How are you cutting costs while still keeping your cats well-fed, healthy, and happy?
Are you cutting back on premium foods, and substituting cheaper, grocery store food? Have you experimented with cheaper litters or even with chicken crumbles? Have you had to withhold veterinary care for your cats? Is your situation so desperate that you've had to give up your cats?
Please vote in the poll, then post your comments below. (You can select multiple choices in the poll.)
Please Note: "Other" applies also to giving up personal extras before economizing on cat food and supplies.
Comments
I said “other”. I feel very badly about this, but O was supposed to have a dental this summer, and I’ve had to postpone it. There just isn’t any money for an ultrasound (he has a slight heart murmur), blood tests, and the dental. It would be about $500.00 total.
I try to save as much money as possible by googling any possible ailment and then self diagnosing the problem. It’s been pretty good so far.
We’ve given up new clothes and other extras for ourselves, and we’re also cutting corners on our own food (luckily, I can cook and my parents tend to have overflow from their vegetable garden). Except for not giving the cats new toys (they have a child’s toy box stuffed to the gills from our more flush days, so I doubt they’ve noticed the absence of new stuff), we haven’t compromised on their food or care. We’ve always groomed them ourselves, which helps, and they’re pretty healthy, but Sophie’s spay is coming up at the end of the month and that’s going to be a bit of a hit. We don’t want to take her to a cutrate place for this major surgery, so we’ll find the means somehow to pay her own vet.
At least he’s on the way to work, so we won’t have added fuel costs …
I don’t cut cat costs; I cut people costs. Try explaining to a cat that you can’t afford his preferred food or litter.
So far, I’ve chosen to cut back on human expenses, retain the quality cat products, and not buy the toys and treats we indulged in in more plentiful years. It doesn’t hurt that my babies (two 14+ year old tabbies) could lose a 1/2 lbs. or so; it just means I have to portion control their food more diligently. I derive so much joy from them and their health is so good – - why risk it.
I am trying to scale back on unneccessary spending across the board and take advantage of sales and coupons whenever possible. Luckily, I haven’t had to compromise the quality of food and litter for the furkids.
I cut down on what the humans eat. Cats don’t understand about economic downturns and I committed to giving them quality of life when they came to stay.
I am fortunate to work for a pet food supply company and get a discount on the supplies I need for my cats (Dudley, Zoey, Lulu, Lily and Simka). I can no longer afford to donate to the ASPCA or the HSUS, but I donate supplies to my local shelter as often as I can. I have had to cut back on vet visits and go only for health emergancies. I go to our local PETCO store for low-cost vaccinations. They are much cheaper and you are not charged for a ‘per cat’ office visit.
We have been blessed with 2 cats (Nermal & Jayden) and both are very helathy. So all we do is the check ups once a year. If something happened we would cut people costs to cover cat expenses. We will be able to maintain the same food as our cats like since it is relatively inexpensive here. The majority of the cat toys we do have are already home made and easy to repair or refresh catnip in so I doubt the cats have noticed anything about the economy.
We have enough irresponsible pet owners in the world!!! When you took your pet you are responsible for it’s health and well being for it’s entire life. No matter what: economy crashes, you get sick, pets gets sick, a family member gets sick, you loose your job…ect. It STILL is your responsibility to care for your pet. If you can’t do that…here is a novel idea, don’t get a pet!! Please no more IRRESPONSIBLE PET OWNERS!!
Not having the money to take Smokey to the vet, I’ve gone online to order an ointment for his infected eye, and a liquid that I squirt on his food twice a day to boost his immune system.
If these choices don’t do the job, I will either have to beg money from friends to pay the vet, or, I’ll have to give Smokey up to a local shelter – which I DON’T want to do.
I postponed his shots and he needs his teeth cleaned. My husband got fired and I’m on disability. He got really sick and almost died. Luckily the local vet let me charge the fee. the bill was over $550. I still owe over $150. I’m very grateful to compassionate vets.
I am out of a job and kitty got very ill. I went on line to check his symptoms and see if I could take care of the situation which I could not. I then took Peanut to the vet and the bill was $500! I had to charge this amount and it hurt but my sweet cat is ok now. Sometimes we don’t expect life to put us in bad circumstances. I start a new job next week and I hope I can catch up again. It made me realize that I need money put aside for “cat emergencies” as well as house payments etc!
Care Credit is a credit card that allows you to charge your Vet bill and pay monthly installments interest-free for 3, 6 or twelve mos. depending on the amount charged. This has been a lifesaver for several of my pets emergencies. Go to their website for more info.
I lost my companion of 16 + years in a matter of three days while I waited for my paycheck to arrive so I could afford his vet care. He had never been sick a day in his life, and had all of his immunizations on a regular basis. I am still grieving and refuse to bring another animal into the house without some sort of “plan b”. He can never be replaced….money can.