Saving money on pets

[danthecashbackman]

Health Insurance

I believe health insurance for pets is a good idea because our last trip to the hospital rounded $900, about 3 years of health insurance cost... well, I am on it now.

[bestfreebies]

You definitely want to have health insurance for your pets because you never know what type of mischief they are liable to get into! Especially cats vs dogs.

[rutgers07]

My gf and I have 5 pets - 3 cats and 2 dogs - and we don't have health insurance. Animals are expensive! We currently put $80/month away for a pet EF but maybe we should start looking into pet insurance. Any suggestions or recommendations?

[couponkingpeter]

I make my own pet food, you could do some research e.g Youtube and get recipes for treats
I know that it's also possible to make your own cat litter, but I've never looked into that.

[Kundan Lal Rana]

I would suggest not to buy pets crap they don’t need and also don’t overfeed them.

[snafu]

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/episodes/2012-2013/barking-mad

There is a lot of evidence that vets are padding their bills by suggesting annual injections for dogs that are not needed. I buy good quality dog food from a farm animal feed store. You need to read the labelling of pet food to make sure they are getting protein and not just by products, corn and cereal.

[DREagan8602]

I limit how often I take them for a grooming. You can find tips on youtube

[jbax]

I would suggest watching coupons that come out in the paper or either can be printed online. Every now and then you can catch litter or food on sale and make it better with a coupon. At certain times Kmart does double coupons. You can get your pet supplies cheap then stock up!

[TheKayla]

double post --

[TheKayla]

Have you tried something like Amazon subscribe? They have a few kitty litter brands on there and you could save a certain %, depending on the product. \

I wouldn't go too cheap on food, you may end up having unhealthy cats leading to more vet bills and well...nobody wants a sick loved pet. I personally find buying more expensive products (food and litter) helps me to use far less. Frugality in itself. It may just be a matter of getting a spreadsheet together and noting the price of a product and how long it lasted you.

You can buy food that helps make them fuller for longer. Keep them on a strict diet too so you know exactly how much they need and how much you're going through regularly. You could consider researching into making your own cat food. I'm not sure how viable of an option it is.

[lightguy]

You can make your own cat food. Search youtube for ideas.

[Save24]

pet insurance

Also, has anyone bought or considered buying health insurance for their pet? I looked into it a bit after my cat needed emergency surgery and I remember thinking I was better off just having a pet emergency fund.

Great question! Check out petinsurancereview dot com

It definitely makes sense when you consider the high cost of vet bills.

We have VPI insurance for our dog. It's pretty good and value oriented.

[ANewHorizon]

Make your own homemade cat food using the recipe Making Cat Food, by Lisa Pierson. This is what I've been using for my cats for a while now. You do need a quality grinder which is an initial investment, and it takes a while for your cat to adjust to the new taste, but it's worth it.
The food is what they are designed to eat, far superior to dry or canned food, and much cheaper than even low quality canned food.
For litter we use the cheap clay stuff from dollar stores - $1/7lbs.
As someone else said, your pets DO NOT need to be vaccinated every year, it is now recommended every 2-3yrs. There is also evidence that the shots lead to cancers in the area of the shot, so there is that deterrent.
Personally my cats do not roam free outside, and as house cats I do not vaccinate them.
The one thing I do think is worth paying for is the microchip tracking. 24PetWatch charges $50 for a lifetime membership per pet. $50 for the life of the pet is cheap peace of mind that if the pet gets lost, a vet scanning them will be able to get hold of me quickly.

[Save24]

Buy a house with a fenced in backyard

I'm actually planning to do this after I buy a house! Right now, I would have to share a bathroom with the cats and that seems creepy.

If you can get a house with a fenced in backyard, let the cat out to do his/her business outside. If they reduce their inside business by 50%, that's less litter to deal with.

[AsiaTraveler]

We purchase our litter in bulk at Petco. We have their pail that is a flat rate to refill each time. Haven't price compared recently but it seemed to be the way to go.