Petfood discounts - especially on the prescription stuff

jeallen01

We have 2 cats, both of which require specific and different prescription dry-food diets for various health issues, and also Vetacquadent in their drinking water for their teeth and gums .


We can get the foods from our vet (which is part of the large MediVet chain) but the costs are high - about £45-£60 for a 4kg or 5kg bag of dry food (our vet practice usually recommends and sells the Hills Scienceplan range) and about £16 for a 500ml bottle of Vetacquadent.


Therefore, some years ago, I started looking on-line for suppliers of these products, and found that I could generally save around 30-40% on what the vet charges! Generally if your order is over £30 or £40 (most of our orders are for £60-£100 because I bulk buy every few months!), then you get free P&P, and there are regular special offers from some of them (and sometimes a new-buyer discount for the 1st order).


We buy mainly Hills dry cat food, but most suppliers also sell wet and dry cat and dog food from a range of other specialist suppliers - as well as the basic proprietary stuff that you can buy over the counter in supermarkets - and also all sorts of pet accessories and toys etc.


Principally I have found that the following two are often the most competitively prices - but it varies:
- MedicAnimal (https://www.medicanimal.com/)
- Petmeds (http://www.petmeds.co.uk/)


These two regularly (weekly, and Sunday evening is often the best time) have -10% or -15% promotions - and when one does that then the other one follows within minutes!


I occasionally use the following - but not often:
- VetUK (http://www.vetuk.co.uk/)
- Zooplus (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/)
- Vet Food World (http://www.vetsfoodworld.com/)
- Amazon


In all cases, I do some comparative shopping, and tot up the total bills from each so that I know which is the cheapest overall!


If you have a pet then try this approach and tell us what you find.


PS: not sure if I posted this in the right section of the forum, so the mods are free to move it to a more appropriate place if they think fit!

rising_from_the_ashes

Might be good to put this in the Petcare section?

Another to try is Zoofast - based in Poland and delivery does take a bit longer than Zooplus (if I order from them on a Thursday it usually arrives on Saturday which is fantastic) - however their prices are fantastic and, if you know it's going to take a week & order in plenty of time then it doesn't really matter!

Funnily enough I rarely buy from either of the two you've got at the top anymore as I usually find stuff much cheaper elsewhere. I used to buy loads of stuff from Amazon but sadly it seems to be uncompetative on price just now for some reason.

Animed Direct is a great site too and the bonus is it's free delivery (without a min spend)

What diets are your cats on / what conditions do they have?

Most will generally advise avoiding dry food (and certainly an all dry food) as it can lead to health issues in the long term and there are usually good wet alternatives

zippychick

Hi, we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

jeallen01

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Might be good to put this in the Petcare section?

Another to try is Zoofast - based in Poland and delivery does take a bit longer than Zooplus (if I order from them on a Thursday it usually arrives on Saturday which is fantastic) - however their prices are fantastic and, if you know it's going to take a week & order in plenty of time then it doesn't really matter!

Funnily enough I rarely buy from either of the two you've got at the top anymore as I usually find stuff much cheaper elsewhere. I used to buy loads of stuff from Amazon but sadly it seems to be uncompetative on price just now for some reason.

Animed Direct is a great site too and the bonus is it's free delivery (without a min spend)

What diets are your cats on / what conditions do they have?

Most will generally advise avoiding dry food (and certainly an all dry food) as it can lead to health issues in the long term and there are usually good wet alternatives

Good suggestions:
- the Petcare section sounds like a good idea (and I have reported my own post to the Mods to ask them to move it, but not to that location of which I was not aware!).
- the other new sites that you recommended are certainly worth investigating and I will look there next time I need to buy
- as for our cats: our vet has specifically recommended dry food for both cats, and it does not seem to have affected them so far as one is about 16 and the other about 9. The older one has diabetes (for the 2nd time as he recovered from the 1st attack and was free of it again for nearly 2.5 yrs!) and he is now on Hills WD diabetes diet. The younger one has had dental gingivitis problems, and he is on a 50/50 mix of Hills TD (which is specifically targeted to clean a cat's teeth) and commercial dry cat food, and that seems to cured the problem.

jeallen01

Zippychick


That's great - many thanks.


John