December 26, 2023 • 30 mins
Navigating the financial landscape of pet ownership can be a challenge. It's not just about the initial cost of adoption or purchase; it's the ongoing expenses, from food and toys to veterinary care and unforeseen medical bills. In this episode we chat about the financial cost of being a pet parent with financial advisor Kaytlin Hall of Gerber Kawasaki and Investment Management. Kaytlin has an MBA in financial planning, a MFP, and is also a lifetime pet parent. We cover the average costs of pet ownership, how you can include your pet in your financial planning and whether pet insurance is the right choice for you.
If you are enjoying The Baroo Podcast you can now support the show by buying me a coffee.
Shop the podcast:
https://www.thebaroo.com/shop-pod
Follow The Baroo:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/baroopup/
Blog- https://www.thebaroo.com/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/baroopet/
Pet parent question or story of canine companionship to share ? Email charlotte@thebaroo.com or call 424-273-5131.
*This podcast is for informational purposes only, even if, and regardless of whether it features the advice of veterinarians or professional dog trainers. It is not, nor is it intended to be a substitute for professional veterinary care or personalized canine behavior advice and should not be used as so. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast author or the individual views of those participating in the podcast.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Dogs make the best companions for humans.
This podcast aims to help makehumans better companions for
their dogs.
Welcome to the Baroo Podcast, amodern lifestyle podcast for
dogs and their people.
I'm your host, charlotte Bain.
I've been caring for otherpeople's dogs for more than 15
(00:21):
years and, while I've learned alot in my career, I definitely
don't know at all, so I'vecollected an ever-evolving
roster of amazing dog people andI learn new things from them
all the time.
Hi, you guys.
(00:44):
Thank you so much for joiningme for this episode of the Baroo
Podcast.
Today I am chatting about thefinancial cost of being a pet
parent, something that I don'tthink we talk about often enough
.
I'm sure you factor in food,vet visits, pet sitting or any
of the unexpected costs that maycome about.
People often find themselvesquite surprised or even
(01:06):
overwhelmed by the costs.
So I'm joined by certifiedfinancial planner Caitlin Hall
of Gerber Kawasaki, wealth andInvestment Management and we
cover the average cost of petownership, how you can include
your pet in your financialplanning and whether or not you
need pet insurance.
All right, you guys, let's jumpinto the chat.
Yeah, well, I so thank you forjumping on, because I feel like
(01:35):
this is a topic that we don'ttalk about enough, and my vision
and my goal for this is not toscare people away from owning a
pet, because I really feel likethe benefits clearly can
outweigh some of these costs.
But it's serious business.
It does cost a pretty penny,and with the rising costs of
(01:57):
everything these days I'm seeingjust like veterinary bills, pet
food, dog walking costseverything is kind of on the
rise per usual, and so peoplereally struggle with how to care
for their pets, and so I'mwondering if there's any way
that we can talk about.
Well, I know there is a way,because that's how I hear about
(02:20):
to talk about how we can likeprepare ourselves for the cost
of pet ownership and so how wecan kind of get a jump on that.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, yeah, because I mean when you get, when you
adopt a pet whether it's adoctor you buy or whatever I
mean you should be committingfor the life of this pet, right,
like you want to be preparedgoing in and you know dogs can
live 16 plus years, right, soyou just want to kind of be in
it for you know that 16 years.
(02:54):
I can give you kind of like alittle bit of background about,
like, me and my pets and sort ofour journey with dogs.
As a family I've only hadrescue dogs, so when you get
rescue dogs I think there'sanother level of just not
knowing what you're getting toright, like you don't know the
health conditions, you don'tknow.
Growing up I had, you know, theGerman Shepherd rescue dogs
(03:17):
because that's what they had inthe 90s in the shelters, and
then when I graduated fromcollege, and still today.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And then, once I graduated from college, I was
more interested in pit bulls, sothat's sort of what I have like
a pit bull mix breed.
Marla was my first dog aftercollege.
He was healthy, everything wasgreat, but he got diagnosed with
prostate cancer when he waseight and he only lived, you
know, a week or two after hisdiagnosis.
And then we got Roxy in 2018and she was about a year and a
(03:49):
half-ish old.
She's still here.
She's, you know, downstairssomewhere like baking in the sun
.
But I think, when you go inwith these rescue dogs, you just
you don't know what you'regonna get.
You could have issues rightfrom the get go, or you could,
you know, be great like Marlauntil the very end.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I don't think that's only with rescue dogs, do you
right, because there's a lot ofstuff with any dog, you're gonna
have to put the some you'regonna have to put work, whether
it's, you know, medical orbehavior or anything you know
there's, they're gonna haveneeds that they're gonna need to
be met in.
Those accidents happen, right,yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So the big thing and I know we kind of we can talk
about.
You know what is like.
How much do you save monthlyand you know how to prepare for
this.
But when I talked to clientsjust about regular financial
planning, you know we say youwant to have anywhere from about
three to six months of yourfixed living expenses liquid in
the bank, and I would add yourdog those expenses too.
(04:46):
So you know, when you'rethinking cost of food,
veterinary care, you want tohave that money liquid because
what?
What we've kind of seen, Ithink even over.
You know COVID is like a lot ofpeople adopted dogs during COVID
because they were home and then, as things change, you know
some of those dogs got returned.
Or if you know your job changes, you have to relocate, you have
(05:07):
to.
You know you're take a job cutlike.
You need to have that moneyliquid in the bank so you can
cover those expenses sort ofwhile you're getting your feet
stable again through these biglife transitions.
So I can give you a few numbersabout you know sort of helpful.
You know on average it's in2023.
It's about dog ownership isabout $376 a month or about
(05:30):
$4500 a year.
Gen Z spends more, though I wasgonna say, unless you're my dog
, yeah, this is national numbers.
Right, these are, you know maybenot Southern California numbers
, but you know the averageperson in America spending about
$376 a month, gen Z spending$590 a month.
So I think it also depends on,like, what sort of care you're
(05:53):
getting, what type of food, butthis is, you know, sort of
average.
So if you're thinking maybesomewhere in the $500 a month
range, you need to make surethat you have three to six
months of that $500.
You know, liquid in the bank tosort of cover emergency costs.
But things that come up, youknow, with income being
unpredictable.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So that's a big one.
And then the other one is, andI can kind of, you know, even go
over more details like how muchis food, you know how much are
toys, and I think some of thesethings are going to be.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I would love to hear numbers like what, like I mean I
know what I spend and I knowyou know I, he's, you know he's
I don't have children, so I knowthat makes you know human
children, so I know that makes ahuge difference in what I'm
able to do for him, for for manypeople.
But I, you know, I know what Ispend, but I'd love to know what
the average, like those numbersare you?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
know yeah.
So dog food on average is about$200 a month.
$200 to $1,000, I guess A month, I'm sorry a year.
That was the wrong, the wrongone.
