# how much does your dog cost you per year?



## pauly7582

I've been considering a dog for ages but have been trying to adjust my lifestyle first so I can care properly for one. Nearly there.. anyway.

How much does your dog cost you per year? Food, vets bills/insurance...think of anything else?

Would be useful if you stated which breed to.

Thanks!


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## Shell195

Having 12 of em its something I try not to think of:lol2:


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## fenwoman

Shell195 said:


> Having 12 of em its something I try not to think of:lol2:


Snap!! haha

As to how much a dog costs. Insurance is about £10 per month. Innoculations, initial ones about £45 then around £30 a year (or every 3 years as recommended by my vet). Add collar, leads, bed etc. Feeding depends on what you choose to feed so could be as little as a fiver a week, up to £20 depending on what you feed and the size of the dog. Apart from the cost is the time you have to spend with it and the amount of coat care, exersize etc you can give.
Asking how much it costs to keep a dog is a bit like asking how long is a bit of string.


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## Kylie

i have a staff £12p/m insurance food £10p/m and toys and things whatever i want to spend cos he is spoilt i would say approx £220-£250 a year??


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## Marinam2

I have 2 and it costs me £20 a month to feed them and then about erm £21 a year to worm them and thats all they need.

I do however lavish them with a chew stick once a week. Puppies are expensive you need to think about vaccinations and neutering but after that unless your unlucky enought o end up with a dog with a medical condition its all very cheap.

Marina


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## vetdebbie

Ha! You obvously didn't see the recent newspaper article that stated the average chihuahua costs £75grand over the course of it's life! Labs were quite cheap - I belive it was only £33 grand!


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## vetdebbie

Oh, and while puppies need vaccinations, so do adults - leptospira and kennel cough at least should be boosted yearly as they have not been proved to have lasting immunity.


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## Marinam2

I dont booster my adults. I cannot see the necessity of it. My dogs do not have a lot of contact with other dogs so are at very little risk of catching anything nasty.

Marina


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## Angelica

Our dog costs £43 every two months to feed,plus wormers,flea treatment and £31 for her booster every year...something we would never let her go without no matter how little contact with other dogs she might have,she's a family dog and i pretty much spent my teenage years growing up around her(she's getting on now) and if anything took her away that we could have prevented we'd be devastated so for that little amount each year why take the risk?


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## dragonbabe

Marinam2 said:


> I dont booster my adults. I cannot see the necessity of it. My dogs do not have a lot of contact with other dogs so are at very little risk of catching anything nasty.
> 
> Marina


Not being confrontational, but dogs dont need to come into contact with other dogs to catch nasties.
If they go out for walks where other dogs have been, thats enough.

Ive found that the older a dog gets, the more they seem to cost in vets bills so insurance is a good idea.
General cost of a dog,
Purchase price, vaccinations, worming, insurance, food, collars/leads/toys, beds, neautering it can add up.
I have recently had a £1000 bill for an operation on my oldest dog for a tumour.


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## Marinam2

That's fair enough but its your opinion. I dont share it.

Marina


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## vetdebbie

just a note for you marinam2, leptospirosis is spread by rats (amongst others) so you need to be aware of your dog's contact with rats as well as dogs.


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## labmad

Hi peeps - anyone interested in a GREAT read.......Shock to the System (What Vets Don't Tell You About Vaccines)........will make you think 

Back to the point......we have 6 labs, feed em ALL RAW and the cost is considerablt lower than the commercial food out there, around £40 a month.......and thats for 6 and not 1, i guess it's about getting a good reliable source for FRESH food and good prices


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## Athravan

I would say my GSD costs about £30 a month to feed that's about £360 a year on food. I pay about £50 a year for the boosters (I get absolutely everything as she usually has a few nights in kennels a year and sees dogs on a daily basis whilst walking). I would say that worming and flea treatment probably costs around £50 a year too. £15 a month on insurance is then £180 a year.

Without any treats, extra goodies like toys, bones, collar, lead, etc. which I have no idea how much I spend on a year, my GSD costs me around £650 for the basics a year.

