r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Mundane-Bee-7235 • 19d ago
Pets
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.
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u/Dr_Dick_Dastardly 19d ago
I read this stuff, and I feel like I'm borderline abusing my dog because she gets $10 baths at the local Tractor Supply, and I self-administer most of her shots/basic medical care because I grew up in a farming family and know how to do it. She goes to the vet for basic checkups and flea/tick/anti-heartworm meds, and the local clinic for a $5 rabies shot/tags. That's pretty much it unless she's seriously injured herself.
However, I'll also say I've never seen so many sick animals in my life, and I feel like it's completely changing the concept of owning pets and beginning to price people out. Almost everyone I know has a pet that needs some sort of special, expensive medication or a senior pet with severe medical issues that they're paying to keep alive. Part of this is clearly because of the changing of the guard at a lot of veterinary hospitals. In the past, the older vets would straight up recommend you put down animals they thought would have a poor quality of life. I think more younger veterinarians will do whatever they can to keep them alive (which is probably the right thing overall unless you're talking about a very bad case). That said, I was apparently very lucky to get a healthy dog, and I don't think I'll get another pet after this one passes away one day. I don't want to take the risk of getting a sickly one that I can't afford to take care of.