Running costs - of a dog?

[tenex]

£12 a month all in. But it's different up here. Careful selection of dog, bred for purpose as opposed to these inbred popular dogs, aided and abetted by that wonderful organisation, the Kennel Club. No worming (unless needed), no vaccination after the initial ones, no flea treatment etc. Somehow the dogs survive. I do appreciate it is different in an urban situation.But is all this "pampering" really necessary? The vets will assure you it is, no doubt.

Sorry for such a cynical attitude but there's a lot of truth in it.

[bexVN]

Watching puppies and dogs die from parvo and worm burdens I wouldn't say worming or vaccinating your dog is pampering at all.

Edited by bexVN on Wednesday 27th October 20:36

[madbadger]

Ben Hughes said:

itsnotarace said:

GTO Scott said:

What food do the dog owners of PH recommend?

Barking Heads

http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/

Otherwise Burns, Royal Canin or James Wellbeloved.

On no account feed it Bakers Complete because it's full of crap and sugar. The meat content is 3% chicken fat lol

+1 for the Burns.

Roo is on burns too. Keeps her fit.

~£40 for 15kg @ 250g a day so about 60p a portion. Cheaper food is available but it can be full of ste. Check the ash content of some foods as well as sugar.

[Mrs Grumpy]

bexVN said:

Watching puppies and dogs die from parvo and worm burdens I wouldn't say worming or vaccinating your dog is pampering at all.

Totally agree plus dying of distemper

You want to see what not flea treating a dog can look like?



Granted there may well be mange too and certainly other neglect

[bexVN]

Mrs Grumpy said:

bexVN said:

Watching puppies and dogs die from parvo and worm burdens I wouldn't say worming or vaccinating your dog is pampering at all.

Totally agree plus dying of distemper

You want to see what not flea treating a dog can look like?



Granted there may well be mange too and certainly other neglect

Flea burden and mange horrible. I feel lucky to have never seen a distemper case but that is only due to vaccines. Wish the same could be said for parvo, seen far too many.

Guidelines are to now worm pups monthly til 1yr old due to lungworm which has become a problem over last few years. Caused by pups, young dogs eating slugs and snails.

Edited by bexVN on Wednesday 27th October 21:49

[Mrs Grumpy]

Pup in Reading died of distemper a couple of months ago. Don't think he picked it up from there though.

We have lost several dogs from parvo Horrible, horrible disease and a nasty way to die.

Also seeing more heart and lungworm.

Edited by Mrs Grumpy on Wednesday 27th October 22:08

[Jasandjules]

The Moose said:

Following on from the thread about the cats, I thought the dog running costs would be interesting.

Cheers

The Moose

Hmm, let me see. Depending on which dog, allow me to give you possible worst case scenario.

Insurance £170pcm
Food £40pcm
Extra costs of drugs that insurance no longer covers due to dog being over 7 £40pcm
Treats £10 pcm
Grooming and cleaning products £10pcm
Professional Grooming every three months £45 so £15 pcm.

So, don't get a Newfoundland............

[WorAl]

Jasandjules said:

The Moose said:

Following on from the thread about the cats, I thought the dog running costs would be interesting.

Cheers

The Moose

Hmm, let me see. Depending on which dog, allow me to give you possible worst case scenario.

Insurance £170pcm
Food £40pcm
Extra costs of drugs that insurance no longer covers due to dog being over 7 £40pcm
Treats £10 pcm
Grooming and cleaning products £10pcm
Professional Grooming every three months £45 so £15 pcm.

So, don't get a Newfoundland............

You hit the zero by accident didn't you?

[Jasandjules]

WorAl said:

You hit the zero by accident didn't you?

Sadly not. And I didn't bother including the excess in that either.........

She's had a few claims in her time and has a couple of life long treatments needed which take a lot of tablets (she's a shade over 10 stone) so the insurers, perhaps unsurprisingly, just keeep raising the premiums.

[WorAl]

Jasandjules said:

WorAl said:

You hit the zero by accident didn't you?

Sadly not. And I didn't bother including the excess in that either.........

She's had a few claims in her time and has a couple of life long treatments needed which take a lot of tablets (she's a shade over 10 stone) so the insurers, perhaps unsurprisingly, just keeep raising the premiums.

Fugging hell, I thought insurance was mean to cover you for claims, not be a savings account without interest.

