at least according to my Google Analytics – is the one where I broke down how much it cost to have a dog every month. So of course, when I hit the one-year mark of tracking my spending, I couldn’t wait to take a look and see if my calculations, which were based on six months of data, held up over the year.
Before I dig into the details, let’s get one thing straight: I would have literally no idea how much it cost to have a dog for a year if I hadn’t been tracking my spending.
The First Step: Tracking My Spending
On a whim last year (and ok, in an attempt to come up with things to write about on the blog) I started tracking my spending as part of a monthly challenge. I kicked things off in September 2015 with a really simple spreadsheet to track my spending, my income, and my savings. It also served as a really great way to see how far I was from hitting my 50% savings goal in real life.
As of this September 1st, 2016, I’ve officially got spreadsheets detailing my spending on everything for an entire year, since I kept the challenge going well past that first month. So I did what any personal finance nerd would do, and tallied up my spending on different things to share with you.
Hopefully, this series will give you useful information about how much it really costs to do things like own a used car or have a dog for an entire year – instead of just best-guesses and feelings.
Now, Onto Dog-Related Business
So ok, dogs come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, which is fantastic – but let’s be real, that also impacts how much they cost. To give you some context on my particular dog, who I can say without any bias is the best dog, here are his trading-card stats.
- He’s an adult rescue dog we got from the pound about two years ago, and he’s what we affectionately call a labra-mutt. Decidedly not a purebred designer puppy.
- He’s rumoured to be about 4.5 years old, based on the information the pound had about him.
- He weighs 75 pounds when I’ve been good about his diet, 85 pounds when I have been… uh… lax with the treats.
Those factors (size, age and breed) will account for a good chunk of the variation in how much a dog costs to own for a year. Another good chunk of the cost variation comes down to how much self-control you have about buying your sweet puppy all the dog toys.
Let’s just say I’m working on that one.
So How Much Did It Cost To Have a Dog For a Year?
Even before I started tracking my spending, I referred to The Dog as my “luxury dog”, because when a surprise trip to the vet to fix up a cut paw costs you as much as a pair of Louboutins, you are in luxury territory.
Luckily, we had no such emergency vet visits this year, but even without any major unexpected expenses, it cost me $1619.59 to have a dog this year – excluding my contributions to The Dog’s emergency fund. If you include my contributions to building up that emergency savings account, which rang in at $1762.64, the grand total cost jumps to $3382.23.
AKA, more than I spent on my used car this year.
However, in reassuring news, I’m one automated payment away from fully funding The Dog’s emergency fund, and in a true worst-case scenario, I now know that his emergency fund could cover a full year’s worth of regular expenses, with money to spare. That’s reassuring, which is literally the only feeling you want your emergency fund to give you.
So What Does That $1619.59 Include?
Here are some of the most notable chunks of my dog-related expenses, so you can see all the factors that go into making dog ownership the luxury proposition it really is.
Routine Vet Visits
We take The Dog to the vet twice a year: once in the fall for his annual vaccinations and check-up, and once in the spring to get him his summer anti-bug meds. This is the table-stakes level of vet care that any dog will need every year, and we’re lucky that this was the extent of our vetting needs this year (again, that cut paw cost me so much money.)
Annual Insurance Premium
Our first year of dog insurance with PetPlan costs us a grand total of $316.25, and as I’ve written before, I’ve waffled on the issue of pet insurance. The only reason we got it is that PetPlan offers exactly what we want: true, emergency coverage with a high deductible and high coverage limits, so if there’s another cut-paw situation, we’re covered.
Everything you’ve heard about pet insurance being kind of sketchy and evasive about coverage is true, so we’re not relying on the coverage for any routine care or expected issues – but if The Dog decides today is a good day to eat a sock, that’s the kind of unforeseen issue our policy would cover.
I know, because I read the ten pages of terms really closely.
Food and Treats
This is a really variable expense for dog owners, because there are a lot of factors that will impact your dog-food budget. For us, the size of The Dog means he eats way more than a tiny dog would, and after we were told his teeth were basically the worst, we switched one of his two meals to the fancy, vet-recommended dental diet. The other meal is still our standard Costco dog food, which gets surprisingly great reviews and is really easy on our budget, but there’s only so much you can do to offset the fancy vet food.
Supplies
Even though I’ve drastically cut down on our dog-toy budget, because I finally realized that The Dog is perfectly content with one bone, one squeaky ball and a few Kongs, that doesn’t mean our “supply” budget has gone down all that much.
This year we replaced The Dog’s collar, bought him a new harness, invested in a sturdy new dog bed for his crate, and went a little nuts on the tooth-cleaning supplies after his November checkup, where we were told how much it costs to have a dog’s teeth professionally cleaned. The contrast made our $56 spent on doggie toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental chews seem like a bargain.
Literally listed these ears as a dog supply in my tracking spreadsheet. Worth it.
