Care & training
This article provides general information only and doesn’t take into account your individual circumstances. Terms, conditions, limits, and exclusions apply. Please read the relevant PDS. Accurate as at 18 September 2026.
Bringing a new pet home is exciting. But before you fall for a pair of hopeful eyes, it helps to look beyond the adoption or purchase price.
The real cost of owning a pet includes their first-day essentials, regular care throughout the year, and a plan for the things nobody can put on a calendar. In Australia, the first year with a dog costs around $4,000 on average, with a cat costing slightly less. After that, dog-owning households spent an average of $2,520 a year and cat-owning households $1,656 according to the 2025 Pets in Australia survey.
While these figures are a useful starting point, what you actually spend will depend on your pet and their needs. Their size, age, health, coat, behaviour, and lifestyle (and even where you live) can all make a difference.
So, what should you plan for? Let’s break down the costs of bringing home a new pet and caring for them along the way.
Table of contents
- The upfront costs of bringing a new pet home
- Ongoing costs to include in your budget
- How to build a realistic pet budget
- Pet insurance and its role in your pet’s care
The upfront costs of bringing a new pet home
Those first few weeks with a new pet can come with plenty of excitement, and quite a few expenses. From their adoption or purchase fee to getting their new home ready, several upfront costs can arrive at once. Here are some of the main ones to plan for.
Adoption or purchase fees
How much you pay will depend on where your new pet comes from. If you adopt a dog or cat from an RSPCA shelter, they’ll be desexed, vaccinated, and microchipped, so some important early care is already taken care of.
Wherever your pet comes from, check what’s included in the adoption or purchase fee and whether there’s any follow-up care you’ll need to budget for.
Registration and identification
Before bringing a new pet home, confirm whether there are any microchipping or registration requirements with your state, territory, or local council. It’s a small admin job that can make a big difference if your furry companion ever wanders a little too far from home.
Getting their new home ready
You don’t need to buy everything in the pet aisle on day one. Start with the essentials your pet will need to eat, sleep, travel, and settle in safely. That might include suitable food, bowls, bedding, grooming supplies, and a secure carrier. For dogs, you may also need a lead, harness, and ID tag, while cats will need things like litter trays and scratching surfaces. Have a look around your home as well. You may need to pet-proof fencing, gates, windows, or screens before your newest family member arrives.
Early veterinary care
Depending on the care your pet has already received, those first few months may include vet visits for things like a health check, vaccinations, parasite prevention, or desexing. Your vet can help you understand what’s appropriate for your pet and any risks in your local area. Asking what care is coming up, and what it’s likely to cost, can also make those expenses easier to work into your budget.
Ongoing costs to include in your budget
Once your pet has settled in, there are the regular costs of keeping them happy, healthy, and well cared for.
In 2025, the Pets in Australia survey found that Australians had spent an estimated $21.3 billion caring for their pets, with food accounting for 46% of that spend, followed by healthcare products, veterinary services, and pet products and accessories.
When planning your own budget, it can be more helpful to think about the different expenses your pet may have rather than relying on a single national average.
These might include:
- Food and everyday supplies
- Preventative and routine health care
- Training, behaviour support, and enrichment
- Grooming
- Pet sitting or boarding costs
The costs that are easy to overlook
Then there are the expenses that might not immediately spring to mind. Depending on your circumstances, you could spend more on a pet-friendly rental, pet-proofing your home, cleaning, or replacing the occasional chewed or scratched household item. Safe travel may also mean investing in a suitable carrier or car restraint.
The cost of caring for your pet can also change as they do. Over time, they may need things like ongoing medication, a prescription diet, mobility assistance, or more frequent vet care. And while nobody can predict an unexpected trip to the vet, it’s worth thinking about how you’d manage the cost if one came along.
How to build a realistic pet budget
There’s no magic number that works for every pet or household. A realistic budget starts with your pet, your circumstances, and what things actually cost where you live.
1. Start with your pet
Ask the shelter, rescue group, or breeder about your pet’s current diet, health history, grooming, behaviour, and routine. If you have a particular breed in mind, researching things like their typical care requirements can give you a useful starting point, while remembering that every animal is an individual.
2. Check what things cost locally
National averages can be useful for getting your bearings, but they won’t tell you what your local vet, council, trainer, groomer, or boarding facility charges. Gather a few current prices and note whether each expense is likely to be one-off, weekly, monthly, or annual. You’ll start to get a much clearer picture of what pet ownership could look like for your budget.
