海角大神

Sarah and I are very close friends with a couple who are dog lovers. They have two Saint Bernards in their home.

I quite like their dogs. One of them has聽awful聽breath, so I somewhat avoid him, but the other one is a charmer. I鈥檒l pet them and play with them a bit every time I go visit them. In both cases, the dogs were rescued from animal shelter situations, and I applaud my friends for doing that.

贬辞飞别惫别谤,听their dogs are enormous money sinks.

The other day, I sat down to calculate what it would cost us to have a similar dog to one of theirs. Here鈥檚 theupkeep聽cost I came up with.

A fully-grown Saint Bernard eats five to ten cups of food per day.聽Ideally, I鈥檇 want to feed my pet a food that鈥檚 good for his or her health, so I鈥檇 probably select something that鈥檚 highly recommended by various sources for pet health, such as聽. A twenty five pound bag of that costs about $55, based on what I鈥檝e seen shopping around.聽

Let鈥檚 figure that each cup weighs four ounces and that our dog eats six cups per day 鈥� a reasonable diet. Over thirty days, our dog would go through almost two bags of this dog food, costing us about $100 in food.

(Obviously, you can spend less on dog food, but with questionable ingredients, or you could make something yourself 鈥� which is probably what I would do.)

You wouldn鈥檛 necessarily be feeding a Saint Bernard. However, they are surprisingly low-energy dogs, requiring less food per pound of body weight than a lot of other breeds. There are many larger breeds that eat more food per day than a Saint Bernard.

On top of that, you鈥檒l have an聽annual vet visit聽for their shots and a checkup. This will run you in the range of $150 per year. Similarly, you鈥檒l likely have to feed the dog heartworm medication, which can add up to another $15 a month.

Assuming there are no other costs 鈥� you don鈥檛 need any equipment, you never buy the dog treats, there鈥檚 no special health concerns (and good luck with that if you have an older dog) 鈥� you鈥檙e going to be investing between $1,000 and $2,000 a year in that pet (depending on the dog food quality more than anything).

A smaller dog will likely be somewhat less expensive, but not incredibly so. You鈥檇 lose some of the food consumption, but you would maintain the cost of vet visits and potential medications.

A dog is expensive. A cat is a bit less expensive, but has similar costs. If you鈥檙e not prepared for these costs, then you should think very carefully about your decision to have a pet.

In any case,聽choosing to bring a pet into your home is a responsibility that comes with significant cost.If you鈥檙e not prepared for that responsibility, don鈥檛 choose to bring a pet into your home. The potential pet does not deserve to be in a situation where their basic needs 鈥� nutritious food, water, shelter, basic health care 鈥� may not be a given.

An aside:聽what about a pet you can no longer provide adequate care for?聽Life happens. Sometimes, you can鈥檛 adequately care for a pet in a way that you could when you first chose to have that pet due to illness or other life-altering situations.

I鈥檇 argue that聽a responsible pet owner would handle the situation with the pet鈥檚 best interest in mind聽before neglect becomes an issue. I聽.