Pet owners will spend a lot more annuallythan those without, with costs rising for each animal they have.
Size matters, too. The larger breeds ofdog tend to be more expensive to keep as they require larger portions of food.And if you have a particularly hairy pet, your grooming bills will be higher.
But despite all these expenses, we stillthink owning a pet is worth it. And if we break down all the individual costs,it’s evident that you can spend smarter within each category. From switchingpet food brands to shopping around for insurance, it’s possible to save £ .Here’s how to do it!
What is the cost of owning a dog?
While you might know it’s expensive,brace yourself. You might not realise just how high it is. The average cost ofowning a dog is £2,000 per year, according to research.
Using data available from the ONS andtaking into consideration a variety of factors from pet food and grooming topet insurance and dog care, an average-sized 15kg dog will have expenses ofalmost £200 every month.
If a dog lives for 13 years, that’s£2,000 x 13 = £26,000
But after one dog passes, theres’ often afour-legged hole in the owner’s life that needs filling. If you have your firstpet at 30, your second at 43 and your third at 56, that’s three lots of£26,000.
In other words, you could spend £26,000 x3 = £78,000 on owning dogs in your lifetime. And that’s if you just have onedog.
Two dogs will cost you £3,200 annually,on average. That’s £41,600 over the course of their lifetimes and £124,800 inyour lifetime if you have two dogs at a time from the ages of 30 to 69.
What is the cost of owning a cat?
Cats may have a reputation for beingfairly low maintenance animals, without the same day care bills, but they’renot cheap.
They still require food, grooming and petinsurance, which will cost £1,500 per year on average.
As a cat has a longer life span, withmost moggies expecting to live for 15 years, that £1,500 per year adds up to£19,500 if you look after the cat from a kitten to when it passes.
And if you can’t bear to be without afurry friend to cuddle/totally ignore you when you’re watching TV or rub upagainst your legs when you’re washing up, replacing a cat three times in yourlifetime will see you spending £19,500 x 3 = £58,500.
But if you prefer to keep two cats at atime to keep each other company, you’re looking at £2,400 per year. That’s£31,200 to take it from a kitten to a senior. And if you own cats from the ageof 30 to 75, it’s an eye-watering £96,000.
6 ways to reduce the cost of owning a dog
How to save on the cost of dog food
Comparing dog food prices
From kibble to raw dog food, the moneydog owners spend on their pets can vary massively.
Assume you have a medium-sized dogweighing 15kg or so. We researched the costs of a subscription to a fresh mealdelivery service and the cost was around £3.80 a day or £114 a month - and£1,370 a year.
Compare this to typical supermarketoptions and you’ll see there are significant savings to be made.
Bakers completeadult dry food will cost 58p per day = £17.50 a month = £210.00 a year
Sainsbury’s adultcomplete pet will cost 24p per day = £7.20 a month = £86.40 a year
Buying supermarket own brand pet food
Assuming your dog lives for 13 years, thefresh food subscription will cost you close to £18,000. Baker’s complete dog food brings the costdown by 85%, to £2,730.
But Sainsbury’s dog food will cost youjust £1,123.20. That’s over £16,000 cheaper than the more upmarket food optionover the course of your dog’s lifetime. A significant amount.
And if you own three dogs over the courseof your lifetime, we’re talking over £50,000 difference!
Now of course the bespoke, subscriptionfood companies would say there are significant health benefits for your dogthat justify their higher prices and so it’s always worth talking to your vetto see what the professional view is.
Doggy day care
How much is doggy daycare?
Doggy day care varies depending on whereyou live in the country. In London, the average daily cost of daycare is £45. If you use itfull-time, that's £225 per week, which is an eye-watering £10,575 per year, ifyou use it for 47 out of 52 weeks of the year, taking into account annualleave.
Taking advantage of WFH day
But let’s say you work from home one daya week, so you don’t need to put your dog in on that day. Do you know anyonewho also owns a dog that you can look after on that day, in return for themlooking after your dog on their work from home day. If it’s not immediatelyobvious from your circle, can you ask your friends if they know anyone? Orraise the subject on a local Facebook group? Saving £90 per week on two days ofdaycare works out to a saving of £4,230 over the year. That’s a whopping£54,990 in your dog’s lifetime, if you save this cost every week.
