April Grocery Challenge

rchddap1

moneywasternomore! wrote:

Our moggies also have science Diet but - being new to this money-saving lark - we buy from the vets down the road. Which site do you use, and do they do the obesity-control for the very fat cat. Of course, we would have to have one barrel and one racing snake.........

I use to have the same. The vets were always telling us that the fat cat should lose weight. However, the cat was a tad long in length, we always thought of her as a sausage cat. To be honest we ignored the vet completely. She was active, but more importantly she was happy and enjoyed life. Towards the end of her life she ended up with a thyroid problem...which put her on tablets and ended up with her losing weight (vet got what they wanted) and cancer. Surprisingly she lasted over 1 year with these problems before she died. Even the vet was amazed when we kept taking her back for a check up. Comments like "crikey is she still going strong" were not unusual.

What I'm trying to say is that you have to make your own opinions about your 'fat cat' and whether you should do something about it. We decided to do nothing, and for us it didn't really do any harm. Afterall, you know the most about how active your cat is, and how much she / he eats. At the end of the day as long as they are a happy feline then that is all that really matters.

loobyloo1980

well, my april challenge hasn't got off to a very good start. headed off to Tescos last night to do my shopping and was armed with a very small list. Planned all the meals up front and everything. Thought I would spend about £35 and it was £50!!! That's £5 over my weekly target. Not very encouraging!!!

BUT, when I looked at my list and added up the value of all the things that weren't on my original list they came to £12.57!!! So that is where the money has gone, which makes my estimate of £35 not too bad for the list :-)

Now all I have to do is learn how not to get the extras.

The extras, I might add, included nappies and BOGOF wipes which I forgot to put on the list and didn't remember until getting in the shop, so really my extras were only £6.60, which would have put my shopping right on target.

So what do I do now, reduce next weeks budget by the £6.60 overspend to even it out??? I need some serious lessons in sticking to my budget

Mrs_Thrift

If I go over in one week I knock the overspend off the next week's budget.....doesn't actually mean I stick to it the NEXT week, though! :rolleyes:

moggins

I've gone over the last couple of weeks as I've found some great reduced items that were too good to miss. But I don't need to buy any meat or fish for some weeks now so that will equal out in the long run.

loobyloo1980

yeah well I have a freezer full of pork and chicken breasts which I got last week at the market (march's money though ;-) ) so I don't need any meat really for a good 2/3 weeks which will save me.

Funny how it is so easy for money to get gobbled up on other things though.

Right, will knock the £6.60 off next weeks money and stick to it :-)

Curry_Queen

rchddap1 wrote:

I use to have the same. The vets were always telling us that the fat cat should lose weight. However, the cat was a tad long in length, we always thought of her as a sausage cat. To be honest we ignored the vet completely. She was active, but more importantly she was happy and enjoyed life. Towards the end of her life she ended up with a thyroid problem...which put her on tablets and ended up with her losing weight (vet got what they wanted) and cancer. Surprisingly she lasted over 1 year with these problems before she died. Even the vet was amazed when we kept taking her back for a check up. Comments like "crikey is she still going strong" were not unusual.

What I'm trying to say is that you have to make your own opinions about your 'fat cat' and whether you should do something about it. We decided to do nothing, and for us it didn't really do any harm. Afterall, you know the most about how active your cat is, and how much she / he eats. At the end of the day as long as they are a happy feline then that is all that really matters.

I read this earlier and wasn't going to comment, as this board isn't really the place to be discussing pet health, but it's been playing on my mind and I just want to add a word or two of caution, so please don't take this the wrong way.

Obesity in animals is just as serious a problem and health risk as it is in people, although not as much is known about related illnesses with animals but it's being worked on and research suggests that various forms of cancer, arthritis, hepatic (liver) disease etc can be a direct result from obesity.

I can't comment on your cat's case obviously, and I'm in no way judging you here, but merely making an observation that your cat did in fact have a couple of major illnesses and was, in your terms, obese, although there's nothing to say either was related, but a sudden weight loss as your cat experienced can be fatal in obese animals (it causes hepatic lipidosis).

Like I said, I'm not judging or apportioning blame, but just giving a balanced view of potential problems with obesity in animals and that it should be taken seriously, and if your vet advises you to reduce food intake or change diets you shouldn't really ignore it

Curry_Queen

moneywasternomore! wrote:

Our moggies also have science Diet but - being new to this money-saving lark - we buy from the vets down the road. Which site do you use, and do they do the obesity-control for the very fat cat. Of course, we would have to have one barrel and one racing snake.........

I use a couple of different sites depending on which one has the better offers on ... Pet Planet UK and Pets Direct both of which sell Hill's (and carry the Maintenance Light) but Pets Direct have a far wider choice of brands available and also carry the Hill's Indoor and Hill's Senior diets, both of which are good for weight maintenance in less-active cats.

I also buy James Wellbeloved direct from their site as that's the only place I can find the senior/light varieties of food and they will also send you free samples to try out first before commiting to buying a larger bag

However, if your vet has prescribed a prescription diet for your obese cat, you'll only be able to get it from him unfortunately ... although it's worth checking sources online for a cheaper supplier and ask him to write you a prescription to buy it elsewhere if he's charging over the odds

moneywasternomore!

Thanks for that. He's on the Maintenance Light, so should be no problems. have applied for the freebies, and will check out the sites. I have been informed by OH that she usually buys form PetSaver (or the like) when on 3 for 2!

Curry_Queen

moneywasternomore! wrote:

Thanks for that. He's on the Maintenance Light, so should be no problems. have applied for the freebies, and will check out the sites. I have been informed by OH that she usually buys form PetSaver (or the like) when on 3 for 2!

Yes, if you can get to a Pets at Home or similar large store they often have the 2kg bags on promotion which works out slightly cheaper than buying the larger bags

DaisyNelson

moneywasternomore! wrote:

Our moggies also have science Diet but - being new to this money-saving lark - we buy from the vets down the road. Which site do you use, and do they do the obesity-control for the very fat cat. Of course, we would have to have one barrel and one racing snake.........

I currently use https://www.petlanet.co.uk for my Hill's science diet. A 10kg bag is £37.99 including free delivery. I've also found https://www.pets24.co.uk, who are cheaper, but haven't got Hill's in stock.