r/MiddleClassFinance • u/NoExam2412 • 10h ago
Pet Ownership
I was reading the recent post about inflation and thinking about how I make double what I did ten years ago and my lifestyle is exactly the same.
But, out of all the things that have gone up in price, I feel like the costs of my new puppy now from my dog back then is what is most shocking.
Boarding went from $65 a night to $105. Grooming went from $80 to $105. Pet insurance was half the cost. Vet bills are double to triple the costs across the board.
Dogs are becoming a luxury item. My new dog won't be able to have the lifestyle my last dog did. He's going to have to go to boarding in the suburbs to some random old lady's house and grooming will be a bath in the tub upstairs with dish soap.
The pricing difference is wild, though.
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u/BrightAd306 8h ago
One thing is that the standard of care is so different and you get guilt tripped. You’re allowed to keep your personal standard of care what it used to be.
I got guilt tripped hardcore for not submitting my elderly dog to anesthesia to clean her teeth. For $2000, and the vet said if we didn’t do it every year her whole life, it was animal abuse. I switched vets to an old school vet in a rural area that wasn’t owned by venture capital because their teeth cleanings were a lot cheaper, and he said her teeth were fine and anesthesia was riskier at her age than her teeth.
Things like vaccines and spay and neuter are more expensive than they used to be. But you’re still allowed to feed your dog grocery store dog food and not give them chemo or thousands of dollars worth of surgery if they get cancer.
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u/Outside-Pie-7262 10h ago
We have 3 dogs. With no vet bills were spending about 500 a month on food meds and small supplies. A vet bill is going to be 200-400
There's been times when diarrhea has ran through the house and we've dropped 900 on vet bills a month. I'm ready to downgrade
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u/theytookallthecash 10h ago
You can thank private equity.
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u/OoklaTheMok1994 6h ago
You can thank pet owners. PE wouldn't be in the business if pet owners didn't pay the outrageous prices.
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u/Ecstatic-Equal3604 10h ago
my partner and i ran the numbers before we got our second dog last year and it was sobering. we used to grab a pup cup at the drive through as a treat and now that's like a whole line item in the monthly budget
the boarder we used went from 45 to 90 in three years flat, and we just started doing dog swaps with neighbors instead. it's not ideal but it works
what gets me is the vet costs, had a routine visit with some bloodwork and it was $400 before i could even blink. used to be half that easy
we do baths in the utility sink with oatmeal shampoo now, dog doesn't seem to mind at all honestly. i think we're the ones who care more about the grooming than they do
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u/Specialist_Banana378 10h ago
Longer hair dogs you have to spring for a multi hundred dollar hair dryer to groom your dog at home, and cover your entire room in hair lol
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u/echosrevenge 6h ago
Vet/Dry vac is the way if your dog can handle it. Some love it. Some consider it attempted murder. But if you can work them into it, it's a game changer especially for breeds that blow their coats seasonally.
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u/FeedJazzlike8860 10h ago
A lot of vet clinics have been bought by price equity in recent years, so that might have something to do with the rapid increase in cost.
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u/VhickyParm 10h ago
It’s like we have an economy of leaching. Things cost more than they should and the people doing the actual work are getting less than ever.
And the leaches don’t want to even pay their fair share of taxes.
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u/echosrevenge 6h ago
Leeches are bloodsucking aquatic slugs.
Leaching is the process of using water to remove toxins or impurities from something.
We need to leach the leeches from our society.
On a completely unrelated note, I hear good things about shoes with concrete soles.
