Monthly Cost of Owning a Dog or Cat: A Real Budget by Size

A medium dog costs about $193 a month to keep, and a medium cat about $80. Those figures include insurance, food, routine vet care, grooming, and supplies. They come from the median of PetBudget's breed-level cost model, and the sections below split them out by size so you can find your own number in a few minutes.

If you are asking how much does a dog cost per month, the honest answer is a range, not a single number. Size drives most of it. The rest of this guide shows where the money goes, where it surprises people, and a simple two-account plan that keeps the surprises from hitting your regular budget.

The monthly cost of owning a dog or cat at a glance

The chart below shows the median monthly cost for each size class in our data. It covers 236 dog breeds and 75 cat breeds, and it includes insurance. Expect individual breeds to land above or below the median, so treat each bar as the middle of a range.

Photo: Labrador on Quantock by IDS.photos / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

The gap between species is real, but it is not the whole story. A giant dog costs 3.5 times what a small cat does each month. A toy dog is far closer to a cat. That is why this guide sorts by size first and species second.

What the surveys say about the monthly cost of owning a dog

National surveys give a useful cross-check on the model. They do not match it exactly, and the differences are worth understanding.

The American Veterinary Medical Association reported that pet owners spent about $1,700 a year in 2025, roughly $142 a month. Veterinary care made up 32.4% of that. Dog owners spent an average of $598 on vet care and cat owners $529, per the 2025 AVMA sourcebook figures reported by Pet Food Industry.

An earlier AVMA release put 2024 total spending at $1,740 for dog owners and $1,311 for cat owners. That works out to about $145 and $109 a month, per a NerdWallet summary of the AVMA data.

Here is how to read those numbers next to ours:

• Dogs: the survey average of $145 sits near our small-dog figure. Surveys blend every owner, including people with no insurance and no groomer. Our model prices a full budget, so it runs higher for large dogs.
• Cats: the survey average of $109 is higher than our $77-$99. Owners in surveys include cats with illness, special diets, and premium food. Our model prices a healthy indoor cat, so treat it as a floor, not a ceiling.

Where the monthly money goes

Five lines make up the monthly cost of owning a dog or a cat in our model. The chart shows three examples side by side so you can see what changes with size and species.

Three patterns stand out:

1. Food scales with body size. It is $11 a month for a toy dog and $63 for a large dog. Our dog food cost guide shows how kibble tiers change that line.
2. Grooming is not a size story. Toy and small dogs often have the higher grooming line because many have coats that need regular trims. Check your breed's coat rating before assuming a small dog is cheap.
3. Insurance is about a third of the total. It is $50 for the toy dog, $80 for the large dog, and $28 for the cat. No other line moves your monthly cost as much.

The vet line in the model is a modeled estimate built from an ASPCA and AAHA routine-wellness composite, then scaled by size and breed health risk. It covers an annual exam, vaccines, and parasite control, spread over twelve months. It does not cover emergencies, which is why the plan below treats them separately.

A five-minute method to find your own monthly number

You do not need a spreadsheet. Use this method and write the result down.

1. Pick your bucket. Find your pet's size class in the first chart. Weight bands are toy under 12 lb, small 12-25 lb, medium 26-50 lb, large 51-90 lb, and giant over 90 lb.
2. Adjust for coat. If your dog needs a groomer every 4-6 weeks, add $40-$60 to the grooming line. If you brush at home, subtract about half of it.
3. Adjust for insurance. Remove the insurance line if you plan to self-insure. Keep it if you plan to buy a policy.
4. Add recurring extras. Add anything the model leaves out, such as daycare, a dog walker, or prescription food. Our sitting and boarding guide prices the common ones.
5. Compare with your income. A monthly pet cost above 5% of take-home pay is a signal to slow down before you commit.

The pet cost calculator does steps 1 to 3 for your exact breed in under a minute. It also shows first-year and lifetime totals alongside the monthly figure.

Why a monthly number misleads you

A monthly figure is an average, and averages hide lumps. Some costs arrive once or twice a year, and they feel like surprises even though they are predictable. Vaccines and the annual exam, dental cleanings, and flea and tick prevention all behave this way.

You can plan for the predictable lumps by converting them to monthly amounts. Take the annual price and divide by twelve. Our guides on vaccine shot costs, teeth cleaning, and flea and tick prevention give you the annual numbers to divide.

Emergencies are different. They are not predictable in timing, so dividing by twelve does not help. They need a reserve, and the next section shows how big.

