Hi, I've been thinking about getting a Pomeranian for a while now. I've even saved up enough money to cover the initial cost of purchasing a Pomeranian puppy, but I'm unsure about the monthly costs on food and other things. Hence the question, on average, how much do you spend on your Pomeranian in a month?
It all depend on what food you buy & what you can afford, if on a low budget the 99p & £1 shops sell dog food, supermarket sell their own brand, ALDI & Lidl have a goodish dog food, or you might want to give raw meat or cooked mince, chicken etc I own 6 JRT's this is how much I spend : K9 I spend £20 on special veggie food every 4 months plus £3 for prawns Skye & the 4 hooligans £15 per month for dry food white fish scraps £20 per month Salmon scraps £10 per month Chicken £15 per month (farm food 5 chickens for £15) you can feed a Pomeranian for just £2 per month but it all depends on what you want to feed your Pomeranian on & on how much you want to spend each week/month.
I haven't got a Pom (wish I had - they're gorgeous!) but I have a Chihuahua puppy. One of the advantages of such a tiny dog is that the food bill is nothing like as daunting as for a big dog. Have you decided yet what kind of food you will be feeding - kibble, wet, raw? I think most of the manufacturers would have feeding guides on their website so you can work out how much a Pomeranian would need and therefore how much it would cost. Other costs are things like a bed, harness and lead, bowls, brush, toys. When I got my poodle I had to take into account the cost of clipping, but I don't know if Poms ever need to visit the beauty parlour! Other costs are vaccinations, worming etc. Then you'd have to make sure that you have money available in case it ever needs treatment at the vets. Some people have pet insurance, but I never have. Another optional thing is to join a puppy class if there are any near you - great fun and really good for socializing the puppy. I do hope you get one and send up pictures - there are few things cuter than a Pomeranian puppy!
I haven't got anything as small as a Pomeranian but what you spend on food depends on what you feed and how much your particular dog eats. My lot are raw fed and the smallest dogs 3 Pugs all eat different amounts and Pugs are huge weight wise compared to Poms from what I read about a Poms average weight. I have one Pug on 150 grms a day. one on 175 grms a day and 1 on 300 grms a day. They all get the same exercise and are more or less the same size, just one needs a lot more food. If the Pugs were all I had my food bill would be very cheap. As Janet says there is a lot more to consider than just food but with a small dog virtually everything is cheaper.
It all depends on how much you want to spend on food but ild say go for the best you can afford as some dog food is just c**p. Dont forget about all the extras though, flea monthly, wormer every 3 months, yearly vaccines, microchip, spaying, grooming. Plus all the stuff you need, bed, toys, bowls, harness, lead, grooming tools, walker to come while your at work. Then i would recommend a stash of a few hundred for vet emergency or get pet insurance. If i didnt have insurance i would have lost my dog a few years ago as wouldnt of been able to afford the emergency surgery she needed
Some excellent insightful posts here Check out this dog food guide on Dogsey too: http://www.dogsey.com/dog-food.htm
I notice this is a really old post but thought it may still be relevant for anyone else looking. As others said it obviously depends on what food you ultimately want / decide to feed and what sort of budget you have. I haven't had my pom long but so far a 1kg bag has lasted almost 4 weeks. My pom pup came on Eukanuba which is one of the better foods on the market, however a 2kg bag (which as a pup should last around 6 - 8 weeks) will set you back about £17. I have however discovered that my local pet shop sell their own brand of dry food that they have made on their behalf at the Eukanuba factory and the pieces to look at are identical to that of the Eukanuba, the difference being that the 2kg bag of Eukanuba at £17 is only 36% meat content whereas their own brand will set me back just £8.75 for 2.5kg and has a 60% meat content and is hypoallergenic (or 50% meat content for the adult version which you can also get in 12.5kg bags for around £30 which works out at just £6 per 2.5kg), 2kg of Pedigree will cost almost as much as the food at my local pet shop at a price of £8 for 3kg yet has no actual meat content! It really pays to do your research and shop about as price is not always an indication of quality. It is generally recommended that a dogs diet should contain at least 50% meat (they are technically carnivores after-all) despite which very few foods on the market actually meet this.
You definitely have an advantage with a small dog. My dogs average 4 cups of kibble a day plus the canned foods I add as a supplement. Then when you figure in food for five cats and the rat pack, okay how about fish food and filters...it adds up. So with a Pom you can feed a mere fraction of that amount. So I would say do your research and go for the healthy stuff.
Not at to buy any dog food for any of my dogs for last 6 months as they are still eating all the free dog food up. Skye loves the Purina One small dog food, one of their small bags last 2 weeks (1.5kg) think it retails around £2.99 in Wilko's.
I've certainly noticed an increase in the "doggy" food bill since I've owned Gwylim. At 9 kgs he's twice the size and weight of Chloe my tiny Tibbie and eats at least three times as much as she did. Although she's the same breed as M'boi was, Georgina is slightly larger and heavier and she also eats more than M'boi did. I feed mine "home cooked" and when I had M'boi and Chloe my food bill for them used to be around £100 a month, now with Gwylim and Georgina I'm lucky if it's under £150. In Hungary we don't have companies that sell fresh food for dogs as you do in the UK, so all their meat and fish etc is for human consumption. Today I spent £25 for around 10 kgs of chicken quarters, liver, necks and gizzards, boned stewing pork, pigs tongues and hearts, goose and turkey legs. Enough meat to last them for two meals a day for two week. On top of that is the cost of eggs, kefir, yoghourt, fish and vegetables. It's only in winter I buy a 2.27 kg bag of Acana Grain Free kibble, just in case we're snowed in. Very expensive over here at £20 which if that's all they were fed would probably only last for 10 - 14 days!