Pet insurance
How much is pet insurance for dogs?
It's hard to say exactly how much it'll cost to insureyour pet, as it depends on many variables including the type of animal, its ageand its breed. According to insurance industry body the ABI, the average annual cost of pet insurance in 2022 was £327, but again you could findyourself paying less (or significantly more) depending on your pet and thecover you need.
Comparing pet insurance quotes
To find the best price it's crucial to get several quotesfrom the big different comparison sites and insurers, and pick the cover leveland price that most suits your circumstances. Look at customer reviews for howthe insurer responds to claims as there’s no point in having a bargain policythat doesn’t pay out when you need it.
Look at both Money Supermarket and Compare the Market as some deals maybe on one and not the other.
We did a comparison for a labrador weighing15kg with no existing health conditions, looking for lifetime cover for as longas the dog needed it. This typically requires higher premiums than covers thatspecify a time limit such as treating the condition for 12 months.
On Compare The Market, we found an annualpolicy of £153 and Money Supermarket brought up a policy through Nova insurancethat was £120 a year.
Without using a price comparison website,we looked at Sainsbury’s, following an advert in the supermarket, and thisquote was £240 per year.
Saving £120 a year by going with Novaover Sainsbury’s works out to £1,560 over the course of an average’s dogs’lifetime.
Saving on dog boarding and dogsitting
While you may take some holidays in theUK with your dog, there are some occasions where you might need to leave themin a kennels or with a dog boarder or at a dog hotel, for the very pamperedpooches.
At Urban Mutts dog hotel inLondon, it would cost £98 for a night’s stay, or £686 for a week.
House-sitting could be a cheaper option,where you invite guests to stay in your home for free in exchange for lookingafter your animal. If you live in a desirable area, they might do it for free,and in other cases they charge a daily rate. You can place an ad on Housesitters UK, which takes bothaccommodation-only and paid house-sitting opportunities.
If you did find a free house-sitter eachyear and took a holiday every year for your dog’s life, it could mean close toa £9,000 saving.
Cutting the cost of dog grooming
The cost of grooming depends on how highmaintenance your pet is. Chihuahuas and pomeranians, for example, need moregrooming than a dalmatian.
But if you do some washing and hair carefor your pet, you can definitely reduce the frequency of your groomingappointments without it impacting how pretty your pet looks. Check out someaffordable grooming tools on Wowcher, which start at £5.
Instead of a £50 grooming appointmentevery quarter, you could have a £50 appointment every six months. That’s asaving of £100 a year, or £1,300 over the course of your dog’s life.
Pet accessories
From toys to pet beds, Christmasstockings to Valentine’s Day treats, it’s easy to spend a lot of money on thelittle things.
But a £20 stocking and a £50 bed here andthere do add up. Research from MoneySupermarket found that Britsspend an average of £500 on luxury items for their pets every year, or £6,500over their lifetime. From a dog ‘calming bed’ to an intercom camera to speak toyour pet and CBD dog supplements, the pet industry convinces us that our animalswill behave better and be calmer if we own these products.
But if you give yourself a budget, say£100 for all the gear, and you can still get a good camera and bed and havemoney left over for a toy. Let’s say you replace the camera and bed around 4times over the course of your dog’s life to keep them comfy. That’s 4 x £400(if you spend £100 rather than £500), which is £1,600.
H2: Total potential savings for dog owners through smartspending swaps
Over the course of a dog’s lifetime, assuming they live for13 years, we’ve estimated the savings to be made as:
Potential dog savings
Savings per year
Dog food
£16,000
Dog day care
£55,000
Dog insurance
£1,600
Dog boarding
£9,000
Dog grooming
£1,300
Dog accessories
£1,600
Total savings
£84,500
5 ways to reduce the cost of owning cats
Easy to make savings from cat food
Buying supermarket own brand cat food
Assume you have two average-size cats weighing 4kg. It’srecommended to feed them 180 calories a day. You could get this from 150g ofwet food or 50g of dry food or a mix of both, depending on your cat’spreferences.
