How do YOU save money on pet care? Share!
By Gina Spadafori
August 15, 2008
This weekend Dr. Becker and I are working on an article for a major national publication. The topic: saving money on pet care. (I can’t tell you which pub until the contract’s signed; I’m superstitious that way.) The article isn’t very long, and we have all the research done. We just need to write it.
The piece is an overview of strategies, but that got me thinking about the details of saving money. And then this afternoon I was looking over on Fugly, and her readers are offering tips on horse-care, with the idea that the cost of hay is up, up, up so let’s share some strategies for getting other costs down. The focus: Non-horsey products that can be substituted safely for more expensive items marketed specifically to horse-owners. First on her list: Using a pool noodle ($2) cut in half to pad the top of a horse trailer … a lot cheaper than buying a custom pad and just as effective!
So I was thinking about what I’ve done over the years to save money. Probably the biggest switcheroo I do is getting garage-sale stuffed animals for the retrievers. Remove the eyes from and machine-wash the “stuffies,” and they’re free dog toys for pets who prefer carrying their stuffed toys rather than shredding them. I also look for — and ask for, from friends and co-workers — old towels, which are great for bathing pets. If I end up with extras, I share them with rescue groups, shelters and my veterinarian’s office.
Garage sales are great for finding other “gently used” pet-care equipment, too: When I was doing breed rescue, many of the crates we loaned out a couple months at a time to help the dogs transition to new homes were garage-sale finds. I used to see a lot of cat trees, too, although of course the minute I needed one I couldn’t find one second-hand … so the Empress Clara got new. I also snap up small, heavy dishwasher-safe glass bowls — especially those for making individual custards — for the cats and the parrot.
And although a lot of home remedies you hear about are money-wasting at best (and dangerous at worst), there are a few worth knowing about, and they’ll save you money.
For example: Earlier this week, a publicist pitched a over-the-counter product for routine diarrhea in pets. I don’t know remember what the price of this remedy was, but I’ll guarantee you it was more than the cost of a little canned pumpkin, which works just great. (Obviously, diarrhea that is more than a temporary condition should be checked out by a veterinarian.) Canned pumpkin, mixed with a little wet food, is also good for hairballs.
What are your favorite tips for saving money on pet care and supplies, especially non-pet items that can be used for pets at a savings? Dish.
Well, this isn’t using a non-pet item - but it IS making the most of a pet item - namely, dog shampoo.
Most dog shampoos - especially the better quality ones - are not intended to be used full strength. Generally, you should mix one part shampoo to three or four parts water (varies by the shampoo). So that saves money right off the bat.
But what I’ve been doing for years is to put that diluted shampoo into a spray bottle, and use that - set on “stream” rather than “spray” - to apply it at bathtime.
This accomplishes a few things. It allows you to put the shampoo EXACTLY where it’s needed (particularly nice around sensitive areas like the face). If you have a coated dog, you can direct the stream to “drive” the shampoo down into that dense undercoat (one of the most effective ways I know to get it down into that coat). And finally, since you’re not pouring it on - and watching much of it pour right off - you’re using ONLY as much as you need, so the shampoo you have goes farther - stretching your dollars that much more.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — August 15, 2008 @ 8:31 pm
I’ve found a particular sturdy brush at a chain drug store that is perfect for my big-coated rough collie and costs less than $5, as compared to “official” dog brushes. The first one lasted closr to two years of twice + monthly stem to stern grooming and I just replaced it. I can line brush him right down to the skin with it and he loves it when I do his back.
His treats are mostly stored in decorative tins I’ve picked up at secondhand stores. Helps keep them fresh.
A current well-used cat bed in my studio is a cardboard storage box lid with a t-shirt laid on it. No one is interested in the store-bought bed that I got for the last foster kittens, who did use it. Figures, doesn’t it :). Oh, and the fleecy toilet seat cover which came with some stuff of my mom’s seems to create a sleepable “space” when placed on a bed.
Loose catnip goes into old socks, which are knotted at the top. Perfect for rabbit kicking.
(But I gotta say the the DogIt Drinking Fountain rocks!)
Comment by Susan Fox — August 15, 2008 @ 9:41 pm
Make your own dog biscuits. Not only is it cheaper but you know EXACTLY what is in them. You can even use better ingredients than some so called gourmet brands.
Buy old clothes at a thrift store to make coats for your dogs. A coat with a stain on the arm still has plenty of material left for a coat in the back. You can also shrink old sweaters for a nice felted wool coat. Or frog an old sweater to reuse the yarn and knit a dog sweater. (good yarn is expensive!)
Cheap fleece material from wal-mart braids up nicely for tug toys of all sizes. Add a few knots and you are good to go. Also machine washable.
