Is?hefty:
[T]he average cost to own dogs ranges from $580 to $875 a year, a cat is about $670, and the humble fish weighs in at $35 a year. The data is aggregated from?Mint.com, and only captures recurring costs of owning your pet. It doesn?t include one-time costs such as shelter, licenses and vaccinations, nor does it take into account doggie Christmas stockings or those extra expensive mice that your snake loves. I would double these estimates to to play it a little safe and account for these costs. "I recommend to all of my friends getting dogs that they set aside about $1,000 up front for ?things I didn't even think about,'" my friend Katherine, a dog owner, says.
Then there's injury and illness. Our younger mutt-hound, Eddy, tore a ligament in her back leg while tussling with another dog while in day care when we were in England. It didn't heal on its own, and she began to limp routinely. The vet recommended an operation. The full cost of doing it was way more than I can imagine large numbers of American dog-owners can afford right now. They are faced with the horrible prospect of allowing their pet to have a permanent disability. There's pet-insurance for this, but it makes people-insurance look generous and simple.
Eddy, meanwhile, is healing slowly. We carry her up and down stairs and we have to restrict her movements. The other night we had to put a big plastic Elizabethan collar on her to prevent her licking and biting her staples and wound. She was bewildered and angry, giving us (mainly the hubby) a nightmarish night of protest, nudging and pushing him whenever he moved in bed, and then shitting and pissing all over the place when we were asleep. She's usually a wonderful, loving, amazing creature. And it's painful not being able to explain to her why suddenly, her long walks are suspended, her head surrounded by a scary new contraption, and her back leg even more vulnerable for a while than before.
But that's nothing compared with living with the knowledge that you just cannot afford to keep your pet in perfect health. My heart goes out to people in that position. And their animals.
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