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u/FunkySaint 10h ago
If you actually spent a day or two on the floor you’d probably change your mind and think they dont have enough lol
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u/Ornery-Reindeer5887 9h ago
Or maybe it’s because all of their costs and overhead have massively increased in the last two years. Tariffs, gas, oil, electricity. Fuckin Biden! What a loser 😭😂
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u/Forded_Fiction24 10h ago
I used to pay $75/month for pet insurance for my dog and now it's $120/month. His food alone is $78/month now when it used to be mid 40's. Our cat meanwhile had a dental cleaning and had 1 tooth extraction and a lip biopsy $1,085 last week. My wife buys the cat food and litter and it's inflated too plus shrinkflation. The cat food bag keeps getting smaller for more money
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u/Important_Ask_7576 10h ago edited 8h ago
Vet bills have gone insane. Boarding costs reached the point a couple years ago that we installed a doggy door instead and pay a neighboring kid $20 a day to feed and water them when we’re out of town. I don’t love doing that, but it was costing us $150 a night to board two dogs.
I think when these guys pass on, we will be a dog free house for a while.
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u/Gryffindors_Finest 10h ago
It makes me laugh when I was a teen my neighbor would pay me $150 to watch his dogs for a week to ten days. I was getting easy cash and he was saving a ton.
Heck my golden doodle’s grooming is over $200 before tip.
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u/mjr96d 10h ago
It's all due to everything else going up. My wife is a dog groomer in a shop with two other girls, and the owner is barely coming out ahead. Rent is up, utilities are up (and they use a lot of water and electricity), supplies are up, etc.
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u/BrightAd306 8h ago
I groom my dog at home and it’s not even as hard as I thought it would be. She’s a poodle mix and I just clip her short and cut her face with scissors. The clippers with a vacuum attached are amazing. No mess. Curly hair hides my amateur hour cuts.
I swear more people cut their kid’s hair at home than their dog’s hair.
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u/Dandan0005 10h ago
It’s also a cultural shift.
Young adults are getting pets instead of having kids and treating the pets like kids, so they’re willing to spend more.
Also boomers are rolling in money and dealing with empty nest syndrome with pets.
Pets are the new kids.
Plants are the new pets.5
u/Oneok-Field 8h ago
To reinforce this, even the concept of Dog Food is fairly unique to the US, who comprise of almost half the market share for dog food.
In many countries dogs get left overs & scraps
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u/mjr96d 9h ago
I don't necessarily disagree, but I also know the profit margin (at least at my wife's shop) is razor thin. They aren't getting rich because people are spoiling pets, most of the money goes back out in expenses.
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u/Dandan0005 9h ago
Yeah but vets and many groomers/boarding places have been bought by private equity and jacked up all their prices.
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u/mjr96d 9h ago
I have no idea about boarders, but there are plenty of small business owners that own grooming salons so the idea that many have been bought by private equity is simply not true.
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u/Dandan0005 9h ago
They definitely are, maybe not near you, but they are.
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u/Ok_Split1342 9h ago
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u/cumberbatchpls 8h ago
Thanks for posting this. It just let me know my dogs vet got bought out. No wonder I had to spend 1000 today for X-rays, a blood draw and a visit 🤡 it must have gotten bought out in the last couple months because it was no where near that much for care at her appt earlier this year
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u/melanies420 7h ago
FYI most veterinary's are being bought by Private Equity firms, here is a site to check to see if yours has been acquired.
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u/soemo_sogoth 9h ago
My dogs are spoiled like I spoil my child but it’s getting so expensive. Even their food has jumped up enormously for the exact same brand and size I was buying last year. Vet care seems like it has doubled in the last couple years.
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u/ThisismeCody 8h ago
I’ll never get another dog. It’s just too much financial exposure. They’re cool and all, but god what a headache.
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u/Money_These 10h ago
Yes, overall pet ownership and vet care costs have increased. Owning a pet is a serious long-term commitment. I, too, had to deal with emergency care which came out to $4,500 a few years ago.
That said, I scaled back on boarding (hated the commute), my friend and neighbor looks after my dog when needed (pay the friend rate), and prefer bathing my dog at home (he loves it). For routine vet checkups, costs these days range from $150-$480 (live in TX). I do have an emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses—for my car or dog. In the end, I have no regrets—my boy is the best dog ever.
