How much $$ required to own a dog?

 My personal rules are....

• I won't add another dog (or even a foster) if it's going to set us back and make things unstable, or cut it too close each month.
  
• I may not have "emergency" funds saved up, but we have a line of credit that we can use for emergencies (same goes for if something happens to us or the car).

As for where I draw the line with my dogs, that is a quality of life issue, not a money issue.  I won't spend thousands to keep a dog alive when the dog would still be in pain and have limited mobility and/or mental capacity.  I won't let a dog suffer because it's too hard for me to let go.

Other things are more about what works than what it costs.  For example, my cats eat a mid-quality food, but that is what works for all of them.  I've tried a dozen foods and settled on the one that keeps them healthy.  There maybe ten foods that are "better" on paper, but I use them not b/c of cost but b/c they make my cats sick.  Same for training with the dogs.  I don't spend much on Coke because he's just not into dog sports.  I spend a LOT on Kenya, but she's a working bred dog who literally goes crazy without enough mental stimulation.  My dogs are indoor dogs, but they are breeds that prefer to be inside with their people.  Other people might have more independent, primative breeds that would rather be outdoors most of the time.

 I guess then I shouldnt own any dogs. If mine were to get any serious life or death injuries I wouldnt be able to afford the care unless I got to do a payment plan.

I can afford to vet my dogs annually, feed them great food(i know what great food is now),buy them yummies whenever I go to the petstore,love them, provide shelter, attend whatever classes they need or I want to do, and still help the occasional stray/drop off pup/dog.

I think if you can feed your dog decent food,water,shelter,be part of the family(not tied/penned 24/7),afford the required vaccines,teach it manners,love it then it doesnt matter how much money you have.

Heck if I was to break my arm I couldnt afford the hospital bill to fix it. 

I have had to ask JJ's mom 2 times already to borrow money when Kujo needed emergency vet care. How was I to know she was gonna get kicked in the head and then get tonsilittus? I didnt even know dogs got tonsilittus!! 

I hope I made sense. 

 Personally, I think most shelter dogs would prefer to roll the dice and take a chance at a life with a loving family even if there is a risk of being put down early because of lack of emergency funds, versus being put down after a few days sitting in the shelter because of lack of funds.

As for what I think are the bare minimium of what a person should have before getting a dog.  The funds and time for basic neccesaties, training, vet care, and enough money to put the animal down if an emergency arrives where they can't afford to care for the animal any longer.

cat0

This kind of thinking says to me that some people haven't lived enough to figure out there are hard choices to be made in life. 

See, I see this just the opposite.  I personally would NOT take on another animal of any kind if I didn't know that I could afford it, including having either savings or credit for emergencies. 

That said, if I already had the dog and my situation changed then I would still do whatever it took to take care of the situation.  I would not put a dog down for the reason of money-I'd work out some kind of payment plan, borrow it, take out a loan, apply for another credit card, whatever it took. 

Liesje

 My personal rules are....

• I won't add another dog (or even a foster) if it's going to set us back and make things unstable, or cut it too close each month.
  

Same here. I do have a small savings for Apollo, and we also have a line a credit for him. He eats decent food (Canidae), gets treats, has tons of toys, beds, leashes, collars. He has his annual check up and vaccines. We can also pay for boarding if necessary.

All 3 of our rescued cats eat OK food (Purina Cat Chow) but they all do fine on it. And they all have beds, toys, cat trees, litter boxes, are annually vetted, and we can pay for boarding. They're all strictly indoor cats. If an emergency were to arise we have some savings and a line of credit.

 I save $50 a month for Toots and the cat and I also have a credit card that has never been used, for vet emergencies. They both eat excellent food, go to the vet annually, get treats on a regular basis. Basically their treated like royalty. I would never put myself or them in the situation of putting them to sleep because I couldn't pay. I would find away. If I had to I would get insurance for them both. This works for me, adding another pet would require  a new plan.

My view is pretty simple.... If you can not keep the dog , as in this case due to profound injury then I believe you owe it to the Dog to be there to gentle him across the bridge.  I realize you were lucky and this dog became part of your family but I honestly think that is a rare circumstance. What would happen to him if the vet had not had room or the inclination to try to find him a family?  He would have been left to be PTS without family to tell him how loved he was and how sorry they were that he would have to cross.   People who drop a dog off and let the vet decide or simply assume the vet will do this grieve me no end. What a sorry and sad thing to do, imho....

But as far as how much money ?? I need to know I have income that will equal to roughly 75.00 per dog per week.  With a credit card reserve incase of emergency ... Since I have 6 perm dogs and 2 that will be going home tomorrow you can do the math. I will do with out myself before my dogs or kids will.

