How to Save Money on Pets

A pet can be your best friend and could bring happiness in your life but being an owner of a pet can cost a lot than you could possibly imagine. For dogs it can cost almost £600 a year and need to take care for 600 hours as compared to cats they need £330 and need 340 hours to take care of them.

Beside all these costs we still need pets and splurge on them. The people are our country are spending more than £25 a day on their pets. So there is a need to find ways through which we can save on pets. So today I have come up with some of the ideas and tips that can help you to save money on pets.

Here are some tips how to splurge on pets and how to take care of them:

 

Be Careful About their Weight

One of the simple ways to cut pet expenses and save cash is to check their weight on time. Do not let your pets to get overweight. According to research of Sainsbury finance four in ten dogs get overweight that are seen by Britain’s vets.

Being overweight is a reason for many medical problems. Extra fee of doctor and medication costs a lot so, you should take risk of invalidating pet insurance if you found to have not taken care of pets.

 

Pet Insurance

The annual pet expenses include vaccination, medical treatment, preventative, food and if you have a pet insurance you can keep these cost low. Every year about 300,000 pets are being put down by their owners because they cannot afford their medical expenses and veterinary fee. The cost of medical is increasing day by day and according to a source there is an annual increase of 5% in the medical expenses. As there is no National Health Service for pets, so pet insurance can be the best alternative as they can cover the cost of medical and vaccination. So never look over your pet insurance because this would not save your money.

 

Exercise

Dogs and cats need daily exercise for maintaining their weight and to provide the stimulation that their body need. If your dog is getting hyper, it means that he is bored that is why dogs need daily exercise, fresh air and it is essential for them. You can go for walk with your dogs or with local dogs training groups.

 

Vaccination

Always make sure to vaccinate your pet when your first get them. Ask your vet doctor to find the age of your pet and then treat and train it accordingly. Along with check up your dogs and cats need annual boosters and when it comes to boosters, age of your pet is an important factor. As your cats and dogs gets older, they stray less and are not active.

So, have a talk with your veterinarian and find out what vaccination your pet need. If possible, choose 3-year vaccination that will helps you in saving your money.

 

Training

Join a local training group for training your pets and pay £10 for an hour, it costs £70 for a week. Many groups teach about incorporate behaviour, nutrition, grooming advice and training into one course and this can save a lot of your cash. They also train how to overcome accidents because they will be under your control. They provide opportunity for learning and meeting other dog owners. You can search on web or ask your vet to recommend any local group. Splurging on dog training can have many long term benefits for you and your pet.

 

Fleas and Pest Control

After vet visits, vaccine, food and shelter, flea and pests’ control will be your other maintenance cost.

Wasting your money on supermarket treatment is useless as they are rarely effective and not so strong. Ask your vet for any suggestion and then buy the products online. It would be much cheaper than paying the vet who can charge more. You should be careful while choosing online sites when you are buying from them. As sometimes you can also repeat prescription medicine on the internet. Prefer buying from UK companies such as Vet UK or Vio Vet.

Flea and worming treatment cost up to £95 for cat and £76 for small dog yearly. You can also look for herbal treatment because they are effective and you can save cash. Flea treatment is different for dogs and cats. Buying one treatment for both pets is not a good way of saving money as well as this is harmful for your pets.

Take your pets to veterinarian on time that will help in reducing the risk of pets from getting ill and you can save money for long term.

 

Feed Quality Food

When it comes to food you do not want to sacrifice quality, but you need to reduce the quantity. This is because many pets are overweight and by reducing the amount of food you will save your money and vet bills. Like us, pets also have their food but feeding cheap food can lead to allergies and hyperactivity. And this can waste a lot of your cash.

Good quality of food cost less as compared to poor quality portion of food. Animals need to eat less food to get more nutrition. To get information about pet’s food look on pet food cost comparison chart.

 

Freebies

There are no such things like free food but for you many vets and pet shops provide low and free pet food samples, and you can try before dive headfirst into 70kg of bag. If you cannot find on internet than you can call companies that provide free information.

