How much do you budget for puppies/dogs?

Taadaa

Following on from the thread last week, we are still carefully considering whether to get a puppy when I am on mat leave.

Can you give me an idea of how much you budget for, for a pup and a medium size dog? We haven't had a dog before, so aren't really sure what to expect. And the kittehs already cost us around £40 a month.

krlyr

Day-to-day, £100 a month for two adult large breed dogs. Probably a little higher than that now prices are starting to creep up (food went up the other month, insurance went up this year, cost of flea treatment etc. is slowly rising)
I replied on a "what does a dog cost you over its lifetime" thread on a dog forum and it's quite scary to see how much it adds up to!

For mine (two large breed dogs), and I would say I'm a fairly frugal spender (no fancy collars or gimmicky beds, toys have to last a while, method of feeding is fairly cheap, etc)
Monthly costs
Food - £40
Treats (commercial and homemade) - ~£5
Flea treatment - 6 pack @ £32.49 + £6 prescription fee, lasts 3 months - £12.83
Petrol (dog-specific trips) - ~£10
Insurance - £40
Total - £107.83 / £53.91 each
Annual costs
Beds - ~£40
Wormers (every 6 months) - ~£25
Leads & collars - ~£20
Toys (tend to buy a stash at Christmas that has to last them) - ~£20
Poo bags (buy large packs from poundshop) - ~£5
Vaccinations x2- £100
Total - £210 / £105 each
One-off costs
Kiki spay - ~£250
Casper adoption fee - £130
Car guards - ~£320
Hatchbag, bumper guard & rubber mat - ~£100
Grooming tools - ~£20
Training workshop - ~£60
Headcollars x2 - ~£60
Total - £940 / £470 each
So assuming a lifespan of 13 years
£8409.96 + £1365 + £470 = £10244.96 each

That was excluding things like insurance excess fees (or minor treatment not worth claiming for), training classes or workshops I wanted to attend, wear & tear costs on the car from the extra usage (and ditto on flooring/furnishings in the house too), and so on. Kiki recently cost me a fair bit in calmative products when she had a separation issue (some of the calming supplements we tried cost around/just over £1 a day!) so issues like that can crop up and cost a lot.

zaxdog

We spend around £4.50 per week on our medium sized lurcher for food. He has dried sheepdog mix which we mix with warm water and some "chubb" roll. He aso has lots of "human food" in that whatever leftovers are tipped into his bowl after dinner and then mixed with his meal and a wee bit less mix/chubb the next day. Then of course there is the cost of flea/tick and worming.

That siad I think the most money I spend is on balls and bones lol!

krlyr

Saying that, there's a few costs I have cut down on since that list. Bought Cestem which is a non-prescription wormer that was only about £3.50 each so cut my costs nearly by half there, and found a vaccination clinic that does them at a fraction of the cost (about £20 each I think it was - or a "for life" plan at £60), and started using Tesco value nappy sacks for poo bags - about 30p a pack which should last me ages! However, the prescription fee at my vets has gone up to £12 so that's another £4 a month.
They are certainly cheaper than kids though!

gettingready

some info here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3834363=

PollyOnAMission

Mine cost around £80 - £100 per month for two medium sized dogs. This includes food, treats, toys, bedding, worming, vaccinations, insurance, collars/leads etc...pretty much everything I'd spend in a year, averaged out monthly. I haven't included emergency vet visits (accidents/illness etc), training or costs for damage/extra cleaning etc You'd also potentially have to factor in extra costs for kennelling etc, if that's something you do when you go on holiday.

gettingready

Do not forget the cost of a dg walker - when you go back to work. I think you mentioned you would take dog walker then?

Around where I live, they charge £10 per hour and min is 1 hour per day... 5 days per week....comes to 220-230 per month

Taadaa

Thanks very much guys. Yes, dog walker but probably won't work more than 3 days a week.