“Aratana develops medicines for pets. Through a series of in-licensing and strategic acquisitions, Aratana has built a portfolio of more than ten promising drugs in development for pets. Two novel cancer therapies have already received conditional approval from the FDA, and two to three more drugs should get approved in 2016. We forecast probability-adjusted revenues of $300 million by 2022, with earnings power of close to $2.00 per share. There was no news in April behind the stock’s move.”
Medical costs are a large part of keeping a dog. In this article we considered the following costs:
1. Overall Lifetime Cost– This is the cost that you would be spending for your pet over its lifetime. It includes the initial purchase price, the cost of spay/ neuter for the dog, initial training costs and the annual costs to be spend after the first year. Though this alone can be used as the sole criteria for ranking the most expensive dog, in this article we have used a slightly different approach. We are also ranking each breed based on their scores under each of the following parameters.
2. First Year Costs- First Year cost typically includes the cost incurred in first year after purchase. This article considers costs incurred for buying a newborn puppy. The costs incurred while you buy your new puppy includes spay/ neutering, crate costs, licence, training costs, vaccination and accessories like leash, crate, carrying bags (for small dogs). First year costs are higher than the annual expenditure incurred beyond the first year of purchase. As some of the breeds are difficult to train, training costs can be substantial. These costs are considered while ranking the dogs since you end up paying these upfront or within the first few days of buying the puppy, unlike the annual costs which are spread over the whole year after the initial year.
3. Annual Costs- Annual costs are especially important as pet rescue centers have noted owners abandoning their pet after a few years due to high annual costs. The costs you incur for food, grooming, medical and insurance of your dog. Furthermore, since we are talking about most expensive dog breeds, we are also assuming that you would employ a dog walker for 3 days a week and while you go on your business trips, you would trust your pet to a kennel. Food bills are substantial for these breeds. Medical costs for certain breeds are on the higher side due to specific problems like susceptibility to skin allergies and hence these should be looked at while ranking each breed. Grooming costs are another important factor and these are higher especially for the breeds that have long coats.
4. Initial Purchase Price– Though these are included in the earlier costs, however shelling out that kind of money surely is an important decision. The purchase price for properly bred puppies of certain breeds are generally on the higher side due to various costs involved in the process as well as requirement of good lineage.
For the ranking, we researched 42 different breeds. Each of the breeds is scored and ranked individually under each of the parameters. The score acquired by each breed under the respective parameters was then summed up to obtain the total score for that particular breed. The breeds are then ranked based on these total scores.
The formula used for arriving at the total score is as follows:
Ts = 40% x SL + 20% x SF + 30% x SA+ 10% x SP
Where,
Ts = Total Score
SL = Score based on life time costs
SF = Score based on First year costs
SA= Score based on Annual Costs
SP = Score Based on Purchase price
Based on these costs, the following are the most expensive dog breeds to maintain in the world. All the costs are mentioned in US Dollars, whereas the age is mentioned in years.
