Is a dog more expensive than a child? The Ultimate Guide

Tips to Lower the Cost to Own a Dog

Giving your dog the best care possible doesn’t necessarily mean choosing the most expensive options. Savvy shopping and learning how to perform basic dog care tasks will save you hundreds of dollars each year. Here’s how you can lower the cost to own a dog.

Opt for Adoption: Adopting your new furry friend from a local animal shelter or rescue organization can save you money. Adult dogs tend to be available year-round, but shelters might see an influx of puppies during spring and summer. Make Your Money Work for You

If you have your heart set on a specific breed, choose one that will cost you less money over its lifetime. For example, certain terriers and hounds are known as some of the most affordable dog breeds.

Get a Wireless Pet Containment System: If your house doesn’t have a fence to keep your dog in the yard, it can cost you about $17 to $27 per linear foot to install one made of chain link, according to data from HomeWyse. A wireless pet containment system could be a less expensive alternative, costing about $250.

Find a Low-Cost Spay or Neuter Clinic: Getting your dog spayed or neutered can cost roughly $200 at your veterinarian’s office, according to PetFinder. Instead, look for low-cost spay and neuter clinics sponsored by local rescue groups. Check out the ASPCA’s free and low-cost neuter program database as well as discounted surgeries through local humane societies and rescues.

DIY Dog Grooming: Adopting a short-haired dog that doesn’t need much in the way of grooming can save money. But you can save even more money by learning how to take care of basic grooming needs, such as brushing, bathing, clipping nails and brushing teeth. Make Your Money Work for You

Find Dog Food Deals: Diet is one area where you don’t want to cut too many corners. But you can find affordable dog foods where whole, fresh ingredients top the list. You can save money on pet food — as well as other pet supplies — by signing up for a loyalty rewards program. For example, Petco’s Pals Rewards program gives you five reward dollars for every $100 spent.

Here’s a look at some of our findings:

Babies cost the most in the first year, averaging between $2,000 and $3,700 depending on whether you use formula or not.

Cats hit your pocketbook the least, coming in just under $1,000 for the first year of care.

Dogs cost the least when it comes to taking care of “business.” We estimated $68 for a pooper scooper, baggies, and training pads. Babies ring up a whopping $970 for diapers, wipes, cream, and a changing table or pad.

A year’s worth of kitty litter costs more than a year’s worth of cat food.

It’ll cost you more to brush a baby’s head than a cat’s or dog’s—but you’ll spend hours more brushing your furbabies than your wee human.

A dog bed costs almost as much as a baby bassinet, coming in at $116 to a bassinet’s $128.

All the babies we looked at needed food, a place to sleep, a way to deal with going potty, and a contraption to safely get from one place to another in a vehicle. But human babies were the only ones that needed things like a baby monitor and clothes.

It costs more to brush a cat’s teeth than it does a dog’s—and that’s not even counting the potential pain and suffering of wrangling a kitty to get the deed done.

We didn’t include medical costs or adoption fees in our comparison, but those can make a big impact on how expensive the first year is. If you’re ready to open your home (and heart) to a new family member, here are some tips to ease the sticker shock.

The Cost of a Baby Per State

When it comes to babies, we saw that Massachusetts was the most expensive state to have a baby, with a whopping $33,500 on average for the cost of vaginal birth and the first year of care. Other states with high costs for having a baby were California, the District of Columbia, and New York.

Despite having no published data on the cost of the birthing operation itself, the District of Columbia cracked the top three most expensive states to have a baby. This is primarily owed to its unthinkable average annual childcare cost of $24,243. That’s more than the total cost of a baby’s first year in 33 other states!

But does it always have to be this way? Apparently not, as it “only” costs around $16,000 in the least expensive state, Alabama. In fact, all of the top 10 least expensive states to have a baby came in at under a cool $20,000.

Check out our full dataset in the interactive table here to find out how your state ranks among the rest. Scroll right to see all of the individual cost factors in your home state!

Based on our calculations, rearing a child for the first year in Alabama (the least expensive state) is still nearly twice as expensive as adopting a year of pooch parenthood in Connecticut (the most expensive state). Reeling from that fact, we compared the percent change of the costs of a puppy and a baby in each state to find out where the cost gaps are the largest and smallest.

So, where is adopting a puppy the most and least expensive compared to having a baby? Keep reading to find out.

Are pets more expensive than children?