But you know some people dospend $200 a month.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
No, I definitely spent $200 a month.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, roxy's on a limited diet because she's
allergic to everything, so she'sprobably closer to 200 a month.
But no, sorry, that was, thatwas confusing.
200 to 1,000 a year, and allthese numbers will be annual
numbers.
But dog toys, 100 is nationalaverage and you know, mine's
probably a little bit higherthan my dog Marla was probably,
(07:24):
you know, triple that because hewas a shredder.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
You know like pull all the toys apart.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So he was more of our home goods toys than the fancy
toys Leashes, beds, collars, youknow, those kind of I don't
want to say miscellaneous butstill necessary 75 to 250 per
year Because you know you'retypically not replacing leashes
and beds and stuff that often,unless you have a puppy, but
(07:50):
that they're a chewer also, yeah.
And chewers and diggers anddestroyers grooming 50 to $1,000
a year.
I don't know how you groom your, if yours are high maintenance
groomers or if they're backyardgroomers.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I throw my guy, I mean my guy, I, this is, I will
say this and that I, for peoplelistening, I wish I had put.
I wish I had gotten my dog usedto the groomer from the get go
when I adopted him.
But I've always just kind ofwashed him myself, because now
he's, he's never got acclimatedto the groomer, so he doesn't
like going to the groomer, so Ijust do it myself now.
(08:30):
So but and you know it's tooterrifying for him, I'm not
going to put him through that.
So but I do.
We have, you know, my clients.
Yes, we have fancy, veryexpensive.
I have some of my clients.
It's cost of getting, like youknow, their dog groomed is like
$150 or something like that.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, no so it's like almost the cost of getting our
hair done right.
Like it could be close to that.
My dog, marla, was so easy togroom he had such short hair so
he was just and Roxy's prettyeasy to.
Those pit bulls.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
do have that, those pit bulls Easy, easy easy, throw
him in the tub.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Throw him in the tub.
Veterinary cost this is a bigone, this one's, this one really
fluctuates because it's so hardwith veterinary costs, but
average number is this was whatI was getting was about 200 to
500 a year.
Okay, this is obviously a lotmore for older dogs.
Yes, and I can tell you mystory with Roxy, which will kind
(09:25):
of go to the next topic.
I think about how to beprepared for that.
But we can come back to thatwith veterinary costs.
Preventative medicine 500 to 700a year, that's.
You know flea medicine, youknow tick, you know I don't know
if your dogs, my dogs, havelike a tick collar that they
would wear like on hikes and youknow flea medicine, those types
(09:46):
of things, just preventative.
And then dog walking you couldprobably weigh in more here, but
this is, you know, dog walking,sitting boarding, and I guess I
think every dog sort of ranges,but you know 500 to almost
7,000 a year per dog, but that'syou know, I think the average,
I think I mean at least in themajor metropolitan cities, I
mean the average cost of dogwalking is, I think now up to 30
(10:10):
bucks, 30 to $40 per hour.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
So if you need that every day, you know those costs
really add up.
And then boarding, I think,depending on where you go, but
you know starts at about 50 ish,I think.
So all the way up.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So right and boarding to right, where they get a bath
while they're there, like thatcan get all the days range.
And then they there's a this isan article that I found, this
it's from a USA Today that Ikind of got these numbers from.
But they categorize unexpectedsurgeries, you know, anywhere
from like 5,000 to 10,000.
Yes, and this kind of ties into, like the next piece, which I
(10:45):
think is dog insurance and orpet insurance in general.
You know who needs it, whowants it like.
Is it smart?
Is it a scam?
You know all that kind of stuff.
For Marlowe and Roxy, we havepet insurance.
Marlowe's we really didn't useuntil sort of the end, like we
used it for you know kind of endof life.
(11:06):
It's, you know expenses.
We had a vet that was able tocome to our home, you know to,
so he could, you know, gopeacefully.
So it was really nice havingthat and not having to think
about it financially.
I would say we probably brokeeven with that policy.
What we put into it monthly andwhat we got out of it over the
course of eight years wasprobably about even for him,
because he was a very healthydog, you know.
(11:27):
Besides that, roxy, on theother hand, the insurance
company has lost quite a bit ofmoney on him.
He is allergic to everythingand we did not really know, oh,
that's what you were saying, oh,yeah.
Holtry like just new name it andshe's allergic to it.
So she's on a special diet, shehas to go.
She has allergy injections thatshe has to have.
(11:49):
We've taken her to adermatologist, like she's had
ear infections.
She's lost her hearing in oneear because she's had so many
ear infections.
So I don't want to scareanybody, but I think it's
important to know these thingscan happen.
We adopted her in July of 2018.
And now it's November of 2023.
(12:11):
So a little over five years, Iwould say.
We've had over $40,000 in vetbills for her.
She broke her toe when we firstgot her and then I know I
actually didn't know that theycan actually break their toe.
Charlotte, it was awful we hadto bring her to the vet to have
a cast changed every two weeks.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I was like so like her whole paw, or like her.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
It was like her whole paw, like the foot of her paw,
so she was kind of walkingaround like she was Captain Hook
, because she had this brokentoe and I was like eight months
pregnant.
We tried to bring her to the vet.
It was insane.
That was, I think, like 10weeks I was going to say six,
but it was more than six.
I think it was like 10 weeks ofhaving to go to the vet to get
(12:57):
the bandage changed and then,after her foot healed, then we
had the allergy crisis.
That is still ongoing.
So the insurance company I didsome math, maybe about a year
ago, that if she lived to be 14and had no other medical
expenses, we would break evenprobably on what we pay versus
(13:21):
what the insurance has coveredfor us.
She has had issues since I usedblack math, so that's not
always the case.
You know, not every dog willhave these type of situations,
but it's so nice not to have tothink about where that $40,000
is going to come from, that wepay the insurance, we pay it
monthly and we have the coveragebehind it.
(13:41):
There's many differentcompanies out there and I think
that's a big thing to kind oftalk about too.
It's like which company do yougo with?
How do you know if you have theright dog insurance?
It's kind of like healthinsurance for people.
It's a little strange and youkind of ask what do you want?
Like what do you want forcoverage?
Certain companies also offer itas a benefit, so if you're
(14:03):
working for an employer, that'sa great question to ask.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I guess that's great.
So, and that's much deeper.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, so if you have a dog and you have an employer
that has a great benefit package, see if they have pet insurance
through there.
So that's a big one.
We have private insurance forRoxy and we use TruePanning and
that's just what seemed to workbest for our family, but there's
lots of other ones out thereand we pay a monthly premium or
monthly for her and we have a$750 per incident deductible so
(14:35):
she could have multipleincidents per year.
So she breaks her toe one year,has allergies one year and who
knows.
I don't know what a third thingcould be.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
But it has this upset stop or an emergency visit.
Yeah, each one of them.
It gets stung by a bee.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, it's stung by a bee right.