The border collie is about half that on food costs but the rest remains about the same. I probably spend about £1k a year on the 2 dogs as basics.

An added cost is either the cost of kennelling if we go away (I only ever kennel my dogs for 1/2 nights a year when I go to Hamm basically), and the added cost of taking dogs on holiday - if I go away for a night in the UK it can be up to £50 extra at the hotel to take the dogs. If we decide to take a weeks break we have to find a dog friendly rental, and it's usually around £50 extra per dog per week. I haven't added those sort of costs into the above. If you're someone who goes on holiday abroad - kennelling a dog for a week can cost several hundred.

Obviously the GSD is quitea big dog and my border collie very high energy so still eats quite a lot.. if you had a tiny dog it's just not going to cost the same in food or insurance etc..


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## gnipper

I've not personally done the sums but my mate has regarding food and with the meat I get it costs about £1.50 a month to feed his terrier and roughly twice that for his lurcher. Drontals and flea treatment bought from online vet chemists for a lot cheaper than the vets. Personally my dogs got their initial vaccinations and their first boosters then that was it(my terrier is ten now and has only been to the vets once other than injections and thats with killing hundreds of rats in his life), my newest dog had his done by the breeder with a vaccine from the greyhound kennels which a lot of people swear by.
I'm not sure on the cost but I do know that if I had bought all their flea/wormers from the vets i'd be more out of pocket and if i'd bought their food from a petshop or even worse the vets i'd be begging on the streets:lol2:


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## Dan

I pay about £40 pcm for mine, this includes food, treats, shampoo and drugs (ie vaccines not a crack addiction)


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## Marinam2

No its not crack its cannibis!! hehehehe

Marina


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## fenwoman

vetdebbie said:


> Ha! You obvously didn't see the recent newspaper article that stated the average chihuahua costs £75grand over the course of it's life! Labs were quite cheap - I belive it was only £33 grand!


I often wonder where they get these figures from. Based on those sums, bearing in mind I have 14 dogs, it would mean that I pay on average around £4000 a month for my dogs upkeep. I know I spend nothing like that amount.I don't even get that amount per month.Mind you I don't happen to feed them on smoked salmon and caviar, they don't sleep on hand woven silk dog beds and don't wear 9 carat gold collars and spend 2 three week holidays a year at 'barkingham palace' 5* boarding kennels for the decerning canine, complete with room service, satelite TV, shag pile carpets and a personal maid.Poor deprived beasts that they are.


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## fenwoman

vetdebbie said:


> Oh, and while puppies need vaccinations, so do adults - leptospira and kennel cough at least should be boosted yearly as they have not been proved to have lasting immunity.


Yet scientific data has shown that yearly boosters are not always necessary. My own vets for the last 10 years have advocated only the lepto gets done yearly (because of the environment my dogs live in) and the rest only once every 3 years with dogs over 9 years not being done at all.In over 30 years keeping dogs, I have never lost one to a transmissable disease.
I've always wondered why we can vaccinate our children so that their immune systems recognise and fight disease for the rest of their lives, but not do the same for dogs. I suspect money is involved somewhere, especially since the booster only costs around £3 to the vet but £35 to the dog owner.


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## Shell195

I owned a vaccine damaged GSD Rocky but had to Put him to sleep at 19 months. It blistered his tongue and pads and caused huge ulcers and a crippling arthritis and these where just his primary puppy vaccs. I am very wary about vaccs now but always have puppy vaccs done as the risk of Parvo with young pups is very high.


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## eightsnake

I am well aware of the fairly recent work done on vaccinations, and that the recommendations are definitely not inline with the usual recommendations from most vets of yearly vaccs.

However all that taken into account, if you insure your dog or kennel them then you are in the situation of being unable to vaccinate less.
If your dog is not 'up-to date' on its vaccs and you make a claim, your insurance will be void.

If anyone on here has found any different then I would be very interested to know which insurance company allows for vaccs to not be done??

I have an 8 year old bull terrier who has just gone through £2500 in about 6 months for congestive heart failure which his insurance covered. I can not afford to be uninsured so please don't anyone suggest that as an option.