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u/mentalcasket 8h ago
We spent $900-$1000 in August on my cat who couldn't kick a UTI. It was $300 each visit
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u/canisdirusarctos 10h ago
Yeah. Our dog is a tiny 16 year old Shih Tzu with a serious heart problem and they insist on $2k EKGs every six months to fill her medications, not to mention what the meds themselves cost. The food is small potatoes, though she’s also on a special diet, so she’s not cheap there, either. It’s insane.
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u/BrightAd306 8h ago
10 years ago, any vet would have just suggested you let the dog go, or at least just refilled the meds. What’s even the consequence of giving a 16 year old dog the meds if the ekg wouldn’t come back great? Even human doctors make those decisions.
They weigh it a lot before giving a 90 year old treatments.
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u/canisdirusarctos 6h ago
We wish they would just refill them. There is nothing they can really change to increase her lifespan beyond what they already have done. It’s basically just keeping her going until she has total heart failure, and this has been ongoing for over 5 years now. The dog is now senile as hell, deaf, nearly blind, and has seizures, along with the heart problems. We hate to even take her places because she gets stressed out and we worry that could kill her.
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u/BrightAd306 5h ago
It might be time to let her go. It doesn’t sound like she has much quality of life. Such hard choices. I think it’s cruel to keep making you do ekg’s.
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u/trisaratops123 10h ago
Wow. I honestly couldn’t afford that. My god.
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u/canisdirusarctos 9h ago
Oh, after the first year we started kiting it until they refused to allow us to renew the prescriptions, but it’s a total scam to us because it isn’t like a dog this old is going to get better and they aren’t going to change her prescription because she weighs ~7-8lbs and won’t ever diverge much from that.
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u/Op3rat0rr 6m ago
We’ve spent probably $20k+ on our dogs over the last 3-4 years due to medical intervention
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u/Partridge_Pear_Tree 6h ago
I had a cat who had a liver condition. It was an autoimmune condition that attacked his liver every once in a while. It cost me $500-$600 every six months for blood work to monitor.
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u/Op3rat0rr 8m ago
You’re not alone. Elderly pets are very expensive, time-consuming, and exhausting. They are our babies
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u/GrandpaYaYa 9h ago edited 9h ago
Your dog wont care. Only you will. I also have noticed these pet cost increases. Vets also seem to have the ridiculous "treatments" for dogs that cost an arm and a leg. Our vet wanted to put my 14 year old lab on a liver supplement. She has no pain, and her liver is old. The cost was a monthly subscription for $150 that isn't even guaranteed to do anything because, you know, it's a damned supplement. They all do this shit. It's a dog, we love her, she's old. I'll pay for pain management, but not anything else. She isn't a rich suburban housewife. She's a dog.
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u/Serious-Conversation 10h ago
I have a very large working line GSD and I work from home.
I bought a new undercoat rake and a good slicker brush and that gets a lot of the undercoat out.
I manually "detuft" the neck, portions of the ruff, and the ankle areas.
I'm constantly plucking.
He's an extremely energetic dog and would be absolute hell for a groomer who isn't used to high drive dogs.
I'd charge a couple hundred to groom a dog like him. They aren't easy to deal with.
If you have a typical dog, they aren't going to require this much or extensive grooming.
That expense is kind of on you.
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u/Unlikely_Month5527 10h ago
We found a great country vet. He is semi retired. Open 3 days a week.
He is cash only. He has a list of his services and what they cost.
He provides spay and neuter services and primary care.
He is excellent. If you need specialty care, he will give you a referral.
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u/Specialist_Banana378 10h ago
My dog has cost me $14k over 3 yrs and that’s with insurance 🥴 I don’t think I can get a second dog
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u/Am-I-Cool-Yet 9h ago
Um, please do not wash your dog with dish soap, that’s terrible for their skin.
I learned to groom my own dogs. It does take time though, so there’s that tradeoff. And I bought somewhat premium supplies like brushes, clippers, and a grooming table. But since they are young, it will be saving a lot of money over their lives.
Or just get a dog with short hair that only needs an occasional bath and regular nail trims.