All three of those will have a$750 deductible per incident, so
it's not per year, but for herallergies.
She met that deductible fouryears ago, so we haven't had to
pay additional deductible forthat.
But you can kind of based offwhat your budget is and what you
feel like you can cover ifthere's an emergency, you can
(15:08):
work on it.
So maybe we pay $65 a month forher policy because our
deductible is $750.
If I wanted to pay less monthly, maybe I wanted to pay $40
monthly.
Maybe my deductible now wouldbe $1,200.
So you can work it to feel likewhat do you want to Like if
there's an issue?
What are you comfortablecovering financially if you
don't?
To not have to pull from yoursavings but also to make sure
(15:29):
that's still affordable for yourmonthly budget.
Yeah, so it's a lot, but nothaving to think about where that
$40,000 is going to come fromor have to put it on a credit
card like that's just that couldreally be a really big deal.
It's a huge relief.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, I had we got.
And I think Pet Insurance hasevolved over the years.
Especially recently I wasinterviewing a veterinarian and
a lot of the pushback that theycome against with being able to
treat patients the way they wantto treat them is obviously
financial.
And if you have Pet Insurance,he said, the client is more, the
(16:08):
patient is more apt to say dowhatever you can to help this
animal.
And so it gives them thefreedom to actually give the
care that they need to give tosave your animal and it also
gives you the peace of mind.
So he said everybody shouldhave Pet Insurance if they can.
We got it one chance when I gotit, when he was first adopted,
and not a lot of people so hewas.
(16:29):
That was 16 years ago, 15 and 11⁄2 years ago, and he I didn't
even think really to use it asmuch as like and until recently
when he you know, obviously inthe last five years he as a
senior dog my gosh, his costsare through the roof, right, but
(16:53):
it's also allows me to give himthe kind of care that I want to
give him and I also found outthat my his rehab and his
acupuncture and all of thethings that help keep him moving
and grew up is covered by hishis health insurance.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
So it's such a big deal.
It's awesome for us.
Yeah, and we change your right,like I mean, yeah, we didn't
not this person and if we didn'thave this health insurance or
we didn't have this, you knowpet insurance for Roxy and you
know we got a bill for fivegrand for her allergies.
Yeah, how many of those dogsend up in shelters because
people just can't pay them Right, like that's, that's
(17:29):
heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
A lot of them, a lot of them that is a huge reason
why people abandon their dogsand return their dogs to
shelters, especially like theirsenior dogs too, right.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Right, because they're even more expensive.
And that was five thousand andI'm talking 40,000.
I mean, that's it's a lot ofmoney to pay for a dog.
But you know, at 60 somethingdollars a month I, you know I
don't want to say they're nevergoing to recoup the cost, but I
will never own a dog withoutinsurance just because of this.
And you know Roxy will move onand I will adopt another one,
(17:58):
you know, later in life.
And even if I end up not usingthe insurance, the fact that we
didn't have to cover that todayis is great.
You know, it's such a piece ofmind having it there.
And you know we get to put theexpenses.
You know, with the insurance wehave is we front the expenses
and then they bring us with acheck.
You know we put them on.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
I think most of them do.
Most of them do that yeah.
But there are things like carecredit and stuff like that, yeah
, and so sorry, payment plan.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, or some veterinary offices will even
allow you to like you canreimburse the vet's office.
I'm not sure how many of themactually do that.
I've never gone that route.
But yeah, when we like submitthe claim it says reimburse me
or reimburse the vet's.
But oh got it, yeah, so that's,that's an option, but it's.
It's so nice having it and nothaving to worry.
(18:45):
You know where this?
Oh, but where I was going isthat we just put these expenses
on our credit card.
We pay off our credit card whenthe reimbursement check comes
and we get some nice travelpoints you know for in the
meantime for paying for all ofthese expenses for her.
So thanks, roxy.
We know we have a airlineticket or two from a medical,
exactly so that's great.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Is there anyone that shouldn't have pet insurance.
Do you think like I mean,obviously, if you're just super,
if your money is not an issue,then it's not even worth having?
You know, pet insurance, or Idon't know how that works?
Yeah, you know, it's the samething.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Even if you know I had I guess it depends on your
situation, right, like.
But if, even if I had $20million, you know, sitting in
the box and like, do I stillwant to?
You know, take $40,000 out ofthat, for you know the cost of
covering my pet's care.
I mean, if you can afford themonthly payments.
It seems like.
You know, it's just a littlebit of a gamble, right, your
(19:43):
self-insuring, which could befine, and maybe you're not
having to, you know, pay thoseexpenses.
But you know, that's why people, the same thing with, like
health insurance, right, like,if you're healthy you need
health insurance, but of courseyou do, because you just, you
just never know what's going tohappen, right?
Car accidents happen, dogs getout bites, like things just
happen in the world.
And it's nice, you know.
(20:04):
We call it a banner ofprotection, you know?
Yeah, a little question.
You protect your home.
You protect your house.
You have life insurance.
You know pet insurance is partof that.
Yeah, yeah, thank you, yeah it'sa lot and I think everyone has
to do their own research andtake care of what insurance
works fast and what works fortheir budget.
But I do think that when we'retalking about having those three
(20:26):
to six months of fixed expensesin the bank, that you should
just include the cost of yourpet and then the insurance for
your pet too, because that's notsomething I want to drop,
because if you lose your job andthen now your dog gets sick and
you dropped your insurance,that's a lot of terrible
decisions I have.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I do have not to say a sad story, but I do have.
The dog is fine now he'srecovered, he's great.
But I do have a friend who shehad health and pet insurance and
she was like, and she's onlypaying, I think, like $35, $40 a
month, along those lines, butand she just was like this is
essentially, this is a scam it'snot worth it.
(21:02):
And so then, a year and a halflater, her dog.
So she dropped it and you'reafter your dog like cancer cost
her $20,000.
And I'm sure she paid it right?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, she paid it.
Now she has a human baby.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
so she's just like that yeah, that's her first baby
and he's doing great and he'swonderful.
But she was like, yeah, youwere right, yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
It's really hard and I mean I think it just has to be
part of being like aresponsible pet owner.
You do everything else, right?
Yeah, like you bring them tothe vet, you take them on walks,
like you do all these things,but if you can't pay for the
care, that's tough and no onewants to be put in that spot.
You know having to make adecision of how they're going to
treat their animal, which formost people, like you said, it's
(21:43):
like their baby.
Like Marlo was my first baby.
He was my, you know, out ofcollege dog and, yeah, we would
have done anything to try tokeep him alive Anything.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And then I know, do you?
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
No, no go ahead.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
This might not be your wheelhouse, but do you know
of like any?
Like a low, low, lower costwhere people can seek lower cost
care?
Still wonderful care, but low,like for people who may be
struggling financially.
I can't even make that kind ofcommitment, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I think there's there like there's a lot of like
clinics that get open up.
