Costs of Owning a Pet, Part 165

Some people collect coins, some collect stamps, and some collect Precious Moments figurines. I happen to collect posts about the costs of pets.

I don't know why it happens to me -- I really do love animals -- but I just keep on finding posts, articles, comments, etc. about the (usually high) costs of pets. Then when I post on them it seems like I'm an animal hater. I'm not. I'm just pointing out an issue that I think people don't give much thought to.

Anyway, I found this post from My Money Blog about the cost of his new dog and just had to add it to my collection. The bottom line: he's had the dog for three months and just broke the $1,000 barrier.

Comments

[Jonathan@MyMoneyBlog]

I was halfway through my comment asking for how I could find your collection of pet posts, when I saw you added a search box. Because there is only this one post in your 'Pets' category. I'll submit this comment and then check it out.

Thankfully, this month we spent nearly nothing on our pet =) He does have some fleas though, so we may have to switch meds.

[Jonathan@MyMoneyBlog]

Follow-up: Your search box only searches the entire internet, instead of just your site? Does typepad let you use the default Movable Type search box? I tried the Google one and the MT one and the MT one is much better. Anyways, I'm eager to read the other posts! =)

[FMF]

Jonathan --

I just added the pet category. Try clicking on it now. I added the old articles to "Pets" so you should see them all now.

FMF

[beloml]

I really don't get this. We feed our two dogs and two cats premium food and take them to the vet regularly for shots and teeth cleaning. But they cost nowhere near the amount cited in these posts.

[rneumeie]

Oh, come on. I've owned multiple pets for a decade, I feed excellent quality food, I provide excellent veterinary care, and I use a specific credit card for all my pet-related purchases so I know exactly how it impacts my budget. Right now I own three dogs and two cats and I assure you I am not spending anything like as much as your posts indicate. More like $800 - $1000 a YEAR for all five critters put together. And that counts the echocardiogram for one of the dogs last year. I have no idea how in the world you could possibly spend $400 a month per animal.

[Gigi]

I own 3 dogs and 2 cats. I spend about 120.00 a month for all 5 to eat 2 meals a day. Not counting treats or people food i share with them. If i bring 3 dogs and 2 cats all in for an exam. The vet bill is 147.00. If there is shots or medicine, like with anything, it all hikes up the bill to up to possibly 200.00 more. Toys every once and a while ill invest in a bunch for all 5 pets if theres a sale at the store. I will spend about 60.00 on that about every 3 months. Yearly mandetory shots for all run about 300.00. So id say al 5 pets cost me between 1600.00 to 2400.00 a year depending on how many times i need to take them to the vet for something. So monthly breakdown for all 5 is between 140.00 to 200.00 averaging the 12 months.