Our pets are easily the least frugal thing about us.
When we leave town, and are unable to take our pets with us, we usually leave our highly separation anxious dog at home with our roommate. We knock off a portion of his rent in exchange for his loving care, our dog does not have to go outside of a familiar environment, and we know she's in good hands. Our guinea pigs do not usually need much. It's a good situation all around. We've never had to deal with boarding or finding alternative pet care.
This Thanksgiving, that changed. We decided to go out of town. We were going to place that our dog would not be welcome on a travel mode that would not accommodate our dog and guineas. This would not be such a big deal, but our roommate decided to travel out of town for his holidays as well! The audacity of that man! Horrors! ;)
This was my first introduction to Getting PetCare 101, and let me tell you, it has been quite the lesson. Holiday bookings go fast in kennels, and I did not realize until a fairly late date that I needed a kennel booking.
We have friends and relatives in town, but none of them live super close to us. Since they would have to come over multiple times a day, we decided to look for professionals. Besides, many of our friends/family were also leaving town or having guests at their house.
Phase I was looking into having a pet sitter come to our house. The expense involved made that a no-go from the start. It also made me consider adding a side business of pet sitting. Maybe I will!
Phase II was doing research on local kennels. The first thing I did was see what vaccination kennels require. I always get rabies and other standard vaccines, but there were a couple that were required by various kennels to be allowed in. This was not terribly expensive, and my vet was wonderful in getting my pet in between appointments to get it over with. This is when I LOVE living in the internet age- it makes researching local options so much easier!
I selected kennel that got awesome reviews, had a nice, cage free environment (the Wonder Dog does not DO cages), webcams for helicopter dog moms (aka: me!), and was staffed 24 hours by actual breathing humans. It was also $20 a night, which seemed extremely reasonable. Of course, this awesome, clean, well reviewed kennel was also booked solid. Do'h!
I went and toured another kennel/day care someone mentioned, and was horrified by the conditions and appalled by the staff. This was just a drop in, and a quick internet search confirmed my sketchy feelings- terrible, terrible reviews. Back to square one! It also reinforced my intentions of not only finding a place to board the Wonder Dog, but find a clean, quality place to board her.
I asked around. I did more research. I called several promising kennels, only to be told that they were full for the holiday.
I finally found an awesome dog day care/kennel that specializes in smaller dogs. Since we had to work a lot with my dog on separation anxiety when we first got her, and she's not really interested in dogs on most days, I really did not want her to have to face a large pack of huge dogs. The day care only accepts a certain number a day, so there is not overcrowding. The smaller dog situation seemed better, plus the staff was friendly and professional. They also had openings! Score! We sent her to day care a few times before we boarded her so she would get used to us coming back. We hoped that this would make her less anxious when we left her for several days. (Shout out to Paws to Play in Wichita, KS! You're the BEST!)
Next Up: The Guinea Pig Sitter Adventure
Showing posts with label pet care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pet care. Show all posts
Friday, December 04, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Rerun: How Much Is Too Much?
Well, we've had to postpone the surgery.
Mini has chewed a hole in herself at the infection point, so she's spending the day at the vet getting that take care of.
In light of the recent expenses, I thought I'd rerun this article that I wrote on 2/16/08. Enjoy!
How Much is Too Much?
Has anybody else seen this piece by Slate.com on saying no to your vet? As a pet owner, I found it very interesting and relevant to situations that I have experienced with my animals.
Our five pets are easily the least frugal aspect of our lives. We have one dog, one house rabbit, and three guinea pigs. While they are not insanely expensive,they are not cheap. Vet care is one of our biggest expenses related to our animals. When we accepted the responsibility of having a pet, we accepted that we would have to lay out a reasonable amount of time and money to care for them. And for the most part, we have lived up to that promise to them. We feed them quality food, keep their living areas clean, walk the dog, clip piggie and bunny toenails, and take them to the vet when needed.
There are some people that say "Oh, we'll just put Fluffy down if we are presented with some huge vet bill." For us, our vet care expenses have not been something that would cost a lot in one fell swoop (like the $1300 vet bill Ada Calhoun experienced) Our biggest vet bill was a slow snowball. It was not like we were presented a huge bill for a complected problem. Our biggest vet expenses came from a fairly simple problem and lack of research on our part.
