Monthly costs

I just came across this article - and made me think it would be interesting for everyone to tally up and share how much they spend on their dogs per month.

http://www.torontolife.com/features/big-love/?pageno=1

For Katalin - it's about $160 roughly. It consists of -

*30 lb bag of Firstmate large breed food
*Two to three packages of treats
*Anti chew spray/cleaning product
*A toy/set of balls
*$40 a month for group training glasses

The cost goes up slightly if she gets a new collar/leash/training gear - which isn't that often. She's only on her second leash since I got her and third collar.

$150 - agility classes and training
$10 - food (she's small, she doesn't eat much)
$20 - string cheese (training treat of choice)
$15 - other treats
$20 - flea and tick/heartworm meds
$30 - averaged out vet cost ($350 bill once a year...)
$75 - daycare (average 3-4x per month)

So around $320/month? Ugh, I don't like seeing it that way. Plus, every time she needs a trip to the vet because she ingested something bad, or is sick, or whatever...plus $100 in trial entry fees any time we decide to trial...

Yeah, okay, my dog is a money vacuum.

No way in hell am I doing this. It would make me cry. LOL

I spend about $120/month on dog food, cat food, and cat litter. Maybe $20-30 a month on extras...BUT I get a lot of free stuff from where I work (toys, treats, some food, medical stuff). The vet care varies so wildly, they are mostly healthy though. $60/year on licensing, heartworm prevention...for the amount of creatures here I really don't do too bad. I'd say about $200/month on the dogs and cats.

The birds are getting up there...probably $50/month with food and toys. Pronto eats two freeze dried raw patties a day, that in itself is pricey to maintain.

Rosey is easy

$52 - food
$20 (rough estimate) - treats
$10 - raw

$82.. That's really it. Then just whenever she ends up needing to go to the vet -- had to go 2 weeks ago and will be back there in 2 weeks. Granted, she's been to the vet like 5 times in 15 1/2 years.

The ferrets aren't so bad now. It'll probably be

$25 food
$10 raw
$25 treats
$2.50-$15 litter (summer is more expensive cause wood pellets aren't readily available)
$20 training pads
$5 meds (melatonin)

$82.50-$95 per month. Also have to add $40 every four months for blood tests for the older two. Granted, they all get a yearly checkup which is $450 for all three with vaccines for two, and they tend to enjoy getting sick and costing me more. When Rascal was alive, I was paying $150 for his meds for one of the most common Illnesses they get.

Mine eat about:

$50 in food
$10 for flea stuff (we get the largest dose of Comfortis and split the pill between them)

Other than that, they get a lot of homemade treats and stuff. So... ???

Kaia has had the same collar since she was born and it was a present from Moxiecollies. Strider's had the same collar for four years now. They're both due for new ones, which will run about $48 including shipping. That's going to be a long term saving thing since I want to get them both at once.

Mine are cheap. Food for Juno is like $60 every 6 weeks or so. But we haven't had to buy food for her for 6 months because I was getting it free from work, and I have a couple bags stockpiled, soo.... at the moment she's pretty much free to take care of lol. And it takes Lucy an eternity to go through food.

Any other extra expenses are too infrequent to really factor in. Maybe throw in an extra $10/month for canned food/chews/other random objects. Heartworm and flea/tick prevention are free. I don't really buy treats because I seem to accumulate free bags. I don't buy toys.

Both dogs cost maybe $50 a month when food is factored in.

The cat, on the other hand...

Tucker is like

$15 for dry food (but I think it lasts longer than a month)
$6 for wet food
$10-$20 (sometimes more) on treats depending on if he gets bully sticks or runs our of his NB roll treats.

He occasionally gets a new toy, but certainly not monthly.


The cats cost much more. Feeding high quality wet food alone cots about $100 a month for the two of them.

About $200/month for all three dogs. So, $66/dog? It doesn't look so bad when I do it per dog. I got the total from everything marked Pet on Mint...so since last year was RIDICULOUS for us in terms of vet costs I bet we're a bit lower than that usually.

Last year I spent $651.17 a month on my 3 dogs. $217 was on food alone. Luckily, no health problems last year.

I keep a spreadsheet of everything I spend and break it down into categories.

I don't even want to know.

A few months ago, I was bored, and added up all our vet reciepts since the time he was a puppy - 9 weeks old. I added up about $4500. So if I do it that way, it averages about $125 per month in 3 years. But two procedures he had were REALLY expensive (tooth surgery & dental - $1200, hospital stay/GI upset - $1500) so that's not really accurate.

Sometimes I can spend as little as $20 a month on him, sometimes I can spend as much as $125+. So it really just depends on if he suddenly needs something, or I get the urge to buy him a collar or harness etc.

