How much does your pet cost in a lifetime?

I have a Labrador too and I swear she is the $20,000 dog already! She’s worth every cent though. You can’t assign a dollar amount to the many ways she enhances my life. 

Thanks for sharing the chart; so many people go into these things blind and don’t anticipate the costs of owning an animal. If more people realized, maybe there would be less animals in shelters.

Double that for my doggie.  LOL.  Chemo is a bitch.

I’ll make the argument that cats and dogs lower our blood pressure, reduce our stress levels and therefore maybe lower our personal health care costs and extend our lives. But really, I’m just looking for justification to spend on my pets because I freakin’ love them so much!!

I work in a groomers inside an animal clinic. We all looked at this today. 

I think this is a good cautionary to people who think pets are a right and not a privilege and luxury. But man the prices are way too low! 

This isn’t even the medium of prices, it has to be bare bones cheapest of the cheap pricing here.

My 9 lb dog cost close to $300 to neuter, my cats teeth cleaning cost $480 with my discounts. My dog’s food is on the higher end of things ($20 a month for a small dog) but to get food for $150 a year I would have to buy the cheapest of the no name brands.   I can’t think of one place you could get your pet spayed/neutered for $75 any where around where I live, or at all in Canada.

I see a lot of people neglect their pets by not grooming them and letting them get so bad their vet’s threaten to call the spca on them…they claim they have no money, too lazy, pet’s not worth the cost. So if people see it cost a lot to own a pet I think it is a good thing to look at this chart and consider this is really low balling it.

That’s insane! I have a small dog (perhaps you’d call her a medium – under 20 lbs – about 17 lbs) and besides her teeth cleaning bill, she’s been cheap! We got her as an adult so she was spayed already, and we got her crate for free from a friend. Her food is the only constant – it costs about $75 every 5 months. So I’d say that calculation is about right. 

But apparently having pets brings down blood pressure.. ha!

I’ve owned Dobermans all of my life.  When the last one passed away at 14, I bought a Great Dane. Amazingly, the food bill went down – as they aren’t as high energy as Dobermans…however, any vet bill went WAY up.  He had a sprained leg and ear infection and the meds cost me about an average car payment.  He had a minor surgery and the increased cost of anethesia still makes me cringe.  With the exception of food – EVERYTHING is more expensive with a dog that size.  I love Tiny (irony anyone?) but when his time comes I will seriously reconsider before owning this breed again.  Unless I win the lottery, then I will buy a herd of them    Your post really highlights the cost of owning an animal, which is lost on some as they just get that warm and fuzzy feeling when they are looking at one in the pet store. 

Our fish tank was free, but I don’t think they are accounting for enough.  You have to buy replacement filters, water conditioner/cleaner, medicine if they start looking wrong, water testing kits (for chemicals), replacement plants, things to clean the tank with (eventually they wear down), etc.

$35 a year for food, water conditioner/cleaner, meds and filters?  Hah!  I would like to know where they buy that.  Buying two small jugs of water cleaner (it has to be added with new water) is $60 if we don’t buy it during a boxing day sale.

The filters are $15 each, and have to be replaced every month.  We have a larger tank, which means we have to replace more than 1 filter.  With food, we have to make sure we have different types – we have shrimp pellets, a sinking tablet that our clown loaches love (I thought the generic version would be the same, and tried to save money, but they are like picky toddlers.  They refused those tablets), frozen blood worms, flakes, and algae tablets.  That’s more than $20 a year.

I always thought fish were cheap, and I suppose they are certainly cheaper than other types of pets, but they are certainly more expensive than I was expecting, and little graphs like this don’t help with that misconception. 

Perhaps the chart means per fish?  It’s more realistic, but not entirely accurate.  Filter costs don’t go away, nor does water conditioner.

Oh, and don’t forget that filters, thermometers, and heaters can all break, and of course the lights need replacing.