Personal Finance Guides: Whoa, Pets are Expensive!

Here is something I overheard during lunch yesterday. I know eves dropping isn’t exactly good manners, but in my defense, these ladies were talking very loudly, and I was sitting all by myself with nothing to do, waiting for my friend to join me.

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Lady 1: “My mom gave Vic (son?) a dog for his birthday, and its killing me!”

Lady 2: “Um… hmmm….”

Lady 1: “My apartment charges $500 pet deposit. In addition to that I spend $12 a day on doggy day care since both Tom (husband?) and I work. And today I got a call from the day care that Timmy (the dog?) had swallowed something and was coughing and dry heaving. So they took him to the vet. The vet charges $43.99 for inspecting the dog. But since Timmy was very agitated and snapping at them, they wanted to sedate him first. That would cost an additional $100. And if he has indeed swallowed something then it would cost an additional $159.99 to retrieve it. It’s crazy. I asked Tom to handle it.”

Lady 2: “You can’t be serious! That’s over $300 just because your stupid dog swallowed something? You need to get rid of that dog!”

Lady 1: “I don’t know. Vic is so attached to him. And Timmy is really very sweet and affectionate…”

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At that point my friend arrived and I had to leave to get my lunch. But boy, was I shocked! That’s a lot of money they were talking about. When we moved into our own house, one of the first few things I wanted to get was a dog. I pestered my husband about it (and still give him a hard time sometimes), but he managed to talk me out of it saying its too much work and the dog will be “depressed” if there is no body at home all day. (I think the thought of having to pick the doggy doo was what really persuaded me though – but that’s a different conversation). After listening to the ladies today however, I am glad we didn’t get a dog!

When I came home I remembered that conversation and thought I would just check online if it really cost that much. I came across this site which has the national average vet costs. Reading this, it seems like the lady in the restaurant was actually getting away cheap :) Here are some of the costs from that site –

Gastrotomy (to retrieve swallowed object): $274
X-rays: $58 for the first, $36 for each additional
Anesthesia (per half hour): $56
Preanesthetic sedation: $23
Preanesthetic exam: $28
Anesthetic monitoring: $19

I have no idea what Preanesthetic sedation is or why it would even be needed, but boy, those costs are quite staggering. I browsed a little more and found several articles that talk about similar high costs. Wow, that’s something.

I really love dogs and would love to have one, but seriously, I doubt if I can afford one at this cost!

If you are thinking of getting a pet, be sure to think of the financial aspects among other things and make an informed decision!

If you already have a dog and love it, here are some articles that might help you keep the costs down. I understand that once you get attached to a pet, and it becomes a part of the family, you will not want to “get rid of it” or be too stingy with medical expenses. We had dogs in our house all through my childhood and I cannot imagine giving away the dogs that we had come to love because they cost too much. But I hope, some of these articles will help you find a way to keep the costs down and manage the expenses as efficiently as possible!