The Top Unexpected Costs of Owning a Family Pet
Despite your pet bringing you and your family a great number of benefits, there are a lot of hidden costs to having a pet. If you haven’t done enough research, you could end up in serious trouble because you can’t afford something that’s vital to your pet’s wellbeing. Here are three of the most unexpected costs related to owning a family pet.
Maintaining Your Fish Tank
Although most fish themselves are relatively inexpensive when compared with other pets, their upkeep can be quite costly. You have to consider the electricity bill for having a pump and filter on 24/7, but more importantly, you’ll need to keep ploughing money into keeping your fish tank from looking green.
Many species of fish will actually eat the plants you put in their tank. This means that if you want to keep your fish tank looking like an underwater tropical paradise, you’re going to have to spend money regularly to ensure you’re not just left with little stubs of foliage.
Vaccinating Your Cats and Dogs
The main costs of cats and dogs are going to be their annual worming and inoculation injections. The problem is that these can be outrageously costly.
An extreme example of that was last year. According to a BBC report, a major, fatal dog virus across Britain could have been caused, according to Carol Roberts who is the manager of the Abandoned Animals Association, because “people [can’t] afford to get their dogs vaccinated”. If annual boosters cost upwards of £40, particularly in the middle of a recession, there is no wonder that costs such as these are damaging to people’s pockets – so beware.
Collars and Tags
On top of the injection and worming costs, you’ll need to get your cat and dog micro chipped and tagged. You do this so that if your cat goes off on a midnight adventure and gets lost, anybody who finds it can take it to a vet and find out who it belongs to.
The costs of these services and products can be quite pricey if you don’t know where to look, but stores online such as Collars and Tags will at least give you some choice.
As you can see, pets have lots of hidden costs. So when you think about investing in a new family friend, make sure you consider how much it’s going to cost you in the long run before you jump in.
