Owning a pet can be expensive. Vet bills are often surprisingly high, and food, toys and litter can quickly add up. We want to know: what are your tips for saving money on pet care?
Whether it’s pet insurance (often questionable) or vet discounts, we want to know about it. What do you consider an essential expenditure, and what do you skip? Do you really need a dog walker? Does your cat get Christmas presents? Do you keep a pet emergency fund? Tell us in the comments.
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8 responses to “How Do You Save Money On Pet Care? ”
Vets tend to over vaccinate. Pretty much all vaccinations for pets can be done every three years instead of yearly.
While the are 3 year vaccinations available they still recommend at least yearly visits for check ups. Catching something early may save in the long run.
There’s a dog groomer near me (Doggy Splash, Princes Hwy, St Peters) that, when he’s not busy with a client, rents out the use of his tub/towels/dryer for $10 a dog, without the time limits that are on the usual automatic self-washers. I don’t have room to wash my pups in the shower cubicle at home, and this saves me $70-90 for grooming.
as a bit of an insider (not being a vet myself) I can tell you this.
Vets go through as rigorous training, and even more so than human doctors (since they only treat one species) their uni fees are as much as human doctors.
Vet medicine does not receive any funding by the government, neither for the vets themselves, medicines or equipment.
that is the reason it is expensive. though vets themselves don’t earn that much money.
It is legal in Australia to self vaccinate your pets, as long as you’re using inactive vaccines (most these days)
with that in mind, a vaccine will cost you $25 minumum , while a reasonably priced vet consultation and vaccination will be $60 (is it work the hassle and risk?)
For all other supplies, go on the internet for cheaper prices (ebay is ideal for toys, etc) deworming, flea control, use pet supply specialist webpages.
the only pet insurance i’ve heard in Australia has a limit of 3K on vet bills, which can be reached very quickly with a very sick animal that needs to be hospitalised. if thats the case, why bother.
Getting your pet insured is one way of keeping the cost predictable.
If you do maybe a dog isn’t for you.. I love walking my dog (red kelpie), and she loves going on walks.
For me I think it’s essential for a dog that’s more of a pet than working dog to have a good harness & lead, brush, nail clippers & a decent shampoo (that’s if you do the grooming yourself) along with a decent kennel. Also the monthly worming, flea & tick compound.
Saying that we got our dog for free from a mate whose dog (an actual working dog on a property out west Qld) had pups, so we were really lucky there, only expenses we incurred were; the usual vet things, vaccinations, desexing, micro chipping & registration (those 2 were about $65 with the local council since she was desexed).
For food, split between fresh meaty bones and premium kibble, the latter delivered every three months or so, so I get a discount for being a predictable customer. Even with a giant 60kg, he costs about $2/day to feed, which is less than many spend on tinned crap for pocket pets.
I haven’t paid for grooming in over a decade. A good diet, and regular swims goes a long way to having a splendid self-maintaining coat. I cut the nails, and do occasional minor dental clean-up.
I’ve never paid for a dog-walker, but I’ve had people turn up at my front door and offer me bottles of wine for the privilege of walking my dog.
Dont have a pet. Money saved.