Our first house rabbit Kibbles developed a mild foot infection shortly after we got her. Her former owner kept her locked on a wire floor cage 24 hours a day, she was a big bunny, and the combination resulted in a fairly common infection. We took her to a random vet, not realizing at the time that it is very important to find a rabbit specific vet. She looked at the foot, shrugged, and gave us some cream. It helped for awhile, but the infection always came back. Each subsequent visit to have the vet look at it and give us more cream cost about 60 dollars. Had we gotten it taken care of in a visit or two, the expense would not have been much.
After a year of these visits, I did some research and switched vets. Our new vet was very knowledgeable about rabbits. She took one look at the foot, said that the infection was out of control, and asked what we had tried. We handed over the cream, and she very gently lamented the fact that we had not seen a rabbit specific vet sooner. There was a lot more the other vet should have tried besides the cream. The cream was fairly weak and would not do much for an infection as terrible as the simple foot infection had become.
At this point, the infection was so bad that she said we may never actually get rid of it. Our best hope was to keep it under control. We spent around 200 dollars for her to put Kibbles under, clean it out very well, pain medication, stronger cream, and bunny antibiotics. Then follow up visits, another cleaning, and more medication. The infection cleared up quite a bit after this. We'd spent around $1000 total at this point, over a year and a half or two year period. It was a small infection- nothing that we would consider putting an animal down for, but when we added up the expense (at a time in our life where money was very limited) we were amazed at how much we'd spent.
A foot infection is hardly an expensive surgery or chemotherapy, but those things are available to pets. I'm not sure what we would do if this came up. When we accepted the responsibility of our pets, we accepted the expense that goes with it. As long as the quality of life would be back to normal after the treatment and we are not prolonging suffering, I would hate to put animal to sleep because the treatment was expensive. On the other hand, how much is to much? I know I would not go into debt for my animals, and spending $25,000 is out of the question.
The Salon and Slate articles have been weighing on my mind since I read them. Our dog, who we love so very much, is getting older. I know that these bigger vet bills may be an issue sooner than we want to think about. How much is too much? And if it becomes too much, will I have the courage to say no to my vet without feeling like an absolute monster? I think that if she was suffering and the treatment would not make that suffering less, I would be able to put her down without too much guilt. But if that $1300 treatment would cure it, what would I say? I will have to cross that bridge when I come to it.
Have you been in this situation? How did you decide that it was too much?
Mini has chewed a hole in herself at the infection point, so she's spending the day at the vet getting that take care of.
In light of the recent expenses, I thought I'd rerun this article that I wrote on 2/16/08. Enjoy!
How Much is Too Much?
Has anybody else seen this piece by Slate.com on saying no to your vet? As a pet owner, I found it very interesting and relevant to situations that I have experienced with my animals.
Our five pets are easily the least frugal aspect of our lives. We have one dog, one house rabbit, and three guinea pigs. While they are not insanely expensive,they are not cheap. Vet care is one of our biggest expenses related to our animals. When we accepted the responsibility of having a pet, we accepted that we would have to lay out a reasonable amount of time and money to care for them. And for the most part, we have lived up to that promise to them. We feed them quality food, keep their living areas clean, walk the dog, clip piggie and bunny toenails, and take them to the vet when needed.
There are some people that say "Oh, we'll just put Fluffy down if we are presented with some huge vet bill." For us, our vet care expenses have not been something that would cost a lot in one fell swoop (like the $1300 vet bill Ada Calhoun experienced) Our biggest vet bill was a slow snowball. It was not like we were presented a huge bill for a complected problem. Our biggest vet expenses came from a fairly simple problem and lack of research on our part.
Our first house rabbit Kibbles developed a mild foot infection shortly after we got her. Her former owner kept her locked on a wire floor cage 24 hours a day, she was a big bunny, and the combination resulted in a fairly common infection. We took her to a random vet, not realizing at the time that it is very important to find a rabbit specific vet. She looked at the foot, shrugged, and gave us some cream. It helped for awhile, but the infection always came back. Each subsequent visit to have the vet look at it and give us more cream cost about 60 dollars. Had we gotten it taken care of in a visit or two, the expense would not have been much.