We adopted Roxy from oh goshnow I can't remember the name it
was in Culver City.
Oh, adopt and Shop in CulverCity.
They since closed down, but Iknow they had some clinics and
you know, part of like theadoption thing for her was she
had to be like spayed andneutered before you know she's
(22:43):
spayed Low cost spay andneutering.
Yeah, so they have some of those.
There is a rescue organizationwhich is where I got Marlo from.
They're called START S-T-A-R-TRescue and they do a lot of work
with shelters and they do a lotof either no cost or very low
cost, you know, spay and neuters.
They have like mobile vans thatthey work with, like the
(23:04):
Riverside shelter.
So there are things out there.
I think you have to do a littlebit of research, but it seems
like the shelters are good spotsand a lot of these I don't want
to say private rescues becausethey're not private, they're,
all you know, not profits,501c3s, but they do a lot of
fundraising to kind of, you know, do the spay and neuters and do
the vaccines, because you know,spay and neuter is such a big
(23:24):
part of keeping animals off thestreet.
So we do live in a great bigcity so there are lots of
resources.
Yeah, it's just kind of keepingyour eyes out for, I think,
those special, you know, eventsthat happen.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
But START rescue is great, yeah, okay, I'll put that
in the show notes.
I mean, I think that that'sjust the key.
I think people don't realizethat those things can be
available to them and you justhave to do your research and you
know, ask around and don't beafraid to ask.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
It's out there and somebody's probably willing to
help you.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So yeah, it seems like you know I wouldn't
necessarily ask the vet's office.
It's sometimes, you know,that's volunteer kind of for
those you know events.
But it's a lot of rescue groupswhich I've noticed have put
them all Well.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
They want to keep those stocks they want to get
those stocks into good home andkeep them there.
They don't want those stockscoming back because people can't
afford them, so they're doingthe best they can to provide,
you know, the best case scenariofor those pups that they've
rescued.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
So yeah, so I mean being in a light such a you know
it's a blessing and a curse,right, there's so much
information but there's so manyoptions, full sorts of different
.
You know that's here you kindof just pick your specialty.
Roxy has a dermatologist.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
You know that's crazy yeah yeah, yeah, they've all
been on my podcast.
Yeah, that's the other thinglike not knowing that those they
existed.
Yeah, so like quality of healthcare.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, yeah, and we have, we have that here.
But yeah, I think it's a, it'sa big financial commitment.
You know people, I think, jokethat getting a dog is like
having a child and I, you know Ihave both.
I can say they're not exactlythe same but, like you, there is
a certain level ofresponsibility that you have to
have for both of them.
I mean you're their caretaker,they depend on you for
(25:04):
everything.
So you know it's you have to.
I think what.
I think there's a there'sprobably memes or clothes is
like be the person your dogthinks you are, like you know
that's who you need to be.
Right, like, take care of yourfur babies.
And I mean they take care of us.
You know the.
What they do for us is a bigdeal too.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Absolutely yes, they do.
They do.
How do people know if they'rethinking about pet ownership,
how, or bringing a furry, furryfriend into their family?
Like, how do they know when?
Looking at their finances issomething that they can?
That's realistic for them.
I don't want to dissuade themfrom doing it.
(25:47):
You know what I mean, but it'salso, you know, as I've said
before, it can be a heavy price,as we've talked about.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I think when I'm doing financial planning
meetings with clients, you sitdown and you work on a budget,
right, how much does your budget?
You do the whole thing?
Right, figure out how muchmoney you bring in versus how
much money you spend.
And I guess the big thing is,if you don't have a surplus at
the end of the month, thenyou're probably not able to care
for a pet right now, right?
Like you know, we talked aboutsome of the average numbers.
(26:17):
Those might just be good placesto start.
So if you figure you're doingyour budget and you're, you know
how much you spend on rent, howmuch you spend on groceries,
car payments, all these things,and then add in those extra, you
know, if we're calling it,maybe I don't know, it could be
anywhere.
You know, average we talkedabout was being about 4500 a
year, gen Z, maybe 7000 a year,you know.
Even take 6000, right, how muchis that monthly?
(26:39):
Add that extra $500 a month andfigure out if that's something
that you can afford.
Would be a really just goodplace to start.
But you know, do you have familysupport, like, do you have a
partner?
Are you doing this together?
Are you doing this by yourself?
I know we're talking about dogsspecifically.
It seems like cats are probablya little bit.
You know, they're lower.
(26:59):
Well, I'd say they're lowermaintenance.
They have their own, you knowdo you let?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I don't know if they are.
My friend has two cats I don'tknow if she Talking about health
.
Back to the health insuranceconversation.
She one had an emergency andshe has, luckily, health
insurance for him.
But he the cost of thatemergency visit was $15,000.
He was there for a few days.
She had to fork over.
I think it was a little under athousand.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And then insurance reimbursed her for the rest of
it, which is not I mean $1,000out of 15 grand is.
Yes, it feels like, it mightseem like.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
But yeah, yeah, maybe you're not paying for a walker,
you're not paying for yes.
Yes, but I think it's also justwhat type of pet maybe fits for
your lifestyle.
Maybe you really really want adog, but that's just maybe not
something that's in the budget.
Go rescue a cat instead.
Yeah, but I think just makingsure that you have that
financial backing, because Ithink people think that they're
(27:50):
they don't cost that much, but,as we've kind of gone over, they
do.
And one thing I did want tomention is when we were talking
about the pet insurance.
It's really, I think, importantto get the pet insurance early,
because you will be sort ofrated or your dog will be rated
based off if they havepreexisting conditions.
So we got it for Roxy, I thinkthe day that we adopted her.
(28:13):
Had we waited a year and foundout all these allergy issues
were a problem in her life, shewould have had all these
preexisting conditions and nowher premiums would be so much
more monthly.
So the older they are, if theyhave preexisting conditions,
then this can get more expensive.
So if you sort of lock it inearly, when you're probably less
likely to use it, it's reallynice.
(28:33):
But, although puppies aretrouble, puppies can get.
They're gonna cause a lot oftrouble with food, fire,
veterinary care early, butAbsolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
They're eating a whole sock.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
They're eating all of those things.
The wall like, yeah, the wall.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Well, if they're eating the wall, they may have
some other things going on.
Just teething they're trouble.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but waiting until your dog is 12 to
get pet insurance when they'reolder is gonna be quite
expensive.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm a little bit of a catlin.
I really appreciate this.
I wish I had known all of thisbefore I got chance, but I did
get on board with the petinsurance part, but yeah.
Well, at least somehow made itthrough and made it work, but
yeah, and, like you said, petinsurance has come a long way in
(29:23):
.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
even I noticed a difference between Marlowe and
Roxy, but everything's changing.
There's all these stuff that'schanging for In the pet industry
in general, in the insuranceindustry, there's always new
things happening, which is great.
But no, this was really fun.
