Budgeting for a pet

I appreciate that you are trying to adequately prepare people for the cost of pet ownership, and it’s always better to plan to spend more than you do, but the costs mentioned are way out of line with what the average pet owner pays. The cost you have mentioned for pet food is high, and that’s for a big dog eating high end food. I have only ever owned quite large dogs and at most have purchased one bag a month, at $68 a bag.
Even the vet costs are out of line. What you have listed may be the costs for a new puppy (which we have), as they need to visit the vet 3 times to get all of their vaccines, however after year one they only visit the vet once a year unless there is some kind of issue. I have never in my life had any vet, even the expensive holistic ones, cost as much as you have listed.
The costs for spay and neuter are also inflated if you use your local spay and neuter clinic (not the vet), which was not mentioned in the article. These cost cutting measures (that do not impact the quality of life of your pet) should be mentioned, such as purchasing needed items second hand. We got 1 medium crate, 2 large crates, a crate bed and a slow feeder bowl for our puppy all for $130 (factoring in the sale of the medium size crate). We also bought baby gates for our kitchen second hand as well.
Pet insurance is optional, and not always recommended, and I don’t think people buy their pet a new collar every single year, however they do buy more toys than you’ve got budgeted. Also dental care at the cost you are suggesting is not normally recommended by vets, unless there is a real problem. Owners should be brushing their pets teeth, end giving them toys that clean their teeth.
The one thing that is not mentioned is the cost of grooming. Even if you take your pet to a self serve wash, there are still costs for that, and shampoo, and for nail trimming, earl cleaning etc. even pets that don’t need to be trimmed should be bathed and groomed in some fashion every few months.
Also the costs for training are massively inflated. Most of the classes in our area are $175. Unless you plan on taking them to several different classes, usually a one time 10-12 week course on the basics will suffice. However the cost of dog daycare is not included and should be, especially in the first year, for at least one day a week, to help with proper socialization.

Thank you for the article, however some ideas on how to keep costs down, as well as outlining the typical, not the highest, cost of per ownership would have been helpful.

Thank you for writing this article. People need to know about all these costs, and plan accordingly. We insured our dog and it is costly (55/mo), but worth it, although you still have to fork over the uninsured portions of each vet visit (and the yearly deductible). Be aware, that as your dog ages, the monthly insurance costs go up. We were really grateful, to be insured when our 15 year old dog needed an urgent splenectomy 2 years ago.
We brush our dogs teeth with an electric toothbrush. Takes a while for the pups to get used to it, but you will save thousands of dollars over their lifetime. Our vet can not believe how clean our 17 – year old dogs teeth are. I highly recommend it. At first, dogs don’t like the sensation in their mouth, but our dog doesn’t mind it at all now. Takes less than one minute to do it. Get an inexpensive kids electric toothbrush.

I stumbled onto this article and I’m surprised that it is still being read in 2024. Although the article is older the OVMA (Ontario Veterinary Medical Association) provide average prices since the prices at veterinary clinics differ even down the street, so Between Windsor and Ottawa there may a huge price difference along the multiple stops off the 401. Most clinics are offering costs less than what the OVMA is preparing owners for but not by much unless they are in rural areas.

Pet insurance is important for emergency situations, but do your research as they are not all made equal and there is a reason one may be less expensive than the other. In Canada Pets + Us, Trupanion, OVMA insurance and Petsecure are the ones my clients like the most.

Dental health is an area of underdiagnosed diseases. Most pets require a dental in the first 3-5 years of life and yearly for most pets <25lbs. The goal is to prevent and treat diseased and painful teeth which unfortunately we have not known the significance of since most clinics did not have dental x-rays. Always ask for dental x-rays to make sure you are not getting a cosmetic cleaning alone, but ensuring that while you are paying for anesthesia, that you are treating all the potential disease at the same time. NEVER take your pet to someone for "anesthesia-free dentistry" this will leave a lot of painful disease that will never affect their appetite.

Congratulations to any new pet parents looking for more information, there are updated costs at the OVMA website regarding annual costs for puppies/kittens and dogs/cats.

Your friendly neighbourhood veterinarian