The Expenses and Health Journeys of Raising a Dog Named Mark

Thanks for the invitation. Personally, I think the first year of raising a dog is the most costly and time – consuming. After the dog turns one year old, the monthly expenses become more fixed, and you don’t need to be as overly cautious.

Dog Food

In the first year, I bought natural dog food. Each bag cost around one to two hundred yuan and was about 1.5 kilograms, which could last for over a month. Now, I buy domestic – made dog food, also 1.5 kilograms. Sometimes I choose the ones with meat chunks, and sometimes the ones with freeze – dried ingredients. I believe that as long as the food suits your dog, it’s good food.

Bathing and Grooming

In my area, for small – sized dogs, a bath with a membership costs 32 yuan, and grooming costs 72 yuan. I bathe my dog four times a month, and grooming is done approximately once every two months.

Snacks

A bag of meat strips costs more than thirty yuan, and freeze – dried snacks are a bit more expensive. My dog loves freeze – dried snacks.

Then there are the annual vaccination costs, which are over a hundred yuan, as well as the costs for internal and external deworming.

Disinfectant

Since the dog came into our home, we add disinfectant to the water when mopping the floor. We buy Mr. Muscle 84 disinfectant. It doesn’t have the strong, pungent smell of ordinary disinfectants, but rather a faint, fresh fragrance. I buy a box at a time. A box costs over ninety yuan and contains 20 bottles, which can last for a year.

Health Issues

My dog has never had any serious major illnesses. When he first came, he had kennel cough and it cost a few dozen yuan for the medicine. When he was over one year old, he got interdigital inflammation, and I treated it with hydrogen peroxide and erythromycin. When he was over two years old, a novice staff member at the pet store injured his testicle. The pet store gave me a bottle of human – use external – application medicine. But I was worried, so I took him to the hospital, and it cost over a hundred yuan. After it healed, he was left with only one testicle. ⁄(⁄ ⁄ ⁄ω⁄ ⁄ ⁄)⁄ Even the doctor couldn’t explain why until now.

Then, at the end of 2018, he got acute pancreatitis, and it cost over a thousand yuan to cure.

I hope my dog will always be healthy. I love my dog. Oh, by the way, his name is Mark.

This is Mark looking for delicious food.