Great article idea!
Comment by Marie — August 15, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
If I ever save any, I’ll let you know!
Comment by Christie Keith — August 15, 2008 @ 10:32 pm
I got all of Pepper’s bedding at the local thrift store. She has her own blanket in both the living room and the computer room which she likes to stretch out on.
Her crate is in our bedroom. As we got her in winter and we don’t crank the heat up, I was worried about her being cold, so I put an old beach towel over the sides. It became a cave and 5 years later, she’s still sleeping there.
For the base of her crate, I went to the thrift store and got
1) a bright orange (and I do mean BRIGHT) flannel tablecloth (Dogs only see muted colors, so I’m sure it’s a gentle “pumpkin” color to her! ;-))
2)Several Beach towels
3) A bleached out woven cloth bath mat
4) An old Army Blanket
It’s soft, she can arrange the pieces the way she wants them, it’s all machine-washable and when she was a puppy and shredded cloth, it didn’t matter.
I highly recommend buying textiles at the thrift store, rather than commerical pet bedding.
Comment by Dorene — August 16, 2008 @ 5:02 am
Be nice to your vet. Sweet clients get better service at a better price, on average, than difficult, frustrating clients. This is true no matter what industry we’re talking about, but is especially true in my line of work.
Perhaps it seems a tad unfair but time is money and friendly, understanding, caring clients take up less of our time and stress energy than nasty ones.
Comment by Dr Patty Khuly — August 16, 2008 @ 5:59 am
When a pillow has worn out its welcome in our bed, it goes to the Beagle. They are her favorite dog beds.
Comment by slt — August 16, 2008 @ 7:08 am
When I had giant breed dogs I did the math (I have a chemistry background) and substituted an equine hip formula for a canine one. With one small addition, and measured out on a scale, formulation was the same as the MUCH MORE expensive canine version.
We rely on good old-fashioned, one-on-one physical and mental exercise with our dogs (training work and long hikes) to keep them mentally and physically fit and entertained. Better for me and cheaper than a bunch of spendy toys and doo-dads.
Also we buy raw products in bulk with friend and store them in a large chest freezer.
Got my next door neighbor (who is a professional welder) to make the frames for my agility equipment - and got them in barter for the old kitchen cabinets I didn’t want any more.
And we’re very nice to our vet. We *heart* our vet, and buy all our meds and flea/tick control products from her. The few bucks we’d save there aren’t worth taking it away from her.
Comment by Janeen — August 16, 2008 @ 7:13 am
Blankets, for crates and for whelping boxes — Thrift stores. Also bulk towels, both for crate liners, dog bathing, and as absorbent bedding for whelping boxes if mom is still bleeding.
Another good — and worthy — source for all of the above is ODC Merchandise.
They sell wee wee pads for incontinent dogs and puppies (so much better than those disposable pads!), blankets, towels and other bits and pieces.
All of it recycled, and packed and sold by adults with disabilities, and for SUPER prices.
http://www.odcmerchandise.com/
We get stainless pet dishes at the dollar store, and they work just as well. We also get pet toys for puppies there, cheap shampoo and conditioner that we dilute for dog washing, and cute collars and leads for puppies going home. Dollar stores rock for pet supplies!
We get raw turkey from the local processing plant, and network with local organic farms to buy their ‘almost gone off’ veggies and fruits. Carrots, by the way, make the best chew toys for puppies! We’ve done the same with local farmers for tripe, mutton and other raw ingredients.
Comment by Carol — August 16, 2008 @ 9:02 am
My latest thrifty gesture was two dog beds. I happened by a home disposing of a dated couch. Seat cushions were still in excellent condition, so away I went. I cleaned aired and covered the cushions with a tablecloth. No sewing, just tuck in. My dogs are in heaven.
Comment by Susanne — August 16, 2008 @ 10:31 am
My kitties like to hear the newspaper paper bits being crumpled up and then they like to chase them when I throw them up, down, faraway.
Then I do not need to buy small balls.
I use a thick cotton blanket for the wide window ledge I have as a bed for my cat, Batman,instead of buying a bed.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — August 16, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
TRADE!!!
Another raw feeder in my area pays me in raw meat to run her dogs. I get 25.00 a week in raw meat for my dogs and never have to purchase anything!
Comment by judi — August 16, 2008 @ 1:27 pm
Two ideas:
1. Going back to “The OTHER Pat“‘s idea for saving shampoo: on short haired dogs, use an old washcloth! Put the shampoo on the wet washcloth, squish it to make suds and it works fabulously well. Safe for the face, cuts through mud and traps a lot of loose hair to boot. Rinsing is a snap.
