Thinking about adopting a cat/dog

[addicted2chicks]

I breed persians and have 3 dogs. Once you start buying the food and all you don't really notice the expense in my opinion. The initial cost of getting a dog/cat is not going to continue as the dog/cat gets older. The spay/neuter and vaccinations are the most expensive with the exception of emergency or other health concerns. You can have unplanned vet expenses for health issues or emergencies. All in all I love have my cats and dogs around no matter the cost.

 

[AndreaGS]

I paid a $100 adoption fee for my puppy. She needed several visits to the vet afterwards, at around $120-150 each. Spay and microchipping was $150.

Ex-pen to keep her in while we are at work - $60
2 dog beds - $40
Stainless steel bowls - $12 off of ebay
Potty pads - ~$20/month, though we are teaching her to go outside
Treats and chewies - I spend $10-15/month on these
Toys - ~$5/month, though she is learning to destroy them
Food - not much, she's a lap dog. I paid $25 for a big bag of Kirkland food, and she's still not through it. Will be switching to a more expensive brand.
Collars and leashes - 2 collars @ $6 each, 2 leashes @ $6-7 each. She likes to chew up her leashes.
Crate - free, from my old cat - he was shipped to me in it

She's definitely more expensive than my cat. I adopted my cat for $75, and he was neutered and microchipped when I got him. It's $100/year for his check-up, but $60-100 to take him in when he gets sick.

When it comes to pets, expect the unexpected. My "old" cat passed away at 2 from a terminal illness. I spent about $3k on the last six months of his life for palliative care. My puppy costs us unforseen costs in things she chews/destroys. Yes, she's little, but she still does some damage! She's chewed up a couple of cords necessitating new purchases, plants dug up, chewed furniture legs, and the chewed the corners of our staircase.

 

[scarter]

I think you can get away with as much or as little as you can afford really. I just spent 400 dollars on our free cat for spay/vaccines. She requires litter and food monthly and we buy treats every once in a while for her. She loves to batt and chase play mice around the house and these get torn up but if we weren't so lazy we'd make her some balls out of our llama fiber or some felted mice for free. She is pretty low maintenance but very loveable. The spay is the largest expence on her.

On the other hand there is the new puppy! We paid for her, the kennel, vaccines, heart meds, wormer, flea/tick prevention, collars (2), leashes (3! she chewed through one so we got two more just in case), training treats, metal trash can for her food, 3 gallon waterer, grooming tools, chew toys (which are cheaper than a new sofa), and ordered her food which was not cheap. She will be taking a puppy training class next month also.

Our cat and dog are by far more expensive than our two llamas and 10 chickens! But we have a large dog and if you want a lap dog then the smaller kennels, food, upkeep etc are cheaper.

 

[conny63malies]

I paid 30$ for a fully vetted and fixed cat.
5$ month for flea treatment
15$ on food
2$ for toys (he loves pipe cleaners so they are cheap)
10$ litter

inital stuff

25$ for litter box and litter
5$ for a collar
20$ for his kittycondo
.....
once a year
45$ for shots

 

[hensdeliverthegoods]

Quote:
Heartgard is $25/6 months for the smallest size and $34 for the middle size and $42 I believe for the largest size.

Tri-Heart is $19/6 months for the smallest size and $27 for the middle size and $37 for the largest size.

Those are the two best HW products out there IMO.
We carried Revolution for a while at the clinic but weren't 100% comfortable with it so we have gone back to the oral preventative.

Those really are good prices. The doctor at the clinic I work at only sells Interceptor and Sentinel for HWP. Funny how particular vets are about the products they sell, eh?