Welcome to Show the Receipts, a series where we ask interesting people to share exactly how much it costs to get shit done. No matter the task, we’re tracking every last dollar from start to finish. Up next: owning a pet.
Amanda Seyfried (yes, that Amanda Seyfried – of “Mamma Mia!” and “Mean Girls“ fame) owns a lot of pets. Thirty-six, to be precise. Sprawled across 18 acres two hours north of New York City, her property features more than three dozen animals, from horses and goats to peacocks and chickens. Roaming in parallel, away from the coops, stables, and paddocks, she also has two cats and a dog.
“Some of ’em are household pets, some of them are farm animals, but they’re all my pets,” Seyfried tells PS. Many are rescues, adopted from local rescue missions and nonprofits.
This, as you can imagine, costs a lot of money – not that that’s the biggest factor in whether she takes them in. That comes down to two things: “It’s all about space and species,” she says. You see, Seyfried’s property – despite its acreage – is composed mostly of woods, and thus, space is limited. The existing shelter and open fields are “workable and usable,” she says, but it doesn’t leave much room for new additions.
Still, when there’s an emergency case and she doesn’t have the proper housing for an animal, she’s been known to create it. This happened recently, as Seyfried took in three peacocks after their owner died. “I didn’t have space for them, and they need specific [accommodations], so I had to build it real quick,” she says. “It was stressful, but I’m lucky that I can afford it because it’s so expensive. With pets, every little thing, every hospital visit and every check-up, costs you. I was getting these vet bills from the equine vet and I’m just like, What?“
She acknowledges this is a huge privilege, having the resources to rescue animals in need. Just how much, though, is the question, which is why we’ve asked for a glimpse. Note: Because Seyfried cares for so many animals – and that would be a hell of a lot of receipts to recover – the below numbers reflect the costs associated with the most common pet in U.S. households: her beloved 15-year-old dog, Finn.
Here’s the full price breakdown.
Task: Owning a pet
Job: Actor and animal advocate
Location: Upstate New York
Timeline: One month
The Receipts
Food: $300
Vet bills: $500
Pet insurance: $0
Grooming: $200
Toys and treats: $100
Total: $1,100
How I Did It
Seyfried understands firsthand how much money and stress goes into owning pets. With Finn, in particular, at 15 years old – a “grandpa in dog years,” she says – he is recovering from surgery and chemotherapy that removed a tumor on his anal gland. Here, she breaks down what she spends her money on and why.
PS: What is the most surprising cost you’ve encountered while owning pets over the years?
Amanda Seyfried: I never signed up for insurance for Finn back in the day, which I know now would have saved me a lot of money throughout the years. Every time we get a CT scan for him, it’s like, “Oh, wow.” Getting Finn’s chemo upstate was $1,000, and that was every three weeks. And once, we were in the city at the time when he needed to get his chemo, and it was 2,000 bucks. So it all depends on what city you live in, too.
It’s not about the level of care; I trust his hospital. I trust the doctors. I trust that they’re doing so much good work. These people care so much and they’re working so hard, and a lot of them aren’t getting paid really anything. So it must be the technology, it must be the amount of people who are working. It’s all these tiny little costs like cleaning up the blood and the trash. I’ve looked at these bills – it’s every tiny little thing. People are trying to do the best they can, but it’s expensive.
PS: How do you mitigate some of those expenses, especially when you care for so many animals?
AS: Health care is expensive no matter how you spin it, and the only way around it is to prepare for the costs and try to offset it by having some kind of plan in place. Now I know I’ll be getting pet insurance for future pets, especially my cats. Don’t forget to check out the new innovation from Synchrony that connects the CareCredit credit card and Pets Best Insurance through a seamless reimbursement solution. It’s definitely a game changer to helping pet parents manage costs and stress.
What’s funny is that since I’ve partnered with Synchrony and talked about it with friends, I’ve learned that so many people have Pets Best. I only learned about it after Finn had his surgery and rounds of chemo. Now it’s kind of essential because you know it’s going to be costly anyway. You might as well do it in the smartest way you can.
PS: What’s one shameless splurge you don’t feel bad about when it comes to your dog?
AS: I believe in high-quality human-grade pet food that’s easy for Finn to digest and easy for me to believe in. His Just Food For Dogs venison meal has been a lifesaver, and he eats it like it’s the first time he’s ever tasted it. I swear by this company. It comes as eight frozen pallets every three weeks, which costs about $300. In my eyes, it’s worth the extra cost to make sure he’s getting the nutrients he needs in real food.
Also, every two months, Finn gets fully groomed by a service that comes to the farm and gives him a bath, haircut, nail trimming. Typically, that costs around $200 since he’s a medium-sized dog and has a lot of undercoat, which needs to be managed. He always zooms around afterward like he knows it’s good for him.
PS: What are some of the biggest expenses that aren’t worth the money?
AS: If any animal’s staying in a hospital or hotel overnight, no thanks. I brought a half dead chicken to a vet an hour away because I was like, “We’ve got to do something.” She was literally dying in my arms, and he’s like, “We could put her in the ICU.” I almost was like, “Go f*ck yourself.” It was the first time one of my chickens has ever died. She was old. You’re going to put her in the ICU and then charge me $4,000?
He didn’t care; he saw somebody who was clearly suffering – the chicken and then me holding the chicken – and was trying to give me options, but that was never going to be an option. As soon as that chicken came in that door I knew there was only one humane thing to do. I euthanized that chicken, and it was the right decision.
Hospitals can be great hospitals. Sometimes animals can go to the ICU and be better and live another five years, and then that money will have been worth it. But to put an old, dying chicken in the ICU for that amount of money – it’s not worth it.
Final Thoughts
Hospital stays, vet bills, grooming costs – no matter. Seyfried assures the price of owning a pet is worth every penny. “It’s worth everything, because these little things, these little fur animals do not judge and bring nothing but joy at the end of the day,” she says. “If we really pare it down: If your dog gets into fights or nips at somebody, or you have a sleepless night, or they have diarrhea all over the place. Does that bring joy? No. But in the grand scheme of things, the energy that they bring, the pure joy that they experience in simple moments, it reflects back at you.”
She adds, “We can be smarter about our finances from the very beginning of our pet’s life, yes. But they are a perfect mirror for what’s so beautiful and simple about life. I honestly don’t know where we would be without something so innocent walking the planet with us.”
Kelsey Castañon (she/her) is an ASME Award-nominated writer, editor, and content strategist with enough years of experience to warrant a retinol prescription. She is currently the senior content director at PS, where she oversees the Beauty, Health, Fitness, and Balance verticals while simultaneously stockpiling (and reporting on) everything from skin care to wine.
