Pet cost calculator

With the defaults here, about $220 a month for a medium dog: food, routine vet care and preventatives, grooming, insurance, an emergency reserve and extras. Switch off insurance or the reserve and it drops accordingly; the first year adds about $600 in one-off costs.

About $138 a month with the defaults: food, litter, routine vet care, insurance, a reserve and extras, with about $450 of one-off costs in the first year. Cats mostly self-groom, so grooming defaults to zero.

The recurring yearly cost times the expected lifespan, plus the first-year one-offs. With the defaults that is $32,280 for a dog over 12 years and $25,290 for a cat over 15. Both lifespans are editable; prices are not inflated over time.

It depends on whether you could absorb a $3,000–5,000 emergency bill. If not, a premium is the price of not having to choose; if you could, a monthly reserve of the same size is the cheaper route on average. This calculator lets you budget either, and shows what each does to the total.

For an accident-and-illness plan, the NAPHIA State of the Industry report 2025 puts the US average at about $836 a year for a dog (roughly $70 a month) and $435 for a cat (roughly $36 a month), as reported by Global Pet Industry. Accident-only plans average far less, about $190 a year for dogs and $112 for cats. Your own quote will move with the animal’s age, breed, your area, the deductible and the annual limit. The default premiums in this calculator are mid-range plan figures; replace them with a real quote to see your own total. Report-year clarification: NAPHIA’s June 2026 report covers 2025, while its 2025 report covers 2024; the historical monthly figures that follow refer to 2024, a different benchmark year. For a US monthly benchmark, average premiums across accident-only and accident-and-illness cover span about $16–$62 for dogs and $9–$32 for cats in 2024 data reported by NAPHIA in 2025. These endpoints compare different types of cover, not the minimum and maximum price of a policy. NAPHIA’s accident-and-illness averages were $62.44 for dogs and $32.21 for cats; Spot reports its accident-only figures of $16.10 and $9.17. Age, breed, location, deductible and limits change a quote. These historical benchmarks are not a current quote or a universal price range. Replace the calculator’s editable premium with your insurer’s quote.

Petful puts a puppy’s first-year vaccine series at about $75 to $300 at most US vet clinics, and about $20 to $100 at low-cost or shelter clinics. Exam fees of $50 to $100 a visit are often the largest line, not the vaccines. Rabies is usually a single $15 to $30 dose, and the core combination shot is given in a series of doses. Prices vary by area, so treat this as a range and ask your vet for a quote. The first-year one-off figure in this calculator already includes a first exam, and you can edit it to match a quote. These sources use different budgeting scopes; the AKC core-vaccine estimate that follows is not a total for all clinic visits or optional vaccines. The American Kennel Club’s puppy vaccination guide gives a US core-vaccine cost estimate of $75–$100, with rabies about $15–$20. This is a budgeting reference rather than a local quote: ask which doses, examinations and other fees are included. Add your quoted first-year vaccination costs to the editable first-year one-off amount, avoiding any amount already included there.

The cost of owning a dog per month is the sum of the recurring lines you choose above. The cost of owning a dog per year is twelve times that monthly total; the first year also adds the separate one-off costs. These are calculations from your inputs, not national averages. Insurance and emergency-reserve switches change which expenses are included.