How to Budget for Pet Costs (and Avoid Debt)

As a pet owner, our animals are pretty easy to budget for. Buy enough food and treats to keep them from howling. (And litter if you have a cat). Pour in some extra food if you’re going to be away from home for a day or more. Take them to the vet once a year, maybe, and take your chances the rest of the time.

But these days, many of us are pet parents. We worry over their happiness and health almost as much as a human child. We wouldn’t dream of leaving them alone for more than a few hours. Those “fur babies” either come with us — or we hire a sitter, a “pet hotel,” or even doggy daycare.

So, if your pet is part of the family… or the hands-off approach just isn’t cutting it anymore…

You’ll want to budget for pet costs accordingly for best success. Here’s a simple framework to get you started.

Monthly Pet Expenses

Luckily, pets have a greater proportion of fixed, regular expenses than we humans, and those are the easiest to plan for.

Food, for example, might always be the exact same amount of your kitty or pup’s favorite brand, every time. So, you could even set up a monthly auto-shipment (such as through Chewy or Amazon) then factor that amount into your budget.

To give you a frame of reference, here are some ballpark monthly food costs per animal:

Type of Pet	Wet Food	Dry Food
Cat	$48	$15
Small Dog	$50	$25
Medium Dog	$70	$70
Large Dog	$107	$85

As for cat litter, typical costs would be about $25 a month, while for dogs, you’ll want to plan to spend about $10 a month on disposable poop bags to bring on walks.

If your pet takes medications for any sort of chronic health condition, be sure to factor that amount into the monthly budget as well: say, $20 or $25 a month.

Your budgeting will be most effective if you fill in the amounts you tend to spend in place of the ballpark amounts given above. A budget app or online banking website can help you determine a realistic total.

Occasional Pet Expenses

So far, so good. But where the finances really start to go off the rails for many of us pet owners is the occasional expenses, also known as “periodic expenses.”

Because this spending happens less often, we might not be prepared for it. We’re talking about costs we only incur once or twice a year – but often in a much larger dollar amount than our regular monthly expenses. Even when the price tags on these items are small, there can still be enough of them that they add up without us realizing it.

And where do these occasional expenses end up? On a credit card. But if you’re like the average American, you’ve got about $6,000 on there already… and want to make sure that balance doesn’t tick a whole lot higher just to pay for Pansy the poodle.

For any kind of occasional or flexible expense, there’s a plan-ahead budget technique that can go a long way toward keeping these costs off your credit card.

So, let’s get an idea of how much you’ll be spending on occasional pet expenses.

Here are some ballpark costs for wellness, care, and behavior, plus gear and accessories. The table below takes an annual estimate of your spending in each category per animal… then divides it into a monthly amount.

Expense	Cat (Annual)	Cat (Monthly)	Dog (Annual)	Dog (Monthly)
Veterinarian checkups	$178.00	$14.83	$242.00	$20.17
Vaccinations, like rabies	$115.00	$9.58	$140.00	$11.67
Heartworm, flea & tick prevention	$328.38	$27.37	$239.37	$19.95
Dental cleaning	$250.00	$20.83	$800.00	$66.67
Pet sitting or boarding	$700.00	$58.33	$700.00	$58.33
Obedience training	N/A	N/A	$119.00	$9.92
New toys	$40.00	$3.33	$54.00	$4.50
Other gear like bowls and bedding	$82.00	$6.83	$102.00	$8.50

Again, try to determine your own, real-life spending on these items for the best budget. Then, the key is to spread out these costs where you’re putting a little aside each month. If your totals end up somewhat like in the table above, that’d be about $140 per cat or $200 per dog.

Consider opening a high-yield savings (or checking!) account for these and other occasional expenses. That way, you can keep that money out of the checking account where you do your regular spending. It’ll even earn a bit of interest while it waits to be spent.

Now, Let’s Talk About Medical Costs for Injury or Illness

Out-of-pocket medical costs are the most difficult to plan for. They’re even more difficult to pay for, depending on what happened to your pet.

Based on the direct costs of common conditions and procedures, you’d want to set aside about $1,500 per animal, per year.

Maybe you won’t spend much — or any — of that on your cat or dog this year. But be aware that you could, in fact, pay much more:

• If a foreign object needs to be removed from your animal’s stomach, the average cost is $2,900–$3,265.

• Cancer treatments average $4,000.

• Surgery to remove the tumor averages anywhere from $300–$1,600.

• Diabetes would average $276 to diagnose, similar to a typical vet visit… but then the insulin costs anywhere from $30–$300 a vial.

You get the idea — and as your pet gets older, chronic illness and surgeries become more and more likely.

That said, there is a way to potentially pay much less. And that’s by signing up for pet insurance.

With pet insurance, you’re looking at a monthly premium of, say, $32 for a cat or $56 for a dog. This might come with an annual deductible of $250. Once that deductible is met, you could file a claim any time your pet is sick or injured. As long as it’s not related to a pre-existing condition, the insurance company would reimburse you for 70% or 80% of any vet bills up to an annual limit of, say, $7,500.

You could also opt for a higher premium if you want your policy to include “wellness” expenses, too, like shots, checkups, and grooming. Either way, insurance can help you avoid paying much, much more for unexpected vet bills. Instead, you can include that annual deductible in your list of occasional expenses, then divide it to a monthly amount. You’d set that amount aside (along with some extra for the other 20% or 30% you’d pay out of pocket), and sleep much easier.

Sources

Coates, J., DVM. (2023, October 12). How Much to Feed a Cat: Portions, Counting Calories & Beyond. BeChewy. https://be.chewy.com/how-much-should-i-feed-my-cat/#2

Pricing of individual pet expenses: https://www.chewy.com, https://www.goodrx.com, https://www.rover.com

Alger, J. (2024, April 15). How much cat litter per month should you use? Facts & FAQ – Catster. Catster. https://www.catster.com/cat-health-care/how-much-cat-litter-per-month-should-you-use/

Average Premiums – NAPHIA State of the Industry report. (2024, April 10). NAPHIA. https://naphia.org/industry-data/section-3-average-premiums/

Pet industry trends and stats. (n.d.). American Pet Products Association. https://www.americanpetproducts.org/research-insights/industry-trends-and-stats

Bates, A. (2024, May 15). How much does cat teeth cleaning cost? Catster. https://www.catster.com/guides/how-much-does-cat-teeth-cleaning-cost/

Copson, K. (2024, February 28). Costs of Treating cat Injuries & Diseases (2024 Price Guide). Catster. https://www.catster.com/cat-health-care/costs-of-treating-cat-diseases-and-injuries/

Davdc, M. K. D. (2024, February 19). How much does dog teeth cleaning cost? PetMD. https://www.petmd.com/dog/care/how-much-does-dog-teeth-cleaning-cost

How much does a vet visit cost? Here’s everything you need to know. (2020, June 8). Pawlicy Advisor. https://www.pawlicy.com/blog/vet-visit-cost/

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