After a year of these visits, I did some research and switched vets. Our new vet was very knowledgeable about rabbits. She took one look at the foot, said that the infection was out of control, and asked what we had tried. We handed over the cream, and she very gently lamented the fact that we had not seen a rabbit specific vet sooner. There was a lot more the other vet should have tried besides the cream. The cream was fairly weak and would not do much for an infection as terrible as the simple foot infection had become.
At this point, the infection was so bad that she said we may never actually get rid of it. Our best hope was to keep it under control. We spent around 200 dollars for her to put Kibbles under, clean it out very well, pain medication, stronger cream, and bunny antibiotics. Then follow up visits, another cleaning, and more medication. The infection cleared up quite a bit after this. We'd spent around $1000 total at this point, over a year and a half or two year period. It was a small infection- nothing that we would consider putting an animal down for, but when we added up the expense (at a time in our life where money was very limited) we were amazed at how much we'd spent.
A foot infection is hardly an expensive surgery or chemotherapy, but those things are available to pets. I'm not sure what we would do if this came up. When we accepted the responsibility of our pets, we accepted the expense that goes with it. As long as the quality of life would be back to normal after the treatment and we are not prolonging suffering, I would hate to put animal to sleep because the treatment was expensive. On the other hand, how much is to much? I know I would not go into debt for my animals, and spending $25,000 is out of the question.
The Salon and Slate articles have been weighing on my mind since I read them. Our dog, who we love so very much, is getting older. I know that these bigger vet bills may be an issue sooner than we want to think about. How much is too much? And if it becomes too much, will I have the courage to say no to my vet without feeling like an absolute monster? I think that if she was suffering and the treatment would not make that suffering less, I would be able to put her down without too much guilt. But if that $1300 treatment would cure it, what would I say? I will have to cross that bridge when I come to it.
Have you been in this situation? How did you decide that it was too much?
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Budget 911: Christmas Budget Emergency!
Our Christmas budget (and then some!) has been eaten by a furry friend...our guinea pig, to be exact.
A lump that we've been watching with our vet pretty much exploded on Sunday, requiring a costly trip to the vet on Monday. His discoveries were not good- we are going to have to get her a guinea pig hysterectomy (which we figured, based on what we were watching for under his care) and a biopsy to determine if she has cancer. She's also on antibiotics for the time being. We'll know more on Thurday for Friday what direction this is all going to take.
When we took on the responsibility of having pets, we also said yes to the costs of a reasonable amount of care of them. It is absolutely stunning how much vet bills can add up, especially for little animals who require exotic vets. Our dog has cost us far less than our (late) house rabbits and beloved guinea pigs.
Because of the bill that we already have an estimate on for Thursday, we are going to have to drastically scale back Christmas this year. Luckily, several things are already in place that will assure we are able to get gifts for those we're close to without the out of pocket expense.
Stay tuned as we face our Christmas Budget Emergency! It looks like this article came out just in time for us.
A lump that we've been watching with our vet pretty much exploded on Sunday, requiring a costly trip to the vet on Monday. His discoveries were not good- we are going to have to get her a guinea pig hysterectomy (which we figured, based on what we were watching for under his care) and a biopsy to determine if she has cancer. She's also on antibiotics for the time being. We'll know more on Thurday for Friday what direction this is all going to take.
When we took on the responsibility of having pets, we also said yes to the costs of a reasonable amount of care of them. It is absolutely stunning how much vet bills can add up, especially for little animals who require exotic vets. Our dog has cost us far less than our (late) house rabbits and beloved guinea pigs.
Because of the bill that we already have an estimate on for Thursday, we are going to have to drastically scale back Christmas this year. Luckily, several things are already in place that will assure we are able to get gifts for those we're close to without the out of pocket expense.
Stay tuned as we face our Christmas Budget Emergency! It looks like this article came out just in time for us.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Pets: How Much is Too Much?
Has anybody else seen this piece by Slate.com on saying no to your vet? As a pet owner, I found it very interesting and relevant to situations that I have experienced with my animals.
