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How much do you spend in a month on pet needs?


How much do you spend in an average month on pet needs?  

  1. 1. How much do you spend in an average month on pet needs?

    • >$10
      6
    • $10 - $25
      14
    • $25 - $50
      19
    • $50 - $75
      13
    • $75 - $100
      13
    • <$100
      15
    • Other
      2


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DH and I were just talking about "average" pet costs so I'm curious, how much do you spend in an typical month on pet needs? This includes food, medicines, treats, toys, bedding, or anything that is required on a monthly basis. Vet visits usually occur annually or on an as needed basis, so I wouldn't include those. Feel free to elaborate. :)

 

Poll to follow.

Edited by contessa20
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One cat. We just buy him food and litter, so that's very little.

 

Once a year, we try to take him to the vet. That's significantly more for that one month. But he generally just needs his standard vaccines.

 

Some people seem to spend hundreds and hundreds on their dogs and I'm always just a bit shocked.

Edited by farrarwilliams
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I voted $75-$100. That's guesstimated total expenditure per month for two dogs and two cats. Between food, litter, supplements, heartworm and flea preventative and grooming supplies it adds up. I'd have to add another $50 a month if I didn't groom our Shih Tzu myself.

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I have pet insurance for one dog and two cats that is $100/month. Everyone goes for regular checkups and the pet insurance covers mostly everything else ($100/deductible).

 

Dog food is about $40/month and heart worm/flea is around $10 (I buy several months worth at a time so not sure of the monthly breakdown). Her favorite dog treat is turkey pepperoni (about $6 worth/month). :001_smile: She has a ton of toys she never plays with except for one blue bone she has had since she was a puppy ($0).

 

Cat food is about $15/month (maybe less) and cat litter is probably around $10.

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I included our 2 cats, 40 chickens/ducks, and 3 goats in my total. The cats cost very little, the goats are lowest maintence with middle feed costs, and the chickens, well, they don't lay enough eggs to cover their care so some are slated to be dinner sooner than later. Then our costs will go down a bit, I hope. Feed prices are rising still.

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About $100/month on average. This includes training, supplies, food, treats, toys, clothes (winter coat, boots, sweater), collars, leashes, harnesses, grooming tools, shampoo, conditioner, grooming spray, and bully sticks.

 

This doesn't include heartworm medication and Frontline, because that is rolled into the vet bill subcategory.

Edited by RoughCollie
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Not very much. We have three dogs right now. We spend about$25 every two months on a 35 lb bag. Shots and vet visits once per year. Heart worm meds was $35 for one bottle that I have been using for over a year. The dose we give also covers all other worms so no other expense there.

 

 

 

I use old towels for bedding and they get one treat each at night when they come inside. Thankfully they are all healthy and haven't had extra vet visits.

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I have 2 dogs and a cat.

 

I put $75-100

 

My big dog that we just got in April (shar pei mix) goes through a bag of food a month that costs about $53 if it's not on sale. Our little dog (a pug) goes through a bag of food a month that is about $18. Our Cat goes through a bag of food every other month that is about $26/bag so about $13 a month. Then you add in treats and that's about $100. Their vet bills come in spurts so I didn't include those.

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We have a lot of animals so we would probably skew your results.

 

We have 4 cats that we have on the raw diet. I buy prepackaged frozen rolls of meat sticks and we go through about 2 boxes a month at $35 a box for them. I also supplement with some ground up chicken hearts for taurine and those are about $8 a month.

 

I have two dogs on raw too. They get 3 - 40 pound boxes of turkey necks at $22 a box per month and about $50 a week in yogurt, eggs, and frozen meat rolls with veggies. When times are tougher, I forgo the the meat/veggie rolls and share our veggies with them.

 

We have 6 ducks. I have their food shipped up here from North Carolina because I want a soy free, organic mix and no one around here does that. We go through 1 1/2 50 pound bages a month and the feed isn't bad - $30 per bag but the shipping is awful. $50 per bag. I WISH a local mill would take the no-soy thing seriously.

 

Then we have 2 rabbits. They eat about 3 bags of Oxbow organic rabbit pellets a month at about $15 a bag. I bought them 3 bales of hay for the winter at $9 a bale. That will last us well into next spring, when our hay starts growing.

 

We have hermits crabs and fish too. I'm not counting them.