In general though, food is around $15-$20 per month depending on what brand and how many canned foods I buy. Heartworm meds... I buy either 3 or 6 month packs at a time, but that's about $25, I think, so technically that's like $8 per month. His dog treats are like $5 a bag and I probably buy 2/month. Bully sticks I buy in bulk so they last months.

It's kind of funny to think about how little I'd spend if I just got him the things he NEEDS. Like, really. He'd cost me like $25 per month for a bag of food and heartworm meds.

Oh dear god. lol.

Food: ~$120
Treats, chews, and toys: $30
Heartgard: $25

Once it cools down, herding will factor back into the equation. Each lesson is $40 so between $80 and $120 a month. There is also the occassional use of Advantage, which is about $45 for all 5 dogs.

So... a cheap month is about $175. An expensive month is about $350. Things like vet visits and collars aren't even factored into this!

*sigh* Yeah, I don't want to add it up. LOL. Between agility classes, drop in training for OB /Rally, trial fees, toys, treats, homemade agility equipment, raw food.... No, I'll just keep my fingers in my ears. Keeva needs to see a chiropractor too, now.

LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU, MONEY! :rofl1:

^This for me

Well right now everything is skewed because of our Dr. D appointment, bloodwork, and growl class, which was expensive. About $800 in the span of 2 weeks.

I could honestly spend less than $25 a month on him if I ONLY bought his Fluoxitine, yummy treats for our growl class, and waste bags.

I have a years worth of heartguard and 6 months worth of Vectra that I honestly can't remember if I paid for or not Food is free for me as long as I don't decide that he needs raw meat, and I get Stella and Chewy's freeze dried beef patties free every month to use as regular treats. Then of course I buy things like Himalaya chews, beef kneecaps, and BBS orders which are completely unnecessary. I have been better about collars though!!

Wow, thinking about how much more money I would have if I just bought the necessities and a goodie here or there makes me sad! lol

Entertaining article by The Onion that seemed oddly fitting for this thread

www.theonion.com/articles/pet-eating-like-country-isnt-in-goddamn-economic-c,29088/

Food: $30/month
Classes: $60/month
Treats: $15/month

$105/month, if I don't buy extras, which, right now, I'm not. :]

I go through a 30lb bag of food in 4-6 weeks (depending on if I have a foster or not, and how much that foster is eating). I get one bag of food a month from work, though, so that's pretty much free. I use two 3lb bags of raw every month, and that's free as well through a program we have at work. A can of food lasts me three days, so estimating 10 cans a month, at $2.50/can, that's $25/month total for food.

I'll give a rough estimate of $20/month on supplements (they get fish oil, glucosamine/chondroitin, kelp/seameal, digestive enzymes, and pumpkin). I know how much each one costs, and how long each one lasts, but I don't want to figure it out right now.

I probably spend $10 per month on treats - not training treats, just regular ones for around the house or to shove into Kongs.

Add another $10 per month on training treats - I use mostly hotdogs and string cheese, with the occasional Natural Balance roll, so it's not too expensive.

Take another $20 per month on bully sticks, tracheas, tendons, etc - all the chewy things.

I typically only buy toys when they clearance them out at work, and then I majorly stock up - I would average about $15/month on toys? I pay about $3-5 per toy, and he gets a new one every other week or so.

Jack gets groomed every two months, and it's $50/appointment, so that's another $25/month.

I don't really buy a lot of accessories - they each have a couple collars, a couple leashes, and Jack has the one harness. Trainnig classes aren't on a regular schedule, so I'm not counting those. I'm not factoring veterinary bills into the equation, as I have a special "vet" savings account - the money goes directly from my paycheck into this account, so I never really miss it.

Add in another $20/month for the cat (she's low maintenance), and about $5/month for bird food.

We have a grand total of $150/month for all the animals, $125/month if we're just counting the dogs.

I just started hard core budgeting so I'm about to find out how much I really spend on the animals. Lol

A 35lb bag of dog food lasts around six weeks (or more - not really sure) for Mike's three. An 18lb bag lasts Chloe about the same amount of time. So...
~$25 a month in food.
Maybe $5 in treats. We have to watch Chloe and Gracie's calorie intake, so they honestly don't get many doggy treats - it just easier to give them healthy homemade stuff.
None of them are toy destructive, so they *might* get a new toy or chewbone every month or two. So $5 for that.
I groom them myself, so no money out there.
I get up to $600 free vet care at work, so I haven't been out any money on vet care as of yet. Chloe's meds are $4 a month.

So total for 4 dogs (6lb, 11lb, 30lb, and 48lb), I'm spending maybe $40 a month, at most. I think I spend that much on just Dameon alone. Lol

I'm also not including the vet visits they all just got. They all went in for the works last month and although Gracie and Cooper will need a rabies vaccine in January, I'm not planning on any more vaccine visits save for rabies for a few years at least.

God doing that math made me incredibly depressed. Especially since I don't make more than that a month doing my real job