Chloe’s First Post! The True Cost of a Puppy

It’s officially been a week since we adopted Miss Chloe and we couldn’t be more thrilled. We adopted Chloe from the Plano Animal Shelter at 4 months old. One of the things that drew us to Chloe was how calm she was with other people and animals, she just came in and rolled over for you to rub her belly. She loves her crate and bed and, so far, is only chewing on blankets, fingers crossed on that one.

We knew having a puppy would be a lot of work but we’ve been wanting a dog for a couple years now so we jumped the gun last weekend. My usual excuse for not getting a dog was that it cost too much money or that we didn’t have a yard for it to run around. So, for this first post I’m going through how much  Chloe has cost this first week and some addition costs we might incur.

Adoption fees: Depending on the breeder or owner, puppy adoptions can range from $0-$5,000. Yes, I do know people who have paid $5,000 for a purebred dog. We adopted Chloe from the animal shelter for $80, which is pretty standard because they pay for the first round of vaccines and for her to be spayed/neutered. Most people are pretty open about how much they charge, you just need to ask how much the fee is and what all that includes.

Puppy food: Now a days there are many different kinds of dog food. But they range between three categories:

• Low End: Around $14 for a 15 oz bag
• In the middle. Around $35 for a 15 oz bag
• High End: around $35 for an 11 oz bag

We bough Chloe NUTRO Wholesale Essentials for Large Breed Puppy  which is in between Grocery Store and Luxury. We asked our vet and even the lower end dog food will provide your dog with all the nutrients they need, and some they don’t need. The luxury brands provide your dog with everything they need and nothing they don’t. However, in our experience, dogs have larger poops when we bought the lower end food.

Cost: $25

Bed and toys: arguably the most fun part about about owning an animal is the clothes, toys, and treats! We stuck to the basics for the first week and bought her chew toys, a bed, kennel and treats. But worry I already have an Amazon wishlist waiting for her for Christmas.

Dog Bed: Chloe loves this dog bed, it was the third one I had her try in the store and she didn’t’ want to get up. She sleeps here every night without complaint. The best part about this bed is that the top part zips off and is machine washable!

Cost: $50

Chew Toy: This is Chloe’s favorite chew toy and is her go to. I also cut up a medium sized towel for her to chew on different pieces. She loves both.

Cost: $10

Leash: Since Chloe is a lab she’s going to be big, so we opted for the heavy duty leash.

Cost: $30

Harness: I hate the idea of pulling on my dogs neck when I’m taking her for a walk, so the harness was a must for me.

Cost: $15

Tick removal: When we adopted Chloe from the animal shelter she had two ticks on her and our back yard hadn’t been treated for ticks yet so we bought this little tool that latches onto the tick and then you twist it until it pops free (don’t pull!). It’s not my favorite device, it’s hard to open and close but it does get the job done. Honestly, I think a pair of tweezers would work the same though.

Cost $20

Cleaning supplies: Let’s be honest, most likely you’ll have to potty train your dog a little and you need to clean up after an accident so your house doesn’t smell. Below are some of our favorite products.

PetSmart coupon book: PetSmart offers a coupon book to new puppy owners. If you’re buying a bed and food then the book pays for itself, it cost $15 and gives you a $10 coupon for a new bed and $5 for food. It also provides a free training session and grooming. On our first visit, we saved $40 from coupons from this book!

Vet and vaccines: If you’re like me, then you associate doctors with being expensive, so in my mind the vet is no exception. The vet is a little more expensive than going to a ‘people’ doctor because we don’t have pet insurance so there is no co-pay, you pay for everything. I’ve broken down the cost below, the hookworm medication and stool sample is common when adopting from a shelter.

• Office visit: $60.25
• Stool sample testing (to test for parasites): $25.00
• Hookworm medication (one time dose): $25.62

Below are the monthly medication costs for Chloe. For each of these, the cost depends on the dose, which depends on the size of the dog. Since Chloe is going to grow, these costs will continue to grow. I did look these up and they are cheaper online than they are at the vet, so we’ll start buying them online and just weighing Chloe more often.

• Heartgard Plus Puppy (heart worm preventative): $17 a month
• Nexgard Chew 24-60lb  (flee and tick oral preventative): $38.74 a month

Cost: $140, they gave us a free sample of the heart worm preventatives.

Questions to ask your vet:

• What breed is she? (If it’s mix)
• Is she a healthy weight/size for her age and breed?
• Is the food I’m giving her okay?
• Is she up to date on her shots, what other shots will she need?
• What flee/tick meds do you recommend?
• What heartworm preventatives do you recommend?
• How often should she come to the vet?

Total Cost of Chloe in Week 1: $430 

$80 adoption fee + $210 PetsMart + $140 vet

Chloe’s Week 1 Milestones

• Learned her name
• Learned to come when whistle (I hate whistling 😡)
• Doing better with the separation anxiety, we can now all be in different rooms without a panic atrack
• Learned to bark
• Sleeps through the night 🙌🏻
• Rides in the backseat without complaint
• Has taken her first round of medicine without throwing up 🙌🏻
• Weighs 24 lbs

Chloe’s first picture!