With three dogs and two cats in the family we're always looking for ways to save money.  I don't have time to make the dogfood, so we buy that, but we make dog treats and they get apple cores and carrots, as well as carrot-tops for treats.  Everyone gets a bath in the tub, so no grooming costs.

Years ago I trained our cat to use shedded newspaper instead of litter.  It's kind of time-consuming, so we buy our litter these days. 

 Any other ideas?

We have three cats. I discovered that buying the large 25 pound bag of cat food was more cost effective than the 13 pound bags at Wal-mart. We store the bags in large plastic bins so that mice and humidity don't affect the food.

I was also going through a lot of cat litter - a 25 pound bag every week so I started measuring out the litter portions and making a bag last twice as long. I will never understand why a cat who goes outside has to come in to use the cat box. It must be a cat thing.

I really like those plastic containers that snap shut.  We even use them for the trash, since one of our dogs had separation-anxiety when she was smaller and did the trash-diging thing when we left the house. 

Bumping this one up to pass ideas around to keep pets healthy and with their families even in hard times.

OK its not exactly pets.....but I posted about a year ago recipes for homemade grain mixes for goats and chickens. We found it was cheaper to buy the corn, oats etc direct from a farmer then take it all and put it thru our pulley-operated grinder ourselves. we have large plasticc 55 gallon barrels for storage. Right now we have to buy the expensive 50lb bags at the feed store because we are not set up for grinding here at the new place yet.

My dog...I have him groomed/clipped twice a year professionally at $60 a pop. The rest of the time I bathe and groom him myself with products from Petsmart. I buy his meds online to save money.

good quality food is better to offset vet bills!  and hopefully your pets don't get a chronic illness. sounds mean but I fork out now about $50 plus a month for thydroid meds for the cat plus extra vet visits for bloodwork.

and hopefully they don't do something stupid like when our cockatiel jumped on the cat that likes to hunt...$400 later...

To help save us some money on pet costs we buy the 40 pound bags of dog food at Costco ( I checked with my vet first cause one of my dogs has severe allergies), and we place it in plastic containers. This alone saved me over 60 bucks a month. The prescription dog food is expensive. We order her medicine online (2months worth) so I save 6 dollars in shipping each time. We also buy benadryl in bulk at Costco for her allergies. She only gets groomed every 3 months instead of monthly saves me 30 bucks a month.I have to buy her shampoo from the vets office but a bottle lasts almost a year. The other 2 dogs just get a bath in the tub no need for a groomer. We use baby shampoo on them cause they hate baths and put up a fight so we don't have to worry about shampoo in their eyes. We used to give them their shots ourselves except rabies, you must go to the vet for this.

I hear ya on the chronic illness, Martha. BTDT ...  (and I fear we'll be doing it again in a few years with Senior gal)

At this point, I try to find the best price/hunt for coupons for their cat foods.   Did find a cheaper version of the pine pellets I use in their litter boxes, so we'll save some $$ there.   At this point, I won't skimp on the vet, especially for senior gal.  If $$ got really tight, I'd take the younger ones to the clinic at the humane society for their annual shots.

 I got two elderly parents and two elderly dogs both sets are not cheap so get coupons for meds for both sets.

All kidding aside I got two weenie dogs ok I take one to the vet at a time if shots are needed I use my disabilty to get the discoutns on shots for them and it helps since I am low income they have a discount day on wednsays to get the good shots so they don't get sick.

MarthaMFI:

good quality food is better to offset vet bills!  and hopefully your pets don't get a chronic illness. sounds mean but I fork out now about $50 plus a month for thydroid meds for the cat plus extra vet visits for bloodwork.

and hopefully they don't do something stupid like when our cockatiel jumped on the cat that likes to hunt...$400 later...

 

I couldn't agree more Martha. My cats have classically had to go to the vet for viruses, allergies, one for anal glands that get impacted, digestive problems. I found a food on the Net which is quite expensive, but they have all lost weight, are trim and healthy, active (used to lie on my bed all day) -- and not ONE vet visit in the 9 months they've been on this food. They are shedding less, coats and sleek and at 11 and 12 years, they act like kittens. It works out to about 30-40c a day, well worth it in the long run.