: Cost of keeping a dog vs cat What will be the average food cost (per month) for having a dog vs cat? How much will vet cost (average) (per year) for a dog vs cat?

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Considering costs is an important step in deciding to add a pet to your family. Cost of maintaining a pet is one of the things cause pets to be surrendered to a local shelter.

Unfortunately there is not one simple answer to the question of cost. There are multiple variables. Costs and options vary greatly by location and over time.

The short answer is a small to medium sized dog and a cat (or rabbit) who is healthy can be kept for about the same cost.

Plan for a vet visit annually. Once with in the first week of adoption and then regularly every year (or two). Cat and Dog visits are generally the same cost, contact your local vet for details

Shots; this varies greatly by location there are legal and risk based factors. In general adopting a two year old pet from a shelter is going to be the most cost effective option. A 2 year old pet from a shelter will have had all or most of its shots, while a young pet from a farm or pet store, will likely still need several shots.

Accidents and Health issues; like children some pets will have issues and some will not. In my experience sudden onset issues cost between 3 and 10 times the cost of a normal vet visit. In some cases there are more expensive treatments as well. Just like with people, cost and availability of treatment can have life and death impacts.

Training; cost can be direct or indirect. Like children, pets need to be taught what is acceptable behavior and what is not. This will take time and/or money. You can pay a trainer (direct cost) to help, or you can do some research and do all your own training for free. Failing to train is going to lead to property damage (indirect cost to replace). It takes more time for bowel and bladder training with a dog, than a cat (or rabbit). But dogs are more easily trainable in other ways.

Toys; Every living thing needs something of their own to focus their attention on when things get boring. There are solutions for little to no cost, there is also a large market of products that you can spend lots of money on. Each pet has a unique personality, and will require something different, but here cost is your choice.

Containment; If you live on 100 acres, or if you live in a small apartment in the city you will have vastly different costs, options and considerations. In short, your pet will need to be able to interact with you, get exercise, play and go to the bathroom; while staying safe. Cost can range from nothing to very expensive. A significant amount of the content on pets.stackexchange.com is about solving these challenges. Some pets (dogs, horses) require more outdoor access then other (cats, rabbits) your housing for the next 10 to 15 years will impact greatly the potential costs.

Food; You can spend as much or as little as you would like, basic substance feeding is about the same for all pets, large pets like big dogs (or horses), will require more food at a higher cost. Options range from feeding home made foods to store bought pet foods. Available options vary by location, but most pet foods have feeding suggestions on the package. The cheapest bag of food may require a larger amount be feed at each meal, so it is actually more expensive to feed then a better quality, more expensive feed that requires less food to give the same amount of nutrition.

tl;dr Any pet that will fit comfortably on your lap is going to have about the same cost to keep healthy and happy. Each type of pet; cat, dog, rabbit, pig, horse, bird, snake, etc, has different general attributes, each individual pet will have a different personality. While being able to meet the basic costs of supporting a pet is important in deciding to have a pet, it does not impact which pet to choose. Choose the pet that you want to make part of your family.

Final note: If there is a shelter in your area, spending some time meeting different animals can help you make your decision easier.