My dogs are costing me $850/month

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

OP specifically said only one of the dogs gets boarded -- the other goes to his parents. So at $50/night the one dog is boarded 48 nights a year, or 7 weeks. That's not occasional at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I pay $630 a year for pet insurance to cover unforeseen medical issues, and they do reimburse some regular visits too.

I do choose to pay a dog walker but my dog *can* make it through the day if I decide to stop this. OP can you pee pad train?

Yea, I dropped out pet insurance when they didnt cover the ACL surgery to repair the ligament. Called it a "pre-existing condition because it happened 11 months after we got the insurance. 4500 that year.

[Anonymous]

OP here, with two (well-fed) dogs by my feet.

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

No need to worry. My mom is 10 years younger than my dad, my parents have a fenced-in backyard & dog door, my mom walks my dog regularly, they've had dogs their entire lives (enormous breeds), and FWIW this rescue was my parents' puppy for the first 24 hours before they felt overwhelmed. But ever since then, my dad calls me every day asking me to bring over the pup. He still says she's his dog. Older dogs are pretty chill, and I'd only leave both dogs with my parents if I felt the situation were appropriate. It's kind of you to worry about my dad, though. He's a sweetheart & I would never do anything to risk his health.

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

Noted!

Anonymous wrote: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.

Excellent, thanks for the recommendation!

Anonymous wrote: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.

I can't even imagine. That's wonderful!

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

I have four grown kids, but I get your point. I agree with the PP who said a dog = college tuition. I've had dogs all of my life & can't imagine not having them, but it was certainly eye-opening to see the bottom line. Now that I've dug down & figured out the costs, I'll be making some changes (notably finding a more affordable dog food).

Anonymous wrote:Yea, I dropped out pet insurance when they didnt cover the ACL surgery to repair the ligament. Called it a "pre-existing condition because it happened 11 months after we got the insurance. 4500 that year.

That's crazymaking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I pay $630 a year for pet insurance to cover unforeseen medical issues, and they do reimburse some regular visits too.

I do choose to pay a dog walker but my dog *can* make it through the day if I decide to stop this. OP can you pee pad train?

I don't have a dog (harr harr) in this fight, but do you have a big dog? Because this made me laugh a bit. I grew up with a 100lb Golden Retriever and he could go about 8-9hrs hrs holding pee, no problem, but man! That was a big pee. I can't imagine pee pad training a large breed. For our dog we would have had to basically paper the kitchen floor with 10 plus pads and they'd be saturated. Comedy level ridiculous what that would be like walking into from the office to pick up and clean. Makes sense for a smaller breed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the no pet people, for some of us, there is an intrinsic value to a dog. In addition to safety. I figure the life lesson cost of a dog is about 1500/yr. But most years, I spend about 700. End of life can be very expensive, though.

With that said, tomorrow when I get home from this business trip, my dog will be really happy to see me. Kid will want to know what I got germ and wife will pst to Facebook that I am home, and how happy she is to see me while actually ignoring my presence

This is very funny.

[Anonymous]

I have a dog since 2005. Same dog.

In 13 years paid zero for boarding or dog walking.
I have paid zero for dog grooming. Wife does it.
Do the everyone other year VET check up. Wife brushes dog teeth, buys a collar if needed.
But dog food twice a year, two large bags PetCo and give him scraps of table food once in a while

I have a stay at home wife, three kids someone is usually around He is an extremely well behaved small dog who is hyper allergenic.We spent the time training so folks will watch her like mother in law if needed for free. My brother has a badly behaved large dog who sheds and nips at people so he pays through nose as no one will watch it . Dog gets exercise, we never overfeed him and with folks home he gets plenty of play time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a dog since 2005. Same dog.

In 13 years paid zero for boarding or dog walking.
I have paid zero for dog grooming. Wife does it.
Do the everyone other year VET check up. Wife brushes dog teeth, buys a collar if needed.
But dog food twice a year, two large bags PetCo and give him scraps of table food once in a while

I have a stay at home wife, three kids someone is usually around He is an extremely well behaved small dog who is hyper allergenic.We spent the time training so folks will watch her like mother in law if needed for free. My brother has a badly behaved large dog who sheds and nips at people so he pays through nose as no one will watch it . Dog gets exercise, we never overfeed him and with folks home he gets plenty of play time.

