<prompt> Human: This is mostly reaction to the post today about the guy that surrendered his dog. In the discussions that followed I saw some outrageous claims about the cost of owning a pet. I think all these claims will scare people away from rescuing a pet from the pound. There are levels to pet ownership. So here is my rundown and before anyone says it, I was lucky to have 18 accident free years with my dog. I am just going to talk about my day to day and year to year expenses. Upfront... He was a mutt so adoption was only 70 and that covered all shots for the first year. Vet visit - 40year Rabies shot - 40 every 3 years Flea medicine - 70 every 3 months Dog food -40mo I fed him higher end stuff this can be done cheaper Treats - 90year Greenies, tiny size even though he was a large dog I groomed all that massive fur, clipped his nails and brushed his teeth with baking soda so the costs were minimal. Toys came from Goodwill maybe 10yearNo dog walker and no doggie daycare. I did put him in a kennel when I used to travel a lot, but work paid for that. If they werent gonna pay, I wasnt gonna accept the trip. My vet was cheap because I went to a vet in a lower middle class area. I did this after a new vet tried to force me into a senior wellness check after she learned the age of my dog, even though she had just remarked how healthy he was and undercut his age by 5 years. Vets in less affluent areas do a great job, love animals, but dont try to upsell their clients on unnecessary upgrades. I didnt have insurance because by the time I thought about it, he was too old to insure. Ill definitely get it with my next dog.I put him down at 18 years when I learned that paying for extra care would have gotten him only 2 - 3 more months of life. So there you go, less than 1000year if you put time and effort into it. Pets are not expensive if you dont want them to be.  <response>: OK, so thats 843 dollars per year without pet insurance and with no medical problems. Not as expensive as a child but not cheap 