Our five pets are easily the least frugal aspect of our lives. We have one dog, one house rabbit, and three guinea pigs. While they are not insanely expensive,they are not cheap. Vet care is one of our biggest expenses related to our animals. When we accepted the responsibility of having a pet, we accepted that we would have to lay out a reasonable amount of time and money to care for them. And for the most part, we have lived up to that promise to them. We feed them quality food, keep their living areas clean, walk the dog, clip piggie and bunny toenails, and take them to the vet when needed.
There are some people that say "Oh, we'll just put Fluffy down if we are presented with some huge vet bill." For us, our vet care expenses have not been something that would cost a lot in one fell swoop (like the $1300 vet bill Ada Calhoun experienced) Our biggest vet bill was a slow snowball. It was not like we were presented a huge bill for a complected problem. Our biggest vet expenses came from a fairly simple problem and lack of research on our part.
Our first house rabbit Kibbles developed a mild foot infection shortly after we got her. Her former owner kept her locked on a wire floor cage 24 hours a day, she was a big bunny, and the combination resulted in a fairly common infection. We took her to a random vet, not realizing at the time that it is very important to find a rabbit specific vet. She looked at the foot, shrugged, and gave us some cream. It helped for awhile, but the infection always came back. Each subsequent visit to have the vet look at it and give us more cream cost about 60 dollars. Had we gotten it taken care of in a visit or two, the expense would not have been much.
After a year of these visits, I did some research and switched vets. Our new vet was very knowledgeable about rabbits. She took one look at the foot, said that the infection was out of control, and asked what we had tried. We handed over the cream, and she very gently lamented the fact that we had not seen a rabbit specific vet sooner. There was a lot more the other vet should have tried besides the cream. The cream was fairly weak and would not do much for an infection as terrible as the simple foot infection had become.
At this point, the infection was so bad that she said we may never actually get rid of it. Our best hope was to keep it under control. We spent around 200 dollars for her to put Kibbles under, clean it out very well, pain medication, stronger cream, and bunny antibiotics. Then follow up visits, another cleaning, and more medication. The infection cleared up quite a bit after this. We'd spent around $1000 total at this point, over a year and a half or two year period. It was a small infection- nothing that we would consider putting an animal down for, but when we added up the expense (at a time in our life where money was very limited) we were amazed at how much we'd spent.
A foot infection is hardly an expensive surgery or chemotherapy, but those things are available to pets. I'm not sure what we would do if this came up. When we accepted the responsibility of our pets, we accepted the expense that goes with it. As long as the quality of life would be back to normal after the treatment and we are not prolonging suffering, I would hate to put animal to sleep because the treatment was expensive. On the other hand, how much is to much? I know I would not go into debt for my animals, and spending $25,000 is out of the question.
The Salon and Slate articles have been weighing on my mind since I read them. Our dog, who we love so very much, is getting older. I know that these bigger vet bills may be an issue sooner than we want to think about. How much is too much? And if it becomes too much, will I have the courage to say no to my vet without feeling like an absolute monster? I think that if she was suffering and the treatment would not make that suffering less, I would be able to put her down without too much guilt. But if that $1300 treatment would cure it, what would I say? I will have to cross that bridge when I come to it.
Have you been in this situation? How did you decide that it was too much?
Our five pets are easily the least frugal aspect of our lives. We have one dog, one house rabbit, and three guinea pigs. While they are not insanely expensive,they are not cheap. Vet care is one of our biggest expenses related to our animals. When we accepted the responsibility of having a pet, we accepted that we would have to lay out a reasonable amount of time and money to care for them. And for the most part, we have lived up to that promise to them. We feed them quality food, keep their living areas clean, walk the dog, clip piggie and bunny toenails, and take them to the vet when needed.
There are some people that say "Oh, we'll just put Fluffy down if we are presented with some huge vet bill." For us, our vet care expenses have not been something that would cost a lot in one fell swoop (like the $1300 vet bill Ada Calhoun experienced) Our biggest vet bill was a slow snowball. It was not like we were presented a huge bill for a complected problem. Our biggest vet expenses came from a fairly simple problem and lack of research on our part.
