Frugal Pet Ownership

[Bob B.]

My family and I recently adopted a dog. We've never had a family dog before. We rescued her from a shelter.

You can spend a mint providing for a dog if you let yourself.

Looking for tips for responsible, frugal pet ownership. I'm mostly thinking about vet/preventative medicine type stuff. Heartworm treatment, flea and tick treatment. Vets seem to charge exorbitant fees, mainly, it appears, because most people will pay exorbitant sums for their pets.

We want to keep our dog healthy and comfortable, but there has got to be a way that is frugal and responsible.

Any experiences would be appreciated.

[Mjenn]

Pet ownership is expensive, I'd be interested in seeing what folks say as well.

I have heard from vet friends that you should make friends with a large animal vet because they give the same meds to large animals as they give to small animals, in HUGE doses but charge about the same as small animal vets (so much cheaper by the ml or whatever). So you could get a better dosage that way. But I don't think that would work in reality.

They have readjusted the vaccination schedule for dogs a lot lately, so check that you are getting the right info. Our dog is now no longer vaccinated due to allergic reactions (but she is old and has many courses of vaccinations -- the schedule has changed significantly in the 10 years we have been doing this -- from every year to every 3rd year)

Brush your dog's teeth regularly and scrape them with a dental scraper on top of using dental chews, because dog teeth get super expensive when they get old and need care.

I'm interested to see what other tips folks have as you are right, animals get expensive. We have had pet insurance, which is expensive, but we have found useful.

[rennigade]

If you live near a petsmart that has petfield...sign up for the yearly plan...only a couple hundred bucks...all shots, all visits covered. Take you pet in as much as you want...visits are covered.

Order heartguard and flea/tick from 1800petmeds...they usually have coupons.

My dog is only 30lbs...we order the flea/tick for the largest size dog they offer (90lbs+ I think.) We get 2.5 uses out of one vial...we store the overage in contact lens containers...measure with one of those plastic syringe things.

[TexasHusker]

It has been my experience that the cheapest pet I ever owned was a pet rock. I bought it at K Mart for roughly $6.99 and named him Smoky. He had the heart of a stone.

Despite being cheap, a pet rock can be deceivingly hard to deal with - they don't give an inch. You get mad and smack ur rock and you'll likely end up with a bloody nuckle or two.

During my last move, I more or less kicked Smoky to the curb and he sat there in the gutter through the winter until a street sweeper likely scooped him up. I feel certain that he is in a better place now.

[sblatner]

We have a small dog and two cats. Like Rennigade, we order flea medicine for a large dog and then dispense it out for the small dog and cats (it'll last a few months). He bought a kit with the directions from someone online and then now buys Advantage from Amazon.

Also, I was under the impression that the Omega 3 pills our dog takes for a skin condition had to be from the vet. They were out of stock one time so referred me to Petco who sold it for cheaper (and when I went, had it on sale for buy one get one free).

Other than that, don't let your dog jump off the couch too many times - might cause him to get a herniated disc which costs a fortune to fix :-).

[Petunia 100]

Our local animal control offers very inexpensive shots on one Saturday per month. They do rabies and one or two others, about $12 per shot. Check and see what is available locally. Google "low cost veterinary care <your location>".

[PeggyHefferon]

Love pets but don't think I will ever own one again. Felt like I was being taken advantage of every time I took my dog to the Vet. Never could provide a solution without more expensive tests.

[Bob B.]

Love pets but don't think I will ever own one again. Felt like I was being taken advantage of every time I took my dog to the Vet. Never could provide a solution without more expensive tests.

Thanks for the responses everyone.

This is exactly what it feels like every time we take our dog to the vet - Oh goodie! Another sucker.

[breathemusic]

Maybe this makes me a terrible pet mom... but I grew up out in the sticks where people had pets and other than the shots that you get when they're very little and spay/neuter costs... we really didn't take our pets to the vet unless they were sick.

Even now, I don't take my cats for shots as frequently as I should, but my argument for that and not using flea/tick anything is that they're 100% indoor cats.

Of course, I make much more money now than my parents ever have, so I'm even more inclined to treat a sick animal than to just put it down (as my parents would do since I don't think they could afford or really justify spending thousands on a pet if it ever needed surgery or things of that nature).

Mainly, try to feed them a healthy diet, definitely pay attention to teeth since animals have to be put under to pull teeth or even just clean them and it's crazy expensive. I agree that for dogs you gotta watch the jumping up and down off things as they get older, especially dogs with longer bodies and shorter legs as that's super hard on their backs.

