Puppy Or Older Dog: Which Costs More?
If you have read some of my previous posts, you know I am an animal lover, and I especially favor dogs. Maybe cats are smarter and more independent, but there is nothing like a tail wagging at 100 mph and a big tongue hanging out to greet you when you come home from being gone five minutes or five hours. (These are my dogs, not my husband) I took in another foster puppy this week. He is only with us for a few days while he is recovering from surgery. My permanent dogs are 4 and 10 years old. With the contrast in ages, I’ve been wondering if it costs more money to get an older dog or a puppy? From my recent experiences, I’ll share a cost breakdown.
We’ll assume the costs are for mid range quality food, and the veterinary costs are for my area, which may vary depending on where you live.
New Puppy Costs
When I picked up two 4 month old puppies on the side of the road recently, I knew I wasn’t going to keep them forever. If I had decided to keep one, though, here is an idea of what it would cost. You might also buy a new puppy from a breeder or take one from someone who had an unwanted litter. You can get puppies from shelters, but for this example, assume you are getting him elsewhere.
Shots: Puppies need more shots than older dogs, plus an exam with the veterinarian and worming treatment, depending on where the dog was found. $300
Spay/Neuter: We’ll assume we kept the boy puppy, since neutering is less than spaying. $100
Food: Puppies eat all the time, kind of like new babies. We were feeding the little guys at least 4-5 cups of puppy chow a day. $45/month=$540/year
Chew toys: While older dogs might like toys, it is not a vital as giving the new pup something to chew besides your furniture and remote controls. I was realy surprised at how much chew toys cost. $100/year
Kennel: You need some sort of place to contain the little dynamo until he is house broken and doesn’t chew everything. $50
Carpet Cleaning: The little guy is going to pee on your floor. Even if you rent a rug doctor, the cost of supplies plus machine adds up. $80
Replacements: Even though you bought chew toys, puppy is going to shred something; shoes, books, phones. The limiting factor is only what you can put out of range. $200
Training: With a new puppy, you or someone will have to train the little guy. If it’s you, that’s time away from other things you might need to do. If you have a trainer, it could cost $250/year
Emergencies: You never have any idea how much emergency pet expenses are going to be. We budget $100 a month. I answer the messages for the local Humane Society, and we get calls every day for pet owners who are in a bind and can’t afford emergency vet care. Bills are usually between $300-$500 and can be in the thousands if a surgery is needed.  For this example we’ll ball park $300/year.
Annual Puppy Costs: $1920
Older Dogs
We’ll assume you went to the shelter and adopted a dog that is not a puppy and who has been spayed or neutered with all shots completed.
Adoption Fee:$150
Veterinary Bills: In Colorado, older dogs only need a rabies shot every three years and parvo/distemper annually. $100
Food: We’ll assume a 60lb adult dog who eats 2-3 cups of food per day. $35/month=$420/year.
Emergencies can be the same for any dog, so we’ll say it’s the same as above. $300 per year.
Senior Costs: When your dog hits the 9-10 year mark or less for large dogs, you will probably have some regular monthly bills. Our older dog, Ralph, is on Rimadyl right now at $30 per month or $360/year, and he has to go in every 6 months for lab testing $600/year. You also need a dental every 2-3 years at this point around $400 a pop,which averages to around $133/year.
Annual Cost for an older dog: $2063
Guess what? All dogs, regardless of size or age, cost lots of money.These examples don’t even cover things like licenses, collars, bedding, and lots of other stuff you generally have with a dog.  If you are in financial trouble, like Married With Debt points out, you probably don’t need to take on a pet if you can’t afford at least $2000 a year, conservatively. That is one reason so many animals get abandoned or surrendered. People don’t consider the cost. It’s not fair to you or the dog if you can’t afford it’s basic needs.
If you want the joy of a pet, but can’t afford it there are other options, like volunteering at the animal shelter or humane society. You can also foster animals while they are awaiting forever homes. As with any major addition to your family, you should look at the big financial picture before deciding to bring home a puppy, older dog, or any pet.