I'm glad we were able to talkfinancial planning on dog
ownership and kind of what toexpect for your fur baby.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Absolutely.
Thank you, caitlin.
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode of the Baroo
Podcast.
As always, if you enjoyed theepisode, please don't forget to
rate and follow the Baroowherever you listen to podcasts.
You can also support us byfollowing us on Instagram at
Baroo Podcast.
If you have a story of caninecompanionship that you'd like to
(30:09):
share on the show, or aquestion, or even a comment, I
would love to hear from you.
You can email me, charlotte, atthebaroocom.
All right, you guys, see younext time.
Dogs make the best companions for humans.
This podcast aims to help makehumans better companions for
their dogs.
Welcome to the Baroo Podcast, amodern lifestyle podcast for
dogs and their people.
I'm your host, charlotte Bain.
I've been caring for otherpeople's dogs for more than 15
(00:21):
years and, while I've learned alot in my career, I definitely
don't know at all, so I'vecollected an ever-evolving
roster of amazing dog people andI learn new things from them
all the time.
Hi, you guys.
(00:44):
Thank you so much for joiningme for this episode of the Baroo
Podcast.
Today I am chatting about thefinancial cost of being a pet
parent, something that I don'tthink we talk about often enough
.
I'm sure you factor in food,vet visits, pet sitting or any
of the unexpected costs that maycome about.
People often find themselvesquite surprised or even
(01:06):
overwhelmed by the costs.
So I'm joined by certifiedfinancial planner Caitlin Hall
of Gerber Kawasaki, wealth andInvestment Management and we
cover the average cost of petownership, how you can include
your pet in your financialplanning and whether or not you
need pet insurance.
All right, you guys, let's jumpinto the chat.
Yeah, well, I so thank you forjumping on, because I feel like
(01:35):
this is a topic that we don'ttalk about enough, and my vision
and my goal for this is not toscare people away from owning a
pet, because I really feel likethe benefits clearly can
outweigh some of these costs.
But it's serious business.
It does cost a pretty penny,and with the rising costs of
(01:57):
everything these days I'm seeingjust like veterinary bills, pet
food, dog walking costseverything is kind of on the
rise per usual, and so peoplereally struggle with how to care
for their pets, and so I'mwondering if there's any way
that we can talk about.
Well, I know there is a way,because that's how I hear about
(02:20):
to talk about how we can likeprepare ourselves for the cost
of pet ownership and so how wecan kind of get a jump on that.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, yeah, because I mean when you get, when you
adopt a pet whether it's adoctor you buy or whatever I
mean you should be committingfor the life of this pet, right,
like you want to be preparedgoing in and you know dogs can
live 16 plus years, right, soyou just want to kind of be in
it for you know that 16 years.
(02:54):
I can give you kind of like alittle bit of background about,
like, me and my pets and sort ofour journey with dogs.
As a family I've only hadrescue dogs, so when you get
rescue dogs I think there'sanother level of just not
knowing what you're getting toright, like you don't know the
health conditions, you don'tknow.
Growing up I had, you know, theGerman Shepherd rescue dogs
(03:17):
because that's what they had inthe 90s in the shelters, and
then when I graduated fromcollege, and still today.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And then, once I graduated from college, I was
more interested in pit bulls, sothat's sort of what I have like
a pit bull mix breed.
Marla was my first dog aftercollege.
He was healthy, everything wasgreat, but he got diagnosed with
prostate cancer when he waseight and he only lived, you
know, a week or two after hisdiagnosis.
And then we got Roxy in 2018and she was about a year and a
(03:49):
half-ish old.
She's still here.
She's, you know, downstairssomewhere like baking in the sun
.
But I think, when you go inwith these rescue dogs, you just
you don't know what you'regonna get.
You could have issues rightfrom the get go, or you could,
you know, be great like Marlauntil the very end.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I don't think that's only with rescue dogs, do you
right, because there's a lot ofstuff with any dog, you're gonna
have to put the some you'regonna have to put work, whether
it's, you know, medical orbehavior or anything you know
there's, they're gonna haveneeds that they're gonna need to
be met in.
Those accidents happen, right,yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So the big thing and I know we kind of we can talk
about.
You know what is like.
How much do you save monthlyand you know how to prepare for
this.
But when I talked to clientsjust about regular financial
planning, you know we say youwant to have anywhere from about
three to six months of yourfixed living expenses liquid in
the bank, and I would add yourdog those expenses too.
(04:46):
So you know, when you'rethinking cost of food,
veterinary care, you want tohave that money liquid because
what?
What we've kind of seen, Ithink even over.
You know COVID is like a lot ofpeople adopted dogs during COVID
because they were home and then, as things change, you know
some of those dogs got returned.
Or if you know your job changes, you have to relocate, you have
(05:07):
to.
You know you're take a job cutlike.
You need to have that moneyliquid in the bank so you can
cover those expenses sort ofwhile you're getting your feet
stable again through these biglife transitions.
So I can give you a few numbersabout you know sort of helpful.
You know on average it's in2023.
It's about dog ownership isabout $376 a month or about
(05:30):
$4500 a year.
Gen Z spends more, though I wasgonna say, unless you're my dog
, yeah, this is national numbers.
Right, these are, you know maybenot Southern California numbers
, but you know the averageperson in America spending about
$376 a month, gen Z spending$590 a month.
So I think it also depends on,like, what sort of care you're
(05:53):
getting, what type of food, butthis is, you know, sort of
average.
So if you're thinking maybesomewhere in the $500 a month
range, you need to make surethat you have three to six
months of that $500.
You know, liquid in the bank tosort of cover emergency costs.
But things that come up, youknow, with income being
unpredictable.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So that's a big one.
And then the other one is, andI can kind of, you know, even go
over more details like how muchis food, you know how much are
toys, and I think some of thesethings are going to be.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I would love to hear numbers like what, like I mean I
know what I spend and I knowyou know I, he's, you know he's
I don't have children, so I knowthat makes you know human
children, so I know that makes ahuge difference in what I'm
able to do for him, for for manypeople.
But I, you know, I know what Ispend, but I'd love to know what
the average, like those numbersare you?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
know yeah.
So dog food on average is about$200 a month.
$200 to $1,000, I guess A month, I'm sorry a year.
That was the wrong, the wrongone.
But you know some people dospend $200 a month.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
No, I definitely spent $200 a month.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, roxy's on a limited diet because she's
allergic to everything, so she'sprobably closer to 200 a month.
But no, sorry, that was, thatwas confusing.
200 to 1,000 a year, and allthese numbers will be annual
numbers.
But dog toys, 100 is nationalaverage and you know, mine's
probably a little bit higherthan my dog Marla was probably,
(07:24):
you know, triple that because hewas a shredder.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
You know like pull all the toys apart.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So he was more of our home goods toys than the fancy
toys Leashes, beds, collars, youknow, those kind of I don't
want to say miscellaneous butstill necessary 75 to 250 per
year Because you know you'retypically not replacing leashes
and beds and stuff that often,unless you have a puppy, but
(07:50):
that they're a chewer also, yeah.
