Pet-related spending - Page 2

[BetsyS]

Originally Posted by EFmom

If we need to go away for a weekend, and the dog needs to be boarded, that's always nearly $200 a pop.

We've taken to reducing our weekend travel to eliminate some of the boarding expense.

Wow. We pay $14 a day to board ours, and I complain about it. In our last town, we paid $7 a day to board our dog. He absolutely loved that place. She pretty much just let everyone have the run of her house, and she'd sit and hold our dog in her lap all day.

[mamamilkers]

I don't think that sounds extreme at all! I think it's important to feed quality food and get check-ups for your pets, so yes you're paying alot, but those are the necessities, IMO.

We just got a new pup, so of course we're forking over a bunch of money right off the bat for initial shots, flea meds, getting her spayed, etc. We will be paying a bunch of $$ to have her boarded here and there over the summer, as well. It's like $30-$50 a night depending on where you go!

[Scribe]

Oh yeah, I wasn't even including things like boarding. We actually use a pet sitter, since we have so many pets and since our dogs prefer to stay at our house. That runs about $40/day plus tip. Good thing we don't travel much.

[chel]

wow, I'm so never going to get another pet. The only pets I ever had were cats, cheap food, no vet care, and some flea stuff in the summer.

scary to think my dd was cheaper as an infant compaired to most pets!

[jlutgendorf]

I think that's pretty good Grace, especially considering that Leo and Ata are giant dogs.

I budget $100 a month for our giant crew and that doesn't include things like boarding, daycare, grooming or vet visits. That really only covers their food, toys, "equipment" etc. I would say that vet costs (especially since adding the pups) is easily another 1000 and we don't vax the cats either.

~Julia

[CarrieMF]

If we go away we have friends come over to feed our dogs. The dogs are 50/50 house/outside dogs & they sleep inside. When it's supercold they'll be let out but back in again. In warmer months they stay outside except to sleep.

With some companies & in some places having a dog can reduce your house insurance as they're seen as security. It doesn't have to be an agressive dog(those actually increase your house insurance).

[KaraBoo]

can you not take your pet when you travel? This is a serious and earnest question because we just moved back to the US and just now got a dog...we're planning to just take her with us on trips by car.

[Scribe]

We have two dogs who are over 100 lbs each and three cats. We never take the cats, the dogs go with us on car trips, generally.

[EFmom]

Originally Posted by KaraBoo

can you not take your pet when you travel? This is a serious and earnest question because we just moved back to the US and just now got a dog...we're planning to just take her with us on trips by car.

We are generally visiting family members who don't like dogs, so no, we can't take him. I don't have a problem with them not wanting a dog in their house--it's their house afterall, and he's a 175 lb dog. It just gets to be a financial burden, so we don't visit as often.

We board our dog at the vets' kennel. They have a policy of not allowing pickups on Sunday. That means that we usually have to pay for three days. We just got invited to a party in a nearby state for one of dh's relatives' 70th birthday. Much as we'd like to all go, I'm just sending dh and the kids because we'd end up having to pay nearly $200 in order to attend the event. Not happening, and we are OK financially. I'm sure some family members will be ticked off that I'm not coming, but oh, well.

[CarrieMF]

We took our dog on vacation with us once, while we were out touring places the dog couldn't come we left her at a kennel there for the day.

The kennels may be cheaper at the location you're going to than the local ones.

[GMum]

Originally Posted by kkfum

we also spend a lot for our dogs (we were in rescue, as well, and had 4 dogs at one time). to your costs, add the fact that we also kennel our dogs when we visit family/friends each year (probably an average of a few days each month). we've also made housing choices and related purchased because of them--bigger yard in suburbs instead of city living, put in 2 large, expensive fences...

sometimes i wonder if we've made the right choices, financially...but we love our dogs and are committed to rescue...

I TOTALLY hear ya! I'm a huge animal lover and rescued 2 dogs ( DH put limit on how many animals I could rescue LOL) and I spend so much money on them: insurance, excellent quality food, and raw meaty bones for treats. We had to buy this house which was pricer than the others because it had a good fenced yard.... The way I see it is that animals and babies are high on my values...so I would rather scrimp in other areas (clothing, vacations, entertainment etc etc) I'd rather spend $10 and enjoy watching my doggies enjoy a big bone or be able to take them to the vet when needed, than say, go to the movies or buy a new dress....but that's just me! I'd say what you spend is okay if you are okay with it...as DH says to me...it's all about choices. BTW, good for you for helping the animals!

[Sprungthe2.50]

cheaper dog stuff

Hi!

save food (make sure you look at the ingredients, make sure you google what ingredients are bad and avoid those foods) pet supply stores like Petco, PetSmart, etc. are big time rip offs. They charge 3 times as much as what things really go for, try the internet and 1-800-Petmeds.

