My dogs are costing me $850/month

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again - I've tried cheaper food options, but they go through a lot of food. I buy 2 bags a month of Performatrin Ultra Limited, and because of a pet store loyalty program, I pay $50/bag. That's $100/month. To that, I add $30 in canned dog food, because I buy 12 cans a month at $2.50/can after discounts. I could skip the wet food, but I like to put a few dollops on top of the dry food.

I'm 100% open to good, cheap dog food suggestions! We used to feed them Taste of the Wild and then moved to Performatrin, which is less expensive. I don't have a Costco membership, but I belong to BJ's if there's a good alternative at that store.

The boarding fee will eventually decrease, but it will be at least a couple of years before my elderly parents would feel comfortable with my crazy pup. The training fee could drop now, but I'm about to dig in & start with agility, which I think will be an enjoyable outlet for me and the pup.

As for the vet cost, that $250/month is based on $3,000/year for 2 dogs. Most of that goes to the older dog, who has repeat UTIs and ear infections, plus regular treatment and scans for her hip dysplasia. Regular vaccination appointments are at least $150 as well. Yikes.

Your dad is nearly 90 now. You would saddle him with care of a large dog in a few years? That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again - I've tried cheaper food options, but they go through a lot of food. I buy 2 bags a month of Performatrin Ultra Limited, and because of a pet store loyalty program, I pay $50/bag. That's $100/month. To that, I add $30 in canned dog food, because I buy 12 cans a month at $2.50/can after discounts. I could skip the wet food, but I like to put a few dollops on top of the dry food.

I'm 100% open to good, cheap dog food suggestions! We used to feed them Taste of the Wild and then moved to Performatrin, which is less expensive. I don't have a Costco membership, but I belong to BJ's if there's a good alternative at that store.

The boarding fee will eventually decrease, but it will be at least a couple of years before my elderly parents would feel comfortable with my crazy pup. The training fee could drop now, but I'm about to dig in & start with agility, which I think will be an enjoyable outlet for me and the pup.

As for the vet cost, that $250/month is based on $3,000/year for 2 dogs. Most of that goes to the older dog, who has repeat UTIs and ear infections, plus regular treatment and scans for her hip dysplasia. Regular vaccination appointments are at least $150 as well. Yikes.

We use Science Diet - it's probably a little less than what you're feeding your dogs. Our vet says it's great.

If it's too late to get pet insurance for the older dog, make sure you've gotten it for the younger one.

Other than that, what can you do? Things cost what they cost! Just count your blessings that you're able to do this for those pups of yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again - I've tried cheaper food options, but they go through a lot of food. I buy 2 bags a month of Performatrin Ultra Limited, and because of a pet store loyalty program, I pay $50/bag. That's $100/month. To that, I add $30 in canned dog food, because I buy 12 cans a month at $2.50/can after discounts. I could skip the wet food, but I like to put a few dollops on top of the dry food.

I'm 100% open to good, cheap dog food suggestions! We used to feed them Taste of the Wild and then moved to Performatrin, which is less expensive. I don't have a Costco membership, but I belong to BJ's if there's a good alternative at that store.

The boarding fee will eventually decrease, but it will be at least a couple of years before my elderly parents would feel comfortable with my crazy pup. The training fee could drop now, but I'm about to dig in & start with agility, which I think will be an enjoyable outlet for me and the pup.

As for the vet cost, that $250/month is based on $3,000/year for 2 dogs. Most of that goes to the older dog, who has repeat UTIs and ear infections, plus regular treatment and scans for her hip dysplasia. Regular vaccination appointments are at least $150 as well. Yikes.

FWIW, I'm the PP with the large-breed who eats the Costco food. Ours was on Taste of the Wild for a while and nutritionally they are very similar foods (and both made by Diamond so possibly basically the same--often the case for Kirkland brands!) We do belong to Costco now and that is the cheapest way to get their food, but we didn't for a while and had it delivered, which you can do without being a member. (You can order through Instacart if you're in their service area, or through Costco.com.) You pay more that way (~$40/bag vs. $31 in store) but for us it was still cheaper than TotW, which had gone up to $50 where we bought it. We still sometimes get food delivered when we don't have time to go to the store. No idea if BJ's has a comparable option, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, dogs are expensive! Here are our monthly costs for one, not even including averaged out vet visits and flea/tick meds.

