Recently a relative was sitting on a tailgate with her dog’s leash wrapped around her wrist. The dog suddenly bolted, slamming her arm against the side of the vehicle.
No broken bones, fortunately, but it hurt like heck and she’ll probably have to pony up co-pays for the emergency room visit and X-rays.
Our furry friends can cost us plenty even if they never cause any critter-human mishaps. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the total annual cost for dogs is between $1,314 and $1,843. All you crazy cat people will shell out about $1,035 per year for your little purrmeisters.
Those figures include food, medical care, dishes and the like – but not related costs such as the need to board a pet when you travel or to pay more for homeowners insurance or renter’s insurance if the company deems your pet an attractive nuisance (e.g., a “biting breed”).
Should we put a price on love? You bet.
In “The real cost of cats and dogs” on Money Talks News, I ask readers to look at lifetime costs of a pet. When you adopt a companion animal you’re making a long-term commitment to that creature.
Understand: I’m not saying that you shouldn’t get a cat or dog. Or a gecko, a hamster or any other animal that strikes your fancy. The point is that these critters deserve decent care and attention for years and years. You need to factor that into your budget before deciding.
Suppose that dog lives to be 18 and for the last couple of years has accidents all over your rugs? The cost of cleaning or replacement probably isn’t something you thought about when you saw that adorable little ball of fuzz at the animal shelter.
What if your cat gets attacked by a raccoon and needs serious surgery and follow-up vet visits? Bet you didn’t think about stuff like that when you saw that little white-socked purrmeister at the pet shop.
(The raccoon attack happened to a relative’s kitty. Personally, I believe you should keep your cats indoors. They’re a lot safer that way. So are songbirds.)
Is there life after debt?
Kirk Kerkorian died recently at age 98. He’d been working since he was nine years old, doing odd jobs and selling newspapers; after the eighth grade he quit school to help support his family.
Despite his lack of education he became one of the richest guys in the United States. Another of my Money Talks News pieces, “14 things we can learn from a little-known billionaire,” gives a peek at what the man did and didn’t do.
Money Talks News also syndicated a piece I wrote last year about college dorm lists and the things your young scholar may (or may not) need. My take, of course, is that you don’t have to overpay for these things. In fact, you might not need to pay at all. See “Get your kid off to college well-prepared, on a budget” for the frugal hackery to which I refer.
Finally, I’ve put up two articles at Get Rich Slowly this month:
“What will you do when your debt is paid off?” explains why consumers should toss around potential plans. This is true even if their repayment won’t happen for years and years (hello, student loans!).
“The future sneaks up on you when you are looking at months or years of sameness. Work, pay bills, get by on what’s left. Pinch, do without, worry. Lather, rinse, regret. That’s a recipe not just for future financial backsliding, but also for opportunity cost.”
“Pay what you want – and get what you need,” a look at the “pay what you can” phenomenon. The piece is also a reminder not to be a jerk: Just because you can pay a penny to see a show doesn’t mean you should.
The arts and small businesses/startups won’t flourish if people who can afford to pay more decide not to do so. There’s a difference between frugality and cheapassery.
My purrmeister really is expensive: I put up a cat fence to protect cats (and small dogs) from him, and to keep him from being eaten by a coyote. Now the only real danger is an owl or boredom. He still chases the neighbor’s little dog along his fence, and she still runs from him. The cat fence cost over $2,000.00, but he’s worth it. He walks on a leash, is smart and trainable, and catches mosquitoes and mice. He also eats spiders. What’s not to like?
He was born with Feline Leukemia virus, which has meant vet bills, but he’s maintaining well on a low-cost medicine. Because he could infect other cats, he’s not allowed to roam. He needs to be outdoors, though, hence the fence.
Yes, I could have saved muchos dolares by not having a pet, but think of the quality of life he confers, as well as the reduction of stress. A purrmeister is as good as an antidepressant.
A woman I know here in Alaska told me that once while she was gardening her cat was walking along the top of the fence around her yard and fell off. When the kitty didn’t reappear after a minute or two she went out through the gate to see what was what — and saw a lynx walking off with her pet in its jaws.
Reacting instinctively (although maybe not wisely), the woman ran straight at the lynx, shouting and waving her trowel — and fell flat on her face. She isn’t sure whether it was the shouting or the sudden faceplant that shocked the lynx into letting the cat go, but it worked.
The pet wasn’t badly hurt, fortunately. And it never left the yard again. Funny thing.
A lynx would definitely be a problem. It would get over my cat fence easily. That’s why my cat will never be out at night: we have bobcats and mountain lions in our area. That lady’s cat is one lucky feline. And they say cats don’t laugh.
No lions here, but lynx, definitely. And eagles, fox, coyotes, wolves and two kinds of bears all live within the city limits. (Some pets have been eaten right off the chains outside their doghouses.)
My daughter’s $35 guinea pig ate a straight pin, pulled it right out of my quilt patches! Fortunately, it lodged in his cheek pouch, but the vet bill was almost $300! (They gave him a whiff of anesthetic to calm him while the extracted the thing. They also gave us the pin in a test tube as a souvenir!) Bubblegum (that’s his name, tho we call him Bubs) is still doing fine a year and a half later. No more quilting for him, though.
Just had a little scare with our little 5 year old corgi (Zoey) and in the last two weeks vet bills of $220. I still think she is worth every cent for what joy she bring to our home!