I have 3 dogs, a collie cross and 2 bull terriers they cost me 
£54 per month in insurance- £648 per year
£60 per month in food - however I do feed raw meat and high quality complete so about £720 per year
£14 worming every 3 months
£9 per flea treatment, all 3 dogs, mainly during summer
£147 per year in vaccinations - I do live in Essex!

bedding, leads,collars etc one off purchases and you can pay as much or as little as you like depending on quality and taste
Kennelling is about £10 per night per dog

I also show my Bull terrier bitch so she costs even more in entry fees and grooming and petrol!
Crufts for the last 2 years and again next year is worth it though!

I think for most, your dogs cost more than you think but what they give back is priceless:flrt:

Good luck in getting your dog

Lorraine


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## Marinam2

I'm well aware of that but i have the money not to have to worry about insurance. Plus i'd never put my dogs in kennels!!

Marina


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## Emmaj

fenwoman said:


> Yet scientific data has shown that yearly boosters are not always necessary. My own vets for the last 10 years have advocated only the lepto gets done yearly (because of the environment my dogs live in) and the rest only once every 3 years with dogs over 9 years not being done at all.In over 30 years keeping dogs, I have never lost one to a transmissable disease.
> I've always wondered why we can vaccinate our children so that their immune systems recognise and fight disease for the rest of their lives, but not do the same for dogs. I suspect money is involved somewhere, especially since the booster only costs around £3 to the vet but £35 to the dog owner.


 
I work that way too with boosters


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## eightsnake

Marinam2 said:


> I'm well aware of that but i have the money not to have to worry about insurance. Plus i'd never put my dogs in kennels!!
> 
> Marina


 
Lucky you!

Lorraine


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## Meko

Rio - had his bottom jaw amputated so i can't feed him on BARF again just yet...
jabs = about £25 a year, food = about £2 a week, insurance = £18 a month (he's old)


Wilo:
feeds on BARF so abot £10 a month on petrol to pick the bones up from Pimps
jabs about £25 a year
insurance is £13 a month


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## Marinam2

Excuse my naiviety but how does the poor doggy eat at all with no lower teeth???

Marina


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## vetdebbie

fenwoman said:


> I often wonder where they get these figures from. Based on those sums, bearing in mind I have 14 dogs, it would mean that I pay on average around £4000 a month for my dogs upkeep. I know I spend nothing like that amount.I don't even get that amount per month.Mind you I don't happen to feed them on smoked salmon and caviar, they don't sleep on hand woven silk dog beds and don't wear 9 carat gold collars and spend 2 three week holidays a year at 'barkingham palace' 5* boarding kennels for the decerning canine, complete with room service, satelite TV, shag pile carpets and a personal maid.Poor deprived beasts that they are.


 
I believe it was based on buying lots of coats, bling collars, little dresses and tiaras etc.............


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## fenwoman

vetdebbie said:


> I believe it was based on buying lots of coats, bling collars, little dresses and tiaras etc.............


:lol2: oh yes and of course if you have a chihuahua you need an Armani handbag to carry it about in <choke>.
I'd love to see someone trying to stuff my 'Aslan' into a handbag. He would be mortified as he is a mud playing, hole digging, Ursa ass kicking, whole rabbit eating country chihuahua.


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## vetdebbie

fenwoman said:


> Yet scientific data has shown that yearly boosters are not always necessary. My own vets for the last 10 years have advocated only the lepto gets done yearly (because of the environment my dogs live in) and the rest only once every 3 years with dogs over 9 years not being done at all.In over 30 years keeping dogs, I have never lost one to a transmissable disease.
> I've always wondered why we can vaccinate our children so that their immune systems recognise and fight disease for the rest of their lives, but not do the same for dogs. I suspect money is involved somewhere, especially since the booster only costs around £3 to the vet but £35 to the dog owner.