The two-account plan for surprise costs

This is the part most monthly budgets leave out. Split your pet money into two accounts with two different jobs.

• The bills account pays the monthly cost. Fund it with the figure from your bucket, every month, with no exceptions.
• The surprise account is a reserve for emergencies and lumpy costs. Fund it separately, and do not touch it for food or toys.

PetBudget sizes the reserve by body size, anchored to MetLife's 2025 research on pet emergencies, which found that 15% of owners faced a bill of $3,000 or more. The chart shows the target reserve and what you would save each month to reach it in 24 months.

You do not have to hit these numbers exactly. A half-funded reserve is still better than none, and many owners start with a $1,000 first goal. Use the emergency fund calculator to size the reserve to your breed and your risk tolerance. Our emergency vet cost guide lists what common emergencies cost, so you can see what a $3,000 reserve would and would not cover.

Insured or self-insured: what it does to the monthly cost

Insurance is the biggest line, so it is the biggest decision. NAPHIA's industry data puts the average dog policy at about $62.44 a month and the average cat policy at $32.21, per BestReviews' pet insurance roundup. Our model's medium dog ($62) and medium cat ($28) land close to those figures.

Here is the new part. Self-insuring lowers your monthly cost, but only after you finish building the reserve. While you build it, you pay both the reserve and the care costs. The table shows the monthly cost during that 24-month build, using the medians above.

Pet	With insurance	Without insurance	Reserve saving	Self-insured total while building
Toy dog	$151	about $101	$83	about $184
Medium dog	$193	about $131	$125	about $256
Large dog	$235	about $155	$167	about $322
Giant dog	$282	about $194	$208	about $402
Medium cat	$80	about $52	$83	about $135

Read the last column carefully. For the first two years, self-insuring costs more per month than buying a policy for every pet in the table. After the reserve is full, you drop to the "without insurance" column and keep the difference. That is why the break-even depends on how long you keep the pet and how likely a big claim is.

Two cautions apply. A reserve covers one big bill, not two in a year. A policy also pays out again after the deductible. Our guide to pet insurance vs. an emergency fund works through the break-even, and the pet insurance break-even calculator runs it for your pet. If you want something in between, read about accident-only coverage.

Cutting the monthly cost without cutting care

If the monthly figure is too high, cut in this order. The biggest lines come first because they move the total most.

1. Insurance: compare plans before you renew, or move to accident-only. Do not drop coverage without funding the reserve first.
2. Food: food is 8% to 28% of the monthly cost in our examples. Switching tiers can save money, but ask your vet before changing a prescription or senior diet.
3. Grooming: learn basic brushing and nail trims at home, and keep the groomer for what you cannot do.
4. Supplies: this is the smallest line at $8 to $15 a month. Cutting it saves little, so leave it for last.

Do not cut routine vet care to save money. It is the line that catches expensive problems early. Rising prices make this tempting. Veterinary services were 55.2% above 2019 levels in February 2026, while pet food inflation was 1.4% over the prior year, per Pet Food Industry's February 2026 petflation report. Vet bills are the line most likely to grow faster than your budget.

The first-year exception and the lifetime view

The monthly figures here are for year two onward. Year one is higher because of one-time costs: the purchase or adoption fee, the first vaccine series, spay or neuter surgery, and starter supplies. Our first-year pet cost ledger breaks that year down line by line.

Over a lifetime, the median dog in our model costs about $31,962 and the median cat about $14,930. Our lifetime cost comparison of a dog and a cat explains why the gap is that wide. To see where your own pet lands against other breeds, use the breed comparison tool or browse the breed cost directory.

If you are still deciding whether a pet fits your budget, start with our guides on whether you can afford a dog or a cat. They add a rent, income, and time check that this monthly guide leaves out.

How to keep your monthly number accurate

Prices move, and a budget set once goes stale. Revisit your number twice a year, and again after any vet visit that changes your pet's routine.

• Track the real spend for three months and compare it with your bucket.
• Re-check your insurance premium at each renewal, since renewals often rise.
• Watch the government price index. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the veterinarian services series as CUUR0000SS62031, which shows how vet prices are trending.

Every figure in this guide traces to the cost anchors on our methodology page, which lists each source and the date it was last checked. The vet and grooming lines are modeled estimates, and we say so there. If you spot a number that looks wrong for your area, treat the model as a starting point and your own receipts as the final answer.

Cite this data

Quoting these figures? Please link to the PetBudget guide Monthly Cost of Owning a Dog or Cat (updated October 21, 2026). The monthly figures come from the PetBudget breed cost model and the survey sources linked above.