Again, not saying that pets aren’t worth it — just that people who get them should make sure they are prepared to cover unforeseen expenses. Probably should have linked to this other piece I did for MTN some time back:
http://www.moneytalksnews.com/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-free-puppy/
I had a scare with one of my kitties a couple of months ago. More than $800 to find nothing wrong. Grrr.
The original/potential diagnosis was cancer and the estimated cost of treatment was $5000 or more. It is a cat, not a child. I would have done what I could to make her comfortable and then had her put to sleep. I would have been devastated, but I wouldn’t have had debt that would have lasted longer than the life of the kitty…
A woman I know told me that had they known then what they found out later, they would have not chosen chemotherapy for the cat. It was very sick from the treatment and ultimately its life didn’t last much longer than it would have without the chemo.
It’s an intensely personal decision, but I’m with her. And with you.
My elderly cat had a fast-growing, inoperable, and terminal sinus tumor, but I made the decision to have the vet treat his pain and I made sure he was comfortable, cared for, well fed, etc. and he seemed happy until the end! It certainly was rough but I was not interested in having him killed, and the vet and staff supported this course of action.
My friend Linda’s dog was going downhill for a long time but the veterinarian seemed to think he wasn’t in unbearable pain and offered to come to her home, day or night, to administer the shot when it was time. When the animal stopped eating and drinking, she had the vet come over.
Treating pain is one thing, but I personally would not put an animal through chemo. Again, this is an intensely personal choice.
My sisters beloved dog had leukemia. She paid the extraordinary amount of money for chemo. It made the dog very sick and a lot of extra work in cleaning for my sister and the chemo did not extend the dogs life. I don’t personally know one person who did chemo that had the dog live another couple of years.
I am not sure I would go through chemo at my age.
We’ve gone both ways with cats, for me it depends on the age of the cat, the amount of misery the treatment will cause (chemo would be right out for our cats – it’s bad enough for humans, and the humans get to hear the pros and cons and decide for themselves) and the age of the cat.
I worry about the day I disagree with my husband on one of these decisions, though. So far they’ve been pretty clear cut but he’s a lot more sentimental about the animals than I am.
I bought a puppy to cheer a depressed sick relative. The neighbour’s kids opened our gate when we were not a home. Confused, he dashed to the nearby busy main road and got hit by a car. We arrived home to find a dog looking a lot like ours on the pavement near our house. Morphine drips (his back was broken) two operations, a pin in his spine, the loss oh his beautiful tail and nine months of care later, he was fine again. He is fourteen now. A beloved pet who has cost a lot more than I anticipated. Has it been worth it? Yes. He doesn’t leave your side when you’re sick and I swear, he speaks English.I dread the day he goes. But given what I know now I will not get another pet. Maybe a fish that doesn’t need a tank or pump.
Yes indeed animals can cost money. It does not hurt to have a pet emergency fund when possible for the unfortunate brush with a car or the likes. We have a dog, we rescued her from a horrible existence of abuse and fear and not a day goes by that I do not think it was the best thing for all of us. My 4 year old calls her “my best friend” and plays for hours with her outside which is free and healthy. I walk with her along the most beautiful wilderness track which is also free and gets me active. I know you are pointing out the realities of the price of pets here and they can cost alot but they do not have to. We feed pup left overs from our meals ( veggies, legumes etc) as well as some dog food but not much. I do not go in for all of the extra stuff the vet wants her to have because I know most of it is unnecessary or we can do it myself. 300 fish oil tabs to squeeze on her food at $10 a jar will last us almost a year and is better than any vitamins she could have. Her lead was 50c from a yard sale ( complete with the poop bags attached which I do not buy EVER but will use up), her bowl is one I already had, my dad gave me flea shampoo that someone gave him so free for us. Animals are like kids, sure they will cost money but they do not have to. For me there is no financial cost when it comes to love and compassion. The companion benefits outweigh the cost any day. The Frugalwoods cover this alot on their blog. Thanks for this piece too 🙂
We’ve paid seemingly exhorbitant amounts for pet care, and I’ve seen people pay ten times that for their beloved four-legs (sometimes down to three!), so by all means, make the choice but don’t go into it without having some sense of the cost.
Some of my pets never cost more than annual vaccines and food but that’s not usually the case anymore and it’s not fair to them if we want the companionship but not the responsibility.
As much as I’d like a few more dogs for my pack, the dog emergency fund won’t bear that cost anytime soon so I’ll have to satisfied with Seamus and my two legged “kitten”.
Y’know… Thanks to Quicken, I figured out that if you counted the cost of the Dog Chariot, I spent $40,000 on Anna the German Shepherd and Walt the Greyhound, over their 12-year-lifetimes.
On the other hand, I had a band of housecats destroy the radically expensive carpeting in a 2800-square-foot house by dumping and peeing all over it, especially in the dining room but pretty much everyplace else, and no, dear kitty-lovers, they did NOT have urinary stones.
I don’t spend anything like that on the two corgis, because I keep them away from vets. They’re vaccinated, but that is IT. They go to the vet if something is obviously wrong, not for annual fishing trips (have you noticed the vets are trying to jack the visit rate up to biannual?). IMHO, we Americans overtreat our animals to an absurd extent. That’s one reason pets cost too much.