palmer_mike
Well-Known Member
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Dog costs per month
- Thread starter palmer_mike
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deerstalker.308
Well-Known Member
our 3 dogs get through a 15kg sack of feed a month (2 labs and a cocker) about £20, insurance for all 3 is probably about £90 a month, annual bills for routine stuff is probably about £150-200 all in, but if money is your driver, forget it. The dogs always come first, if they need something, they get it, when they get older, they will cost more in both insurance and treatment if they require any long term medication. Kennelling costs if you want to go away etc, soon add up.
Whilst money has to be a consideration, if someone came to me for a puppy and were asking a question like this, I would be very cautious about selling them a dog, just my opinion, but hey.
Whilst money has to be a consideration, if someone came to me for a puppy and were asking a question like this, I would be very cautious about selling them a dog, just my opinion, but hey.
palmer_mike
Well-Known Member
Should have known better than to ask I guess.
al4x1
Well-Known Member
you do open yourself to it when you ask but really the finance side is the easy side, places not to scrimp are with the buying a pup. That is when you want to be very careful and buy a decent one as it is where you can make expensive mistakes.
That and if you haven't got or had a dog a HWV is going to be jumping in at the deep end, good fun but if a house dog then you need to be prepared. Mine live in but you need to set the ground rules and they are a large potentially destructive dog if bored.
palmer_mike
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the helpful replies but on second thoughts I'll be doing my research elsewhere, just less hassle that way.
merlin
Well-Known Member
It is difficult to quantify, and dog ownership IMHO shouldn't be finely balanced by funds - but emphasis on "finely", and as you can't run dogs on fresh air I don't see it as an unreasonable question to ask. If you've never owned one, how would you know? How much does it cost to own a horse? Dunno, never owned one. Or a python. Or tropical fish..... You get the idea.
So - my dog is prob about the same size as a HWV (more or less); a 15kg sack of food - supplemented by various leftovers - costs around ten to twelve quid and lasts around 4/5 weeks. I self-insure; insurance was getting daftly expensive, and doesn't cover jabs but also has an excess. Insurance is a personal choice. Jabs about 70 quid, but she has everything. Another thing to budget for is kennels for when you go on holiday - could be up to 15 quid/day/dog. Flea/tick/worm treatment is around a tenner a month. Other costs? Toys, chews, etc.....
Dog ownership costs money and can be quite expensive....... But I can't imagine not having dogs now. The pleasure they bring can be priceless......
So - my dog is prob about the same size as a HWV (more or less); a 15kg sack of food - supplemented by various leftovers - costs around ten to twelve quid and lasts around 4/5 weeks. I self-insure; insurance was getting daftly expensive, and doesn't cover jabs but also has an excess. Insurance is a personal choice. Jabs about 70 quid, but she has everything. Another thing to budget for is kennels for when you go on holiday - could be up to 15 quid/day/dog. Flea/tick/worm treatment is around a tenner a month. Other costs? Toys, chews, etc.....
Dog ownership costs money and can be quite expensive....... But I can't imagine not having dogs now. The pleasure they bring can be priceless......
I would have thought feed costs come down in March if shooting heavily pregnant roe does??
Every little helps!
K
Every little helps!
K
deerstalker.308
Well-Known Member
Mike, I wasn't having a go, just saying, no need to take offense, it was advice, you asked for advice..... But you're talking about buying a dog which if you go with a hwv, is going to cost you somewhere in the region of £750 I would imagine, a colleague of mine has one which has had two major operations on both its cruciate ligaments costing well into the multiple thousands in its first 4 years, which are now lifetime conditions, which push premiums up, so there is no finite number you can put in dog ownership, they cost what they cost. Food and annual jabs are the cheap part.
Actually I think it was a sensible question to ask, if the guy has never owned a dog how is he to know what the costs involved are.
Personally I would rather have someone who asked about the costs than someone who might buy a pup and then find they can't afford the upkeep .
Taking on a dog should not be taken lightly requiring a commitment for twelve years or more and can result in
considerable expenditure in that period.
IMO the OP shows he is treating the issue seriously by doing his research rather than taking on the responsibility of a dog in ignorance as many do.
Personally I would rather have someone who asked about the costs than someone who might buy a pup and then find they can't afford the upkeep .
Taking on a dog should not be taken lightly requiring a commitment for twelve years or more and can result in
considerable expenditure in that period.
IMO the OP shows he is treating the issue seriously by doing his research rather than taking on the responsibility of a dog in ignorance as many do.
Quite right. Knowledge is power and it's only natural to seek that knowledge before diving in and that shows, to me, responsibility, not the opposite. Besides, he's asking before he turns up anywhere to buy a dog, so that he knows that when he does buy one!
Around £20 for feed is about right and, except for insurance, which you will have to make your mind up about (if you have a healthy dog, the vets bills are eminently affordable, but if you are unlucky, so long as you have the capacity to cover any unexpected bills...if not, insurance is good).
Why? You've asked a community who own dogs similar (presumably) to what you will be using yours for. Surely they are the best people to ask? You should at least be getting an unbiased opinion, even if you don't agree with it.
I have four dogs - two labs and two cockers, that I use for stalking, beating and picking-up. But mostly they are pets. The feed bill (Arden Grange) is about £10-15 per week. Two of the dogs are insured and two are not - I am still in two minds about insuring them as I've yet to have a bill of over £400 in a year (now I'm tempting fate) whereas my insurance premiums.......
To deerstalker.308's point, we had a litter of four pups two years ago from our cocker bitch. None of the owners asked about how much it would cost to buy and insure a puppy. If they'd asked I'd have felt as cautious as deerstalker.308. I wouldn't have wanted the owner of one of the pups to compromise on care for the puppy because of financial concerns. As it is, all four pups have gone to great working homes. Three of them are spoiled rotten. The fourth we kept....so okay, four of them are spoiled rotten. I still keep track of all four pups - why wouldn't I, we bred them? I'd take any of them back tomorrow if need be.
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No contest....
My dogs do really well on cheap food (wag) so they (2 of them) cost me about £20 a month maximum. I don't keep insurance for them but they receive any vet treatment required. My labrador has probably had £600 in vet fees in her 7 years and my GWP has had about £400 inner 6 years. If either of them develop any sort of condition that will cost thousands of pounds then they'll go in a hole in the ground. Especially if their quality of life or ability to work will be impaired which, let's face it, is probably going to be the case if they need that sort of treatment.
A good question and one more people need to be aware of.
I've seen figures varying from £7k to £15k; the lower figure was calculated, the upper from Sainsbury's insurance. I've no idea if these are accurate, however a quick calculation based on my 25kg lab. Food £175 (Hills) Fleas and Ticks £54, Worms £18 Vaccine £25-30 = £277 base running costs per year. This doesn't include collars, leads, bed or bling (if you are that way inclined). It also doesn't include insurance or vet fees. Insurance from pet plan has quoted me £39 per month (top end life cover) so now at £745/year. So maybe the £10k lifetime figure isn't far off. I've not included the excess on the insurance or any vet visits that aren't covered or kennel fees (perhaps £14 a day).
I'd say my base figure is reasonably accurate give or take hunting around. You can do without insurance but remember that any orthopaedic work or gut surgery can hit £1500 quite easily.
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