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Dog Owners Discover the True Cost of Their Pandemic Adoptions

Millions of Americans bought pets to cope with Covid lockdowns. A year later, the expenses are piling up.

Bowie the sheepadoodle sits inside his apartment in Brooklyn.Photographer: Allison Hess/Bloomberg
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Their faces were so hard to resist. Yet their costs — as offices, travel and entertainment options reopen — are leading to some delayed sticker shock.

Pets famously provided solace for isolated Americans during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. U.S. consumers purchased some 47 million of them in 2020, according to VitusVet, which provides services to veterinarians. A whopping 10 million of those were dogs.