5 Proven Ways to Cut Costs on Dog Care

It’s a tough economy out there and we’re doing our best to save a little money here and there.  Lucky for us we still have our day job although we did receive a cut in pay a few months back.  So that brings up the question How Can You Save Money On Your Dogs? There are a number of things you and I can both do to help save money on our dogs.  Here are five areas where I try to cut my expenses:

5 Tips On How To Save Money On Your Dogs

Photo by jsmjr

1. Buy your dog food in bulk.  This one is a no brainer for me because I have two large dogs.  However, if your dog only eats a cup of food a day you might be buying the smaller dog food bag.  We buy the large 30 pound bag of Natural Balance Potato and Duck allergy formula because we suspect Stetson has dog food allergies.
2. Grab your old stuffed dog toys and sew them back together or better yet start making your own dog toys.  We’ve been rebuilding our stuffed ducks, rabbits, and squirrels for years.  More recently I’ve been pondering the idea of making a plush toy snake (built out of a sock) or a stuffed clam made out of an old pair of blue jeans.
3. Exercise, train, and give your dog plenty of attention.  Make sure you do these things and you won’t have to come home to a chewed up TV remote, piece of furniture, or your favorite baseball cap.  Believe me I’ve witnessed the demise of all these items.
4. Are you looking for a new dog?  Try dog adoption.  There are so many homeless dogs out there why waste money on buying a dog which can cost up to several thousand dollars.  Adopting a dog is a great thing to do and you can also save money.  When we picked up Linus the adoption fee was only $37.  I just checked the LA County website and the fee to adopt a dog is $50 or $30 depending on how long the dog has been at the shelter.  The fee includes Microchip, rabies, and animal wellness vaccinations!
5. Stop taking your dog to the groomer and take care of grooming yourself.  After all grooming is a great time to bond with your dog.  A groomer can cost $100 or more for one visit.  Head on over to Amazon.com and purchase the necessary grooming products including a brush, shampoo, nail clippers (or Dremel), etc. A few hints on grooming:
   
   • Make sure you thoroughly rinse all the soap out of your dogs coat.  I rinse my dog’s coat once until there’s no more soap.  Then I rinse him again for good measure.
   • The FURminator works great at getting to your dogs undercoat.  We highly recommend it for heavy shedding dogs.
   • When it comes to nail clippers I don’t like the Guillotine version as much as the regular clippers.  This pair has worked well for me in the past: Nail Clippers.  Make sure you get the correct size for your dog.
   • Lately we’ve been using a Dremel instead of nail clippers.  We like the Dremel 750-02 Minimite 4.8-Volt Two-Speed Cordless Rotary Tool over the PediPaws Dremel because it has a rechargeable battery, has different speeds, and comes with several sander bands.

Those are just a few simple hints on how you can save money on your dogs.  Hopefully this list helps you during this rough economy.

Do you have any hints on how to save money on your dogs?  If so, please leave us your pointers in the comment section below.

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