What Will Next Year Look Like?
As of tomorrow, The Dog’s emergency fund will officially, for real, be fully funded based on the goal I set for it this time last year. So instead of planning for a grand total of $3382.23 for The Dog – or a monthly total of $281.85 – I’ll be working from the $1619.59 it cost me to have a dog this year. That breaks down to about $135 a month, which is less than the $150 I have listed right now in my budget.
But as I learned when The Dog sliced open his paw at the dog park that one time, there’s only so much predicting you can do when it comes to the true costs of pet ownership.
Which is why I’ve just renewed The Dog’s insurance policy for another year. Cross your fingers for me, friends.
Do you know how much you spend on your pets in a year? I can’t be the only one who feels like my dog is my biggest luxury expense – I’d love to hear about your experiences!
If you’re just joining in, I’m recapping my past year of spending this month. Here’s exactly what I spent on…
… and next week, I’ll be tackling my blog budget for the year. Yes, this little slice of nerdiness on the internet has its own budget line item – and was surprisingly not cheap.
Our neighbor’s old dog ate bathroom towels three different times. It had to have surgery twice. It wasn’t incredibly bright, and sometimes I also wondered about our neighbors! 😉 But seriously, anything can happen with living breathing things, and it makes me so happy to hear how prepared you are. What peace of mind that must offer. I wish I could have you give lessons in my entire neighborhood.
Who am I kidding? I’m really here for photos of The Dog. Swoon. Head pats and belly rubs!
I passed on the head pats and belly rubs! He was very appreciative.
And honestly the eating a sock thing was something I was CONVINCED was going to happen to us when we got The Dog, especially given that I am not known for picking up my socks. It’s so true that with living things, you just never know what could happen, and you love them too much to just not care / not take care of it. (Allegedly this is true with babies too, which makes me about a billion times more grateful for Canada’s free healthcare than I can possibly say.)
One of my cats was diagnosed as diabetic in January (requiring twice daily insulin injections, as well as prescription food) and had major dental work done in August. Luckily my other cat hasn’t had any problems, but together I’ve spent over $3000 on them so far this year. They’re now 11 years old so I only expect the expenses to grow and become more common as they age.
Completely agree that you have to be prepared for anything. Although expensive, I’m happy to foot the bill to keep them healthy and around for as long as possible.
Awwww I’m so sorry about the diagnosis, but it’s great that you have it under control! And I am right there with you – The Dog is expensive, but I am so happy to pay for those expenses to keep him happy and healthy! He’s a family member, after all.
Thanks for sharing! I love that you have a designated emergency fund for the dog – great idea!
This motivated me to go back through my expenses over the past year to see exactly what I spent. For two cats and one (10 lb) dog, we spend $920.17. Not too bad, especially since we had at least one extra vet visit in there. We did have to take our dog to the animal emergency room for an allergic reaction, but they just told us to buy Benedryl at the store and sent us on our way without any charge. I thank my lucky stars for that – I’m sure it would have cost upwards of $200+!
Thanks Amanda – and omg way to have to lowest pet budget ever, that is awesome! I miss having a cat. I’m a dog person, sure, but cats are unique and great in their own way. How nice of your vet to send you on your way to the drug store, no charge! That’s what we’ve heard of neighbours doing, especially because one of our neighbours’ dogs has a tendency to chomp bees like it’s going out of style. The poor thing swells up so much from the stings, lol, but it’s all fixed with a Benadryl.
I may just force my husband to read this post. He waffles on the idea of getting a dog, and while I don’t seem to have any sort of maternal instinct for children, my “I-need-a-dog” gauge is always off the charts haha. We both work during the day, so my “preparing for the dog” budget includes hiring a dog walker, whom I’ve already vetted despite not having a dog yet (I’m actually a crazy person when it comes to the future dog, but I’m okay with it) and since we don’t plan on having kids, I feel no guilt towards spending a couple thousand a year on a pet. All of your super awesome posts on pet ownership have been insanely helpful for me in budgeting and planning for what we need. My future fur-child and I thank you ; )
OMG YESSSSSS I was this person before we got a dog too! Ok you will be SO prepared. I thought we might need a dog walker too, but that’s definitely one of those things that depends on your hours and the dog itself – if you get a puppy, yes 100% it will not be able to stay home all day alone, but our guy was good for about 8.5 hours from day 1. He’s surprisingly moderate energy for a black lab mix – clearly he got mixed with something lazy!
We also may or may not have time shifted our work hours so I do the morning walk and my boyfriend gets to work earlier, so he can leave earlier to walk the dog. Ahem. #CrazyDogLady
I decided to quickly look at YNAB to see what the pet total is for us so far in 2016… Yikes!
