Do Dogs or Cats Cost More to Look After?
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Are there any owners of dogs and cats? What tends to cost more to maintain? I thought it would be dogs but I have a friend saying actually cats can be more costly. We are looking at getting a rescue dog or cat but I wondered how much the cost of upkeep differed?
It depends really on the food you buy, insurance, fleaing and worming etc. My cat does cost a lot but thats because i buy him natural cat food. I adopted a rescue and he is 22 now and we have had him since he was 3 years old. Avoid bob martin products. Advantage or advocate is best for fleaing. There is also a spot on wormer by Dronspot that is awesome and covers roundworm, tapeworm and and hookworm. (Use the flea spot on and wormer spot on a week apart). I spend about £60 a month on cat food. The wormer costs me £7.15 every 3 months. The flea spot on cost me £9.50 for 4 , which i use one every 3 months so they last a while.
Also depends on the size and breed. Some breeds in both dogs and cats will suffer with more ailments due to over breeding. I've had dogs and cats and they're pretty much the same cost wise, they both need de-fleaing, worming, neutering, feeding etc. It also depends on how much time you have as a family. Dogs will require at least 1 walk a day, preferably more and don't always like being left alone for that long during the day, a cat is more independent (though mine aren't) so you have a bit more freedom.
More importantly, thank you for considering a rescue, wish there were more like you out there
I think animals cost a lot. You need to take care of them and feed them. If u have a dog...walk them. Buy them accessorize and when they get sick you pay to the wet to heal them and for medicine. Insure them....
I could have one, but decided to spend my money on other things instead.
Whatever you get, get insurance - only thing with rescue animals is if they have pre-existing medical conditions they can be difficult/costly to insure. We have three cats and they cost a lot but there is stuff we could do potentially to bring the cost down (for example we buy pouch food because it's easy and you don't have to faff about with washing up pet forks and storing tins) - cans are a lot cheaper though! Worming and flea treatment is an ongoing cost and if we go away there's cattery costs - we're lucky because the one we use is Cats Protection and doesn't charge much - £12 a night I think but others locally are much more expensive and I assume dogs are more costly because they'd need walking. Now our cats aren't kittens they have yearly jabs but nothing on top of that unless they get injured which thankfully hasn't happened a lot. I guess it depends what you want from a pet - our cats are pretty full-on but not necessarily in a 'we want cuddles' type of way whereas I guess you get a lot more of that from a dog! Also heard that rescue dogs have a lot of love and loyalty towards people who rescue them and cats are selfish; everything is on their own terms!
A lot of animals from breeders have more medical issues than rescue animals. I know there are some good ones out there but most animals that have come from breeders are kept in appalling conditions, with no health checks, kept away from their mother so don't build immunity and bred so intensively that they have issues such as breathing issues (flat faced animals) and hip dysplasia (animals that are bred for stature). All my animals are rescues and none are insured, luckily I have never needed to and the average age of my cats passing is about 24
elise I wasn't saying that to put the OP off a rescue animal, just that it's something to bear in mind. In my experience it takes more emotionally and potentially financially to care for a rescue animal often because their earlier life has been either difficult or not known. I think it takes a special type of person to take that on. I'm not extolling the virtues of breeders either - especially those of the breeding a young cat/dog continually and flogging the offspring on gumtree type - we get a lot of those round here (and I guess, everywhere!)
I would have thought dogs cost more?? I don't really know to be honest but maybe small dogs cost same as cats??
Big dogs would cost more I guess....
Over their lifetime, the average cost of owning a pet is between £16,000 and £33,000 for a dog or cat.
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/blog/what-is-the-average-cost-of-owning-a-pet
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