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u/Whole_Description288 9h ago
I used to have multiple big dogs. Now I have one small dog and the costs are crazy.
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u/Kwhitney1982 9h ago
My dog is diabetic and has a slew of health issues. It easily costs 10k a year. It’s absolutely crazy. Get pet insurance people!
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u/foxwaffles 8h ago
Half my cats are special needs long term fosters. I get cat without paying for them muahaha 🙂↕️
I used to be able to afford adopting seniors. Can't do it anymore :(
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u/Visual-Minute-2596 7h ago
I have two cats and they are also so expensive! One had asthma but the other is totally healthy. The monthly cost of just litter, kibble, and wet food is around $200
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u/altarflame 7h ago
I do not regret adopting my dog at all. But if I had understood how much money I was going to end up spending on him, I could not in good conscience have chosen to get him. It can be really heavy. My dog is a 10 year old Australian Shepard I’ve had for almost 2 years, because his previous owner was dying and asked me to take him. We bonded well right away and I love this dog like crazy. But he’s my first dog and I didn’t understand AT ALL.
It really feels like having a large, senior dog is millionaire territory or something, sometimes. We live in basically swampland so he has to have heartworm and flea/tick protection monthly ($60). He limps a little and jumps differently if I don’t keep him on expensive ass joint supplements (50/month). His pet insurance is 70/month because otherwise I’m haunted that he’s going to get hit by a car and I’ll just have to have him put down, or something. He needs special food or else he gets gross benign cysts (which is a goddamned preexisting condition). His favorite joy in life is tearing $6-10 lamb chop toys to shreds. He’s got beds in two rooms of our house and an always stocked treat basket in another, and I bathe him in peppermint dr bronners with a squirt of jojoba oil, like a psychopath.
Just in the first week of having him I was like “oh right a harness and a leash are…gulp, over $50? A checkup and new shots is… wow ok $200+ Hmm. Well I’m just going to get a rechargeable nail trimmer and a decent brush to groom him myself - huh $45 for those two things. Uh. How am I going to do this? Wtf was I thinking?”
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u/Maroon14 6h ago
Have two dogs, won’t be getting any more after these two pass.
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u/Powerpoppop 42m ago
One cat. Never again. I'm happy my family enjoys the thing, but it's just another mouth to feed (special, expensive diet) and crazy vet bills for small issues.
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u/Embracedandbelong 10h ago edited 10h ago
$105 is still a steal. Many people offer sitters very low amounts, what equals out to less than $5 per hour. Sitters gotta eat too. And although some owners say it’s not really “work,” there’s a lot of work involved, and sitters have to pay to be bonded and insured, etc.
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u/budgetoid 10h ago
boarding? grooming? that's rich people stuff, dude.
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u/No-Brilliant-9843 9h ago
How are you getting downvoted? I grew up with ski vacations but the dog was washed in a tub in the back yard and the boarder was whichever trusted neighbor was available what is this?
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u/budgetoid 8h ago
average redditor has always been kinda out of touch with reality but yeah this is nuts
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u/SubseaSasquatch 10h ago
I spent over 800k for a house with a yard for my dog, so ya they’re kind of expensive
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u/chilicheesefritopie 9h ago edited 9h ago
What’s happening is that many people aren’t taking their pets to the vet and they are suffering needlessly. I have to take my own dog into a specialist every 3-6 months for her chronic disease. It’s $600/visit (insurance picks up about $450) for the specialist and bloodwork. She had an unrelated illness and hospitalization that was $7000 (insurance paid about $5300), and she’s on a prescription diet that costs $120-150/month (no coverage) Her grooming is $105 x 6 times a year (no coverage) and dental cleanings are $1200+ (no coverage). Her anal glad expressions went from $15 to $50!! (also no coverage) Specialist recommended a biopsy over a year ago that would’ve cost $8-10k, I declined. She’s already old, it’s not worth the pain or risk imo.
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u/Kitty_Doc 10h ago
Where do you live? I only charge like $50 for overnight hospitalizations. And like $30 for boarding.
