If you’re trying to decide whether you can afford a Rottweiler, you need to know how much it costs to keep one.
The purchase price from a breeder, or adoption fee if you obtain one from a shelter, is just the beginning because a dog is for life.
That adorable little puppy will grow into a large, powerful dog that you will have to factor into your monthly budget, so what kind of costs are you looking at?
The monthly cost of owning a rottweiler depends on the dog’s age, breeding, activity levels, state of health, and size. If the dog is healthy and fed high-quality food, you will probably spend around $150 a month. If the dog is poorly bred or has a chronic health condition, it can cost much more.
The monthly cost of owning a Rottweiler varies as the puppy grows into an adult and then becomes a senior.
The average Rottweiler lifespan is between nine and ten years, but they often exceed this by a couple of years..
During their lifetime, you will incur a range of costs relating to veterinary care, food, toys, treats, and feeding and water bowls which we explore in more detail below.
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Costs Associated With Owning A Rottweiler Puppy
Initially, you will have to purchase some supplies for your pup. Some of these items, like a microchip, dog crate, grooming brush, water bowl, and food bowl, are non-recurring costs as long as you buy quality items suitable for an adult dog.
Other costs, such as toys, treats, and food will be a lifelong monthly recurring cost that will vary as your Rottweiler ages.
Some items, such as a collar and dog bed, will be periodic costs as your puppy outgrows them.
The following is a guide to what you can expect to pay for these items, but you should always try to buy the best quality you can afford.
| Item | Price Range |
| Water and food bowls | $20 to $60 |
| Crate with divider | $80 to $250 |
| Food – wet and dry (per month) | $60 |
| Microchip | $40 to $80 |
| Grooming brush | $5 to $10 |
| Collar | $10 to $50 |
| Leash | $10 to $50 |
| Toys, teething rings, treats (per month) | $50 |
| Routine veterinary examinations and vaccinations | $150 to $250 each |
| Vaccines and routine vet care | $100 to $350 |
| Poop scoop and poop bags | $20 (scoop) and $15 (500 bags) |
| Tick and flea prevention (monthly) | $45 |
| Puppy training (per year) | Around $250 |
| Dog bed | $60 to $200 |
For the first year, preventive medical care for a Rottweiler puppy works out to around one thousand two hundred dollars for the bare necessities.
This averages out to one hundred dollars a month, but you will not incur these costs every month.
Rottweiler puppies are chewers. They chew when they are teething, bored, exploring their environment, anxious, wanting attention, or have excess energy.
This means you will go through many chew toys and teething rings and need to keep brushes, leashes, and poop scoops out of their way.
If you don’t want them chewing on furniture items, shoes, and other personal belongings, you will have to keep them well supplied with various toys.
However, there’s no guarantee they will confine their attentions to the things they are permitted to chew, and you may be confronted with some hidden and unexpected costs for the replacement of household items.
The lesson here is to keep things out of their reach wherever possible.
You may also wish to purchase optional additional items such as a muzzle or a harness when your dog is older.
When your puppy is still small, a playpen may be necessary to stop him from getting into mischief, but he will outgrow it fast.
A thirty-pound bag of good-quality dry food will cost between forty-five and sixty dollars, but your pup can eat an average of forty pounds a month.
For the first six months, they will need to be fed smaller meals three times a day. After that, your Rottie should be fed twice a day.
Puppies should also be given wet food such as minced meat, vegetable mince, eggs, and yogurt, which is additional to the cost of kibble.
If you purchased your pup from a breeder, be sure to seek their advice on what they have been feeding your pup and follow suit.
Your vet is also a good source of information about the best food for your Rottie.
Just remember that puppies have different nutritional requirements from adults. Always be sensitive to your individual dog’s needs.
Be sure to read this excellent article where we lay it all out for you:
Rottweiler Feeding Guide: From Puppy to Adult
Some Rottweilers are high-energy dogs that need more food than their less active counterparts. Some have growth spurts at different ages in their development when they may need more food than at other times.
If you buy stainless steel and water bowls right from the start, you won’t have to replace them every few weeks if you forget to pick them up after your pup has eaten.
You are likely to have to replace dog beds every few months if you buy one that is too small or if your pup decides to chew on it.
