Can you afford a pet?

It starts with the cost of getting the pet

If you choose to adopt your pet from your local humane society, you’d be looking at between $350–$1,000, depending on the province you’re in. That’s the upside. The downside is you’ll have, an incomplete history of the pet. 

A dog or cat from a professional breeder will cost much more: quality breeders start at around $2,000 and, depending on the breed, can be much higher. But you’ll know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the animal was raised in a nurturing environment.

First-year expenses to factor in 

There are a lot of purchases you’ll need to make before welcoming a pet into your home. 

Sleeping crates. Housebreaking pads and extra cleaning supplies. Food bowls. Chew toys. Litter boxes. Scratching posts. Cages and wheels. These are the kinds of items you’ll probably want to buy. You should expect to put out anywhere from $100 to $500 for these items, depending on the kind of pet you’re preparing to welcome into your home.  

The second big pet ownership expense of the first year is getting your pet ready to enter your home. This will include all the necessary check-ups and vaccines ($350), spaying or neutering ($600) and the microchipping ($60). It should also include training that can be anywhere from $30–$80 a class depending on how seasoned you want your trainer or how private you want your classes to be.

Finally, you can decide if you want to include pet insurance, which would add another $30–$60 a month (more on pet insurance below).

While you probably won’t want to cut corners on vaccines, food, or training, you can save money on the tactile expenses and insurance. 

Save money by buying used items when you can. For example, while you’d want to buy a new bed for your dog, you could probably find a used sleeping crate on Craigslist or Kijiji being sold by an owner whose dog grew out of needing.

Understanding the annual costs 

The Ontario Veterinary Medical Association broke down the annual financial commitment of owning dogs and cats this way:

• Puppies (0–3 years): $5,200/year
• Dogs (3+ years): $4,100/year
• Kittens: (0–3 years): $3,400/year
• Cats (3+ years): $2,800/year

While these figures include the basics like food (roughly $1,100 a year), regular vet check-ups and vaccines (roughly $1,000 a year) and pet insurance (roughly $1,000 a year — more on insurance below), they don’t include expenses like a dog-walker service ($15–$25 per walk) or a boarding service if you go out of town ($65/day).

Why consider pet insurance?

When the unexpected happens, medicine and medical care add up quickly. It starts in the puppy/kitten stage with prescriptions for things like kennel cough, or your cat getting sick from eating a plant. 

As your pet gets older, you may have to introduce more regular medications, for things like anxiety or diabetes. These prescriptions can be very expensive, depending on the condition. Your pet insurance could partially or fully cover these expenses, and possibly even pay for surgery, which could run up to $10,000.

But with a pet insurance policy, you can rest a little easier knowing that a lot of these expenses will be covered, even partially. And whether you choose to purchase pet insurance or not, consider starting a pet emergency fund to cover what insurance might not — and hope you never have to dip into it. A few dollars put aside every month will add up quickly.

Assessing your finances when deciding if you can afford a pet

The bond you have with your pet will be among your life’s most rewarding relationships, but as you’ve just read, it comes with a financial commitment: the first three years of their life with you will cost between $18K and $25K for dogs and between $15K and $20K for cats. That works out to between $485 and $600 a month. 

If you have room in your monthly budget to make that kind of commitment, and it makes sense to you, then you’re ready. If you’re not ready but you want to be, you can prepare yourself for taking on the costs in a few ways:

• Save for year one: Put a bit aside every month into a pet fund that you can use for the first-year expenses at least. This will give you some runway to build up more savings for the subsequent years, which won’t be as taxing.
• Start relationships with breeders: Breeders have their prices, but they also have networks of former customers, some of whom may be interested in re-homing their pets. In that case, the owners and breeders are usually more interested in finding the right family than fetching the right price.
• Walk neighbourhood dogs: Get used to the habit. Find the best routes in your neighbourhood. Make a few extra bucks and put it towards to your pet fund.

Pet love is a two-way street

Showing them the love they’ll show ou for their entire lives involves a fair amount of money. But as you’ll find out, it’ll be the best money you ever spend.

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