PetKnows

When a friend of mine announced that she was looking for a new puppy, a collection of thoughts ran through my mind. But I quickly blurted out, “do you know how much it is going to cost?”

She estimated $50 a month, but to me that amount seemed suspiciously low…

So I turned to the web, and found some amazing resources to help my friend get a more realistic estimate. Here are some of the best resources for calculating the real cost of your current or future pet:

Texas CPAs Pet Ownership Worksheet for Children and Parents (PDF)

• It’s not just for kids! This clean and simple spreadsheet will help anyone budget for a pet.

ASPCA Pet Care Cost Calculator

• The ASPCA says it best in their own words…“To make it easier for you to plan for your new arrival, we’ve prepared a financial breakdown of the annual costs of caring for a variety of species.”

RainingSpot Blog - The Cost of Owning a Dog

• If a dog’s average lifespan is twelve years, buying a puppy and caring for him throughout his life will cost $4,620 to $32,990. You may spend more or less depending on the dog you adopt and where you live.

Money Under 30 - The True Cost of Pet Ownership

• The title may give it away, but this blog was the most helpful for my 24 year old puppy-desiring friend. Breaking down the range of various expenses, the Money Under 30 blog pegs the average first year dog ownership costs at $1,260 for dogs and $1,070 for cats.

Acquiring and caring for a pet can be one of the best ways to spend your money, but it is important to plan for all the expenses. So next time your friend says “I want to get a puppy!,” send them a link to this post to help them plan it out. Oh, and as for my friend and her puppy dreams…she ran the numbers, and found out that year 1 would cost her $1,500. She was glad to know the real cost, and she decided to go for it.

“By the way,” she said, “Halloween is coming up, so I budgeted for an extra costume.”