And chewers and diggers anddestroyers grooming 50 to $1,000
a year.
I don't know how you groom your, if yours are high maintenance
groomers or if they're backyardgroomers.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I throw my guy, I mean my guy, I, this is, I will
say this and that I, for peoplelistening, I wish I had put.
I wish I had gotten my dog usedto the groomer from the get go
when I adopted him.
But I've always just kind ofwashed him myself, because now
he's, he's never got acclimatedto the groomer, so he doesn't
like going to the groomer, so Ijust do it myself now.
(08:30):
So but and you know it's tooterrifying for him, I'm not
going to put him through that.
So but I do.
We have, you know, my clients.
Yes, we have fancy, veryexpensive.
I have some of my clients.
It's cost of getting, like youknow, their dog groomed is like
$150 or something like that.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, no so it's like almost the cost of getting our
hair done right.
Like it could be close to that.
My dog, marla, was so easy togroom he had such short hair so
he was just and Roxy's prettyeasy to.
Those pit bulls.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
do have that, those pit bulls Easy, easy easy, throw
him in the tub.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Throw him in the tub.
Veterinary cost this is a bigone, this one's, this one really
fluctuates because it's so hardwith veterinary costs, but
average number is this was whatI was getting was about 200 to
500 a year.
Okay, this is obviously a lotmore for older dogs.
Yes, and I can tell you mystory with Roxy, which will kind
(09:25):
of go to the next topic.
I think about how to beprepared for that.
But we can come back to thatwith veterinary costs.
Preventative medicine 500 to 700a year, that's.
You know flea medicine, youknow tick, you know I don't know
if your dogs, my dogs, havelike a tick collar that they
would wear like on hikes and youknow flea medicine, those types
(09:46):
of things, just preventative.
And then dog walking you couldprobably weigh in more here, but
this is, you know, dog walking,sitting boarding, and I guess I
think every dog sort of ranges,but you know 500 to almost
7,000 a year per dog, but that'syou know, I think the average,
I think I mean at least in themajor metropolitan cities, I
mean the average cost of dogwalking is, I think now up to 30
(10:10):
bucks, 30 to $40 per hour.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
So if you need that every day, you know those costs
really add up.
And then boarding, I think,depending on where you go, but
you know starts at about 50 ish,I think.
So all the way up.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So right and boarding to right, where they get a bath
while they're there, like thatcan get all the days range.
And then they there's a this isan article that I found, this
it's from a USA Today that Ikind of got these numbers from.
But they categorize unexpectedsurgeries, you know, anywhere
from like 5,000 to 10,000.
Yes, and this kind of ties into, like the next piece, which I
(10:45):
think is dog insurance and orpet insurance in general.
You know who needs it, whowants it like.
Is it smart?
Is it a scam?
You know all that kind of stuff.
For Marlowe and Roxy, we havepet insurance.
Marlowe's we really didn't useuntil sort of the end, like we
used it for you know kind of endof life.
(11:06):
It's, you know expenses.
We had a vet that was able tocome to our home, you know to,
so he could, you know, gopeacefully.
So it was really nice havingthat and not having to think
about it financially.
I would say we probably brokeeven with that policy.
What we put into it monthly andwhat we got out of it over the
course of eight years wasprobably about even for him,
because he was a very healthydog, you know.
(11:27):
Besides that, roxy, on theother hand, the insurance
company has lost quite a bit ofmoney on him.
He is allergic to everythingand we did not really know, oh,
that's what you were saying, oh,yeah.
Holtry like just new name it andshe's allergic to it.
So she's on a special diet, shehas to go.
She has allergy injections thatshe has to have.
(11:49):
We've taken her to adermatologist, like she's had
ear infections.
She's lost her hearing in oneear because she's had so many
ear infections.
So I don't want to scareanybody, but I think it's
important to know these thingscan happen.
We adopted her in July of 2018.
And now it's November of 2023.
(12:11):
So a little over five years, Iwould say.
We've had over $40,000 in vetbills for her.
She broke her toe when we firstgot her and then I know I
actually didn't know that theycan actually break their toe.
Charlotte, it was awful we hadto bring her to the vet to have
a cast changed every two weeks.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I was like so like her whole paw, or like her.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
It was like her whole paw, like the foot of her paw,
so she was kind of walkingaround like she was Captain Hook
, because she had this brokentoe and I was like eight months
pregnant.
We tried to bring her to the vet.
It was insane.
That was, I think, like 10weeks I was going to say six,
but it was more than six.
I think it was like 10 weeks ofhaving to go to the vet to get
(12:57):
the bandage changed and then,after her foot healed, then we
had the allergy crisis.
That is still ongoing.
So the insurance company I didsome math, maybe about a year
ago, that if she lived to be 14and had no other medical
expenses, we would break evenprobably on what we pay versus
(13:21):
what the insurance has coveredfor us.
She has had issues since I usedblack math, so that's not
always the case.
You know, not every dog willhave these type of situations,
but it's so nice not to have tothink about where that $40,000
is going to come from, that wepay the insurance, we pay it
monthly and we have the coveragebehind it.
(13:41):
There's many differentcompanies out there and I think
that's a big thing to kind oftalk about too.
It's like which company do yougo with?
How do you know if you have theright dog insurance?
It's kind of like healthinsurance for people.
It's a little strange and youkind of ask what do you want?
Like what do you want forcoverage?
Certain companies also offer itas a benefit, so if you're
(14:03):
working for an employer, that'sa great question to ask.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I guess that's great.
So, and that's much deeper.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, so if you have a dog and you have an employer
that has a great benefit package, see if they have pet insurance
through there.
So that's a big one.
We have private insurance forRoxy and we use TruePanning and
that's just what seemed to workbest for our family, but there's
lots of other ones out thereand we pay a monthly premium or
monthly for her and we have a$750 per incident deductible so
(14:35):
she could have multipleincidents per year.
So she breaks her toe one year,has allergies one year and who
knows.
I don't know what a third thingcould be.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
But it has this upset stop or an emergency visit.
Yeah, each one of them.
It gets stung by a bee.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, it's stung by a bee right.
All three of those will have a$750 deductible per incident, so
it's not per year, but for herallergies.
She met that deductible fouryears ago, so we haven't had to
pay additional deductible forthat.
But you can kind of based offwhat your budget is and what you
feel like you can cover ifthere's an emergency, you can
(15:08):
work on it.
So maybe we pay $65 a month forher policy because our
deductible is $750.
If I wanted to pay less monthly, maybe I wanted to pay $40
monthly.
Maybe my deductible now wouldbe $1,200.
So you can work it to feel likewhat do you want to Like if
there's an issue?
What are you comfortablecovering financially if you
don't?