Bear in mind that although your dog may have reached the full adult height at one year of age, they are still considered a puppy.
A Rottweiler only reaches adulthood when they are two years old because they are still filling out in bone density and muscle between the ages of one and two.
This means that for at least a year, you will have one enormous puppy on your hands. They will cost you not only in hard cash but also in time and attention because they need exercise and training.
Routine Veterinary Costs For Your Rottweiler Puppy
Veterinary consultations cost between forty and sixty dollars a time, but this does not include tests or treatments.
Routine examinations and treatments include the following:
- Fecal examination – between $40 and $50
- Distemper/parvo/corona vaccination – $30
- Deworming – $10 (minimum)
- Heartworm prevention $20 (monthly)
- Bordetella vaccination – between $15 and $25
- Rabies vaccination – $20
- Flea and tick prevention $45 (monthly) – you don’t need to go to the vet for this.
Spaying or neutering can cost between $200 and $500, depending on your vet.
This is a once-off cost, but you should try to make provision for it in your monthly budget for the first eighteen months to two years of your dog’s life to lessen the blow to your wallet.
It’s possible to find clinics in some locations that will charge between $50 and $100.
These days Rottweiler breeders encourage owners of their puppies to hold out on sterilization until the dog is between eighteen and twenty-four months old.
They need their sex hormones to fully develop into strong, healthy adults and properly grow their skeletal and muscle structures.
Rottweilers are big-boned dogs that grow the fastest in their first three months but take up to two years to mature.
Young Rottweilers need regular veterinary check-ups to make sure they are growing properly and are dewormed and vaccinated against common diseases.
Pups should be taken for check-ups at the ages of:
- Six to eight weeks for distemper and parvo vaccinations,
- Ten to twelve weeks for DHPP vaccinations (distemper adenovirus, parainfluenza, and parvo)
- Sixteen to eighteen weeks for rabies and DHPP vaccinations
- Twelve to sixteen months for rabies and DHPP vaccinations
After that, they should be vet checked at least once a year for heartworm, internal parasites, and given preventive treatment for heartworm.
For middle-aged and senior dogs, routine vet visits cost between $125 and $265, depending on the vet’s location.
The costs for non-core vaccines, for instance, Leptospirosis, and Lyme disease, can be between $15 and $40 each.
Vaccination costs for the first year of a pup’s life are generally higher than in adulthood.
Rabies vaccinations are a legal requirement, and the frequency varies from state to state. Animal shelters will often charge less for vaccines than a vet – around twenty dollars for a vaccination.
The Cost Of Owning An Adult Rottweiler
The amount of food your adult Rottweiler eats every day will depend on his activity levels, size, and stage of life.
The costs can vary between fifty and three hundred dollars a month depending on the food type and quality.
According to the American Rottweiler Club, adult Rottweilers eat between five and ten pounds of food per day, and high-quality kibble costs around forty dollars for a forty-pound bag.
You will need to buy more than one bag in a month, and nutritional supplements could add another ten dollars a month or more.
If you choose to feed your Rottweiler a raw diet or fresh food instead of kibble, the cost of food will be much higher, and the price of premade meals varies significantly between suppliers.
The quality of the food and the individual dog’s nutritional needs affect the price.
The cost of treats and chews, which adult dogs still need and enjoy, could be anywhere from twenty to sixty dollars a month.
Toys can cost around fifty dollars a month, depending on how fast your dog goes through them and the toy’s quality.
The cost estimates for preventive veterinary care for adult Rottweilers are as follows:
- Tick and flea prevention – $45 (monthly)
- Annual veterinary exam and vaccinations – $250
- Heartworm test – $35 each
- Heartworm prevention – $20 (monthly)
The average cost in the first year will be in the region of $1,065, but it depends on which veterinarian you use.
The price of other tests and treatments, which will depend on the age and health of your adult Rottie, are as follows:
| Test/Treatment | Estimated Cost |
| Radiographs for diagnosis of hip dysplasia | $350 |
| Cancer screening | $500 |
| Dental care | $300 to $1200 |
| Test for heartworm and tick-borne disease | $75 |
| Urinalysis and bloodwork | $200 |
According to the American Kennel Club, every one to two years, they should be vaccinated for DHPP, and every one to three years, they must be vaccinated for rabies.
