Monthly budget for pets

MrsTinks

STEP AWAY FROM THE BAKERS! :rotfl: no seriously... there are so many colourants in there that if your dog is prone to being hyper you're going to unleash merry he!!
If you have access to Costco they do their own brand Kirkland dogfood 18kg for I think about £14ish... this lasts my collie/GSD cross for a good couple of months. She gets a roast knockle bone from [EMAIL="Pets@home"]Pets@home[/EMAIL] every couple of weeks at £1.20 each. Or go to your local market - there's bound to be a pet stall where you can get hide chews cheaper.
Kongs... They rock! Get a black one - they're nearly indestructable - in the right size and in summer in particular fill the small hole with cheese or something and then put in dry food and top the whole thing with home made stock - freeze and serve Keeps mine amused for ages and it's cheap enough that she can have one everyday (I have 2 kongs so there is always one in the freezer ready)
She also has a food cube - again impossible to destroy and takes ages to get her dry food out of it. Think it's called a bustercube
INSURANCE make sure you have your pets insured - it's worth every penny! (says she who has had over £1500 of claims on one cat and must be getting close to £1000 for the dog...)

Feed tins only as a treat - it also makes them less windy :rotfl:

Shame that won't work with hubby really hehehehehe

wendywitch

i_am_really_rich!! wrote: »

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.

Mine too (was on offer in Pets at home £7.99) But I give them tinned with it (I'm scared they're missing out on some nutrients) as well as scraps from the table.

My cat generally has what's on offer, though she doesn't like Go Cat too much (I'm sure she'll get use to it, just got a big bag reduced due to a rip in it).

I get alot of the cat's food reduced due to tears, missing pouches, dented tins etc.:D

MrsTinks

If the food is "complete" then they shouldn't be missing any nutrients

I add a little codliver oil from time to time, scraps from our dinner like potato's, rice, pasta and if there is any little meat scraps she gets them too. If cooking scrambled eggs she often gets one scrambled with no milk or butter as a treat

sammy_kaye18

Yeah my dog loves the odd egg now and again - seems to keep him happy but its once every so often.

Again sardines provide alot of good oils for a dog but again this is once a month for him.

Tine - codliver oil? where do you get that or is it as simple as break a CLO tablet open and add? why? is it good for their insides?

nutritionally does anyone know if the tesco dog food - not value - the black own brand bags - are any good?

MrsTinks

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Tine - codliver oil? where do you get that or is it as simple as break a CLO tablet open and add? why? is it good for their insides?

The one I have says pure codliver oil as the ingredients It IS one with all the dosage for animals on it like ponies, dogs, cats and budges and so on...
COdliver oit contains lots of vitamins and it's great for their coats too. I only tend to give a little once a week but the dog has a super coat!
You can buy it in petshops - pets @ Home do it not sure if you can get it significantly cheaper elsewhere

snoopy1971

i_am_really_rich!! wrote: »

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.

If your dog likes Wagg Dry food I am aware that Wagg also make Asda's hero brand which is even cheaper again!!:beer:

GraciesGran

My spaniel only eats Chappie - his stomach reacts very badly to anything wlse but at 68p a tin I'm not complaining. He has a couple of cod liver oil capsules a day as well. That and any left overs we have, love the idea of feezing stock in a kong - will try that. As a treat I occasionally buy him a tin of value of custard, he is also rather fond of rich tea biscuits but thats only on high days and holidays .

MrsTinks

That's the beauty of kongs... They freeze so well! I tend to do a lot of chicken stock for the dog although mainly in winter when we have more roasts. SO when I make the stock I reduce it right down so it's really concentrated and then I freeze it in icecube bags. That way to make up enough stock to fill her large kong all I do is pop a cube out in water (after a while you know how much you need - if I am adding dry food to the kong too then one cube will easily do a couple of Kongs when diluted with water again) and let it melt.
In theory you could put anything in the kongs and freeze them - I just like stock because I make it myself

peigirl

Hi
If you want to cut down on food bills, vet bills and have a happy, healthy dog/cat - is to start using (wait for it) Green tripe, and natural terrier biscuits. You can mix in raw vegetables (no onion) carrot, cabbage, parsnips tomatoes and fruit. A 15kg bag of biscuits costs approx 13.00 and tripe anything from 24p per lb. TPMS and Landywood Pet Food do both. The tripe is a bit 'hummy' but our dogs love it, and the biscuits are crunchy and help keep teeth clean!

Good luck

The_Greener

We have a dog (1 year old Labradoodle) and 2 cats who are all raw fed. We feed Maizie, the dog, raw chicken quarters (SmartPrice from Asda) and the odd bone/some offal (which we get from a friend with a farm). The chicken costs about 80p per day, depending on the offers in the supermarket at the time.

Some may think it's not right to give SmartPrice meat to our pet, but have a think about where the meat for tinned/dried food comes from.....

The cats are fed raw haddock/cod - we get off-cuts from our local fish&chip shop which comes to 30p per day for both cats, or we get frozen fillets (again, SmartPrice/Value/Basics) which is slightly more expensive but only about 50p per day for both cats.

The cats have been tinned fed until the last 4 months (aged 7) and are so much more alert, sociable and generally healthy since raw feeding. Maizie is really fit - no wind, no bad breath, pearly teeth, and her poos are a third of the size of dogs fed on processed food, dry and they don't smell!

Sorry to go on, but we're so convinced that raw-feeding is the best option, and it's cheap!