Welcoming a new pet to your family is a wonderful decision filled with excitement and planning. You’ve chosen the perfect collar, built a list of potential names, and read up on the latest potty-training tips. You’re ready to bring your furry friend home, but what you may not have considered is the true financial costs of owning a pet.
If you don’t build a pet budget you may be setting yourself up for a lot of stress down the road. According to the ASPCA, bringing home a small dog or cat can cost you over $800 your first year — that more than doubles to $2000 if you fall in love with a large dog.
Pets are full of surprises, which is why you should also be saving for unexpected payments like when your puppy eats their fancy bed, sending you to the pet store for a new one and the vet to be sure everything is fine. Budgeting for emergencies helps keep you out of trouble, unlike the 42% of millennials who have gone into debt for a pet.
Before you adopt your next best friend, make sure you’re fully prepared for the financial cost of pet ownership. The flowchart below (provided by https://turbo.intuit.com) will help you decide if you’re ready to grow your family and gives you a few tips to save some money along the way.
This is SO important! I will never forget when I first brought my Dav girl home – I was young and not totally prepared (I’ll be honest). About a week into owning her she ran face first into the side of my futon while playing and managed to cut her muzzle on it somehow (a screw or something, we’re not positive). It took a vet visit, meds and 3 stitches – but it taught me quickly to never underestimate the unexpected!
Absolutely! And the unexpected always happens at the most inopportune times. Either on a Sunday when vets are closed, forcing you to visit the emergency vet, or when you are making that last paycheck stretch. We had one that ended up in ICU for 2 weeks from a sudden onset of serious pancreatitis. Luckily by that time we were prepared for it but had it been several years earlier, we would have had no choice than to put her down.