 

A Bone for Your Dog

Give your dog a bone. By chewing bone dogs entertain themselves for hours and this can stop them from chewing stuff and keep their teeth’s clean. You can buy bones from butcher.

 

What to Do?

Look for food that provide protein source like fish, lamb, chicken and more. Also look for food that provide carbs like brown rice, vegetables, etc. Also list food that provide minerals and vitamins. Avoid cheap carbohydrate fillers like tapioca and modified starch. To know more about healthy cats and dog’s food samples you can call natural pet choice centre.

 

What You Should Not Do?

Avoid food ingredients like animal and meat derivative, vegetable derivative origins and EC permitted colour and EC permitted additives.

Do not buy food on suggestion of someone because many peoples want to promote their brands and the vets, they have contact with big companies.

 

Healthy treats

Feeding your pet’s a nasty treat is wastage of money. There are plenty of healthy foods like meat, fish and unusual things like sweet potatoes.

But avoid animal and meal derivatives because they are not a good treat for your pet.

 

Make your own treats

Making your own treats could be simple and cheaper. Vet Joe Inglis makes great treats and you can find great recipes on his site pet’s kitchen.

 

Clean their teeth’s

Brushing your pets teeth’s can save them from many diseases. Only buy toothpaste and toothbrush that are designed for pets otherwise it can disturb their stomach.

 

Cut off the extra expenses

Owning a pet does not need to be expensive. It is not necessary to buy expensive cloths, jewel-encrusted collars because this is wastage of cash. Look for the things you can do for your pet, cut unnecessary stuff and try money saving tips.

 

Buy From Cheap Places

In human section the expensive place to find food supplies for pet’s is store. Baby gates often sell for less at baby shops as compared to pet’s shops. So buy that item from there in order to save some money and use this technique for other items too.

 

Charity Shops can be a Place to Shop

From charity shops and different websites, you can buy beds, collars, toys and crates at lesser price. Thus instead of visiting the brands, try to visit a charity shop to buy a product for less.

 

Pet Toys

If you have old socks and fleece top that you have used than do not throw them away and make use of them by making toys that costs little or no money at all. This site is free and has lots of projects and ideas for making toys for pets. You can make tug toys with fleece material as it is brightly coloured, and it does not become worn and it is washable.

You can give them empty cardboard boxes for hiding or put food inside.

 

Change the Toys

Sometimes you have so many toys that are overflowing from basket. So, keep them interesting by rotating toys. Every week rotate one-third of toys back out on floor. This can help your pets to make fun with new toys and you will also feel fun of giving those toys and it does not cost anything. Keep in your mind that when you give toy to your pet keep an eye on them.

 

Pet House

Save money by making pet house at home by cheap and recycled materials. It will provide shade from rain and sun, shelter and basically you will give space to them. It is does not matter whether you make the pet house inside or outside but the key is to save money.

 

Free pet sitting

You can search for free pet sitter on pet sitter swap by outing your postal cord. This organisation can help you in finding pet sitter near you. You can pay £9.99 yearly which allows you to contact with pet sitter of your own choice. Pet sitter swap give you free pet minding session.

 

Ask Out

Talk with your vet and boarding kennels about your pets. Will they give you discount if you bring multiple pets at one time. If yes then you can save some of your money only by just asking.

 

Teaching your pet

Teach your dog or cat tricks so that you can keep yourself and your pet busy in these days and this can be a great entertainment for them. You can visit dog trick academy to download free tricks from professional dog trainers.

 

Pet Sitting and Walking

You can earn money by becoming a professional Dog Walker or pet sitter. You can check the national pet sitters association site to find out how to become a pet sitter, how much you can earn, what kind of services pet owners want and how to make £60 an hour dog walking?

You can boost your income by combining pet sitting with home sitting and Animal Aunts give you full house offer with pet sitting services but before accepting the offer keep in mind that it is a full time job and long time commitment. It is a bit hard job when you move into the house but it is a great opportunity if you work from home why not you spend your weekends by being with a pet. Through this you can earn money up to £60 per day. You just have to look after the dogs, watering plants, and tickling the fishes.