Great Feed, House and Keep Your Pets Hunt

cupid_s

sluggy1967 wrote:

Thank you lil_me - I thought I was the only person in the world who had a pet with hay fever - I swear my cat gets it but people think I'm mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my cat gets hayfever too - i swear.

also my cats favourite toy is a locust. it plays back and she thinks it's amazing. you can get them for about 20p each though they only tend to last a day before she tortures them to death.

Becster

Oh, forgot.

I mix Imams, Hills, Kitecat, etc and own brand dry cat food together in a big tub for my Siamese cat.

This was a tip given to me by the breeder we bought him from ( which wasn't a money saving purchase! by any stretch of the imagination!)

That way it saves some money by "diluting" the more expensive brands, gives him lots of variety of textures and flavours and doesn't create havoc when the pet shop runs out of the one variety as he then doesn't get too fussy about only having one brand.

A friend made the mistake of buying a big case of Ohh so Fisshy as a treat for her cat, it then took her ages and lots of wasted sachets of food to persuade her cat to eat anything else!!

awayfromhome

bulchy wrote:

Not for everyone, I know, but we feed our dogs BARF (Bones and raw food diet) Very cheap, and feeding a more natural diet has cut down on vet fees, one of my dogs constantly had upset stomachs when he was fed commercial dog food, but hes never had a problem since changing his diet. I wont bore you with the details, but if anyone wants to look into this, I'm no expert but I can point you in the right direction regarding websites,books etc.
Sue

We do exactly the same for our dog, not because it's cheap (although it is!) but because it's so good for him and he loves it - he's also incredibly healthy and we know he will never have dental problems.

It's cheap because you use all butchers waste - chicken wings; carcasses; lamb ribs which butchers are happy to give to you or charge ridiculously cheap prices. There are also frozen 'working dog' products available - no VAT charged - which are based on the same principle.
It's important to include a small amount of raw vegetable/fruit (which the prepared versions do for you).

It's never too late to convert your pet to it but, as Sue says, don't do so without reading a little about it.

As for toys we give him (no, he steals) the dosing balls off the clothes liquid.

Mercenary

We use the Working Dog dry food from the Countrywide farmer's store nearby. It costs about £11 for a 20Kg bag. Our dog also loves raw carrots, cabbage, apples, potatoes (all in moderation) and weekly sardines in oil for the Omega 3 (arthritis prevention).

To keep her occupied and her teeth very clean she has a couple of the biggest Nylabone chew-bones, the Galileo size. She has very strong jaws and would get through anything less strong in a short time.
They are made from a specially annealed nylon construction impregnated with a chicken or beef flavour and smell undetectable to humans. When chewed, they grind off tiny particles which clean the dog's teeth and then pass safely through the digestive system.
These 'bones' last for years and are well worth the price they cost. Our dog has had her 2 bones (one of each flavour) for at least 5 years...very gradually getting smaller and smaller as she chews on them every day...and the vet always comments on her good teeth .
As mentioned in previous posts https://www.vetuk.co.uk is brilliant for many things needed. Drontal Plus tabs are about half the price charged at the vet's.

secondhandsusie6cats

My apologies for second-guessing what your attitude is, however, you have done exactly the same to me by writing of attutudes whereby unless a pet is insured, it makes the person a bad owner.

Insurance can be a great thing. Had my cats with chronic illnesses been insured before they were diagnosed, it would have saved me literally £thousands. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

On the other hand, I did use Tesco's insurance once with a premium of about £200 for 3 cats. 2 of the cats needed dental work which came to over £300. Dental work was not covered in the policy so I was well out of pocket and I did not re-new my policy.

I like the idea someone has posted just about saving the money in an account for vets fees rather than pay insurance premiums which could potentially be money down the drain.

Again, apologies for any offence caused.

gromituk

No problem - point taken about assuming the attitudes of others.:T

jomary85

Get on to membership on http://www.purina.co.uk/ as they occasionally give money off vouchers.
Re cat litter tesco basic is pretty cheap

judderman

This may be of intrest to some. http://www.gsdsrus.freeserve.co.uk/vaccs.html

This is also a good site.
http://www.k9magazine.com

zar

Not sure if this has been mentioned as I haven't read the whole thread, but if you regularly shop at pets at home then there is a free "club" that you can pick up a leaflet about in store (I think its on the website too) where they send you a free magazine and money off vouchers e.g. spend £20 get £2 off sort of thing.

Our dog loves playing football with windfall apples and then eating them :drool: - free toy and game rolled into one!

jill.verran

Buy 'real' dogfood i.e. Complete, made from real meat in the UK and not from questionable sources abroad like most supermarket brands. High quality food is available from http://www.csjk9.com/feed/index.html and it doesn't cost the earth - I use 'Herbie Nuts' (not the cheapest of their varieties) and it works out at £1 a Kg. including delivery. But have to buy two bags (15 Kg) at a time. Small company, big range of palatable foods, honest people who are very helpful with excellent customer service. Can't recommend them highly enough, and I don't work for them! Both my dogs are very happy and healthy with their CSJ and I do not propose to change their food. Ask them for a sample! If you're lucky you may be near one of their stockists, so save the delivery charges, but they don't have many stockists.