I don't know of anyone who has ever actually spent the money on pet health insurance, so I don't think I'd ever really go there. Some of it is also just researching your pet breed to understand what are some of the common health conditions that they often develop as they age. At least you can be prepared and do what you can to prevent it!

[snafu]

Congratulations on the new fur baby addition to your family. I agree fees for pet services have increased astronomically in the last dozen years. I accept that due to the pleasure, satisfaction and unconditional love I've enjoyed since I was a youngster by all of our canine companions.

I hope your dog was neutered, given all shots and warranted healthy for it's dominate breed. I suggest keeping a file for ongoing paper work. It's easy to print an on-line 'care' chart for puppies and adult vaccination schedules. You likely need a license and reminder system for annual renewal. Was your dog microchipped? As mentioned check with local SPCA, municipal pet service and any university Veterinary faculty for discount services.

We believe food combinations affects the health of dogs. My mom mixed dog food from leftovers on an [dog] age based formula [meat/protein/veg/grain and froze it in ice cube trays. I buy food based on efficient digestion [to make scooping poop tolerable].

We used pellet food for training. We need a socially acceptable dog and enjoyed the inexpensive, classes in the park. If these are not available, check with the library for training specifically targeted to dominant breed [behaviour] of your dog. [it takes an hour a day but it's so satisfying because they 'get-it' so fast]

[~bs]

when they get old or very sick or get hip dysplasia, put them down instead of letting them suffer or rack up large medical bills.

small mix breed dogs are probably the best as far as life expectancy and lowest health complications.

[Snydley]

It is most important to find a great vet. I adopted a puppy and the next day she had this weird bump in the corner of her eye. I took her to my vet (at the time) and she said it was cherry eye and she needed an $800 surgery. I decided to search vets in my area and switched to the highest rated one within a reasonable distance to my house. This new vet said to leave the cherry eye, and in my dealings with him with two pets over the past 6 years, he's the perfect balance of concerned for the animals, on top of all current research, and completely reasonable about cost vs quality of life.

I brought in my 15 year old cat last fall for a bloated abdomen and he wound up having a large mass (seen on the xray the vet didn't charge me for). He said, given the fact that he's 15 and he had multiple other illnesses, that he didn't recommend anything but keeping him comfortable at this point. I knew this already, as I told my pet sitters that summer that the cat was "DNV" = Do Not Vet! He was too old and sick and if they ran him to the ER it would be a fortune. We aren't uncaring pet owners (we hired sitters to stay just with a cat!) but we are not going to throw $$ out the window.

Our friends adopted a German Shepard puppy who wouldn't eat, kept losing weight, maybe had GI symptoms too (I can't remember). They spend $4,000 on vet bills with no conclusive results, then one vet actually recommended exploratory surgery! They called the breeder to complain and the breeder says, "the dog is just stressed out because he left his mother and siblings. Give him time." Sure enough, he started eating shortly after and all symptoms resolved.

[Snydley]

Also, my vet feels that expensive pet foods are mostly a complete waste of money. He recommends Purina, for example.

[~bs]

^

I think there's vets out there that take advantage of pet owners knowing how much they care for them. It's one thing if a family comes in and tells the vet to make the pet better, cost is no object. Quite another when it's a normal middle class family and a multi thousand dollar bill would cause hardship. At least with people, there's reasonable costing medical insurance, and if the doctor needs to try different treatments or medications, it can be mostly covered.

Sometimes better to just let nature take its course.

[~bs]

https://www.moneyunder30.com/the-true-cost-of-pet-ownership

This site has a budget of annual pet costs. At the least it's a good start. By using different foods, purchasing different items, purchasing in bulk, skimping on checkups, etc you can probably save some money. At least in my area, spaying/neutering is subsidized, and probably free if you get an animal from the humane society.

One-time pet expenses

Spaying or Neutering: Dog: $200 / Cat: $145
Initial Medical Exam: Dog: $70 / Cat: $130
Collar or Leash: Dog: $30 / Cat: $10
Litter Box: Cat: $25
Scratching Post: Cat: $15

Crate: Dog: $95 depending on size
Carrying Crate: Dog: $60 / Cat: $40

Training: Dog: $110
Total One-time Costs: Dog: $565 / Cat: $365

Annual pet expenses

Food: Dog: $120/ Cat: $145
Annual Medical Exams: Dog: $235 / Cat: $130

Litter: Cat: $200
Toys and Treats: Dog: $55 / Cat: $25

License: Dog: $15
Pet Health Insurance: Dog: $225 / Cat: $175
Miscellaneous: Dog: $45 / Cat: $30

Total Annual Costs: Dog: $695 / Cat: $705

According to this report, the total first-year cost of owning a dog is $1,270 and for a cat it’s $1,070.