Monthly budget for pets

pollyanna24 · 29 May 2008 at 1:15PM

I'm trying to cut down my bills and currently have a budget of £40 for a dog and a cat per month.

48 tins of dog food - £15.60 (Tesco tins that come in packs of 24)
4 knotted rawhide bones - £7.96 (Tesco again - sounds expensive, but they seem to be the only things that last her longer than 2 mins - she's a staff)
2 packets of biscuits - £2.60 (I buy the kilo bags from Wilkos that look like shapes)
2 balls - £2.98 (she destroys them so quickly).
2 tins of sardines - £0.70

Cat biscuits - £1.79 for one big bag (well that was easy - from Lidl - she actually picked out these biscuits and left the Iams behind this morning!)

Total - £31.63

Does this sound okay, or am I depriving them of anything else they should get? I have stacks of Felix Roasted pouches and tins as the cat picks and chooses when she feels like eating them.

I also give the dog any of our leftovers mixed in with her dinner.

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Feefee_4 · 29 May 2008 at 5:01PM

Hi

I have always found that dry complete food is cheaper than tinned, it may be more expensive to buy but works out cheaper over the months or it does for me. Maybe something to think about unless you can't feed dry food for some reason.

Cheers

Feefee

sodamnfunky · 29 May 2008 at 5:38PM

We used to feed our dog on tinned food (Jack russell x) which was costing us around £10 per month, we then tried him on Pedigree chum complete and he loves it, one bag which costs around £3.60 lasts 3 weeks.

elsien · 29 May 2008 at 5:42PM

You could also try a nylabone or kong instead of the rawhide chews and balls - I can vouch for them being relatively bull terrier proof - mine tend to last a good few months. Oddly enough, I find the black kong for power chewers doesn't last as long as the red one I have now - I think she regards it as a challenge!

*onlyme* · 29 May 2008 at 6:40PM

I agree that dried complete dog food is cheaper in the long run. I buy a sack of 15KG Wainwrights dogfood at £25.99 and this lasts my 2 dogs (border collies) for just over 6 weeks. (they are fed 2 x a day)

Treats for them I make myself which is a lot cheaper and doesn't take long to make. I used Tesco value peanut butter for their kongs and also melt cheap cheese in them (in microwave) and add homemade treats. Keeps them busy for ages!

Also have 3 cats, which are fed wet and dry food. They get tinned tuna or salmon once a week and cooked fish.

Added to that is their pet insurance

i_am_really_rich!! · 30 May 2008 at 7:57PM

My dogs thrive on Wagg. Only £10 for a 15kg bag. i have tried them on the more expensive stuff and doesn't suit them atall.

Bromley86 · 31 May 2008 at 12:05AM

Another vote for dry - you could feed a premium dry feed for the cost of that Tesco's canned stuff. Our (little - 26 kg) lab !!!!! takes 10 weeks to polish off a 15kg bag of Burns. That's £16/week. Then the pilchards, leftovers and treats to make up the rest.

You can certainly get cheaper biscuit treats. We got 6kg of ham and cheese bicuits for £4.50 last time we ordered her food (that might have been a special though).

Get one of those ultra-tough kongs and some cheap filler (peanut butter?) instead of the rawhides.

Get a hard, survivable ball (sorry, no link as we found ours in our local pet shop).

Finally, those Tesco Value chickens. Butcher them for enough for two (human!) meals for two and boil the rest = very happy dog.

pollyanna24 · 3 June 2008 at 3:05PM

Thanks for everyone's tips. We have two big bags of Bakers in the cupboard (bought when BOGOF), but she doesn't seem to keen on the dry stuff. RSPCA may be in for a treat soon!

She has a Nylabone and I must say I recommend them for anyone with a chewer dog. She's had it since November and although it's not the same shape it started out as, there's still quite a bit to go!

She has an Everlasting Treat Ball as well which is a bit parp. Any treats just fall out of it and the edible plugs that go in it are eaten in 2 seconds flat. The ball itself is great though, really indestructible.

Cat on the other hand is well cheap. She picks out the cheap stuff and leaves the Iams behind (found a bag of Iams in the cupboard, so figured I'd mix the two).

countrygirl27 · 10 June 2008 at 9:01PM

Try looking in your local animal feed suppliers, some of them do their own brand dog food which is much cheaper and better than supermarket food. I feed a GSD and a lab on it we get a 15KG bag for £10.99 and then I top it up with the left over human food!! Each bag lasts two to three weeks.

sammy_kaye18 · 10 June 2008 at 10:20PM

I would say dry food is cheaper like everyone else has mentioned but there is no reason you couldnt give them a tin as a treat every now and then

toys - id recommend a kong - my dog is aserial chewing jack russell and obliviated a red kong ment for a jack russell within seconds of him getting it so next one i got i upgraded it to a black kong suitable for a dalmation - he can barely fit it in his mouth but it has no chunks misisng at all. but they again food treats are good too - what abotu a tug a jug toy?? indestructable and you can put dry food in it to keep them entertained too or small treats.

my dog loves sardines too and is partial to the odd egg if its going

EmmaJ_3 · 10 June 2008 at 10:42PM

Don't forget pet insurance as well

Monthly budget for pets

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