2. For training classes, consider joining a training club in your area. Do a Google search to find one. Club members usually always get big discounts on class fees. If you are planning to keep training your dog for more than just one class, or if you have multiple dogs it is well worth the small amount of volunteer time they’ll probably ask in return.
Comment by Barb — August 16, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
I do buy all the pet food dishes at the thrift shop but I never, ever buy them plastic bowls or dishes (the allergy factor, the vet told me).
I get them earthenware for their water bowls and Corella for their food dishes.
I do not let the cats know that the dishes have been used by people who then donated them to the thrift shop.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — August 16, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
They just don’t need … stuff.
Beds — sleep on or under mine. (Three Dog Night = savings on heat.) Old blanket or bath mat in crate for those who are crated. I made two inner-spring dog beds for the Old Ladies by taking the mattress from a nasty sofa bed we were throwing out (good mattress, awful couch). I cut the mattress in two, removed one row of coils from each piece, sewed the open ends down, and made zippered covers for them. Those were priceless when each of them was on her way out and needed extra support, but could no longer come up on our bed. A crib mattress works just as well and doesn’t require sewing skills or bolt cutters! You can cover it with crib sheets for easy washability. Get these at garage sales.
Toys — other than kongs for stuffing (last nearly forever) and the SAR dogs’ reward frisbees (bought en masse at the dollar store, last just as well as the $15 ones from a pet supply place, which is to say, not long at all), they don’t want or need “store bought” toys. And one can stuff old marrow bones and avoid the cost of kongs, too. The last litter of puppies mostly played with natural materials and knotted bits of old rags. The kittens play with moths, paper bags, one another, and the dogs’ tails. (Tail-docking costs you in cat toys?) The GSD finds her own tennis balls everywhere we go — I think she wills them into existence.
Don’t forget Craig’s list for crates and kennels. I’ve bought kennel panels and crates cheap from people that way, and got some 30” x 7’ heavy-duty wire grid panels (used to make mall kiosks) for $7 each from a guy — they make outstanding sturdy modular panels for pens — right now I’m using six of them for a small chicken pen, and they’ll be great for puppy pens.
Dogs and cats don’t really watch the commercials. They won’t feel deprived if they have no possessions. An old bath mat by your bedside is LOVE; a $100 monogrammed dog bed from Orvis in his own “room” is deprivation.
One cost-saving measure on a non-negotiable (for us) expenditure — tick control. My vet showed me how to measure and split the dose for Frontline, using a small syringe with a plastic tip. We buy the size for the largest dogs — barely more expensive per vial than the smaller doses — and split one vial between 2-3 of our medium-to-large dogs, + cats when indicated. (The cat formula of Frontline Plus is the same as the dog formula, we checked.)
This can cut my tick control costs by 2/3, saving many hundreds of dollars a year. Someone with many cats or tiny dogs could realize even greater savings. And I titrate the dose for the exact center of the manufacturer’s ml/kg guidelines, so nobody is getting over or under-dosed, as can happen when going with the stock packaging. Everyone has his or her exact dose written down on a card that stays with the stuff.
And yes, I do use cattle ivomec for heartworm prevention. I measure it *correctly* and dilute with glycerol, and I use it on dogs that I *know* are MDR1 normal/normal. (Most farmers who do this seem to give the dog an exponential overdose each month, often on the advice of a vet who apparently failed math. The dose for a medium-sized dog is less than a drop, and you cannot dilute with water or alcohol.) IMO, the retail price for Heartguard is criminal.
Comment by H. Houlahan — August 17, 2008 @ 5:51 am
I had better stop teasing my vet so I can save on vet bills.
I told his assistant, when she called to find out how my cat was doing, they gave me back the wrong cat. This one was too lively.
I usually get much better service by being a good customer. However, I must STOP TEASING MY VET!
Comment by Colorado Transplant — August 17, 2008 @ 6:09 am
Bits of foil rolled up into a ball for the cats to chase and bat around.
Comment by Susan Fox — August 17, 2008 @ 8:40 am
I buy the generic human equivalent of the canine drug Clomicalm, for about 1/5 of what it would cost at the vet clinic.
I do buy most of my pet pharmaceuticals directly from both my small and large animal vets, because, frankly, I need all the goodwill from them that I can get/buy. But I had to do something about the >$110/month cost of Clomicalm for what can best be described as my severely autistic rescued GSD. He simply cannot function without drug therapy. My vet understands both the dog’s for-life need of the drug and it’s obscene retail cost, so I started looking for a way to keep my dog sane and me out of the poorhouse.