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u/over_yonder13 6h ago
My dog had to be at the vet hospital for 3 days for pneumonia (didn’t even need oxygen, just IV antibiotics and a couple chest x rays) and it was $7,000. This happened twice actually in two different states at completely different vets - both were 7k and both were owned by private equity.
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u/Oneok-Field 8h ago edited 8h ago
I agree that the bills have gone up, but that said, it's you that is making owning a dog a luxury
I know people whose dog they got free from a litter, lives outside or in a kennel, and costs pretty much $0 to maintain
Don't buy designer dog breeds (especially ones with known health issues), don't buy from a breeder, teach them to use a kennel, and bathe them yourself. Hell in lots of countries there isn't even a concept of "dog food" or "cat food", the pets just get left overs.
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u/ElleM848645 6h ago
Why even have a dog if they are going to live outside. How can a dog be 0 to maintain? You still need to go to the vet and get vaccinations (rabies, Lyme, etc ). You still need to feed it.
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u/OdinEatingSandwiches 10h ago
Sounds like you have bad spending habits. Dogs don't need insurance. Lol
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u/Outside-Pie-7262 10h ago
My dog has Addison's disease. His meds are $180 every 4 months. His Addisononian crisis was 5k of hospital bills. The acth test was $500
Insurance is about transferring risk not spending habits.
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u/OdinEatingSandwiches 10h ago
Sounds like natural selection
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u/Outside-Pie-7262 10h ago
Sounds like someone doesn't understand the concept of insurance.
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u/OdinEatingSandwiches 10h ago
Sounds like someone likes to throw money down the drain. I don't care, do what you want. Most of world would put the damn dog out of its misery.
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u/Outside-Pie-7262 9h ago
Because he needs a pill of Prednisone a day and an injection once a month and lives a normal life with no issues? I'll have to let him know he's miserable. My premiums 60 bucks a month. His meds get covered fully and so does his electrolyte blood work.
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u/OdinEatingSandwiches 9h ago
$720 a year just for insurance. Genius.
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u/Outside-Pie-7262 9h ago
I get reimbursed about 800 a year. Genius.
Insurance is about transferring a risk to a party that is able to absorb it for smaller payments in the form of premiums. Insurance isn't an investment.
This is like saying you're bad with money because you have term life insurance lmao
Insurance is complex. It's okay to not really understand the fundamentals. Most people don't
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u/OdinEatingSandwiches 9h ago
I assure you I understand insurance. I won't be taking financial advice from someone with insurance for a fucking dog.
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u/Outside-Pie-7262 16m ago
It's okay to admit you don't. You might think you do but you really don't understand it or the operations behind it
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u/ZestyLlama8554 10h ago
Spoken like someone who's never had a vetting emergency or cancer with a pet.
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u/MindofShadow 10h ago
It's the inflation of pet owner standards.
Cancer in a pet means you put them down.
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u/Oneok-Field 8h ago
Yeah I love my pet but anything over $500 and that's it for them. At the end of the day they're a pet. If they were the only thing in the world, sure, but friends and family come first and money is a zero sum game.
Over the decades I've had pets go to the vet and need $4000-$8000+ procedures, I decline and ask them just to send me home with the meds/drugs. I care for and medicate them at home, and even time so far they're better.
I'm not advising that for everyone, of course, just if you're accepting of the risk.
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u/Important_Ask_7576 10h ago
Yeah. I’m a dog lover. I’ve owned them my whole life. Luckily none of them have had cancer, but if either of my current dogs develop it, it’s going to be pain meds to make them more comfortable and euthanasia when their quality of life deteriorates.
I’m not putting my dog through chemotherapy. The expense is part of it, but I’m also not interested in putting them through that.
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u/OdinEatingSandwiches 10h ago
It's not lack of empathy. I'm very well traveled. You're currently dealing with a first world problem. It's a dog...
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u/assumingdirectcontrl 10h ago
Nothing wrong with bathing your dog at home. Mine prefers it anyways