Our first house rabbit Kibbles developed a mild foot infection shortly after we got her. Her former owner kept her locked on a wire floor cage 24 hours a day, she was a big bunny, and the combination resulted in a fairly common infection. We took her to a random vet, not realizing at the time that it is very important to find a rabbit specific vet. She looked at the foot, shrugged, and gave us some cream. It helped for awhile, but the infection always came back. Each subsequent visit to have the vet look at it and give us more cream cost about 60 dollars. Had we gotten it taken care of in a visit or two, the expense would not have been much.
After a year of these visits, I did some research and switched vets. Our new vet was very knowledgeable about rabbits. She took one look at the foot, said that the infection was out of control, and asked what we had tried. We handed over the cream, and she very gently lamented the fact that we had not seen a rabbit specific vet sooner. There was a lot more the other vet should have tried besides the cream. The cream was fairly weak and would not do much for an infection as terrible as the simple foot infection had become.
At this point, the infection was so bad that she said we may never actually get rid of it. Our best hope was to keep it under control. We spent around 200 dollars for her to put Kibbles under, clean it out very well, pain medication, stronger cream, and bunny antibiotics. Then follow up visits, another cleaning, and more medication. The infection cleared up quite a bit after this. We'd spent around $1000 total at this point, over a year and a half or two year period. It was a small infection- nothing that we would consider putting an animal down for, but when we added up the expense (at a time in our life where money was very limited) we were amazed at how much we'd spent.
A foot infection is hardly an expensive surgery or chemotherapy, but those things are available to pets. I'm not sure what we would do if this came up. When we accepted the responsibility of our pets, we accepted the expense that goes with it. As long as the quality of life would be back to normal after the treatment and we are not prolonging suffering, I would hate to put animal to sleep because the treatment was expensive. On the other hand, how much is to much? I know I would not go into debt for my animals, and spending $25,000 is out of the question.
The Salon and Slate articles have been weighing on my mind since I read them. Our dog, who we love so very much, is getting older. I know that these bigger vet bills may be an issue sooner than we want to think about. How much is too much? And if it becomes too much, will I have the courage to say no to my vet without feeling like an absolute monster? I think that if she was suffering and the treatment would not make that suffering less, I would be able to put her down without too much guilt. But if that $1300 treatment would cure it, what would I say? I will have to cross that bridge when I come to it.
Have you been in this situation? How did you decide that it was too much?
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Frugal Fridays: Hay
Do you have small animals that eat hay? We have four guinea pigs and a rabbit, and we were going broke buying those little bags of hay at the pet store. Hay is very important to small animal health, so we would buy it. However, the bag that lasted about two weeks (if that), and it was really killing our budget. We were spending about 240 dollars a year on HAY. It boggles the mind, thinking back on it.
A few years and a small fortune spent later, a friend of mine found out how much we had been paying for hay. She about keeled over and told us to head over to the local farm supply shop and buy it by the bale. Just be sure to ask for grass based hay, like Timothy, not alfalfa. We spend anywhere from 5-7 dollars per bale and each bale lasts us almost a year. We store it in a clean trash can, and we used this method even when we lived in a small apartment. (We kept the trash can on the balcony.) If you have as many small animals as us, this tip can save you 233 dollars a year!
They also have a lot of non-farm animals stuff. We were able to get our dog a bed there for a fraction of what even Wal-Mart wanted. Sadly, we have not found good quality dog food to be cheaper there yet, but I always keep my eye on the price.
Head over to Crystal's for more Frugal Friday Tips!
A few years and a small fortune spent later, a friend of mine found out how much we had been paying for hay. She about keeled over and told us to head over to the local farm supply shop and buy it by the bale. Just be sure to ask for grass based hay, like Timothy, not alfalfa. We spend anywhere from 5-7 dollars per bale and each bale lasts us almost a year. We store it in a clean trash can, and we used this method even when we lived in a small apartment. (We kept the trash can on the balcony.) If you have as many small animals as us, this tip can save you 233 dollars a year!
They also have a lot of non-farm animals stuff. We were able to get our dog a bed there for a fraction of what even Wal-Mart wanted. Sadly, we have not found good quality dog food to be cheaper there yet, but I always keep my eye on the price.
Head over to Crystal's for more Frugal Friday Tips!
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