To not have to pull from yoursavings but also to make sure
(15:29):
that's still affordable for yourmonthly budget.
Yeah, so it's a lot, but nothaving to think about where that
$40,000 is going to come fromor have to put it on a credit
card like that's just that couldreally be a really big deal.
It's a huge relief.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, I had we got.
And I think Pet Insurance hasevolved over the years.
Especially recently I wasinterviewing a veterinarian and
a lot of the pushback that theycome against with being able to
treat patients the way they wantto treat them is obviously
financial.
And if you have Pet Insurance,he said, the client is more, the
(16:08):
patient is more apt to say dowhatever you can to help this
animal.
And so it gives them thefreedom to actually give the
care that they need to give tosave your animal and it also
gives you the peace of mind.
So he said everybody shouldhave Pet Insurance if they can.
We got it one chance when I gotit, when he was first adopted,
and not a lot of people so hewas.
(16:29):
That was 16 years ago, 15 and 11⁄2 years ago, and he I didn't
even think really to use it asmuch as like and until recently
when he you know, obviously inthe last five years he as a
senior dog my gosh, his costsare through the roof, right, but
(16:53):
it's also allows me to give himthe kind of care that I want to
give him and I also found outthat my his rehab and his
acupuncture and all of thethings that help keep him moving
and grew up is covered by hishis health insurance.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
So it's such a big deal.
It's awesome for us.
Yeah, and we change your right,like I mean, yeah, we didn't
not this person and if we didn'thave this health insurance or
we didn't have this, you knowpet insurance for Roxy and you
know we got a bill for fivegrand for her allergies.
Yeah, how many of those dogsend up in shelters because
people just can't pay them Right, like that's, that's
(17:29):
heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
A lot of them, a lot of them that is a huge reason
why people abandon their dogsand return their dogs to
shelters, especially like theirsenior dogs too, right.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Right, because they're even more expensive.
And that was five thousand andI'm talking 40,000.
I mean, that's it's a lot ofmoney to pay for a dog.
But you know, at 60 somethingdollars a month I, you know I
don't want to say they're nevergoing to recoup the cost, but I
will never own a dog withoutinsurance just because of this.
And you know Roxy will move onand I will adopt another one,
(17:58):
you know, later in life.
And even if I end up not usingthe insurance, the fact that we
didn't have to cover that todayis is great.
You know, it's such a piece ofmind having it there.
And you know we get to put theexpenses.
You know, with the insurance wehave is we front the expenses
and then they bring us with acheck.
You know we put them on.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
I think most of them do.
Most of them do that yeah.
But there are things like carecredit and stuff like that, yeah
, and so sorry, payment plan.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, or some veterinary offices will even
allow you to like you canreimburse the vet's office.
I'm not sure how many of themactually do that.
I've never gone that route.
But yeah, when we like submitthe claim it says reimburse me
or reimburse the vet's.
But oh got it, yeah, so that's,that's an option, but it's.
It's so nice having it and nothaving to worry.
(18:45):
You know where this?
Oh, but where I was going isthat we just put these expenses
on our credit card.
We pay off our credit card whenthe reimbursement check comes
and we get some nice travelpoints you know for in the
meantime for paying for all ofthese expenses for her.
So thanks, roxy.
We know we have a airlineticket or two from a medical,
exactly so that's great.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Is there anyone that shouldn't have pet insurance.
Do you think like I mean,obviously, if you're just super,
if your money is not an issue,then it's not even worth having?
You know, pet insurance, or Idon't know how that works?
Yeah, you know, it's the samething.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Even if you know I had I guess it depends on your
situation, right, like.
But if, even if I had $20million, you know, sitting in
the box and like, do I stillwant to?
You know, take $40,000 out ofthat, for you know the cost of
covering my pet's care.
I mean, if you can afford themonthly payments.
It seems like.
You know, it's just a littlebit of a gamble, right, your
(19:43):
self-insuring, which could befine, and maybe you're not
having to, you know, pay thoseexpenses.
But you know, that's why people, the same thing with, like
health insurance, right, like,if you're healthy you need
health insurance, but of courseyou do, because you just, you
just never know what's going tohappen, right?
Car accidents happen, dogs getout bites, like things just
happen in the world.
And it's nice, you know.
(20:04):
We call it a banner ofprotection, you know?
Yeah, a little question.
You protect your home.
You protect your house.
You have life insurance.
You know pet insurance is partof that.
Yeah, yeah, thank you, yeah it'sa lot and I think everyone has
to do their own research andtake care of what insurance
works fast and what works fortheir budget.
But I do think that when we'retalking about having those three
(20:26):
to six months of fixed expensesin the bank, that you should
just include the cost of yourpet and then the insurance for
your pet too, because that's notsomething I want to drop,
because if you lose your job andthen now your dog gets sick and
you dropped your insurance,that's a lot of terrible
decisions I have.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I do have not to say a sad story, but I do have.
The dog is fine now he'srecovered, he's great.
But I do have a friend who shehad health and pet insurance and
she was like, and she's onlypaying, I think, like $35, $40 a
month, along those lines, butand she just was like this is
essentially, this is a scam it'snot worth it.
(21:02):
And so then, a year and a halflater, her dog.
So she dropped it and you'reafter your dog like cancer cost
her $20,000.
And I'm sure she paid it right?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, she paid it.
Now she has a human baby.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
so she's just like that yeah, that's her first baby
and he's doing great and he'swonderful.
But she was like, yeah, youwere right, yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
It's really hard and I mean I think it just has to be
part of being like aresponsible pet owner.
You do everything else, right?
Yeah, like you bring them tothe vet, you take them on walks,
like you do all these things,but if you can't pay for the
care, that's tough and no onewants to be put in that spot.
You know having to make adecision of how they're going to
treat their animal, which formost people, like you said, it's
(21:43):
like their baby.
Like Marlo was my first baby.
He was my, you know, out ofcollege dog and, yeah, we would
have done anything to try tokeep him alive Anything.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And then I know, do you?
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
No, no go ahead.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
This might not be your wheelhouse, but do you know
of like any?
Like a low, low, lower costwhere people can seek lower cost
care?
Still wonderful care, but low,like for people who may be
struggling financially.
I can't even make that kind ofcommitment, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I think there's there like there's a lot of like
clinics that get open up.
We adopted Roxy from oh goshnow I can't remember the name it
was in Culver City.
Oh, adopt and Shop in CulverCity.
They since closed down, but Iknow they had some clinics and
you know, part of like theadoption thing for her was she
had to be like spayed andneutered before you know she's
(22:43):
spayed Low cost spay andneutering.
Yeah, so they have some of those.
There is a rescue organizationwhich is where I got Marlo from.
They're called START S-T-A-R-TRescue and they do a lot of work
with shelters and they do a lotof either no cost or very low
cost, you know, spay and neuters.
