3 Possible Ways to Deduct Your Dog or Cat

Dogs, cats, and other household pets are expensive. Owners spend an average of $1,270 to $2,800 to own a dog. Can you ever deduct these costs from your taxes?

The expenses for a family pet that provides you only with love and companionship are never deductible. They are purely personal expenses.

But it is possible to deduct the expenses for a dog, a cat, or another animal if it qualifies as a

• medical expense

• business expense, or

• charitable deduction.

The costs of buying, training, and maintaining a dog or another animal qualify as deductible medical expenses if you

• use the animal primarily for medical care, and

• would not have paid the expenses but for the disease or illness involved.

Medical deductions are allowed for service animals trained to aid their owners with a disability. Examples include guide dogs for people who are blind or have low vision, or dogs trained to carry items for people with physical disabilities.

You can deduct as a medical expense emotional support animals, such as dogs, cats, or other animals that help people suffering from mental or emotional disabilities. Emotional support animals are more challenging to deduct than service animals because they can seem little different from regular pets. The animal should be prescribed (or at least recommended) by a licensed healthcare provider as part of a mental health treatment plan.

You can deduct dogs and other animals as a business expense if they serve a legitimate business purpose. For example, you can deduct security-purpose business-location guard dogs. The guard dog should be trained and should be an appropriate breed for guarding purposes, such as a Rottweiler, German shepherd, or Doberman pinscher. Don’t try to deduct a small dog like a Chihuahua as a guard dog!

Cats have achieved business-deductible status when used for pest control at a business location.

If you foster dogs, cats, or other animals in your home, you may be able to take a charitable deduction for the reasonable expenses you pay out of your own pocket, such as pet food expenses and veterinary bills. You may not deduct the value of the time you spend fostering animals or the value of donating space in your home for this purpose.

To qualify for this deduction, you cannot foster animals on your own. You must do so on behalf of a Section 501(c)(3) charitable organization. You must also obtain a written acknowledgment from the charity if your expenses exceed $250.