Guide · UK · prices from 2024 · checked 3 October 2026
What a dog costs: the minimum.
Dog costs are easy to underestimate. Here is a reference point from PDSA, a UK pet charity, followed by what it leaves out.
PDSA’s minimum estimates
PDSA estimates the minimum needed to meet a dog’s basic welfare needs, using online product prices it last calculated in 2024. These are floors, not typical or average spending.
Small breeds
- Getting started
- £415
- Per month
- £69
- Whole life, at least
- £6,200 – £12,000
- Life expectancy PDSA used
- 7.1–14.2 years
Medium breeds
- Getting started
- £531
- Per month
- £83
- Whole life, at least
- £9,000 – £14,000
- Life expectancy PDSA used
- 8.4–13.5 years
Large breeds
- Getting started
- £560
- Per month
- £116
- Whole life, at least
- £8,200 – £18,800
- Life expectancy PDSA used
- 5.5–13.1 years
Source: PDSA, the cost of owning a dog ↗. PDSA does not define its size bands on that page, so they may not match the size labels on our breed profiles. Its life expectancies come from a 2013 study of dogs in England. The low end of each whole-life range uses the shorter life expectancy and the high end the longer one.
What the figures cover
Getting started includes a bed, lead, collar and tag, bowls, toothbrush and toothpaste, a grooming brush, toys, a car restraint, an initial course of vaccinations, monthly wormers until six months old, and neutering. Monthly includes yearly health checks and boosters, flea and worm treatment, insurance, food, toys, poo bags and toothpaste. The whole-life figure multiplies the monthly cost over the life expectancy and adds the starting costs.
What they leave out
- The price of the dog itself, whether a purchase price or an adoption fee.
- Microchipping, if it has not already been done.
- Vet fees if the dog is ill or injured. PDSA says these can raise costs dramatically and recommends insurance; it also says purebred dogs can be at higher risk of some health problems.
- Special diets, day care, boarding, grooming and training classes.
- Replacing worn-out equipment over the dog’s life.
Using this
PDSA suggests treating its figures as a starting point and working out your own budget. Our budget tool lets you enter your own monthly estimates; nothing you enter leaves your device. We do not publish prices for individual breeds or puppies, because we have no reliable source for them.
Limits: one charity’s estimates at 2024 prices; prices change and vary by region and by choices such as food and insurance. A real dog can cost far more.