What was most shocking to me, when I first sat down in September to figure it all out, was the amount of money I spent on the Dingo brand rawhide bones for the dog. It was more than two hundred dollars. For BONES. That the dog chewed up only partially and left ALL OVER THE DAMN HOUSE.

Unbelievable. So that got a spending cap right quick: I cut back on the number of bones I gave her to just a couple a week, and I comparison shopped until I found the best deal(s). (At Rite-Aid, oddly. I have yet to find coupons for those things...) I do still give her a bone or three a week, because she loves them and they keep her teeth cleaner than I can get them with a toothbrush. (Seriously. I’ve had her almost four years and have never needed to have her teeth cleaned professionally! Big expense in and of itself!)

Rennie's medical costs are her biggest budget item, and she is a pretty healthy dog, for the most part: I take her to an excellent vet I trust. He costs a bit more, but I have no qualms about putting her in his hands and, most importantly, I know he really cares about her. So it's worth the extra cost to me for that peace of mind.

Veterinary pet insurance is another point of contention amongst the "how much is too much" debaters: I pay less than $15 per month for a basic insurance plan plus a cancer treatment “rider.” I opted to not get a preventative package because the benefits were just not worth it: it covered a spay/neuter, a microchip, and ongoing vaccination/medication costs plus a few other little things. By the time I got the insurance, Rennie had already been spayed, had her puppy teeth removed and been microchipped, so for the extra $15 per month (or whatever it was) I figured I could pay out of pocket for whatever preventative care she needed. So far it's worked out well.

Pet insurance doesn’t cover everything fully, but the set-up I have now seems like a good compromise: I think about the money I pay for insurance as a way to stretch my dollars a little further in the event she needed some kind of extensive treatment. It doesn't cover anything 100%, so I set money aside every month for expected vet visits and food costs, and have an emergency fund to pay for whatever the pet insurance won't cover. If I saved that $180 a year, it wouldn’t go very far at the vet, but the insurance will let me buy more treatment for her than if I didn’t have it.

Having pet insurance also seems to function as “Murphy Repellant”: since I’ve had the insurance, Rennie hasn’t had any major health problems (touch wood!). You'll remember the last time she ended up at the vet, it sucked up all my savings, so having something to combat ole Murphy is (slightly) reassuring. More than anything, I know I've done what I can to mitigate going further in to debt to care for my dog.

So I don't know. Is $700 a year for a dog too much? Works out to ~$58 per month, which doesn't seem like much and is far less than I spend on myself. Or than I would spend on a child. Once I'm out of debt and have a fully-funded emergency fund, I'm sure I'll be spending more on Rennie: we'll take obedience classes again; perhaps we'll go to a few obedience shows; maybe I'll buy her a few new toys.

But getting back to my original point, that "too much" or "enough" is relative: when I stop to think about it, I don't know that anyone else fully understands the depth of my love for my dog, or what she contributes to my happiness. So I have limited ways to understand what a pet contributes to someone else's life. Who am I - or anyone else - to put a value on that? "Too much" isn't really a question in my mind. If you can afford what you're spending, more power to you!

When it comes down to it, there is definitely a line to be drawn, but that line is in a different place for each person and the circumstances they're in. I would certainly prefer not to get into debt to provide care for my dog and I've taken the steps I can to ensure I don't have to do that, but life has a way of happening and sometimes you do what you have to do to take care of those you love. Sometimes the heart and soul are not practical, and doing what's right and doing what's "sensible" don't coincide. At the critical moment, I hope I am able do what is right by listening to my heart, and my pet.