They have like mobile vans thatthey work with, like the
(23:04):
Riverside shelter.
So there are things out there.
I think you have to do a littlebit of research, but it seems
like the shelters are good spotsand a lot of these I don't want
to say private rescues becausethey're not private, they're,
all you know, not profits,501c3s, but they do a lot of
fundraising to kind of, you know, do the spay and neuters and do
the vaccines, because you know,spay and neuter is such a big
(23:24):
part of keeping animals off thestreet.
So we do live in a great bigcity so there are lots of
resources.
Yeah, it's just kind of keepingyour eyes out for, I think,
those special, you know, eventsthat happen.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
But START rescue is great, yeah, okay, I'll put that
in the show notes.
I mean, I think that that'sjust the key.
I think people don't realizethat those things can be
available to them and you justhave to do your research and you
know, ask around and don't beafraid to ask.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
It's out there and somebody's probably willing to
help you.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So yeah, it seems like you know I wouldn't
necessarily ask the vet's office.
It's sometimes, you know,that's volunteer kind of for
those you know events.
But it's a lot of rescue groupswhich I've noticed have put
them all Well.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
They want to keep those stocks they want to get
those stocks into good home andkeep them there.
They don't want those stockscoming back because people can't
afford them, so they're doingthe best they can to provide,
you know, the best case scenariofor those pups that they've
rescued.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
So yeah, so I mean being in a light such a you know
it's a blessing and a curse,right, there's so much
information but there's so manyoptions, full sorts of different
.
You know that's here you kindof just pick your specialty.
Roxy has a dermatologist.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
You know that's crazy yeah yeah, yeah, they've all
been on my podcast.
Yeah, that's the other thinglike not knowing that those they
existed.
Yeah, so like quality of healthcare.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, yeah, and we have, we have that here.
But yeah, I think it's a, it'sa big financial commitment.
You know people, I think, jokethat getting a dog is like
having a child and I, you know Ihave both.
I can say they're not exactlythe same but, like you, there is
a certain level ofresponsibility that you have to
have for both of them.
I mean you're their caretaker,they depend on you for
(25:04):
everything.
So you know it's you have to.
I think what.
I think there's a there'sprobably memes or clothes is
like be the person your dogthinks you are, like you know
that's who you need to be.
Right, like, take care of yourfur babies.
And I mean they take care of us.
You know the.
What they do for us is a bigdeal too.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Absolutely yes, they do.
They do.
How do people know if they'rethinking about pet ownership,
how, or bringing a furry, furryfriend into their family?
Like, how do they know when?
Looking at their finances issomething that they can?
That's realistic for them.
I don't want to dissuade themfrom doing it.
(25:47):
You know what I mean, but it'salso, you know, as I've said
before, it can be a heavy price,as we've talked about.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I think when I'm doing financial planning
meetings with clients, you sitdown and you work on a budget,
right, how much does your budget?
You do the whole thing?
Right, figure out how muchmoney you bring in versus how
much money you spend.
And I guess the big thing is,if you don't have a surplus at
the end of the month, thenyou're probably not able to care
for a pet right now, right?
Like you know, we talked aboutsome of the average numbers.
(26:17):
Those might just be good placesto start.
So if you figure you're doingyour budget and you're, you know
how much you spend on rent, howmuch you spend on groceries,
car payments, all these things,and then add in those extra, you
know, if we're calling it,maybe I don't know, it could be
anywhere.
You know, average we talkedabout was being about 4500 a
year, gen Z, maybe 7000 a year,you know.
Even take 6000, right, how muchis that monthly?
(26:39):
Add that extra $500 a month andfigure out if that's something
that you can afford.
Would be a really just goodplace to start.
But you know, do you have familysupport, like, do you have a
partner?
Are you doing this together?
Are you doing this by yourself?
I know we're talking about dogsspecifically.
It seems like cats are probablya little bit.
You know, they're lower.
(26:59):
Well, I'd say they're lowermaintenance.
They have their own, you knowdo you let?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I don't know if they are.
My friend has two cats I don'tknow if she Talking about health
.
Back to the health insuranceconversation.
She one had an emergency andshe has, luckily, health
insurance for him.
But he the cost of thatemergency visit was $15,000.
He was there for a few days.
She had to fork over.
I think it was a little under athousand.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And then insurance reimbursed her for the rest of
it, which is not I mean $1,000out of 15 grand is.
Yes, it feels like, it mightseem like.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
But yeah, yeah, maybe you're not paying for a walker,
you're not paying for yes.
Yes, but I think it's also justwhat type of pet maybe fits for
your lifestyle.
Maybe you really really want adog, but that's just maybe not
something that's in the budget.
Go rescue a cat instead.
Yeah, but I think just makingsure that you have that
financial backing, because Ithink people think that they're
(27:50):
they don't cost that much, but,as we've kind of gone over, they
do.
And one thing I did want tomention is when we were talking
about the pet insurance.
It's really, I think, importantto get the pet insurance early,
because you will be sort ofrated or your dog will be rated
based off if they havepreexisting conditions.
So we got it for Roxy, I thinkthe day that we adopted her.
(28:13):
Had we waited a year and foundout all these allergy issues
were a problem in her life, shewould have had all these
preexisting conditions and nowher premiums would be so much
more monthly.
So the older they are, if theyhave preexisting conditions,
then this can get more expensive.
So if you sort of lock it inearly, when you're probably less
likely to use it, it's reallynice.
(28:33):
But, although puppies aretrouble, puppies can get.
They're gonna cause a lot oftrouble with food, fire,
veterinary care early, butAbsolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
They're eating a whole sock.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
They're eating all of those things.
The wall like, yeah, the wall.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Well, if they're eating the wall, they may have
some other things going on.
Just teething they're trouble.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but waiting until your dog is 12 to
get pet insurance when they'reolder is gonna be quite
expensive.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm a little bit of a catlin.
I really appreciate this.
I wish I had known all of thisbefore I got chance, but I did
get on board with the petinsurance part, but yeah.
Well, at least somehow made itthrough and made it work, but
yeah, and, like you said, petinsurance has come a long way in
(29:23):
.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
even I noticed a difference between Marlowe and
Roxy, but everything's changing.
There's all these stuff that'schanging for In the pet industry
in general, in the insuranceindustry, there's always new
things happening, which is great.
But no, this was really fun.
I'm glad we were able to talkfinancial planning on dog
ownership and kind of what toexpect for your fur baby.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Absolutely.
Thank you, caitlin.
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode of the Baroo
Podcast.
As always, if you enjoyed theepisode, please don't forget to
rate and follow the Baroowherever you listen to podcasts.
You can also support us byfollowing us on Instagram at
Baroo Podcast.
If you have a story of caninecompanionship that you'd like to
(30:09):
share on the show, or aquestion, or even a comment, I
would love to hear from you.
You can email me, charlotte, atthebaroocom.
All right, you guys, see younext time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!