"We have 3 dogs.
The simple fact that they're all small tends to make
them less expensive to own. I buy 50 pound
bags of dog food at Sam's and it lasts 6 months.
When I owned several larger dogs, that amount would
last just 6 weeks. And when we have the youngest
spayed in a few months, it will cost about half what
it did to have the larger dogs spayed in years past,
because she's small. I buy their shots at the local
feed store for a fraction of what the vet
charges, and give them the injections myself. I buy
their flea medication from a local pet store that
has a vet on staff and save quite a bit over buying
it thru my regular vet. I learned to trim their
nails, which can be very expensive if
professionally done. I also learned to give a
basic puppy cut to my mother-in-law's poodle so
she could avoid high grooming fees, so I'm confident
that if I ever get a dog that requires detailed
grooming, I'll be able to learn that as well.
Finally, I make friends with the vet. By being as
friendly and open as possible, he's more willing to
answer my phone calls if I might need to bring a dog
in but I'm not sure. Recently I saved a lot of money
by successfully treating a problem at home following
the vet's advice." ~ Penny
"To save money on
pet items for my two dogs, I try to use items I
already have -- or can buy cheaply -- instead of
expensive pet store merchandise.
For the dogs' water
dishes, I have a large ceramic mixing bowl that I
didn't need for the inside dish (of course, it is
permanently retired from kitchen duty). I
bought an 87 cent plastic bowl (meant to hold
popcorn) at Wal-Mart for the one we keep outside.
(My dogs are older and don't chew up plastic; this
might not be such a great idea for a puppy).
Similarly, I found two cereal bowls at garage sales
that I use for their supper dishes -- you can't beat
the pocket change price.
When we had to get rid
of a worn-out and broken Papa-san chair, the
cushion was clean and it is now an extra large dog
bed the two pets share. No use throwing something
out that can be used elsewhere in the house!
One of my dogs is the
third pet to wear a hand-me-down leather dog collar.
It has already lasted for the lifetimes of our two
other dachshunds and is still going strong for the
third one. I've also heard of people cutting
down old leather belts for this purpose, but haven't
tried it myself. Leather lasts almost forever.
My dogs stay in the
house, but my mom always kept pets outdoors. (She
lived in the sunbelt and it rarely snowed). Her
dogs had a 'door' to their doghouse in the winter: a
worn out lid cover for the toilet. Nailed to the top
of the doghouse's opening, it was heavy enough to
keep out cold winds. The matching bath mat was
used as the dogs' bed. Every time she switched
bathroom rugs, the discarded items found their way
to the doghouse. Torn, worn-out flannel shirts or
nightgowns also make good pet beds but be sure
and remove the buttons or anything that could be a
hazard.
I buy the largest sized
sack of dry dogfood I can carry, usually get it at
Wal-mart, and put it in a metal bin so that bugs and
mice can't get into it. (You could also use a
clean, new metal trashcan with lid for this
purpose). It lasts us for months!
My dogs were getting
pudgy and I checked the label of the dog food and
discovered I was feeding them too much. I now
measure with a measuring cup the exact amount and my
vet was very pleased to see both doggies have lost
five pounds this past year. Not only is it thrifty
to feed them the proper amount of dog food, but
it will help them to live longer lives!" ~
Lynn