[Jasandjules]

WorAl said:

Fugging hell, I thought insurance was mean to cover you for claims, not be a savings account without interest.

Well, the monthly cost of her drugs is over £200 which is covered (except for the % we pay) by the insurance.

That is why all our animals are insured................... You never know when an animal will develop a life long illness (though a cruciate op was well over 3k and she needed two of them over the years)

[WorAl]

Bloody hell mate, seems she's been ever so slightly unlucky.

Our least expensive 2 dogs (1 free, 1 her son) both cost us the most money, the ones we paid for never cost a penny apart from the initial outlay and food.

Having said that, I'm going to be getting another crazy galloot when I leave work (Friday) so will be insuring him, just in case.

[Rouleur]

1 x Springer -

£300ish/year on food and treats
£140/year on insurance
£50/year on clipping
£25/year on toys and bits and bobs
£180/year on vets for jabs, accidents below insurance excess, wormers, Frontline etc

Rounded up total £700.

I've guestimated TBH but it should be about right. Bloody cheap compared to some on here, but I rarely have any problems with him.


I can highly recommend Skinners Field & Trial; it's cheap at £24/15kg but he's great on it, it suits him better than the JWB he was on before.

[Jasandjules]

WorAl said:

Bloody hell mate, seems she's been ever so slightly unlucky.

Yes, first cruciate went whilst playing with other Newfies. Second one about 5 years later (which is expected according to the experts). She's also had skin conditions, entropian (including ops), liver problems, and is now on Axiom (sp?) as well as her liver tablets which are rather expensive. She wasn't even the runt of the litter........

Still, when you take on an animal, that's part of it. But I would never be without insurance, I know that much !

[siwil1]

madbadger said:

Ben Hughes said:

itsnotarace said:

GTO Scott said:

What food do the dog owners of PH recommend?

Barking Heads

http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/

Otherwise Burns, Royal Canin or James Wellbeloved.

On no account feed it Bakers Complete because it's full of crap and sugar. The meat content is 3% chicken fat lol

+1 for the Burns.

Roo is on burns too. Keeps her fit.

~£40 for 15kg @ 250g a day so about 60p a portion. Cheaper food is available but it can be full of ste. Check the ash content of some foods as well as sugar.

We have just switched from Burns to James wellbeloved as we found our Pointer wasnt bulking up as he should which after a few conversations with Vet, Breeder and food supplier rang true because Burns is so pure that its hard for well exercised dogs to gain weight with it, He is now Blossoming on wellbeloved but would recommend either as quality foods.

[bexVN]

siwil1 said:

madbadger said:

Ben Hughes said:

itsnotarace said:

GTO Scott said:

What food do the dog owners of PH recommend?

Barking Heads

http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/

Otherwise Burns, Royal Canin or James Wellbeloved.

On no account feed it Bakers Complete because it's full of crap and sugar. The meat content is 3% chicken fat lol

+1 for the Burns.

Roo is on burns too. Keeps her fit.

~£40 for 15kg @ 250g a day so about 60p a portion. Cheaper food is available but it can be full of ste. Check the ash content of some foods as well as sugar.

We have just switched from Burns to James wellbeloved as we found our Pointer wasnt bulking up as he should which after a few conversations with Vet, Breeder and food supplier rang true because Burns is so pure that its hard for well exercised dogs to gain weight with it, He is now Blossoming on wellbeloved but would recommend either as quality foods.

Burns tends to be too low in protein for working/ high exercised dogs. James is ok not my favourite choice though.

[Digga]

bexVN said:

siwil1 said:

madbadger said:

Ben Hughes said:

itsnotarace said:

GTO Scott said:

What food do the dog owners of PH recommend?

Barking Heads

http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/

Otherwise Burns, Royal Canin or James Wellbeloved.

On no account feed it Bakers Complete because it's full of crap and sugar. The meat content is 3% chicken fat lol

+1 for the Burns.

Roo is on burns too. Keeps her fit.

~£40 for 15kg @ 250g a day so about 60p a portion. Cheaper food is available but it can be full of ste. Check the ash content of some foods as well as sugar.

We have just switched from Burns to James wellbeloved as we found our Pointer wasnt bulking up as he should which after a few conversations with Vet, Breeder and food supplier rang true because Burns is so pure that its hard for well exercised dogs to gain weight with it, He is now Blossoming on wellbeloved but would recommend either as quality foods.

