Pets are Expensive - The History of Daphne the Dog | Money Life ...

Personal Finance Dog Daphne

My girlfriend really wanted a dog ever since she left for college. She grew up with dogs and really missed having one around. Due to housing restrictions she couldn?t have one until we bought our townhouse about a year ago. After we moved in she started begging like crazy and we eventually decided to get a dog.

Shelter Dog

Ironically, she was one of the cheapest dogs we could have gotten from an up front cost standpoint! We got her from animal control in a town a couple hours away for just $15! Upfront costs definitely do not tell the whole story. She was only a small puppy and we had to take her to the vet for a check up right after we got her. She had some scabs from itching herself relentlessly but we figured it would eventually go away now that she was out of the flea pit at the animal shelter. We also had to promise to get her spayed as part of adopting her.

Special Food and Medicine

The fleas did go away but she still remains a very itchy dog to this day. We buy her special dog food that is comprised mostly of fish?for dogs with allergies . We can?t give her any type of normal bones because they are made from animals she is likely allergic to. We can?t give her normal dog treats either. Instead we cut up sweet potatoes. We love her but she is a very special dog.

Unfortunately our dog, with all of these special issues, costs us a fair bit of money. The special dog food costs the same price for the largest bag but we only get half as much as a normal bag of dog food. In addition to her likely food allergies she has seasonal allergies and we have to pay $15 a month for allergies pills she eats with every meal.

It Never Ends

Just when you think you have it figured out something else pops up. Her itching had seemed to get better with her new allergy pills but recently her itching flared up again and her skin is even itchier! Allergy season is in full swing here so in addition to food allergies we figure she has seasonal allergies. We try to keep her comfortable but I don?t think there is too much we can do for her.

Things got even worse the when my girlfriend was gone for a week. The day before she got back our dog was unusually lethargic and stayed in her crate all day long. I thought the dog might be depressed that my girlfriend was gone but even when she returned she stayed in her crate much more than usual so off to the vet she went.

Diagnosis

The vet didn?t know exactly what was wrong but guessed it was probably allergies in combination with a bug of some sort. He prescribed some antibiotics and said we could run some blood tests to make sure it wasn?t something more serious. The blood tests would have been $75 but we decided to just see if the antibiotics worked first.

Lucky for us they do appear to be working as she is much more energetic and back to her usual self! The vet visit wasn?t cheap though. The visit itself was $42 and we also got some special flea preventative which cost another $79. Add the antibiotics for $20 and you get a grand total of $141 in one visit! That doesn?t even include the Apple computer charged cord she chewed through as a pup.

Long Story Short

Pets are expensive. You almost need a mini emergency fund just for your pet! ?If we didn?t have some cash saved up for random expenses like this it would have been a major stress. Instead it was just an unfortunate drain on our cash but we?re glad she?s OK!

Do you have a pet? Do they cost you a lot more money than you originally thought? Hopefully not, but sometimes unfortunate things happen?

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Source: http://www.moneylifeandmore.com/pets-are-expensive-the-history-of-daphne-the-dog-888/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pets-are-expensive-the-history-of-daphne-the-dog

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