If a catastrophic injury happened that I could not afford to fix I would make the tough call rather than cross my fingers and hope as I walked away from someone I loved....

Bonita of Bwana

Well, once again I probably could have said it better.  They didn't abandon the dog, they signed him over to the vet.  The vet made the decisions regarding his recovery.

My issue is with people that think if you can't foot the bill for a catastrophe, you shouldn't own a dog.  And I think that there are a lot of pretty happy dogs out there that fall into a lower income bracket.

If my horse should break his leg (again), I don't think I'll be working a line of credit to send him to New Bolton to occupy Barbaro's old stall.  I don't have that kind of money.  Should I not have a horse?

Krissim Klaw

 Personally, I think most shelter dogs would prefer to roll the dice and take a chance at a life with a loving family even if there is a risk of being put down early because of lack of emergency funds, versus being put down after a few days sitting in the shelter because of lack of funds.

I think so too.  Maybe I'll pass that thought along next time I get an earful.

We didn't ask Thor or the cats if they wanted to come home with us. So, we are responsible for them. That's how I see it.

It was quite absurd for us to receive so many questions and critics when we were getting prepared to travel to Canada. A lot of people said it was the most stupid thing we could do: traveling with Thor and the cats and spending all that money... Also, some people asked where were we leaving them. And the same about getting them to the vet when something is odd. I pretty much don't care. I think everybody has the right to have an opinion and I don't let myself to be drag over somebody else's thoughts about how should I live.

We have a special fund for the pets too and they had pretty much everything set when we arrive. Talking about a horrible thing that someday could happen, I think I will suffer a lot, but I'll never let somebody else than me or DH to make a decision about Luke, Zarina or Thor's life. And I will be there holding that paw until the last breath. I have already done that and I think is the ultimate way to love.

To own a dog, you should have enough money to feed and train it and get standard vet visits such as vaccs. But there are low cost clinics and programs everywhere, for vaccs and spay/neuter. If you have to have enough for catastrophic health care, which can run into the thousands, then most of us shouldn't be owning a pet. And when it comes to an issue of chronic pain or quality of life, the human needs to have enough huevos and denaro to do the humane thing, which is to end the suffering.

 I totally agree with Ron.

There's a huge difference between a $300 emergency visit to the vet because your dog swallowed a golf ball and a $3,000 accrued vet bill because you're putting your dog through chemotherapy. And there's a big difference between both of those and not being able to afford basic vaccines, heartworm prevention, etc.

Now I love Rascal to pieces and I would gladly fork over whatever I could to keep him healthy and happy - if the vet said right now that a $5,000 surgery would cure his neck problems for the rest of his life, I would probably find a way to make that happen. That said, I cannot and will not guarantee to do "whatever it takes" - beyond a certain expense point, particularly if the prognosis is not great even with treatment, it just doesn't make sense to prolong the experience.

As an example, my childhood dog, a Sheltie, started having seizures when she was 12 years old. Money was *very* tight at the time. We brought her in to the vet, who did some basic bloodwork and tests, and we were told she probably had a brain tumor. We could either do a CT scan to see for sure ($1,000) and then discuss the possibility of surgery or chemo ($2,000+?), or we could put her on barbituates to control the seizures and wait and see what happened. There was no way we could afford the more expensive route, so we started the barbituates. They worked - she never had another seizure, and she lived a happy, normal life until she died in her sleep about 6 months later. I don't believe we were irresponsible just because we didn't, say, sell our car in order to provide an older dog with a slim extra chance at living another year or so.

My issue is with people that think if you can't foot the bill for a catastrophe, you shouldn't own a dog.

I think you shouldn't own a dog if you can't do right by the dog. If you want to have dependents of any kind, including cats, dogs, children, fish, you should make sure you can afford to take care of ALL of their needs not just the cheaper needs. That said, if the vet said the dog had very little chance of recovering and the treatment was painful or very expensive I'd PTS.

I would not go to near the same lengths financially for my dogs as for my kids. That's been discussed here before. I do not judge others if they choose to mortgage their home or go into debt for their animals...but I certainly never would.

cat0

This kind of thinking says to me that some people haven't lived enough to figure out there are hard choices to be made in life. 

Totally agree.I'd eat mac and cheese for a year,but I wouldn't spend my kid's college fund to save my pet's lives. In a dire situation I would be there for the euthanasia and not allow anyone else to make the call for me.CatO, your lack of judgement reguarding your dogs previous owner is refreshing.

Tena