Pet Care Costs: The Costs of Dog and Cat Care

September 5, 2009 by Silicon Valley Blogger

What’s been your experience with pet care costs and pet products? Does your dog or cat cost more than child care?

I’m writing this as an ode to my cat. Sort of.

I wanted to respond to one of Lazy Man’s older posts on “How Much Does A Dog Cost”? It’s no secret that they cost a lot more than cats. It’s all about the maintenance. Any dog owner can tell you that to make a dog happy, you’ll need to treat them like family, while cats — they’re happy when you give them their space. I love dogs — I grew up vastly preferring dogs over cats for most of my life. But then I got my Himalayan kitty and it all changed: I like both pets in equal heaps. But if you want the hard numbers, check out these tables for comparison’s sake (the “My Cost” column below shows figures given by the person who originally compiled this data, from the site PetEducation.com):

Lifetime Costs of Owning A Dog

dog costs
Image from PetEducation.com

Lifetime Costs of Owning A Cat

cat costs
Image from PetEducation.com

Interesting that on the low side, dogs cost pretty much the same as cats, but on the high side, there’s almost a 100% cost differential.

So how much has my cat cost me? Hardly anything. After the usual vet bills in the beginning when we first got him, we haven’t spent a dime beyond the bags of cat food from Costco. We also got him for free (through a friend) and ever since we picked him up at a year old, he’s been free of problems, illnesses and all the other things that may put a weight on a pet owner’s wallet. Knock on wood.

We have very good friends who own a couple of Siamese cats which were bought for a $1000 each. I’m quite impressed with those cats — pure bred, beautiful and totally screened of all ill behavior. They are no doubt a couple of the nicest cats in the universe (that I’ve seen). Knowing how much it costs to get such “perfect” pets, the more I feel like we truly lucked out on ours: an outdoor cat with claws he uses to fend for himself in the suburban wild where the possums and raccoons roam, yet who’s nice enough to be on his best behavior when he’s indoors. The best part is that he doesn’t need much care really, being the independent creature that he is.

Himalayan cat
My kitty

Yes, I feel that we’ve been really lucky with this pet. No need for obedience school (dogs that we’ve owned have had to attend charm school), obligatory walks, chewed up slippers (or scratched furniture!), or pet insurance to worry about. Too often, cats that wander into your home for free may not have the characteristics or personality you’re looking for. But the one that found his way into our hearts definitely does!

Here’s more on my kitty.

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