I get my toys from the the stuffed toys section at goodwill, and I learned to clip my dog's nails myself (be careful about this) and learn to groom the dog yourself. Also, don't waste money on dog shampoo I use the store brand baby shampoo (it's like $2.00 and I use it for my hair and it works just as well as any shampoo I've tried). For treats (rewards in training) I've found that cheerios do well, and it's easy to give those one at a time and it's still a reward.

If you have bigger dogs, they're more expensive to board when you go away, try having a pet sitter.

That's all I can think of, but believe me, going to Petco and caving to temptation is a major drain on your wallet, I tried to avoid going there now, it's hurt my budget!

[sunnmama]

We've always saved money on kenneling by hiring a college-age person to stay in our home and watch the animals while we are away. My husband is a high-school teacher, however, so we always seem to know some college-age people (recent graduates). College students who live at home, or are home for the summer, usually appreciate the chance to have a house to themself for a week or two, so they were happy to stay with our dogs for about $100 a week.

Another tip is to trade off watching another family's dog while they are on vacation (keeping their dog while they travel, and them keeping your dog while you travel).

[SugarGlider]

I've never added up what we spend on the animals, I budget their food into the grocery money and vet money just comes out of the bill money. But we have over 30 animals in our house right now so I'd probably go into heart failure if I added it all up!

(it helps a LOT that we are frinds with our vet and only pay about 30-50% of the actual cost that the treatments our animals get would be... otherwise, well, I dont want to think about that either!! Plus, we breed a few of our sugar gliders and that money pays for a lot of the care on all the animals)

But yeah, pets are expensive, raising pets right is even more expensive!! Our dogs are all rescues and two came to us with parvo, our cats are all rescues, we've rescued some of our sugar gliders... lots of spays many many neuters... it really adds up, but we all love animals and we do it happily.

Of course many people dont understand, my husbands parents always say "you could have such a good life if you didnt have to pay for all of those animals!!" and we say those animals ARE a HUGE part of our life!!! Our life would be a whole lot less interesting without them

[cristeen]

Let's see...

2 cats:
1 can of food/day $0.69*30= $20
1/2 a bag of cat food/mo = $12
Flea meds = $20
Litter (we just switched, were paying twice this) = $20

That's $72/mo * 12 = $864/year, that doesn't include toys, treats or nip.

And I only take them to the vet when they're sick or injured, so they go in once every couple of years. If we go out of town, we pay a house-sitter.

So it looks to me that your numbers are actually a bit lower than I would expect them to be.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by SachaMacina

I get my toys from the the stuffed toys section at goodwill, and I learned to clip my dog's nails myself (be careful about this) and learn to groom the dog yourself. Also, don't waste money on dog shampoo I use the store brand baby shampoo (it's like $2.00 and I use it for my hair and it works just as well as any shampoo I've tried). For treats (rewards in training) I've found that cheerios do well, and it's easy to give those one at a time and it's still a reward.

I thought human shampoo had the wrong pH for dogs? I do buy dog shampoo, but it's only $4 or so and it lasts a year... she doesn't get baths at all during the winter, and only evey couple of months or so in summer. And yes, trim nails yourself... and I get flea stuff from ebay and it's much cheaper, and we do get thrift store toys - Nana has a stuffed pokemon thing that she loves. I do get her hooves to chew on, too... so maybe add $10 to my total for shampoo and hooves.

We don't buy treats. Sometimes I make my own, but mostly we just don't do them... she's much more motivated by me than by food. Silly dog...

Dar

[akwifeandmomma]

Hmmm, 1 cat.

We spend $30ish every two months or so on food, and $10ish a month on litter. She doesn't go to the vet very often, maybe once every two or three years. So she's about $280/yr or so.

With no health issues, no meds, no pet insurance.

[Scribe]

The more I read your responses and think on it, the more sure I am that we're not doing anything unreasonable, this is just how much it costs to take good care of these animals. The pet insurance is a definite for us, as it has paid for itself several times over since we've had it, and that is without any major catastrophes. Feeding lower quality food is not an option. We already spend minimally or not at all on toys and treats (I make my own treats and it's not that expensive). The only place I can really see to cut costs is litter, and frankly, that always goes badly. Guess we just have to suck it up.

[sunnmama]

Originally Posted by Dar

I thought human shampoo had the wrong pH for dogs?

Human shampoo has detergents that are too harsh for dogs, I believe. It could be argued (by the no-poo crowd, for instance) that they are too harsh for humans, too .

I use Dr. Bronners liquid soap when I bathe my dog, because that is what I have on hand and I don't want to buy something special for the dog.

[pranamama]

I stretch out theh expensive flea treatments to save $$, my office visit is also closer to $60 than $90 and once a year but the amount of money I've spent of daycamp/boarding is huge, especially when I go on vacation.