How to Save a Minimum of 25% on Your Puppy’s First Year Expenses
In the first year of your puppy’s life, you will typically incur expenses such as vaccinations, purchase of flea and tick treatments, desexing and purchase of food and other items. In addition, they might get unwell, for which you might have to take them to the vet a few times in the first year. These expenses can feel like a lot in one go, but we can reassure you that it’s fairly typical and will settle down.
How to Cover The Costs
There are two ways to pay for all of the above.
Pay As You GO
The first is: pay as you go.
A Wellness Plan
The second, and smarter way, which is growing in popularity amongst our clients, is to subscribe to a puppy wellness plan.
A puppy wellness plan is a comprehensive, preventive healthcare package designed to support a puppy’s growth and development during their first year of life. It typically includes scheduled veterinary visits, vaccinations, parasite control, and sometimes discounts or coverage for additional services. These plans help new pet owners manage the cost and complexity of early veterinary care while ensuring their puppy stays healthy and on track developmentally.
Most puppy wellness plans use a subscription model, where you pay a fixed monthly fee over a 12-month period (or sometimes in a one-time annual payment). The total cost is generally spread out to make budgeting easier.
A wellness plan gives you more value for your money so that you end up saving a minimum of 25% on the amount you would have spent if you paid as you went for the first year of your puppy’s expenses.
Let’s show you how!
According to us, here is a list of reasonable expenses for a small to medium breed puppy in their first year (note: costs for a large breed puppy may be more)
- Annual Vaccination – When you get your puppy, you will need to visit your vet to get their final puppy vaccination. In some cases, they may need a set of two vaccinations about 4 weeks apart. Estimated cost $150 per vaccination.
- Flea and Tick Treatment – A treatment will be required monthly to prevent against Ticks, Fleas, intestinal worms and heartworm. On average, this can cost anywhere between $17 per month when purchased from a pet store. Estimated cost per year = $204. Add to this the cost of visiting the pet store or the costs of shipping, and the time associated with searching and ordering the products online.
- Desexing – All small to medium breed puppies will very likely be desexed in their first year. The costs of desexing are quite variable depending on breed, age, owner requirements and requests, etc. But this is a cost that you will very likely incur in the first year. If you have pet insurance, you may get a small contribution towards the cost of desexing.
- Food and other supplies – You will need to purchase food and other items for your pet for (typically from a pet store). Let’s assume that in the first year, you spend about $1,200.
- Vet Visits – In the first year, your new puppy can get sick. They might get an upset tummy or hurt one of their limbs, or be stung by a bee, or get an eye or ear infection. We see cheeky puppies at least 3-4 times in their first year for these or similar complaints. Each consult is about $97.50 before the cost of the treatments.
Our Thriving Pets wellness plans contribute a certain amount towards all of the above expenses for a monthly expense of $54.50 or a yearly one-off cost of $590. Now let’s look at your savings.
- Annual Vaccinations: Our wellness plan contributes $100 once a year to your puppy’s vaccination.
- Flea and Tick Treatments: The wellness plan includes Flea and Tick Treatment, home-delivered to your door, once a month. You don’t have to search for the best deal; we have you covered.
- Desexing: Our wellness plans contribute $200 towards desexing at Lynbrook and Berwick Clyde Vet. This includes $100 towards the desexing surgery and $100 towards the pre-anesthetic blood test. After the puppy’s first year, the plans contribute $100 towards blood testing once a year, which makes for a very thorough health check once a year as part of their annual vaccination and health check
- Food and other supplies: Subscribing to our Thriving Pets wellness plans rewards you with a 10% discount on the online pet store of our partner retail store called Pet PA. So, if you spend $1,200 through the pet store purchasing food and pet supplies, you would get a 10% discount, making it a saving of $120 per year as a minimum.
- Vet visits: Our wellness plan will reimburse you $75 for every vet consult, no questions asked. You can come as many times as you like, and what’s more, you can visit any clinic that you like; you are not bound to us in any way. So, if you visited 3–4 times a year, you would save $75 x 3 = $225 per year as a minimum.
Total Cost Summary
In summary, if you purchased the wellness plan, you ended up spending $54.50 per month = $655 per year or $590 if paid annually.
The value that you would get would be:
- $100 (vaccination once a year) +
- $204 (for flea and tick treatment, home delivered monthly) +
- $200 (For the desexing surgery) +
- $120 (for food and other supplies) +
- $225 (for 3 vet visits during the year).
This is a total value of $849. Added value or savings are $194 if paid monthly (savings of 29%) and $259 if paid annually (savings of 39%).
Wellness Plans Beyond Puppies
Wellness plans are not just for puppies but for adults as well. As your puppy grows, they will still need annual vaccinations, ongoing flea and tick treatment, food, and other supplies. They may also get sick and need vet visits apart from the annual vaccinations.
Further, our wellness plans start to contribute $200 towards a dental scale and polish procedure after the first year of your puppy’s life ($100 towards the dental and $100 towards the pre-anesthetic blood test). Dental disease is very common, and 30% to 40% of dogs and cats over the age of 2 years are plagued by this condition. So, you’ll continue to get great value through a wellness plan.
Note that if you have pet insurance for your puppy, nothing is stopping you from claiming the same expense through both the wellness plan and your pet insurance.
You can check out our wellness plans here. Wellness plans are available for kittens and adult cats, as well. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