 

My biggest expense is the cats. Our cats are getting older and we spend at least $1000 a year on something - last year, our 7 year old female needed a kidney stone blasted out. That was almost $800. Right now, we have a cat in the vet with a major UTI which has caused his body to shut down. He got a blood transfusion today. If I get out of this one for under $2000, I'll be delighted. I am really, really hoping he makes it through this. I have their teeth cleaned every year or two as needed and I space that out throughout the year.

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Our dog cost us a total of $15-$20 a month for food (she was a big hound dog), and she never really liked toys other than a big kong, so that was not a frequent need. She ate snacks from our plates, so I did not buy snacks. We got her annual rabies shot, but no other annual vet expenses. Her last week of life cost us about $400, but that could have been avoided if we had kept her home to peacefully pass, but she was suffering. Overall she did not add much cost to our lives, but we own a house, so no pet deposits and she was a healthy dog.

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In a typical month, about $30 on food and litter. (They also eat veggies and fruits, but I buy those as part of our groceries.) Every couple of months, we buy them a new bed ($16) and some toys ($10).

 

One of our bunnies has a chronic tendency to get upper respiratory infections. She ends up at the vet 2-3 times a year, for a cost of about $75 or so, including medication.

 

Wendi

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We spend about $350/month, BUT we have 5 pets (3 cats, 2 dogs). Our dogs are German Shepherds and we feed them expensive, high-quality food. 2 of our cats are old and have medical needs. One is on pills, the other is on pills and sub-cutaneous fluids which runs us around $80/month. The $350/month does not include vet check-ups or emergency vet care. It also doesn't include training costs (high last year with a puppy!), maintenance training courses (we'll probably take him back in the spring and run him through a high-level class just to make sure he's still on track) or boarding costs if we go on vacation.

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For pets we average $500 every month. That doesn't count the large animals though. I allow another $200 a month for the horses and cow. We have a lot of dogs come through here though and that number fluctuates rather wildly. I have had it up closer to the $1000 a few months and I've had it down to $250.

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This includes occasional treats I usually make myself or some extra snacks he gets.

 

I didn't include the cost of treats/snacks in my $75-$100 estimate. I make their biscuits myself and the dogs get a lunch snack every day of crock-potted chicken. The cats' "treats" are canned tuna or salmon. The cost of the fish, chicken and ingredients for the biscuits comes out of our grocery budget. If I added those in our cost would be well over $100/month.

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We have:

 

4 cats -

 

food - raw @ $25/mo., Nature's Variety Grain Free Dry @ $30/mo., Urinary SO for one cat @ $30/mo.

litter - $25/mo.

treats - $4/mo.

Revolution - $80/mo. (only in the peak months)

 

 

2 rats -

 

food - $13/6 mos. + veggies, fruit etc.

bedding - $0 (It's a small amount and it's included in the rabbit amount.)

wipes for cage - $4/mo.

 

 

1 turtle -

 

Food - Outdoor enclosure 7 - 9 mos. out of the year so I only have to buy worms @ $10/month about 3 - 4 mos. of the year. Fruits & veggies. $0.

Bedding - $3/mo. (during indoor months)

 

1 bearded dragon -

 

UV light & heat bulbs - $25/6 months

Food - $0, I raise my own roaches and super worms; $0, fruits & veggies.

 

 

1 rabbit -

 

food - $13 (pellets), $0 (fruits, veggies etc.), $10 (hay, unless I can buy a bale)

litter - $20

 

I don't count fruits & veggies toward our total even though most of our animals eat them. In the spring, summer, and fall we garden so I have an abundance of free produce. In the winter we buy it anyway and just tack on a little extra for the critters. :tongue_smilie: I go through spurts where I'll buy them all treats, but I also make my own too. The only treats we consistently buy are those for the cats because they come when needed when they hear the sound... but ONLY the sound of those particular treats. :001_huh:

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We spend just over $100/month for 2 dogs. That is mostly food for them, with a few treats thrown in. No other extras, although the golden retriever does require sort of on-going ear drops as maintenance/prevention of ear infection, since we can't keep her out of the pool.

 

But, the one huge bag of dog food per dog lasts about a month, and around here, costs us $50/bag. Two dogs, two bags of food/month = a little over $100/month.

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