Heh, sounds like you've got a great - but very different - situation

OP: your family sounds wonderful and I think your priorities are awesome. Your dad claiming the puppy as his own is especially charming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the no pet people, for some of us, there is an intrinsic value to a dog. In addition to safety. I figure the life lesson cost of a dog is about 1500/yr. But most years, I spend about 700. End of life can be very expensive, though.

With that said, tomorrow when I get home from this business trip, my dog will be really happy to see me. Kid will want to know what I got germ and wife will pst to Facebook that I am home, and how happy she is to see me while actually ignoring my presence

This is very funny.

Pp and true. Sitting in the airport waiting to leave for home. For the record, sometimes it is cloudy in San diego

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is some kind of crazy. I have a large breed dog.

Costco huge bag of food. The yellow bag. $30
Heat worm pills. Costco $10 month. Actually less but rounded.

You go to the vet for an annual check up. Maybe $200
So $10 month.

So my dog costs me $50 month.

And you know what they do when you go to work.
The fart and sleep.

What your spending is not what you need to spend.

You're very lucky your dog is healthy. Mine tore her ACL (3k) and got twisted gut. Another 3k. The chances of her tearing her other ACL are 50%.

What?! $6,000 in surgeries and more to come? At what point do you just say I can't afford to pay any more, and let nature take its course?

[Anonymous]

Saving a few dollars on dog food will help but not make all that much of a difference. Assuming there are not too many fees for dog walking, grooming, etc then dog ownership doesn't have to cost all that much. It's the unexpected costs like vet bills that can run into the thousands and ruin the most careful budgets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is some kind of crazy. I have a large breed dog.

Costco huge bag of food. The yellow bag. $30
Heat worm pills. Costco $10 month. Actually less but rounded.

You go to the vet for an annual check up. Maybe $200
So $10 month.

So my dog costs me $50 month.

And you know what they do when you go to work.
The fart and sleep.

What your spending is not what you need to spend.

You're very lucky your dog is healthy. Mine tore her ACL (3k) and got twisted gut. Another 3k. The chances of her tearing her other ACL are 50%.

What?! $6,000 in surgeries and more to come? At what point do you just say I can't afford to pay any more, and let nature take its course?

"Economic euthanasia" is a real thing. For many of us, pets are family. If we can afford to do what it takes to keep them happy, healthy, and alive, we do it. Others make different choices.

There are also groups out there who can help folks who need help caring for their pets. There's a veterinary surgical center in Richmond that specializes in affordable pet surgery, to try to make it so people don't have to make those hard choices. It's called Helping Hands. There's a group in Chicago to help people get cancer treatment for their dogs, if they can't afford it - the Live Like Roo Foundation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the no pet people, for some of us, there is an intrinsic value to a dog. In addition to safety. I figure the life lesson cost of a dog is about 1500/yr. But most years, I spend about 700. End of life can be very expensive, though.

With that said, tomorrow when I get home from this business trip, my dog will be really happy to see me. Kid will want to know what I got germ and wife will pst to Facebook that I am home, and how happy she is to see me while actually ignoring my presence

Of course the dog is happy to see you. You keep it sheltered and fed. Duh!

[Anonymous]

I don't think a dog can prevent a homicide if someone is really out to get you. So having a dog for safety is kinda dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the no pet people, for some of us, there is an intrinsic value to a dog. In addition to safety. I figure the life lesson cost of a dog is about 1500/yr. But most years, I spend about 700. End of life can be very expensive, though.

With that said, tomorrow when I get home from this business trip, my dog will be really happy to see me. Kid will want to know what I got germ and wife will pst to Facebook that I am home, and how happy she is to see me while actually ignoring my presence

Of course the dog is happy to see you. You keep it sheltered and fed. Duh!

While the kids are left to fend for themselves like wolves?

[Anonymous]

This is why we didn't get another dog after ours died. Its been a financial relief of about $400 a month.

I do miss him.