Even big pets are cheaper than kids

HOW much is that doggy in the window? His ‘‘waggly tail’’ needs surgical correction. He only eats the best chow. He needs to be microchipped, registered, groomed, clipped, spayed, de-fleaed, and sent to doggy day-care. Then there’s collars, leads and a snug kennel.

On closer inspection, the little doggy’s pricetag reads anywhere between $10,000-$15,000.

Getting a pet is a big financial decision when you calculate the expenses over the lifespan of the animal.

“If we look at why animals are abandoned or surrendered ... probably the biggest element would be cost,” says SPCA national president Bob Kerridge.

We’ve worked out how much popular pets will cost you over the course of their lifetime – all the way from goldfish to giraffes.

Just for fun we’ve also compared the cost of each animal to the expense of raising a human child to age 18, which Inland Revenue pegged at $250,000 a few years ago.

GOLDFISH

$100 startup cost, $20 annual expenses, $300 lifetime cost over 10 years.

Goldfish are low cost and low maintenance – the perfect entrylevel pet.

Filters start at $23, and the electricity cost is trivial. The only re- curring cost is fish-food, dispensed a pinch at a time.

You could have more than 1000 fishy friends for the price of raising a single child.

GUINEA PIG

$250 startup cost, $150 annual expenses, $1150 lifetime cost over six years.

The cost of keeping a guinea pig is very low, says NZ Cavy Club treasurer Christa Krey.

“If it is kept in an outside run on grass, it can be supplemented with the household vegetable and fruit scraps, cost zero.”

Hay for bedding and food is essential – $16 a year bought in bulk, she says. Pellets cost about $90 a year if you don’t have other food sources.

A hutch will set you back about $200, and the pigs themselves are only about $10.

If they’re sharing hutches and hay, you could care for 380 furry fluffballs for the price of a child.

BUDGIE

$150 startup cost, $150 annual expenses, $1650 lifetime cost over 10 years.

Budgerigars are going cheap on Trade Me for about $10-$20, and a 10kg sack of birdseed costs $32 at pet stores.

They’re as inexpensive as guinea pigs but live a few extra years before falling off the perch, hence the higher lifetime cost.

You could raise roughly 320 birds for the price of a kid.

CAT

$250 startup cost, $466 annual expenses, $7250 lifetime cost over 15 years.

The average cat costs $466 a year, according to a report published last year by the Companion Animal Council (CAC). That’s a big step up from the smaller critters. It’s probably because cats love to eat, and they love to fight. Your average feline friend chows down on $275 of Whiskas a year, and chews through $125 for vet fees and healthcare.

What’s the kitten-to-kid expense ratio? A crazy cat lady with 34 moggies will come out roughly the same as in the (unlikely) event she had a single child.

DOG

$700 startup cost, $1047 annual expenses, $13,250 lifetime cost over 12 years.

Canine companions are roughly twice as expensive as cats. There’s the added cost of registration, which can be as much as $130 a year, or more if the breed is classified as dangerous.

Like cats, healthcare and food are the big costs, but they’re scaled up accordingly. CAC found that your average hound costs $1047 a year, of which $465 goes towards tucker and $262 to the vet.

On top of that, there’s a whole range of extra spending on grooming, boarding, clothing and more.

You’d have to be barking mad, but you could spend a small fortune on 18 dogs and be no worse off financially than if you’d raised a child.

HORSE

Startup

cost

$6000,

$3000

annual expenses, $80,000 lifetime cost over 25 years.

Surprisingly, the CAC report put the cost of a horse or pony lower than a dog, at $895 a year.

Horsetalk.co.nz calculated the conservative annual maintenance cost at $3000 a few years back, and editor Robin Marshall says that figure is still accurate.

If you don’t have land, grazing is a huge expense. It can be $50 a week or more, and if your horse competes, the costs skyrocket further.

You can still have three horses trotting around and be financially better off than having a sprog.

GIRAFFE

Unknown startup cost, $5000 to $10,000 annual expenses, $250,000 lifetime cost over 25 years

Why bother with cats and dogs when you can own six-metre tall African monsters capable of kicking lions to death?

Perhaps that was rich-lister Alan Gibbs’ line of thinking when he installed two giraffes on his massive Kaipara sculpture park.

The cost of buying and transporting a giraffe is sky high.

Then there’s all the upkeep expenses – housing, industrialstrength fencing, and a really, really long leash.

Taking a wild guess, we’ll say the cost of giraffe ownership works out at least on par with a child, and probably much more.