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Comment by Jodie and Tori on December 12, 2011 at 12:38pm

Reading about everyone's spay/neuter fees is crazy! We have a spay and neuter clinic here that all local vets rotate through and the total for everything was $60! We gave an extra $40 to help out the shelters that are only charged $9 per animal.

This is a great community that almost centers around animals, horses and dogs being the most prominent, then golf. Guess the golfers get jealous!

Comment by Tina & Sophie on May 25, 2011 at 6:57pm

I highly recommend the Puppy Care Insurance w/Banfield (at the Petsmarts).  It may seem like alot at first, around $300, but it does include worming, shorts, neutering and all vet visits PLUS you get 20% any additional meds you might need like heartworn and flees.  I know we saved a ton.  Don't know if I think it's worth it after the first year but I'm sure glad we've had it up to now.

Comment by Nicole Murphy on April 26, 2011 at 3:16am

Wow, that's actually pretty good. I have spent over $800 on my dog and the two I have been baby sitting in the past three weeks. Go team Jessica for budgeting better then me! ;)  And your right, they are worth every penny.

Comment by Kari & Jackson on March 17, 2010 at 9:16pm

You guys point out such good things like being a "first time puppy owner" I know we have the tendency to do anything for our little babies and have a tendency to overreact.

I've only had Jackson for three months, but we've had a few scares with parasites that have added up. Plus, we have the joy of living in San Francisco which is a generally more expensive city! I hope neutering isn't $300+, but I think I trust my vet the most to perform this operation. Plus he's been there several times and has no fear for the location so far. Both of his testicles have dropped normally, so I hope we have an easy surgery!

Jackson was half of Killian's price, but I had to RENT a car to drive 4 hours, so that was a nice hidden expense :)

Oh, I would go to the depths of the world for my little baby. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Comment by Alice on March 17, 2010 at 1:51pm

Our puppy cost slightly less than Killian but we too had the 7-8 hour drive. The AKC registration was included in the cost of the puppy but that will very from breeder to breeder. He was also micro chipped by the breeder so we saved that expense.

The food we started out on was about $30 which lasted 2 months (now at a year and a half we're spending about $37 every month and a half. Toys we usually bought cheap unless it was something really cute then we'd spend $20 on one toy. Treats we used were $5-$8 a bag and of course we had to have 2 or three at a time for variety. :) I think the most expensive start up costs (besides the puppy) were the crate ($60) and dog bed ($40). Leashes and collars can be pricey if you really want something that you find appealing and bowls can be surprisingly expensive too.

All of that initial stuff was really not that bad since we bought it a couple items at a time in the months leading up to picking up Finn. Where things got really pricey was with the vet. I pay $9 something a month for this discount pet plan that gets me deals at the vet and it really ended up helping. His shots and deworming were only about $100 total but when he got sick (also from a chicken allergy) all the vet visits, meds etc to determine the problem over a months time added up fast, probably $200-300. A bout of vomiting which required x-rays to look for blockage and a shot to stop the vomiting was about $150. Cryptorchid neuter and hip x-rays was $467, then add a little more when we had to go back and get meds for fluid build up at the incision site. Emergency vet visit for moderate allergic reaction to something was over $200. Specialist visit and additional vet visits for hip dysplasia $200-250 and that problem will only get more expensive and will probably require surgery down the road which costs thousands of dollars. This was diagnosed at 8 months so he's been on supplements since then which is another $15 a month approximately.

We knew getting a dog was a very big decision and one we took years to make. We knew the possibility of medical expenses adding up, but growing up we didn't have many issues with our dogs and the people I know with dogs now don't spend much at the vet so while we knew it was a possibility, it seemed unlikely that we would end up with a dog with a lot of problems. I've since learned that if something can go wrong, it will, and thus we get Finn. He's the most wonderful and handsome dog and just what I wanted but being a survivor seems to have come with a price which we the owners get to pay. I’m glad we discussed medical expenses beforehand and even how far into debt we’d be willing to go for our dog. These are all good things to discuss before getting a pet. Better to be prepared. I hope when we get a second dog we'll have an easier go at things but you just never know.

Comment by Avyon on March 17, 2010 at 10:39am

This is great! I was just typing something like this up for my blog lol. I did this for my roomy who wanted to get a dog NOW and she realized how much a pup actually costs. Though I rounded around depending on adoption and expensive/cheaper toys/treats/food.

All in all its amazing to look at how much we put into these little pups lol.

Comment by Jessica on March 17, 2010 at 9:25am

Yeah - there is something for to be said for being a first time dog owner too. You just don't know where to look for the lowest cost option. In my case we just called his vet and had it done there, but I know that if we had called around we could have done better.

Comment by Sky and Lyla on March 17, 2010 at 8:41am

Kari, I think the neutering depends largely on where you leave and whether or not both testicles have dropped. I got Sky done at my regular vet for around $120 and Lyla spayed (more invasive so usually more expensive) at the low cost spay clinic for $30. And I can honestly say Lyla's went much smoother than Sky's even though a spay is a bigger procedure. So it just depends.

Comment by Kari & Jackson on March 17, 2010 at 4:44am

Those training areas have been our big, up front expense.
And I LOVE your breakdown of the vet visits - I think that is so key. It really is all about that "getting worms" and "randomly sick" with a puppy.

And eeesh we're about to get neutered and I might look into the SFSPA... I've heard they do surgeries for like $150. But maybe we shouldn't bargain for surgeries?

Comment by Gromit, Sparkle, and Doug on March 17, 2010 at 1:15am

Well, if you can get your squeaky toy habit under control and avoid buying another Corgi each year it shouldn't be so bad in the years to come. ;-)

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