While discount pet supply stores (for Clomicalm) and the local drug stores (for Clomipramine, the human version) offered some price relief, it was the generic only, cash only, no-insurance-allowed godsend of a pharmacy near the local hospital that saved the day. A month’s supply of generic Clomipramine costs me $23. A pharmacy designed as a safety net for uninsured humans sure helps me help my dog.
Comment by Rori — August 17, 2008 @ 10:26 am
Mountain climbing rope makes great leashes - supple, strong, and light-weight. Makes great leashes. If you have a store nearby that sells rope, they may just be willing to save their ends for you.
Comment by schnauzer — August 17, 2008 @ 9:37 pm
I saved money when I realized that getting one quality “tuffie” was better than to keep buying toys and watching Kasey destroy them.
Also we save the broth from making chicken soup and freeze it in ice cube trays. I heat it up in the microwave and pour it over his kibble.
We also freeze pumpkin goo/water in ice cube trays.
…probably saved the most money when I *ahem* realized he only really needed ONE collar. Hey, he’s my first dog.
Comment by Lori — August 18, 2008 @ 6:11 am
I recommend McDonald’s double cheeseburgers.
Still at $1.00 a single burger is a full meal for an average dog. And two each is an absolute feast for Scout and Trigger. They run so much at the farm I have to feed them the true high calorie stuff or they look like starving kennel dogs!
Seriously, nothing goes to waste at our house. That old myth about table scraps being bad for your dog is a hoax perpetuated by an industry that does nothing else but scavenge up scraps of a much more unsavory kind and sells it to you with the picture of a happy dog on the bag or can.
My mom used to fry up chicken necks and liver and kidneys for our dogs and every one that did not meet with an accident lived to be a ripe old age. No secret supplements there!
Considering what that crap did to my Brandy that only began with the $126.00 bill for euthanasia, the burgers are a bargain.
My only problem these days is that I simply dont have enough left overs for two healthy setters and I cringe each and every time my wife dishes out another bowl full of “meatie-Os”. I’d rather see them chewing on a road kill carcas.
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — August 18, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
We’re absolutely committed to environmentally friendly, natural, healthy stuff, but we are also on a very tight budget.
CATS
Litter— Feline Fresh pellets. Last much longer. Much cheaper. (and neutralizes urine odor. thank goodness). As well as environmentally friendly.
Toys— We have a few store bought toys and also some homemade ones. We find that they have their individual favorites, but the toys last much longer and keep their interest much longer if there are playtimes and not all toys are out all the time.
Food— We feed them only the good stuff. Fromm and Stella and Chewy’s, but here’s our reasoning: GOOD FOOD IS PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE. I love our vet, but I don’t want to ever see her for anything but routine checkups. We give them nothing with preservatives or artificial chemicals. They eat grain free the majority of the time, but we rotate varieties. A little extra on food now beats a lot extra at the vet later for kidney issues, allergies, cancers, etc. And we spay and neuter which also cuts down on cancer.
DOG
Toys: BUY QUALITY. We don’t use tennis balls. We pay a little extra for the good toys, but then they never need to be replaced (unless lost, which hasn’t happened yet). We use fetch toys that are made from recycled plastics. Fetch toys are for fetch only and are not the same as house toys (plus, it helps to keep games separate training-wise). Also, the toys are less likely to hold bacteria like tennis balls, and are more giving, so more tooth friendly. We like West Paw and Planet Dog. If it lasts longer, it ends up being cheaper in the long term. Not to mention the waste and production is significantly lower than something that needs to be replaced often.
Food: See above. Same as cats. I have a ton of dog recipes, but I really don’t have the time at the moment. I wish I did, but it’s just not possible right now.
BOTH
We do as much of our own grooming as possible. We rarely have to take anyone in for professional service. It’s time consuming, but its good bonding time. We started getting the cats used to nail trimming, teeth brushing, and baths and brushing, when they were baby kittens, so they’re pretty ok with it. They’re long hairs, so we also trim their fur on their bellies. They’re not super into it, but it prevents matted clumpies.
The pup is not into nail trimming (we adopted her at a later stage in life and weren’t able to develop the good habits early), but we’re working with her. She’ll get there. We have lots of sidewalks to run on, so they stay relatively short.
Comment by Amy — August 19, 2008 @ 9:44 am
Latest way I save money on cat toys:
I put a thin stick under a blanket and keep moving it. It excites my new black beauty, Sophia, and she keeps pouncing on top of the blanket to capture and stop it.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — August 19, 2008 @ 10:39 am
I make my pets food as well.
Also, my cats favorite toys are straws! They love them, so cheap.
Anyone ever tried making your own cat litter? I read about it, but I don’t know if it’s worth it!
Comment by Sheena — June 26, 2009 @ 12:58 am