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Man’s best friend isn’t always wallet friendly. Case in point, my dog. When my husband and I first moved in together, we adopted our cat (adoption fee, $40). After getting several complaints of his loud screaming from our neighbors, we took him to the vet where we were told he had separation anxiety (shots, declaw/neuter and diagnosis, $130), to which we had several options on how to fix this. We could a.) Leave the radio on (failed), b.) Scatter toys with catnip on them all over the house (failed), c.) Medicate him (have you ever tried to pill a cat? We have and it took two of us to get one pill into an 8lb cat), or d.)Get him a friend. We chose plan D.
In November 2008, we found a tiny little eight week old Labradoodle puppy on Petfinder.com that had a fractured leg and the cutest little face. What was supposed to be a joint venture in meeting the dog and discussing bringing him home turned into my husband meeting him the day before and telling me that night he was coming home with us the next day (adoption fee, $150). We took him to our vet after bringing him home, only to find out that he had worms (medicine $80) and needed x-rays of his leg (x-rays, $60). After he was back to health, we started puppy obedience classes to curb his energy and bad habits (training, $100). He did so well in puppy class that they asked us to go into the next class (basic obedience, $100). Not only is he great at training and tricks, but he has to look nice too, so every three months, we go to the groomer (spa day, $40/trip). (I won’t include the $5 registration fee to enter him in a dog trick contest that he won…proud parenting moment there!)
Then came the puppy downfall. Approaching his first birthday, the dog park opened and while I am an advocate of socializing and letting dogs be dogs, my dog is afraid of all other dogs bigger than he is, which is most of them since he is 55lbs. Out at the dog park one day (year long pass, $30), he got into a mood where he didn’t want to play and ended up being at the bottom of a pile of dogs who wanted his stick. Our dog came out of it limping, so naturally we took him to the vet, where we were told he had to have surgery to correct a luxating patella but we had to wait until the Kennel Cough passed (that trip, $180).
We had the first surgery (surgery #1, $700), followed by seeing a specialist because the first surgery didn’t take (surgery #2, $1,600) which was then followed by physical therapy (swimming lessons, $100). Three months later, we were back at the specialist because he contracted a staph infection and had to have yet another surgery (surgery #3, $1,400) and then another round of physical therapy (lessons, $100).
Adding everything up, plus the trips to the vet I didn’t mention, between two animals in one year, we have spent almost $5,000 on our animals, not including food, treats, toys, beds and other animal like necessities. If we were to add in those things, I would estimate we are around $7,000.
Is our case unusual? Not necessarily, a lot of animals have genetic disorders that may become present throughout their lifetime. Animals are like little kids, they are into everything, they make big messes and they need regular care from a doctor to stay healthy.
Was it worth it? Of course, the feeling of love when I’m upset and my dog gets on my lap, puts his head on my leg and sighs is priceless. Or when my cat tries to kill me in my sleep by sticking his paws down my throat, I wouldn’t give that up (we adopted him, no one said he likes either one of us).
Megan, you ask, what did this do to your budget? Ha! Well, luckily, being the savvy lady that I am, I had money put aside for a week long Bora Bora trip that I was very much looking forward to. Bora Bora became a day on a pontoon at Big Creek in Polk City, Iowa with friends and our dog had his necessary surgeries. Had I of not planned my dream vacation, we would likely be up to our eyeballs in credit card debt to afford the surgeries.
I budgeted for our animals; I did my research into their breeds and knew how much I would be spending a month on food and toys. However, I was blind to the medical implications that would arise. My personal suggestion, if you are going to get an animal, start saving for their medical bills. If you never see the vet in the capacity that I have