If you’re ready to dive into owning a puppy, here is a handy guide to what expenses you can expect and what you’ll need to budget for.
Food and Treats
Depending on the size, breed, and overall energy levels of your puppy, your dog food expenses may differ. Regardless, feeding your pup a high-quality diet is an important part of their overall health and growth. For dog food, you can pay anywhere from $150 to $500 a year.
Add to that the cost of dog treats. Puppies need training and lots of positive reinforcement as they learn how to navigate the world, so dog treats are an important part of your puppy budget.
Toys and Enrichment
Your toy budget can also differ from dog to dog, but having many different options in the beginning is a great idea.
Your puppy can explore different play options, and you can learn more about your puppy’s style of play. Plus, chew toys are a great idea for a teething puppy.
Your toy budget can be anywhere from $50 to several hundred dollars per year.
Leashes, Collars, and Pet Accessories
Your puppy is going to need a quality leash, collar, ID tag, and other pet accessories when you bring them home. This can include a crate, a bed, or a puppy exercise pen.
While a leash and collar may be $20, crates can be anywhere from $30 to several hundred dollars, so your budget will differ depending on how you plan to train and raise your puppy.
Grooming
Some dog breeds will need more grooming than others. At the very least, you’ll need to buy a brush for your dog, as well as dog shampoo for bath time and nail clippers to trim their claws. If you have a puppy with a high-maintenance coat, you’ll also need to factor in the cost of regular grooming appointments.
Training
While you can train your puppy on your own at home, enlisting the help of a professional with puppy training classes or in-home training sessions can help set your pup off on the right foot.
Some classes can be as little as $25 while some professional in-home trainers may charge $200-$300 for training sessions.
Routine Vet Appointments
To keep your puppy happy and healthy, you’ll need to take them to regular vet appointments. Especially as a puppy, vet visits will be more frequent while your puppy gets vaccinated as well as spayed or neutered.
You’ll likely spend $100-$300 on your puppy’s vet appointments in the first year of their life.
Emergency Expenses
These are the expenses that you, unfortunately, can’t always predict. Puppies are curious animals, and accidents can happen quickly. A trip to the emergency vet can start at $500, and any treatments or surgeries they will need will add up quickly.
Luckily, pet insurance can help take away the burden of emergency medical experiences by reimbursing for most of if not all of the costs. Instead of worrying about a sudden $5,000 vet bill, you can simply budget for the price of your low-cost monthly premium.
Are You Prepared for Puppy Parenthood?
While puppies can certainly be expensive, the joy they bring to your life makes everything worth it. Many of the costs will be one-time fees, and pet insurance can make the largest expenses much easier to tackle.
Get a quote from Top Dog Pet Insurance today to help ease the cost of puppy parenthood.
