Costly Pets

The 2022 Pet Price Guide

In the US alone, there are over 150 million households that own a pet, be it fish, reptile, or cat. The pet industry is huge, but just how much do we spend on our beloved pets? To give you an idea of what owning each different pet costs, we created a Pet Price Guide covering everything from one-time costs such as ownership and initial supplies to recurring annual costs including food and insurance.

Owning a pet can be daunting for first-timers, and you’d be right to expect hidden costs associated with pet ownership that you wouldn’t have previously thought about. This price guide looks at everything we could think of that you need for any pet you’re thinking of buying.

We looked at 15 of the most popular pets and split all costs into low end (the minimum you can expect to pay) and high end (the maximum you can expect to pay). This will allow you to gauge how much you yourself can expect to pay for your new pet based on your own financial circumstances.

One-Time Costs

First, let's start with the one-time costs. These costs cover all pet-related costs that you only need to pay for once, including initial healthcare, such as spaying and neutering, initial vaccinations, initial supplies, such as cages and beds, and of course, the cost of ownership of your pet.

The one-time costs for any pet can vary drastically depending on whether you opt for low or high-end options, or choose to go for something in the middle. The difference in costs mainly comes down to how much you are willing to spend on the animal itself. For example, adoption costs from shelters for many pets are significantly cheaper than adoption costs when buying from pedigree breeders.

Total Lifetime One-time Costs

KEY Low End Cost High End Cost
KEY Low End Cost High End Cost
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Rank

Pet

Ownership

Initial Supplies

InitialHealthcare

Total Lifetime Cost

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Pet

Ownership

Initial Supplies

InitialHealthcare

Total Lifetime Cost

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Pet

Ownership

Initial Supplies

InitialHealthcare

Total Lifetime Cost

Recurring Costs

The next big set of costs, and where most of the total costs of owning a pet come in, are the recurring costs. These are costs that you have to pay out monthly or yearly (all costs are calculated for annual rates) to keep your pet healthy and happy.

For annual healthcare costs, we recorded values as the average annual cost of medical emergencies. This means that while some emergencies can cost you thousands, these are usually pretty rare if your pet is looked after. We have recorded low-end costs as zero for all our animals for the simple reason that many animals can go their whole life without any medical emergencies. To keep your pet in its best health, we highly recommend regular vet check-ups for your pet and these sorts of annual checkups can be covered in insurance plans.

In the Total Annual Costs column, you can see how much you can expect to spend on each of these pets each year. The Total Lifetime Cost column is the total annual cost multiplied by the average lifespan of each pet, to give you an idea of just how much it will cost to own each pet for their entire lifetime.

Total Lifetime Recurring Costs

KEY Low End Cost High End Cost
KEY Low End Cost High End Cost
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Pet

Lifespan

Annual Insurance

Annual Food

Annual Routine Healthcare

Annual Toys

Annual Environment Maintenance

Total Annual Costs

Total Lifetime Cost

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Pet

Lifespan

Annual Insurance

Annual Food

Annual Routine Healthcare

Annual Toys

Annual Environment Maintenance

Total Annual Costs

Total Lifetime Cost

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Lifespan

Annual Insurance

Annual Food

Annual Routine Healthcare

Annual Toys

Annual Environment Maintenance

Total Annual Costs

Total Lifetime Cost

Total Lifetime Costs

To summarize, it can get expensive owning a pet. The recurring costs of food, healthcare, and environment maintenance really do stack up over the years, especially if you own a pet with one of the longer average life spans on our list.

The final table below is the complete costs of pet ownership, adding together the total one-time costs with the total lifetime costs of owning each animal on our list.

Total Life Time Costs

KEY Low End Cost High End Cost
KEY Low End Cost High End Cost
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Pet

Life Time Costs

Pet

Life Time Costs

Pet

Life Time Costs

Interestingly, both low-end and high-end lifetime cat costs are greater than the lifetime dog costs. Despite cats being a much smaller animal, cat food appears to be more expensive across the board than dog food. While this is not a huge difference in price, paying a little extra for your pet's food each month really does add up over the 14 years of average ownership of these two popular pets.