3. Separate the essentials from the nice-to-haves
Food, a safe place to live, vet care, and appropriate enrichment are essential and should come before any extras. That monogrammed toy basket? That can probably wait. Separating the must-haves from the nice-to-haves can help you spend where it matters most while keeping your budget manageable.
4. Give yourself some breathing room
Pets have a habit of surprising us, and prices can change too. Building a little flexibility into your budget can help with things like rising food costs, replacing worn-out essentials, or other expenses you hadn’t planned for.
5. Don’t forget the unexpected vet costs
It’s worth thinking ahead about how you’d manage an unexpected vet bill. You might choose to set aside savings, consider pet insurance, or use a combination of the two. Having a plan in place before you need it can mean one less thing to think about when your pet needs urgent vet care.
Pet insurance and its role in your pet’s care
Even with a well-planned pet budget, an unexpected trip to the vet can bring costs you hadn’t accounted for. Pet insurance can help cover eligible vet costs when your pet becomes ill or injured unexpectedly.
If you’re looking to insure your pet, RSPCA Pet Insurance offers cover you can customise to suit your pet and budget. You can choose an annual cover limit of up to $35,000, a benefit percentage of up to 90%, and an annual excess from $0 to $500. You can also choose to add optional extra cover for things like dental illness, supportive therapies, behavioural conditions, and routine care.
And while you’re helping look after your own pet, you’re helping others, too. Every RSPCA Pet Insurance policy contributes to RSPCA animal welfare initiatives across Australia, supporting animals in need.
To learn more about how RSPCA Pet Insurance could support you and your pet, click here. Or, if you’re ready to take the next step, you can fetch a commitment-free pet insurance quote online.
Disclaimer
As with any insurance, terms, conditions, and exclusions apply. Please read the Product Disclosure Statement to make sure the cover suits your needs.
References
[1] Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Getting a pet. Available from: https://moneysmart.gov.au/family-and-relationships/getting-a-pet
[2] Animal Medicines Australia. Pets in Australia: A national survey of pets and people 2025. Available from: https://animalmedicinesaustralia.org.au/resources/pets-in-australia-a-national-survey-of-pets-and-people-3/
[3] RSPCA Australia. Responsible pet ownership. Available from: https://www.rspca.org.au/adopt/responsible-pet-ownership/
[4] RSPCA Australia. A guide to adopting your first pet. Available from: https://www.rspca.org.au/latest-news/blog/guide-adopting-your-first-pet/
FAQs
Welcoming a new pet into the family is exciting, but between food, vet visits, and all those toys, the costs can add up. According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the first year with a dog costs around $4,000 on average, with a cat costing slightly less. The 2025 Pets in Australia survey also found average annual household spending of $2,520 for dog owners and $1,656 for cat owners. Of course, every pet is different. Their size, age, health, and lifestyle can all influence how much you’ll spend.
Before your new furry family member gets busy making themselves at home, there are a few upfront costs worth planning for. These can include an adoption or purchase fee, registration and microchipping, plus essentials like food, bowls, bedding, and a carrier. You’ll also need to budget for early vet care, such as vaccinations, parasite prevention, and desexing.
In 2025, the Pets in Australia survey found that Australians had spent an estimated $21.3 billion caring for their pets, with food accounting for 46% of that spend. Ongoing costs to budget for include food, preventative and routine health care, training, grooming, and services such as pet sitting or boarding when you travel.
Start with your pet’s specific needs. No two pets are quite the same, so it pays to do a little homework. Look at local prices rather than relying only on national averages, separate the must-haves from the nice-to-haves, and give your budget some breathing room for the unexpected. It’s also worth thinking about how you’d manage an unexpected vet bill before one comes along.
Pet insurance is designed to help with eligible vet costs if your pet gets ill or injured unexpectedly. It’s not designed to cover every cost that comes with being a pet parent, so you’ll still need to budget for everyday expenses and anything that isn’t covered under your policy.
If you’re considering insuring your pet, RSPCA Pet Insurance offers cover you can customise to your pet’s needs and your budget, with a wide range of annual cover limits, benefit percentages, excesses, and optional extras to choose from. Every policy also contributes to vital RSPCA animal welfare initiatives. So, while you’re helping to protect your pet, you’re also making a difference for animals in need across Australia.
To learn more, visit the RSPCA Pet Insurance website or get a commitment-free quote online today.
As with any insurance, terms, conditions, and exclusions apply. Please read the Product Disclosure Statement to make sure this cover suits your needs.