Walker $310
Food/treats ~$60
Bark box $20
Groomer $75
1x/week day care $180-$225

Just ONE day of day care is that much? We only pay $32 per day or $20 for 5 hours or less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, dogs are expensive! Here are our monthly costs for one, not even including averaged out vet visits and flea/tick meds.

Walker $310
Food/treats ~$60
Bark box $20
Groomer $75
1x/week day care $180-$225

Just ONE day of day care is that much? We only pay $32 per day or $20 for 5 hours or less.

PP here. We pay $45/day. It’s expensive but it’s on our street which makes a huge difference in terms of convenience (next closest is 10 min drive not on the way to work) and we love the staff there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, dogs are expensive! Here are our monthly costs for one, not even including averaged out vet visits and flea/tick meds.

Walker $310
Food/treats ~$60
Bark box $20
Groomer $75
1x/week day care $180-$225

Easy to get rid of that. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I just looked over ours and it looks like $200-$250 a month depending on the year.
$50for food and treat
$5o for medicine
The rest for twice a year check ups.

Dog is 10ish and a largish beagle, so no need for doggie salon.

[Anonymous]

Yep. Sounds about average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, dogs are expensive! Here are our monthly costs for one, not even including averaged out vet visits and flea/tick meds.

Walker $310
Food/treats ~$60
Bark box $20
Groomer $75
1x/week day care $180-$225

Just ONE day of day care is that much? We only pay $32 per day or $20 for 5 hours or less.

PP here. We pay $45/day. It’s expensive but it’s on our street which makes a huge difference in terms of convenience (next closest is 10 min drive not on the way to work) and we love the staff there.

Jesus. That’s like private school tuition for a kid, 10k a year if you use every workday. I’m a fellow animal love (though not a dog owner) but that is insane.

[Anonymous]

My dog is 27 pounds but barely eats. He's never been food-motivated. We buy one $50 bag of food and it lasts 6 months.
We spend about $200 once a year for the vet.
$10 a month heart worm med.
$500 a year in boarding/rover.
I work from home so I walk him morning and mid-day.

so about $1000 a year or $80/month. Biggest expense by far is paying for Rover when we travel.

[Anonymous]

Pets are a luxury. Who can afford them when you have children? I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, dogs are expensive! Here are our monthly costs for one, not even including averaged out vet visits and flea/tick meds.

Walker $310
Food/treats ~$60
Bark box $20
Groomer $75
1x/week day care $180-$225

I can’t believe that there’s ‘bark box’ when there are starving people here and all over the world. Somewhere some kid is slaving away to make monthly dog toys for some rich dog in America to play with two times, while that kid is malnutritioned and we have people here going without medical and dental care.
It’s absurd.

What is a Bark box anyways?!?

[Anonymous]

This is why I spend time with my neighbor's dog to get my "dog fix". Their dog is really happy to see me whenever we run into each other and I don't spend a dime!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, dogs are expensive! Here are our monthly costs for one, not even including averaged out vet visits and flea/tick meds.

Walker $310
Food/treats ~$60
Bark box $20
Groomer $75
1x/week day care $180-$225

I can’t believe that there’s ‘bark box’ when there are starving people here and all over the world. Somewhere some kid is slaving away to make monthly dog toys for some rich dog in America to play with two times, while that kid is malnutritioned and we have people here going without medical and dental care.
It’s absurd.

I'm sure that kid in Indonesia would rather be unemployed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it $200 a month for an occasional board? Find a new place to board--I thought our fees were steep!

Training will eventually go away as a cost. Can you try a cheaper food? We had to test a few to find one that worked well for our large-breed, but once we did it was a huge money saver. (Ours now eats Costco's Salmon Meal & Sweet Potato grain-free formula and has done really well on it.)

Is the puppy the one with hip dysplasia? If not, I'd look into pet insurance for him/her. If you've got a breed that's prone to joint issues, you might well get good use out of a policy, and it's much cheaper to get for a one-year-old dog.

This is not at all unrealistic for boarding. I've never seen a dog boarding place for under $40/nt for my medium sized dog.

Sure, but that's a weekend away every month. Not occasional. (Totally fine to do that, I should note, but then in your budget you put "one weekend/month boarding, or equivalent" and you aren't surprised to see the $1200 total at year's end, because that's a lot of travel.)

Not really. If you factor in 3 weeks away a year, seems pretty normal averaged out over the year. 2 dogs 3 weeks, plus a few 3 day weekends? She also had large breed dogs, so the boarding is probably at a minimum $50/ea a night. Not exactly worth of clutching pearls over.