Hmm.. well... I never thought about it that way. Maybe I should start tracking the cost. But, I am not entirely comfortable doing that. Essentially, if you take food, extra nutrition, stuff for bathing, and general upkeep, I would say it would still be less than a couple of hundred bucks a month. You could save on a lot of things by waiting for discounts or sales or giveaways.

I think that the food and the vet bills are the biggest cost.
And if you put them in a doggy daycare sometimes or go to the dog hairdressers (fur dressers?) it is quite expensive too.

Honestly, when I think about it, the biggest costs are veterinary bills... but those don't happen that often, thankfully. Vets are outrageous. Food adds up, but it does so too for people.

Essentially, if you take food, extra nutrition, stuff for bathing, and general upkeep, I would say it would still be less than a couple of hundred bucks a month. You could save on a lot of things by waiting for discounts or sales or giveaways.

Hence, I agree with this comment. Calculated, care for my dog is only around $200-$250 a month. And that's me buying toys, taking him to events, and whatnot.

I track this with my budget app. Right now I spend about $600 a month but I know that is pretty high. I have one dog with a lot of veterinary expenses, a paid dog walker, and when I travel for work (which I am doing more than usual right now) I have a sitter who takes my dogs into her home. So right now it is adding up to a lot.

Because my dogs didn't qualify for insurance I set up a saving account for them with an automatic monthly payment. So most of the extra veterinary expenses I have right now are being covered by my "dog savings account."

Oh wow [USER=31]@Canis[/USER] - you're making me want to track my expenses too! Although I don't have a dog walker or a sitter since I don't travel for work. And I'm lucky that my dog just has the usual vet bills - nothing has dented my bank account in a way that's made me do a double take.

I will be honest, if money was no object I think the thing I WOULD spend too much money on is all the accessories. The sweet little raincoats, booties, bows. I saw a doghouse that was 800! But it was a mid century modern house and was soooooooooo adorable. Sometimes I pass those dog boutiques and think "wow, if I didn't have impulse control I would be in so much trouble right now!" Because those little outfits can get pretty cute.

I use the free Mint app, it automatically tracks bank account withdrawal and can correctly categorize most of them. It works well for someone like me who doesn't use cash very much.

I never used to get much cutesy dog stuff, but the I got my greyhound who actually seems to like wearing clothes and looks adorable in a nice collar. I have even become "that person" who buys a dog a new Halloween costume every year.

Well I guess it depends on the breed of the dog. We have dogs that are native from our country and we don't spend much on them. They can eat even human food like rice and viands and they don't experience fur shedding with that. Then, with giving them baths, we can use any shampoo for dogs since they don't have fleas anyway. So with them, we spend only a few dollars a month.

With the dogs with breed, we have shih tzus in our house. And they could be quite expensive because we have to let a professional cut their hair every two months since it grows so fast. They also have to eat dog food since they develop allergies with human food. Aside from that, they have to have their own electric fan because it's summer here and they might experience heat stroke without one. So the costs of having them might be higher.

Whoa, that's a lot. I do remember veterinary expenses being the most burdensome ones (a friend of mine had to pay over a hundred dollars because of food poisoning), but I didn't think the other ones could be just as heavy, too.
Out of curiosity, since most of you mentioned food as one of the most expensive supplies, could using home-made food be a viable option to decrease that amount of money?

I only owned one dog my entire life, so I can't say much for other breeds. Like you, we never tracked the amount of money we spend. But I can probably give a good estimate, I think around 150-200 dollars a month. I own a Golden Retriever, by the way.
I agree with most of the posts here. I think it really depends on the breed. More so on its size. For example, food expenses for a Saint Bernard would be so much more than for a Toy Poodle. Correct? Same goes with grooming and bathing expenses. I don't know about veterinary expenses though, could be quite similar across breeds.

I am average out around under $100 dollars a month, some time less. I put my dog on a health insurance, so that costs around $30 bucks. His 33 lbs. dog food another $40 but this can be served for two months give and take. His heart pills for 6 months supply is another $50. I occasionally buy toys and treats when I see good quality things at an affordable price.

Besides all the necessarily needs, he asks for nothing but love!

I am my father's only child, but he loves our dog Petey so much he literally refers to him as "my brother." My dad is comfortably retired with few expenses so he spoils this dog to the max. Not including non-maintenence vet trips, my dad easily spends $250 a month on Petey. He's not a big dog either. He's an average-sized Beagle that probably weighs 40 pounds.

I have never took the time to calculate my expenses. We have to buy 25 pound bag every week for our Pitbull and Miniature Schnauzer. Each bag costs approximately $12. In food alone I'm spending at least $48 minimum. That's not including bath supplies, treats, vaccines, wormer, or haircuts. As much as I love my dogs the costs do add up quickly.

We only have three dogs at home and the rest are cats. Our total expense for all of our pets is more or less $150 or $30 for each canine and feline. Although our dogs consume more food than our cats, they do not snack a lot compared to the latter. So expense-wise, it's just even. We buy generic dog food from wholesale grain sellers because doing so helps us save money compared to buying the branded dog food products (i.e. Alpo, Pedigree, etc.).

My dog is pretty low maintenace. She is small so she doesn't eat a lot. She has short hair so no grooming required. I do give her Revolution which is sort of expensive but worth it. Her favorite snacks are people food, so no special treats or anything. We give her glucosamine chondroitin for her arthritis. I don't think we spend over $20.