A Dog Can Now Cost Owners Over £100k in a Lifetime!

HUGE STUDY Reveals the True Lifetime Cost of Pet Ownership – It's Time For Pet Owners to Dig Deep

Over £106k for a pampered pooch, up to £85k for a mollycoddled kitty – these are the latest figures for lifetime pet ownership costs according to a new study by HouseholdPets.co.uk. With hidden costs not accounted for by other research and inflation ignored – owning a pet could be significantly more costly than people anticipate!

Some key facts:

• The study spans all common UK household pets including cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamster, gerbils and rats. Giving potential pet owners the full picture of their options and costs.
• Large dogs on a premium diet take the crown of most expensive costing over £106k over a lifetime.
• Large cats getting treated to the best can also rack up the costs because of their long 15 year lifespan – giving a top end cost of over £85k.
• Giant dogs consume 950kg of food each year, the equivalent of two female highland cows.
• Owning a cat could cost 60% more per month than running an average family car.
• The cheapest pet is a hamster, which has an all-in lifetime cost of under £500 on a minimal outlay.

The team at Household Pets put in hundreds of hours of research to produce a realistic (if not terrifying at times) estimate of the real cost of owning a pet.

Head researcher Michaella Wheatley noted:

We were looking for reliable data on the cost of keeping a dog over a lifetime, and while data existed online from some very reputable sources, it was often very basic/inaccurate. So, we decided to do our own study and put this right.

Doggy Highlights:

Dogs come with a lot of one-off costs for accessories and initial vet fees, on average these will cost around £600-1000 depending on your price range. Owners should price this in along with the cost of the dog, ongoing insurance and food.

While the highest costs can seem very intimidating, dogs can still be an affordable companion. For example, the minimum lifetime cost of a small crossbreed comes in at £17,636 (compared to the maximum £106k cost of a giant pedigree).

On average you will incur around £30,000 costs over the lifetime of a medium sized crossbreed dog, when opting for mid-range purchases throughout its lifetime.

Cat Highlights:

The initial one-off costs for cats come in lower than for dogs, at around £400-700. But this can be hugely increased, with some owners opting to buy cat beds and scratch posts well into the thousands alone.

With cats being smaller, eating less, and generally requiring less accessories, it would be assumed they are less expensive than dogs. While this is true in the short term, their longer lifespans incur higher costs over a lifetime - £41,181 for a medium sized crossbreed to be precise.

Interestingly, with cats the gulf between wet and dry food costs is far higher than with dogs. On average wet cat food is 9x more expensive than dry, whereas with dogs it's only a difference of around 1.5-2x due to so many cheap variations on the market.

Pets and the Cost of Living:

With the last two years bringing an unprecedented increase in the cost-of-living, pet owners have been hit hard. The BBC has reported the use of pet food banks has skyrocketed and charities are struggling to meet demands.

Many families which bought a pet as an additional companion during COVID lockdowns are now facing serious financial strain. This is why it is prudent to assess the whole life costs of a pet before taking on ownership.