Cute, but a pet dog costs £17k

Pet owners typically spend around £17,000 on their dog or cat during its lifetime, according to research.

Keeping a dog healthy, fed and looked after over the average canine life expectancy of 13 years now costs about £16,900, research by Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance revealed. Dogs reaching their twenties can cost up to £27,000.

The average expense is currently just over £1,180 a year, but that could climb to £1,418 a year when inflation is factored in over the typical life span, Sainsbury’s estimated.

The cost of owning a cat is just over £1,000 a year, but it can add up to £17,200 over the average life span of 15 years.

Food is usually the biggest expense, accounting for about a third of the average annual spending on a dog and for more than 40 per cent of the cost of keeping a cat.

Vet fees currently account for 15 and 13 per cent of costs respectively, but with treatment fees increasing at a rate of 15 per cent a year this is expected to rise sharply.