Burns tends to be too low in protein for working/ high exercised dogs. James is ok not my favourite choice though.

Swapped our dogs to James Wellbeloved from IAMS last year. They seem to like it and it's more convenient for me to buy, especially when they do 20kgs for the price of 18ks which saves money and gives us a few days longer between fill ups.

What's up with JW stuff?

Edited by Digga on Friday 29th October 13:09

[bexVN]

Digga said:

bexVN said:

siwil1 said:

madbadger said:

Ben Hughes said:

itsnotarace said:

GTO Scott said:

What food do the dog owners of PH recommend?

Barking Heads

http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/

Otherwise Burns, Royal Canin or James Wellbeloved.

On no account feed it Bakers Complete because it's full of crap and sugar. The meat content is 3% chicken fat lol

+1 for the Burns.

Roo is on burns too. Keeps her fit.

~£40 for 15kg @ 250g a day so about 60p a portion. Cheaper food is available but it can be full of ste. Check the ash content of some foods as well as sugar.

We have just switched from Burns to James wellbeloved as we found our Pointer wasnt bulking up as he should which after a few conversations with Vet, Breeder and food supplier rang true because Burns is so pure that its hard for well exercised dogs to gain weight with it, He is now Blossoming on wellbeloved but would recommend either as quality foods.

Burns tends to be too low in protein for working/ high exercised dogs. James is ok not my favourite choice though.

Swapped our dogs to James welbeloved from IAMS last year. They seem to like it and it's more convenient for me to buy, especially when they do 20kgs for the price of 18ks which saves money and gives us a few days longer between fill ups. What's up with JW stuff?

Personal really, used to be happy to recommend but my dog really didn't do well on it, he had terrible wind (it was horrendous!) and just didn't suit him, known of other owners report the same problem with their dogs so just went off it as a result.

Many dogs do well on it and that's fine, I would not say don't feed it to your dog but just isn't my first line choice.

[Digga]

bexVN said:

Digga said:

bexVN said:

siwil1 said:

madbadger said:

Ben Hughes said:

itsnotarace said:

GTO Scott said:

What food do the dog owners of PH recommend?

Barking Heads

http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/

Otherwise Burns, Royal Canin or James Wellbeloved.

On no account feed it Bakers Complete because it's full of crap and sugar. The meat content is 3% chicken fat lol

+1 for the Burns.

Roo is on burns too. Keeps her fit.

~£40 for 15kg @ 250g a day so about 60p a portion. Cheaper food is available but it can be full of ste. Check the ash content of some foods as well as sugar.

We have just switched from Burns to James wellbeloved as we found our Pointer wasnt bulking up as he should which after a few conversations with Vet, Breeder and food supplier rang true because Burns is so pure that its hard for well exercised dogs to gain weight with it, He is now Blossoming on wellbeloved but would recommend either as quality foods.

Burns tends to be too low in protein for working/ high exercised dogs. James is ok not my favourite choice though.

Swapped our dogs to James welbeloved from IAMS last year. They seem to like it and it's more convenient for me to buy, especially when they do 20kgs for the price of 18ks which saves money and gives us a few days longer between fill ups. What's up with JW stuff?

Personal really, used to be happy to recommend but my dog really didn't do well on it, he had terrible wind (it was horrendous!) and just didn't suit him, known of other owners report the same problem with their dogs so just went off it as a result.

Many dogs do well on it and that's fine, I would not say don't feed it to your dog but just isn't my first line choice.

Hard to know with our pair.

They guff pretty much all the time, whatever we feed them. Then there's what they eat that they 'find' themselves, acorns, apples, deer poo....

I actually find the wind useful, mostly. It's a very good cloaking device for my own emissions.

Thanks for the info though.

[CommanderJameson]

Digga said:

Then there's what they eat that they 'find' themselves, acorns, apples, deer poo...

This reminds me of a conversation I periodically have with Mrs J.

Mrs J: But they don't like the dog food! They like this other one!
CJ: They'll eat when they're hungry.
MJ: But what if they don't like it?
CJ: Look. Dog 1's idea of a tasty snack is cat st from the litter tray, and Dog 2 never misses an opportunity for a gobful of horse st. Just how fussy do you think they really are?