We got a quote from one of the subscription fresh cat foodcompanies, and the quote was for £160.00/month or £1,920.00/year.
If you buy Whiskas complete food, the equivalent costs wouldbe around £37.00/month, £454.80/year.And buying Sainsbury’s own label cat food is the cheapest of all the options wereviewed at £19.00/month or £228.00/year.
Assuming that you don’t have a picky cat, Sainsbury’s wouldsave you £141.00/month and If your cat lives to15, that’s a whopping £25,000 intheir lifetime.
Cat insurance
Comparing cat insurancequotes
Using MoneySupermarket, we did a comparison for two three year oldmoggies with no existing health conditions, looking for lifetime cover for aslong as the cat needed it. This typically requires higher premiums than coversthat specify a time limit such as treating the condition for 12 months.
We found a policy with Admiral including free 24/7 vet access via videocall or live chat for £14.42 / month = £173.04 a year.
We also used looked at Napo, a specialist pet insurance provider, Thiswas £43.53 /month = £522.36 a year. Thedifference between these two quotes is £349.32. Assuming your cat lives for 15years, the lifetime difference between these two quotes is £5,239.80.
Saving on cat-sitting
Most cats are very independent,so you don’t need to send them to a boarder when you go on holiday. But if youwant to make sure they are getting fed and given any medicines they might need,you could look at hiring a professional cat sitter.
On Pawshake, the going rate for a cat sitter is£12 a day, which works out to £84 over a week's holiday or £168 for two weeks.That’s around £2,520 if you use this service every annually for your cat’s 15year lifespan.
But if you can find a friendlyneighbour who’s also ideally a cat owner, perhaps you can sharecat-cuddling/feeding duties. You could look after their cats when they go onholiday and vice versa.
Cutting the cost of cat Grooming
The cost of grooming will depend on howhigh maintenance your pet is. Short haired cats really don’t need any groomingother than the hours they spend doing it for themselves.
But if you do have a very fancylong-haired cat with pro-grooming needs, you can definitely reduce thefrequency of your appointments without it impacting on how pretty and detangledyour cat looks.
Instead of a £40 mobile-pet groomingappointment every quarter, you could have a £40 appointment every six months.
That’s a saving of £80 a year, or £1,200over the course of a cat’s lifetime.
Cat accessories
According to a survey by Pet Business World, seven out of 10 pet ownersspend more on their animals than themselves. The study revealed that petowners spent an average of almost £500 per year on luxury items such as toysand treats.
For cat owners, luxury items included elaborate play towers, GPS trackers and smartcat litter. All of these things can be bought for less if you shop around. Give yourself abudget of, say, £100 for all the gear and you can still get a play tower,tracker and have money left over for a toy. Let’s say you replace these bigticket items 4 times over the course of your cat’s life to keep them comfy.That’s 4 x £400 (if you spend £100 rather than £500), which is £1600.
Total potential savings for catowners through smart spending swaps
Over the course of a cat’s lifetime, assuming they live for15 years, we’ve estimated you could save:
Potential cat savings
Savings per year
Cat food
£25,000
Cat insurance
£5,240
Cat sitting
£1,000
Cat grooming
£1,200
Cat accessories
£1,600
Total savings
£34,040
How HyperJar can help bring down the cost of pet ownership even more
Controlling your budget
TheHyperJar app allows you to organise and plan your spending. You can create ajar for your pet and pay in a regular amount each month to cover food,insurance and other costs for the year. Feeling in control of your budget andwhat you want to spend can really help with impulsivity.
Sharing pet owning cost
Share the cost of a dog with your partneror family members? You can all pay into the shared jar, send messages to eachother within the app and pay directly from the jar.
Gaining instant cashback
Plus, you can get cashback on certainspends. Buy a HyperJar cashback voucher [SB3] for Asda andSainsbury’s if that’s where you buy your pet food and you’ll get between 2-3%instant cashback. At John Lewis, which is great for pet accessories, you’ll canget around 3.5% cashback. These rates are often boosted throughout the year,meaning that you’ll get even more money back.
HyperJar is free to download for all UK residents. There’s nothing to lose and a lot to gain!
Get your HyperJar debit card now
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