Most dog owners will tell you that you can’t put a price on the experience of sharing your life with a canine companion. In many ways, that’s true. Dogs provide unconditional love, friendship, and positive impacts on our mental and physical well-being, which can’t always be easily quantified. But bringing a dog into your family means accepting the financial responsibility of keeping it safe, healthy, and happy for the entirety of its life—which, let’s face it, never is long enough.
The true cost of owning a dog can vary widely depending on age, breed, size, lifestyle, medical predispositions, and where you live. Running a veterinary practice in a city is inherently more expensive than operating that same facility in a rural or even suburban setting due to higher overhead costs—costs that you, the dog owner, are typically covering in every vet bill. This is why owning a dog and visiting a vet in San Francisco, for example—the city with the most expensive real estate in the country—means you’ll pay 35% more per office visit, on average.
So, if you live in a major U.S. city and either own or are considering getting a dog, how much should you budget? Ollie used data from Banfield Pet Hospital’s price estimator tool to break down the cost of seeing a veterinarian for routine care in the 25 most populous U.S. cities.
The average cost of a single vaccine across these cities—$33.35—was generated by averaging the cost of required and recommended vaccines, including Bordetella; distemper, adenovirus, parainfluenza, and parvovirus (DAPP); H3N2 and H3N8 influenza; leptospirosis; Lyme disease; and rabies. The average spaying and neutering costs—$460.30 and $403.55, respectively—were generated by averaging the cost of spaying or neutering dogs of different weights and ages across these 25 cities.
It is recommended that dogs receive a wellness exam once a year as a baseline standard of care. From puppy to senior, owners should plan for routine annual costs like vaccination series, booster shots, dental cleanings, and preventive treatments, as well as one-off procedures like spaying or neutering, sick visits, or emergencies. Every state has its own set of vaccination requirements, and evaluating your dog’s risk of exposure to harmful viruses can determine which vaccines are essential.
If vaccine prices seem high, consider that it is often significantly more expensive to treat dangerous and deadly diseases than it is to prevent them. Banfield Pet Hospital found that it can cost dog owners 24 times more to treat parvovirus than to prevent it with the DAPP vaccine. If you live in one of the 25 most populous cities, that’s a difference of paying $850 for treatment vs. an average of $35 for the vaccine.
Using data from Banfield’s network of more than 1,000 animal hospitals across the country, Waltham Petcare Science Institute found that periodontal disease is the most common affliction being treated by vets in the network, particularly among small dogs. As with humans, oral hygiene in dogs should not be overlooked.
In the same way you would care for yourself or any other two-legged member of your family, regular wellness checks and preventive care can ensure your dog’s years are filled with good health, adventure, and companionship. Ask any dog owner and they’ll tell you for that, no price is too high.
