Pets and Your Budget

If you have pets or are thinking about adding pets to your family, and you are a budget-minded person, chances are you’ve thought about pets and your budget.

We have pets in our home. I love cats, Grampy loves dogs and we consider our four-legged friends members of the family. Because of this, we factor their associated expenses into our budget.

The expenses we have for our pets are: food, kitty litter, and veterinary care. Here are some ways we save on these things.

Food

We do not buy the most expensive dog and cat food for our pets. But we also don’t buy the least expensive. While it would be nice to spring for the high-end pet food, that isn’t in our budget. We’ve found our pets have lived long and healthy lives eating a moderately-priced brand of pet food we purchase at our local farm store. We watch for sales and are able to save a few dollars here and there.

One of the best ways to save money on pet food (and also help your pet not to become overweight) is to measure out their food. If our dogs had free access to food, they would nibble all day long. They receive the amount recommended for their size on the bag of dog food for their breakfast and dinner. Doing this helps us not overfeed them.

Kitty Litter

Kitty litter is another place we do not buy the least expensive brand. Cheap cat litter simply does not, shall we say, control the kitty stink. I have several cats and scoop their boxes daily. One brand, Fresh Step, seems to do the best job of not allowing odors to linger.

I use a lot of cat litter. I sometimes cringe at the amount of money I spend on it. A large package costs near $20, and I use around two per month. I must really love those cats. However, Fresh Step also has a Paw Points program, where you enter codes from the package and receive points. When you have enough points you can redeem them for coupons to use for a free package of cat litter. A little time-consuming, but it does help save a bit.

Veterinary Care for Your Pets

Veterinary care is a difficult area to save money in. The best advice I have for this is not to have so many animals that you cannot afford necessary veterinary care for them.

Vaccinations

At the very least, pets need their proper vaccinations. If you really need to save money on this, you can see if your local humane society offers vaccination clinics. This is a cost-effective way to get your animals their shots. The clinics in our area are first-come, first-served, sometimes with long wait times. We have gone to shot clinics at our local farm store. The wait times were less and the people were very nice. We are fortunate that our local animal league has recently started a clinic that does shots, spays and neuters by appointment. This is less expensive than a veterinary office visit. You can also call around and see which vet has the best price for vaccinations. It can vary from office to office.

Spaying and Neutering

When you adopt a dog or cat from our local shelter, the adoption fee includes spaying and neutering. If you get an animal from a friend or elsewhere, you will pay the cost to have the animal spayed or neutered. It can be expensive. When I found a litter of kittens under my writing studio, I decided to keep two of them. I was able to have them spayed and neutered for free through a local foundation. It is worth calling your local animal shelter or humane society to see what programs are available to help with this cost.

Illness and Injury

Animals can become ill or injured. Do all you can to prevent this, but if it does happen, this is where your emergency fund or your sinking fund for pet expenses can come in handy. Also, ask questions. Tell your veterinarian if you have limited funds. Sometimes there can be a less expensive treatment option.

Our vet’s office is very helpful by phone. We can call and speak with a veterinary technician about minor issues because we have an established relationship with our veterinarian’s office. For example, when our dog was a puppy she got into the trash while we were out and had an upset tummy. We called the vet and they told us to give her a diet of cooked ground turkey, cottage cheese and rice to help settle her digestive tract. Within a day she was fine. If her condition worsened or she hadn’t improved quickly, we would have taken her to the vet’s office.

Our area has several veterinary clinics. Some are more expensive than others. We have used them all at one time or another. We like the customer service at the most expensive one, but have most of our animals’ needs taken care of at the moderately-priced one. Check around, call and ask for prices for routine veterinary care, talk to your friends who own pets and then make a decision you’re comfortable with in which you balance the quality of care you want for your pets with what you can afford.

I think pets are worth it!

As I said, we love our pets. Although we are on a budget, we give them a good life, good care, and lots of attention. They add a lot of enjoyment and companionship to our lives in return. Do you have any ways to share about saving money on expenses for your pets?