Standard protocol for us (and really should be for most vets, they may just not tell youwhat the dog is getting) Is lepto and parainfluenza every year as those are the two components with proven poor lasting immunity, then distemper, adenovirus (or hepatitis!) and parvo every 3 years unless there isa specific risk (rotties, outbreaks etc) as the immunity is proven for longer.

The status on duration of immunity in dogs is that many dogs will respond for years and years (beyuond the length of the current studies) so may never need boosting. However some only respond for shorter periods, so the guidance on revaccination intervals is to provide GARAUNTEED immunity. 
Basically we live in a litigous society and therefore I cannot say to people, yes you dog will be fine if you do not revaccinate according to these intervals. Murphy;s law is such that this dog would promptly 18 months down the line contract parvo or lepto or something and die, and the owner would blame me and no lawyer would be able to defend me as the data sheet suggests otherwise - end of career for me, no money, no house etc. So intelligent people such as the lovelies on this site can make their own decisions on revaccination with the facts at their disposal but against the official advice of their vet! And may well be perfectly right.

The plus to annual vaccination is the fact the animal gets a health check annually - a vital thing for some animals whose owners may miss the early signs of disease. We have the ability to consult a doctor if we feel a bit off - our pets can't. That's where some of the cost in vaccination goes - in fact it is specified on our invoices to highlight to owners that it has been done.

Oh, and I pay cost + vat for my cat vaccs - it's about a tenner, so slightly more than £3.

What we should do in an ideal world is check each individual's serology for antibody titres to all the vaccine components, then we could do a targeted vaccination doing only what is needed. Which may be nothing vaccinewise! Unfortunately it would probably be £70 or more a year in blood tests according to the experts in the field - something it will be hard to make the genereal populace take up sadly.

On the subject of human vaccination - yes certain vaccines only need to be givenin childhood, but others do require boostering - tetanus for example if you are in a high risk environment. As it happens most of the other diseases are rarely encountered here in the uk, but having recently been pincushioned for a trip to India that didn't appear, Diptheria is either a 3 or 5 year booster (can't remember which) typhoid is 5 yearly - but hep b has moved from 10 to 20 yearly. And so on and so forth.


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## vetdebbie

fenwoman said:


> :lol2: oh yes and of course if you have a chihuahua you need an Armani handbag to carry it about in <choke>.
> I'd love to see someone trying to stuff my 'Aslan' into a handbag. He would be mortified as he is a mud playing, hole digging, Ursa ass kicking, whole rabbit eating country chihuahua.


 
:lol2:


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## vetdebbie

eightsnake said:


> However all that taken into account, if you insure your dog or kennel them then you are in the situation of being unable to vaccinate less.
> If your dog is not 'up-to date' on its vaccs and you make a claim, your insurance will be void.
> 
> If anyone on here has found any different then I would be very interested to know which insurance company allows for vaccs to not be done??
> Lorraine


 
I beleive the insurance is only void if the dog is unvaccinated and you try to claim for a vaccinatable disease. NOt sure that this is true of kennel cough though - I've processed loads of claims for this and don't think they be rejected, although I wouldn't necessarily know the outcomes......


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## Shell195

I believe that there is a couple of companys that will accept Homeopathic vaccines(nosodes) instead of traditional ones


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## Vase

My dog costs me about £15 pm insurance, maybe £20-30 to feed, about a fiver every three months for worming and then vaccinations each year, which for the life of me I cant remember what they cost.

His main other expenses are for grooming products as he has a lot of coat. 
I also work in a pet shop, so he gets spoiled too :flrt:


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## mscongeniality

My dog is fed mainly dry food which is only about £4 a month. I get occasional cans of dog food for her and she gets a lot of leftovers. Say another £6 a month in denta rask things. New collar round about yearly at around a tenner.

Vets bills....well that's a tough one. About £30 a year in flea treatments and possibly the same in worming tablets (I should probably stop buying those from the vets). I had a bill for just under £200 a few months back because the dog managed to get in to the bin and ate a chicken carcass. That involved an emergency call out (dog seemed fine but I know how dangerous chicken bones can be and was taking no chances) meds to make her sick and x-rays. I met the vet at the veterinary surgery and I swear, straight after pukeing her guts up she was sniffing at those big bags of dried food they have in there. Could have throttled her. There's never anything like that ever left in an internal bin any more though.
Had another bill recently for £40 due to an ear infection.