The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) identifies core vaccinations as MLV or Recombinant Canine Distemper Virus, Adenovirus-2 and Parvovirus (DAPP), parainfluenza virus, and rabies.
These are vaccinations that every dog should have.
In addition, there are certain non-core vaccinations that you vet may recommend, depending on the area in which you live.
The cost of the core vaccine shots varies between seventy-five and one hundred dollars at a veterinarian.
Rottweilers are more likely to have certain health problems like arthritis and cancer in their senior years. Because of this, they may not eat as much as an active adult and will sleep more, which means they may require less food.
Food costs can also vary significantly depending on the quality of the food and the amount your dog eats.
You may also have to buy a dog license which costs between ten and twenty dollars a year, depending on where you live.
If you go away from home on holiday or business, you need to factor in the cost of a dog sitter and a dog walker.
If you can’t take your dog for a walk every day, then the price of a dog walker should also be included in your monthly budget.
The prices charged by dog walkers and dog-sitters vary considerably, depending on where you live.
You can plan on budgeting fifteen to twenty-five dollars for a thirty-minute walk and between twenty-five and eighty-five dollars a day for a sitter.
If you have friends or family members prepared to help you out, they can save you some of these costs.
Rottweilers are short-haired dogs that don’t usually require professional grooming, but they may have to get their toenails clipped occasionally.
Their coats may get dusty or full of leaves or dry grass from time to time, depending on their forays on your walks and in your garden, so you should brush them regularly.
A grooming kit will cost between twenty-five and two hundred and ninety dollars, while a professional groomer will charge between forty-five and sixty-five dollars a session.
This generally includes a shampoo and bath, nail trimming, and cleaning the ears, teeth, and eyes.
Below is a handy table to give you some idea of the costs of owning a healthy adult Rottweiler:
| Item | Estimated Cost |
| Food | $60 monthly |
| Dog toys | $50 monthly |
| Dog license | $15 annually |
| Pet insurance premiums | $60 monthly (depends on where you live) |
| Dog crate with liner | $90 |
| Dog bed | $60 – may need to be replaced periodically |
| Collar and leash | $40 |
| Water and food bowls | $25 |
| Preventive veterinary care | $85 – monthly average |
| Tick and flea prevention | $45 monthly |
| Poop scoop | $20 |
Common Health Problems In Rottweilers That Require Veterinary Care
Rottweilers are generally a healthy breed but, being heavy, medium to large dogs, they are prone to certain skeletal conditions and diseases.
The costs of treating these can be pretty high. Below is a list of some of these and estimates of their associated costs:
| Condition | Estimated Treatment Cost |
| Cranial cruciate ligament rupture (ACL tear) | $150 to $3,900 |
| Gastric dilation and volvulus (bloat) | $1,500 – $3,000 |
| Elbow dysplasia | $2,000 – $3,500 |
| Hip dysplasia | $500 – $13,000 |
| Cancer | $500 – $10,000 |
| Parvovirus | $2,000 |
Having seen these potential costs, you may consider it worthwhile to buy monthly medical insurance for your Rottie. The average annual cost of insurance is roughly $300.
You have different options on insurance policies, and if you buy one that that just covers accidents, the monthly costs can be much lower than for full medical insurance.
Dogs from a backyard breeder can have more health issues than those from a reputable one, so what you save on the purchase price is unlikely to be worth the extra veterinary costs.
Reputable breeders ensure that the dog has good genetics and won’t suffer from genetic illnesses.
If you bought a crate for your puppy that they have since outgrown, you could expect to pay an average of ninety dollars for a forty-eight-inch or sixty-inch crate.
An adult dog bed big enough for a Rottweiler costs sixty dollars on average. You may have to pay an additional premium on your home owner’s insurance in some states as they classify Rotties as “dangerous dogs”.
Final Thoughts
The average minimum monthly cost of keeping a healthy adult Rottweiler is around one hundred and fifty dollars.
This does not include emergency vet bills, dog walkers and dog sitters, professional grooming, unanticipated injuries, and severe health conditions.
Over a lifespan of ten years, owning a Rottweiler can potentially cost between $10,935 and $35,885, which works out to an average lifetime cost of $21,670.