Cat & Dog Care - Money Savings Tips & Ideas Super Page (2024)

This Cat & Dog Care Money Savings Page contains several ideas for caring for your pet without breaking the bank.

Cutting the Cost Of Cats at Dollar Stores

I buy cat food at Dollar General for $0.25 per can (chicken, tuna, and salmon flavors) and my cats like it just fine. I serve it to them on “paper plates,” but not the cheap absorbent paper ones. Instead, I pay a little more and get the plasticized nonabsorbent ones. I take these inside, wash them off, and reuse them. I buy 50 plates for $2.39 at Dollar General. Plus I save meat packages and other flat styrofoam store packaging to use for as cat plates. The plates cost $0.0478 each, but with at least three uses per plate, I get the average cost per plate down to around $0.016 per use. Ivan R. Vernon – Medina, Ohio

We find great deals on treats at the dollar stores! Linda Crosby – Phoenix, AZ

Calling For Pet Food Coupons

I call the 800 number on the back of the products I use and ask if they could send me coupons. Lots of times they do. Purina allows me to call once a month and request coupons and they send me 4 of them, enough for a month, which is great because that’s all my Great Dane will eat. Stacie – Victory Mills

Cat Tree for a Little Scratch

There is a lot of new home construction in our area.My husband and I rummaged through the construction trash bins in our area one day and gathered all the good discarded plywood, drywall, lumber, and carpet pieces we could find to build our own cat tree for our two cats.

The retail price for medium sized cat trees is around $100 to $200. In our case, we were able to make our tree as big as we wanted for free. The only thing we paid for was therope to wrap around some of the legs of the treeand a few nails. All of the other materials else came from the trash bins. If you don’t want to purchase rope, simply turn the carpet pieces inside out and staple it to the legs.

We found that our cats love to scratch the back side of the carpet more than the carpet itself. Take a few precautions when digging for deals, like being extra careful of nails sticking out from boards and only taking things from bins or trash piles and not new construction material that may be stacked nearby. We also avoid rummaging during working hours or on the weekends. It’s a very inexpensive way to provide a play area for your pet. F.T. – Tucson, AZ

Fostering Pets

Here’s a great idea if you love having a pet but can’t afford one because of the cost of shots, vet appointments, food, etc.Become a pet foster parent. I mentioned the idea to my mom, and she fostered 2 dogs and got reimbursed for the vet visits. This is a great and affordable option for responsible pet owners. My mom and I live in Delaware so we fostered through Faithful Friends (www.faithfulfriends.us) but I’m sure no matter what state someone lives in, there are places that allow a person to be a pet foster parent. The only downside; you will miss the animal once it’s placed in a home. My mom confessed to crying once the dogs were gone, but we are happy that they now have a permanent place to call home. Layla H – Wilmington, DE

Dog Care Taken to New Heights with Fence Jumping

Our 60-pound dog Mel is so sweet, but he was driving us crazy with his habit of scaling and jumping over our 6-foot block fence. Even though our backyard is large and park-like, Mel was intent on exploring the rest of the world. We tried everything we could think of – including an electric fence and a shock collar – to keep him in our yard and safe from the two major roads of busy traffic near us. We finally used bird spikes on top of the section of block wall he loved to scale. That did the trick, and he now stays safely in our yard. I just wish we had found this less expensive and most effective solution sooner. Jane Hopkins – Scottsdale, AZ

Rawhide’s for Cheap

WinCo has rawhide in bulk for very cheap.You scoop them into a bag and pay by weight. It is way cheaper than thebig bag at Wal-Mart. Linda Crosby – Phoenix, AZ

Getting Rid of Canned Food for Something Better

My cat has Irritable Bowel Syndrome and I have discovered that I now sadly have to pay for the expensive dry food. However, I also determined that she appears to have a sensitivity to certain foods and we seem to have the best results with turkey. Purchasing canned foods to supplement her dry food was getting very expensive as well until I realized I could just buy ground turkey fry it up and then cover it with broth.

Purchasing canned foods to supplement her dry food was getting very expensive as well until I realized I could just buy ground turkey fry it up and then cover it with broth. I actually use canned chicken broth as it doesn’t seem to be affecting her. This has createdsignificant savingsfor me and I know she is not getting any “fillers” in her food.

Also, in response to the paper plates idea above, purchasing a few plastic bowls or glass custard cups would work just as well and would be even cheaper in the long run…especially if you are washing them anyway.

If you want to read more about owning and caring for a pet, check out this blog of ours, Pets on a Budget.

If you have other ideas about caring for dogs or cats, please leave it in the comments below and we will review!