We are up over $5000 (for two cats and a new puppy) and that is definitely going to increase because the puppy has so many vaccinations left to get and is still in puppy daycare… That does include actually buying the puppy, which was over $1500 and it also includes dental surgery for the big cat, which was around $1500. We don’t really do anything that frugal for our pets… expensive local and natural foods, multivitamins and B12 shots for my anemic cat, dental care food for the big cat, etc. … so it adds up quickly!
Ooof, and new puppies are not at all cheap! Honestly, if it makes you feel any better, I’m sure my first year with The Dog – who was an adult when we got him – probably rang in at $3000 all by himself, with the all-new gear and the no-frugal-anything and the toys and the training classes. That’s not including ANY kind of emergency savings either, haha, so I feel you. I’m almost glad I don’t have records of what we spent that year – totally worth it, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat, but still!
We must not love our dog that much. $110 for one vet visit, probably about $90 for food and treats. We always board her with friends or family. Tick and heartworm stuff might be another $100.
Altogether, we spent $300 at the most last year. In my recently posted expense tracking, she only accounted for $110, but the other expenses wound up under grocery since we don’t take the time to sort out the individual items from the receipts.
Thanks for sharing all the details!
Best,
-PoF
Hahahaha or you’ve lucked in to a cheaper vet, cheaper meds and cheaper food! I’ve actually heard several times that Ottawa is notoriously expensive for vet care, and let’s be real, I spend a lot on the dog because I don’t have kids to fawn over / eat my paycheques. Thanks for adding your perspective – it’s great to see that sometimes having a dog can be not the most expensive thing ever, haha.
It scares me a little to add up everything we spend on our two pups. We luckily made it through this year (so far…knock on wood) without any emergency vet visits which is saying something because our boxer seems to be health-challenged (darn purebreds!) I’m sure that just means next year will be trouble. Our pups are also on Costco dog food which made for a big cut in expenses when I made that switch…feeding two 60+ pounders is pricey! I’m also way better about buying them toys because I have finally learned that they always ignore (or destroy) the most expensive ones.
Even with all that I wouldn’t have it any other way, I can’t imagine not having a dog around.
Omg I can only imagine – the food costs alone make me seriously pause when I think about adding another big dog to the family! (I love Great Danes but damnnnnn they eat a lot!) But as with pretty much any pet owner ever, I’m with you – the expenses are totally worth it!
Also, we think The Dog might be part boxer (a small part) because he’s got the build, if not the face, and the goofiness down pat.
My daughter has been begging for a dog, but while I’m sypathetic, hubby has balked at the cost. He finally told her it was a dog or our annual beach trip. Based on your numbers, that’s probably about the right exchange.
(Little Bit picked the beach trip.)
Haha it’s so true – he is the cost of a nice vacation every year! It works out for us because we’re such homebodies that we’d take a staycation any day, but for real: if anyone values travel, that’s the right frame to put on it!
We spend right around $400 a month on our dog, barring any emergency. T_T
A little less than $200/mo on a dog walker (just got quick relief visits, we walk walk him ourselves), slightly over $100 on medications (and this is after shopping around), ~$50/mo on routine veterinary care, and the rest on food and misc (huge golden retriever).
Our first year? Around $9000 in total, the vast majority in veterinary care, especially emergency veterinary care. If you are not able to self-insure for a no-notice emergency surgery for bloat at $3-$5k, you’re definitely wise to keep your pet insurance!!
Oooof, yes, I’ve heard such horror stories about bloat! I swear the first three months we had our lab I followed him around after every meal for about an hour watching his torso, and watched SO many videos about how to identify bloat. Really did a number on my anxiety about his health, but luckily, he is still fine! Your point is so true – if you couldn’t absorb a $5K emergency, you probably need to look at insurance that would cover it, because you just never know what could happen.
duuude, you can totally skim that down by only going to the vet once: get your bug meds and vaccines during the same visit! The only reason they ask you to come in for the spring visit for meds is to make sure your dog weighs the same and to ensure you start giving your pet the treatments before it’s possible for them to have acquired heartworm.
Moreover, after the first year ( ie. after the first series of booster shots), vaccines can be given every 3 years (or 5, depending on what it’s for), so you can save that way, too. If your current vet refuses, it’s a money grab and you should find someone else. I say this having worked at a few vets, and as a dog-owner myself (whoot to having giant dogs!): you are paying too much….which i guess just means more money to funnel into the difference/savings into the luxurypet fund. 🙂
Sophia, that is actually brilliant, and you’re so right – there’s no reason we need to go to the vet twice a year! I’m going to ask them to adjust his vaccines to the spring when we see them next, and we’ll get it down to one annual visit. Thank you so much!
Old post but we’re looking at maybe fostering a future seeing eye dog… Another way to trim vet costs is to go to Gatineau. We take our cat to Clinique vétérinaire de Hull. Costs are about 2/3 of what we’d be paying in Ottawa. It’s really close (near the casino) and the staff is bilingual.