So around £190 in basics. The dog usually gets person shampoo which is there anyway. £240 in vet bills this year but it's not usually that high. Will occasionally spend about £27 at the doggy hairdressers. A couple of pounds here and there for toys.


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## reptile king

*i have a overweight cocker spaniel*

and it eats more than me but she costs me about £25 a month depending what shes eaten when my backs turned


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## eightsnake

vetdebbie said:


> I beleive the insurance is only void if the dog is unvaccinated and you try to claim for a vaccinatable disease. NOt sure that this is true of kennel cough though - I've processed loads of claims for this and don't think they be rejected, although I wouldn't necessarily know the outcomes......


Just checked my insurance conditions:

'Dogs must be vaccinated/boosted against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis and parvovirus.'

This does not go on to say if you are claiming for a condition that can be vaccinated against. They have to be vaccinated full stop for any claim.

I am insured with More Than.

As I already said and I know I am not the only one, I cannot afford to be uninsured as living in the south the vets fees are really high.

My parents live in Nottinghamshire and can get their dogs boosters for around £16, I have just paid £48 for my male Bull Terriers annual booster!

Shocking how much difference there is.
My cross breed got a cut on her leg that was quite deep but only about an inch long. She ended up having to have it stitched up, it cost £700!

My vet is very good though and I am very reluctant to change as I know there are some really bad vets around.

Lorraine

PS I also wanted to say that I am of the opinion that the pet insurance business is virtually single handedly responsible for the astronomical escalation in vet fees, I know 20 years ago that the fees were not anywhere near what they are now, obviously proportionate to increase in wages, cost of living etc.
Most people have insurance so therefore the vets know that they are gonna get paid.

*My dogs heart meds cost £150 per month from the vet, but only £70 online. I asked my vet for a prescription, which he was only too happy to give, letting me know that the vet who owns the practice puts a mark up of around 90% on medications!*
*I know they have to make a living but that is ridiculous.*


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## peaches

Not sure per year as have only had a dog a 5 months now.

Training cage to start x2, outgrew first one quickly and those indoor piddle pads for house training - yes I could have used newspaper but ah well....

Bed, bowls and the stand, few toys, collars, leads, whistle, nail clippers, brush, guard for in the car etc etc

Food was on JWB large breed puppy kibble to start with, which was very expensive, now on BARF and costs about £12 per month to feed.

Insurance with More Than is £9.00 per month.

And the jabs to start with and worming. And £30 for conjunctivities.


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## Fixx

I have no idea how much Blaze, my black Labrador costs me a month/year, but however much it is he is worth every penny and more.


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## vetdebbie

eightsnake said:


> Most people have insurance so therefore the vets know that they are gonna get paid.
> 
> *My dogs heart meds cost £150 per month from the vet, but only £70 online. I asked my vet for a prescription, which he was only too happy to give, letting me know that the vet who owns the practice puts a mark up of around 90% on medications!*
> *I know they have to make a living but that is ridiculous.*


 
I so wish the insurance thing was true - 90% of the time it may be, but accosionally wel get stung with a massive unpaid bill cos the owner couldn't afford it but the insurance refused to pay out for some reason.........

In the interests of openness, as I feel it's the only way to work on the lack of trust that people have in vets, I would say that 60-100% markup on drugs is the average over the uk - hence the competition commission's study and the fact that you can now get free prescriptions. However, we do have to make money somewhere, it is a business and as such needs to at least break even! Overheads are higher than many imagine, and lst year when I was doing a business module I was shocked to discuver that only the top 25% or so vet practices (graded as a business rather than vet quality) were actually making any profit. That's 75% of vets making a loss.......... scary. 
The thing that vets worry about is either we make money on drugs, or we make money on professional fees - consultations, operations etc. Keeping the price of the inital consult down at least keeps us more accessible to the public - after all if we started to charge £60 for each consult, how many people would be put off coming unless the animal was REALLY ill, rather than just moderately ill? If the money is made by keeping drug mark ups high, then at least there can be a reasonable conversation with the owner about treatment options, rather than no treatment at all. But then, as you say - is it ethical for us to have owners over a barrel like that?

