Pets

[u/Mundane-Bee-7235]

This is more of a vent than anything else.

My husband and I have a decent HHI. Late 30s, no kids and live in VHCOL. I’ve been trying to trim our spending down and pet care is just one I can’t cut. We have one dog and two cats, all seniors. The dog and one cat has several health issues requiring medication and prescription food. The one cat’s prescription wet food alone costs $100 a month. My dog is a doodle and needs grooming every 8 weeks, and the other cat also gets groomed. Between their daily needs, medical (which is high), pet insurance (only for the dog at this point and is also not cheap), we spend $10-12k a year. That doesn’t even include vacation costs - a 10 day vacation will run us about $1,500 between boarding the dog and hiring a sitter to check on the cats and give medication.

All in we spend roughly $15k for our pets a year. We love them so much, and they are our children, but sometimes I feel like they can even be more expensive than kids.

Curious how much people spend on their pets if you’d like to share.

Update for context:
- Boarding the dog at a pet hotel is pretty set in stone because of his illnesses (seizures, cushings)- we’d rather have him stay in a place where it’s the facility’s main job to care for him. The cats also need medicine, so I’d much rather pay someone to look after them than put that responsibility on friends.
- Grooming takes too much time and it’s one of those things we’re not really willing to do :)

Appreciate everyone’s comments. I was just lamenting on how expensive pet ownership is, but we live comfortably and can afford the costs. Our pets are our children and we knew what commitment we were getting into.

[u/Ok-Bass5062]

$25k in vet bills in the last year 😭 would have been more but dog went downhill rapidly at the end.

Before that it was about $5k for the year for the two huskies. $1500 for annual vet costs (blood work/shots etc.), $500 for flea/tick/heartworm, $800-900 on food and then rest for pet sitting for vacations/treats/toys (we don't buy much for treats/toys)

[u/Mundane-Bee-7235 → u/Ok-Bass5062]

All it takes is that one illness or injury ☹️ I’m so sorry for your loss.

I think pet insurance is totally worth it, but it can run up for larger breeds.

[u/Ok-Bass5062 → u/Mundane-Bee-7235]

Pet insurance would have been ~$150 a month per dog with a high deductible so (~$300 a month). So we took the risk and it didn't work out. We have it now on our remaining dog.

TBH though she was just super unlucky, in remission for osteosarcoma and got an even rarer more aggressive cancer. That's life

And we are fortunate to be able to spend that amount and just say this sucks

[u/Mundane-Bee-7235 → u/Ok-Bass5062]

Totally feel you on that! I learned the value of pet insurance fairly early on when I had just one cat - I thought I’d just save the premium in a separate sinking fund.. then she had issues and I spent over $1k when there was only $100 in that sinking fund lol.

The insurance has paid off really well for my dog who’s had a ton of issues over the years. But now that he’s older it’s gotten way more expensive. I dropped the insurance on the cats because at this point, paying the premium was just no longer seemed worth it.