Imablog Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.

Dog TCO: 5 years

With Nala turning 5 and Simba turning 4, I figured an update to my previous Dog TCO post was in order. Here's the breakdown from 1-Jan-2005 through today.

In case you haven't bothered to click on the graph for the large version, some of the bigger chunks are food in blue (22%), vet in light green (17%), pet supplies in burgundy (20%), meds in green (10%), kennel expenses in yellow (13%) and other (11%).

There hasn't really been too much change from the last analysis in the way expenses are distributed. Food, supplies and vet expenses continue to be the biggest chunks of the pie at 22%, 20% and 17% respectively. The total for the past 5 years (2005-2009) is just over $22 300, or about $4 460/year.

I typically don't skimp too much when it comes to the dogs, so I probably spend a little more than most people do. They're worth it though.

Eugene
I fully agree I don't skimp on the dogs I own in two aspects: their medical care and their food. With allergies for two of them I have learned buying the higher quality food equates to a happier and healthier dog.