I don't think I've mentioned these things before, but I thought I would just throw out some "ways to save money on your dog," since my dog just had his annual check-up this week. Baxter is a large mutt-type breed and is eight years old, which is just about the time dogs can start to develop health problems.
Now, I'm going to interject here and say that because I have this large dog, I don't have a gym membership-- instead I walk the dog about four miles per day, which is good for me and keeps him really healthy. As my vet told me last year, "In my world, there is nothing more expensive than a fat dog, just FYI."
So, Baxter is really healthy, and I am trying to keep him that way. Here are a strategies I employ under the "healthy dog, healthy wallet" category:
- Get the pet insurance. I was skeptical about this at first, but get this-- I signed up for Pets Best insurance (www.petsbest.com). The premium for Baxter is about $25 per month, but over the past year they've reimbursed me over $1,000 for two expensive vet trips (despite my rigorous walking schedule and insistence on a healthy diet and no table scraps, Baxter has developed pancreatitis in his old age). So-- definitely worth the money! If your pet is getting up there in years, insurance is a good idea. Get it while they're healthy!
- Get discount pet food. DoggieFood.com is the best deal I've found for the Nupro vitamins my vet recommends-- at the vet it's 25 for a 30 oz. container, whereas on DoggieFood.com it's $26 for 5 pounds. Even with the shipping, you're still saving money on that. They also have flea medicine and food.
- Get food at Centinela Feed & Pet Supplies. This is a Los Angeles-only tip, but I get the big bags of dog food at Centinela-- they are local and the people are cool, they usually have a coupon in the Sunday paper, AND they send out coupons via email. Their prices definitely beat Petco's!