The most expensive pets to own on our list are, by far, horses. While it’s surprisingly possible to adopt a horse for as little as $25, the recurring costs of food and environment maintenance seriously accumulate over the 33 years of horse ownership. Annual spending on horse food is around 4 times as expensive as it is for dog or cat food, and yearly insurance can be significantly greater (up to 10 times as much in the high end) than insurance for dogs and cats.

For pet ownership on a budget, the goldfish is the one for you. Coming in at a minimum of $220.18 for 10 years of ownership, goldfish make the cheapest pet on our list. Goldfish are also one of the easiest pets to take care of as they do not require walkies or cuddles, and they don’t make a loud racket when you’re trying to sleep. While a goldfish is the cheapest option in our list, if you become a fish fanatic and rare breed collector then you will definitely see your cost soar. Some of the most expensive fish breeds for collectors can reach up to $10,000 or more!

While you can budget for your pets, the real cost of owning any pet on our list is subject to the individual animal you get, your own situation, and any unforeseen circumstances. While it is possible to budget you could own a pet for a lifetime and spend less on it than we have estimated here, however, the opposite is also true. Unforeseen circumstances such as illness or injury can drastically change how much you spend on your pet. Emergency veterinary treatment can run into the thousands depending on the specific problem, and the cheaper insurance plans may not cover all of these costs.

There are many smaller costs that we have not factored in here that you may be more inclined to. For example, If you have an animal prone to breaking or destroying the toys and supplies you buy for them, expect to spend more on your pets' environmental maintenance! In addition, many of us love the chance to spoil our pets which can also add on to your yearly ownership cost. For example, the National Retail Federation revealed that one in four pet owners bought valentines gifts for their pets in 2020, totalling $1.7 billion in spending!

If you travel a lot, then kennel costs can also run you higher pet ownership costs than what we have estimated here. The International Boarding and Pet Services Association estimates that dog boarding can cost between $22 and $60 per night. You can expect to pay an additional boarding fee for your animals the next time you plan your holiday.

Pet Market Size

The US pet industry is huge, with the American Pets Products Association recording that over $100 billion was spent on our pets in 2020. The largest contributor to this astounding figure is pet food and treats, which accounted for $42 billion in total pet spending in 2020. This was closely followed by veterinary care at $31.4 billion. The APPA estimates that the pet market will continue to grow, predicting pet spending in 2021 to come in at almost $110 billion.

The APPA estimates that over 150 million households in the US own a pet, and of these, around 114 million households own either a dog or a cat. Dogs and cats make up 74% of all household pets in the US, and we can expect spending on these pets to make up the huge pet spending recorded for all pets in 2020.

Pet Product Costs (US)

KEY Billions 2020 Billions 2021 (Estimated)
Pet Food & Treats
$42bn
$44.1bn
Vet Care & Product Sales
$31.4bn
$32.3bn
Supplies, Live Animals & OTC Medicine
$22.1bn
$23.4bn
Other services
$8,1bn
$9.7bn
KEY Billions 2020 Billions 2021 (Estimated)
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Pet Products

2020 Market Size

2021 Estimated Market Size

Pet Food & Treats $42bn $44.1bn
Vet Care & Product Sales $31.4bn $32.3bn
Supplies, Live Animals & OTC Medicine $22.1bn $23.4bn
Other Services $8.1bn $9.7bn
Total $103.6bn $109.5bn

Pet Products

2020 Market Size

2021 Estimated Market Size

Pet Food & Treats €37.38bn €39.25bn
Supplies, Live Animals & OTC Medicine €19.67bn €20.83bn
Vet Care & Product Sales €27.95bn €28.75bn
Other Services €7.21bn €8.63bn
Total €92.20bn €97.46bn

Pet Products

2020 Market Size

2021 Estimated Market Size

Pet Food & Treats £31.08bn £32.63bn
Supplies, Live Animals & OTC Medicine £16.35bn £17.32bn
Vet Care & Product Sales £23.24bn £23.90bn
Other Services £5.99bn £7.18bn
Total £76.66bn £81.03bn