How much do you spend in pet costs per year? Anyone want a puppy?
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We’ve talked about adopting another dog (we’d adopt an adult because there are so many that need good homes and the puppies are adopted faster), but we’re afraid our pup would be heart broken (after 4 years of being our only). Our vet thinks he was 5 when we adopted him (based on his teeth). He was not neutered when we got him, so that was an expense, plus he needed eye surgery, which wasn’t cheap. But he’s the best investment we’ve made in terms of love.
That sounds like one I would adopt, needing surgery and all that.
As someone who’s entertaining the idea of getting a dog, I thought the older dog would cost more simply due to age, but I was wrong. Great breakdown though. Included it in my roundup!!
I can see you with a dog, Eddie. Maybe some sort of lab or shepherd. Thanks for letting me know. I didn’t get a ping.
Nice post Kim. My wife and I aren’t really pet people. However, many people don’t seem to realize the costs associated with animals.
I am a cat person myself, but they have their own set of dollar signs they come with! 😉
A lot really depends on the dog. In our two dog household, we’ve somehow always managed to have one “emergency” dog and one dog who needs nothing more than the annual vet checks (at least until end of life care). Our Aussie was constantly hurting himself and we had some pretty bad scares and some surgeries for him, including the final one. Now, we have Junebug, our medical mystery of a Beagle. With her, we’ve spent considerable money just trying to get a good diagnosis, but end up with the decision not to treat for now.
At the same time, we had Smokey, our Lab/Pit mix who nothing was ever wrong with until he got cancer, and even then, we chose palliative care only. And now we have Larry. He’s a crazy little terrier, but he doesn’t get sick or injured and he doesn’t destroy things.
I will second the recommendation to foster if you have the time and love and some of the money, but not all. We foster a senior dog. We provide his food and toys and treats, but all medical care and medication are covered by the rescue. If he needed Rx food, the rescue would also cover that, and we could take advantage of other programs they have to get him more “stuff” if he needed it or we couldn’t afford it. (In our case, this is a permanent foster- he’s considered unadoptable and will life out his life with us.) But fostering is a great way to have pets in your life without all of the expenses and it can also help you find the right breed or pet for you.
I think that’s wonderful that you are caring for that older dog. We have a lady in our humane society who does that. She has a 19 year old cat with kidney problems who is happy as a clam who is with her. I don’t know if I’d be able to. Puppies are much better at this point.
I think start up costs to get a pet can cost a bit but it all depends on the breed, size, diet restrictions, health problems etc.. that can cost the money. We’ve been lucky with our dog with just routine costs but I did pay to have the dog chipped. We save $115.83 per month for our dog or $1389.96 as a projected expense. This would cover food, treats, licences, check-up, shots and any potential vet bills.
I’m more of a cat lover, but regardless any pet isn’t cheap and can be super expensive. You can never predict if your pet may need a bunch of expensive medical services down the road so it’s good to be prepared financially that’s for sure.
If they only came with obvious signs of things to come….I’d still probably pick the ones in the worst shape.
That’s a pretty good break down of the cost. I was going to guess that the older dog would be cheaper but it turns I was wrong.
My wife wants to get a Siberian Husky but with living in town I’m not really fond of that idea since the dog won’t have much room to roam and it will always have to be on a leash, on top of that like your article pointed out I just don’t that kind of money to be contributing towards mans best friend.
You could always try fostering that breed to see how it works out. Huskies are really great dogs, but are kind of like border collies in that they need work to do. If you can’t run them or have them pulling a sled, it might be tough. They hate warm weather as well. I have a good friend who has had them for years. She lives up in the mountains and they love it there. It really rarely gets above 80 degrees.
Nice rundown on costs Kim. I don’t even remember what our dogs cost us in the early years, but they are older and more expensive with their old dog problems. Still love them though.
Yeah, you just have to suck it up. For the amount of enjoyment, mine have been worth it. However, the puppy I’m fostering now was dumped out after he was injured in some way. He had a huge hernia hanging out, and I’m sure whoever had him couldn’t or didn’t want to afford the vet.