A conundrum and not an easy one to sort out. 

And I believe that veterinary inflation generally runs lower than normal inflation, so yes the fees have gone up - but not as much as your other day to day stuff.

None of this is meant to offend or upset anyone - I'm just trying to put across a point of view that many people may not have considered.


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## Pliskens_Chains

wouldnt even like to guess, but we do spoil them both as they were rescues who hadnt had a good start to life


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## gnipper

mscongeniality said:


> I had a bill for just under £200 a few months back because the dog managed to get in to the bin and ate a chicken carcass. That involved an emergency call out (dog seemed fine but I know how dangerous chicken bones can be and was taking no chances) meds to make her sick and x-rays. I met the vet at the veterinary surgery and I swear, straight after pukeing her guts up she was sniffing at those big bags of dried food they have in there. quote]
> 
> Chicken bones are only dangerous if their roasted etc, raw or boiled their fine and are the bulk of my dogs diet. I would say too the dangerous part is when they are on the way in (if their already in I wouldn't have worried) but its funny how a stray cat or dog or even foxes never seem to struggle with them???


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## gnipper

I've got cheap collars for mine too which are guaranteed for life against everything bar chewing so I won't be spending too much on them in the near future:2thumb:


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## BADGERS MUM

vetdebbie said:


> Ha! You obvously didn't see the recent newspaper article that stated the average chihuahua costs £75grand over the course of it's life! Labs were quite cheap - I belive it was only £33 grand!


 
geeez my Lab x staff costs a fortune but not 33k...........................yet



eightsnake said:


> I think for most, your dogs cost more than you think but what they give back is priceless:flrt:


Oh yes :2thumb:

I dont insure Badger as a local vet (who was a useless :censor claimed he was highly aggressive and since he came to me with skin issues and kennel cough the premium is so stupidly high and they wont cover MANY things
E.g Steroids,homeopathic remedies,allergy testing,chest infections(they claim its after effects of kennel cough) etc etc 

so its a waste of cash for me but generally a VERY good idea


Mine cost(both dogs included) £50 pm to feed,on a hypo allergenic diet,
£25 initial chipping
i think its £90 pa booster cost
£18 every 3 months for wormers,
Millie doesnt have a lead Badgers is an all in one thing as hes hardly on it either (we live in the sticks)
treats are minimal due to them having to be hypo allergenic (and they are boring)

but i dread to add up the cost of Badgers skin condition over the years 
its £1000s :blush:


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## dingy

My dog costs me all the normal things like food, wormers, vet bills etc. I also pay £30 every 4-5 weeks for his acupuncture sessions with the vet. Dino is a 15 yr old golden retriever with arthritis in his spine and hips. To me, the acupuncture is a necessary part of giving him the best life I can. So on top of 'normal' bills I am paying out around £360 per year for quality of life.


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## mscongeniality

gnipper said:


> mscongeniality said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had a bill for just under £200 a few months back because the dog managed to get in to the bin and ate a chicken carcass. That involved an emergency call out (dog seemed fine but I know how dangerous chicken bones can be and was taking no chances) meds to make her sick and x-rays. I met the vet at the veterinary surgery and I swear, straight after pukeing her guts up she was sniffing at those big bags of dried food they have in there. quote]
> 
> Chicken bones are only dangerous if their roasted etc, raw or boiled their fine and are the bulk of my dogs diet. I would say too the dangerous part is when they are on the way in (if their already in I wouldn't have worried) but its funny how a stray cat or dog or even foxes never seem to struggle with them???
> 
> 
> 
> It had been a roast chicken that we had for dinner. My aunt's dog died when splinters of chicken bone perforated her insides when she managed to get in the bin a few years back. Not a risk I'm willing to take and the vet thought it serious enough.
Click to expand...


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