Monday, June 9, 2008

The Joys of Pet Ownership

It has come time for me to head over to Petsmart and purchase a ton of dog essentials for my puppies. I thought I might detail them out here. I also wanted to take some time and compare the prices from the store or the vet and the 1-800-petmeds website which claims to sell the things I need cheaply and without charging shipping. These are the things that I need for the dogs ...

*Heatguard (to protect against heart worms): Luckily the dogs fall into the same weight category which means I can buy a year's worth and have six months for each dog.
*Advantix or something similar (to protect against fleas and ticks, well worth the money to avoid the hassle): Unfortunately, the dogs don't fall into the same weight category which means that I have to buy a box for each dog. Bleh.
*It's also time for them to go into the vet and get tested for heart worm and they both need their teeth cleaned which is a couple hundred for both of them.
*They also need to get groomed, which usually runs around $75 for both of them. At least, that's how much it was at my old groomer.

I will have to spend a little time looking up prices and calling my vet to see how much they'd charge me for this stuff। That information will be forth coming as soon as I have the time to sit down and do it.

EDIT/UPDATE: I called my vet and checked out some prices online, and it turns out that everything I need to get is cheaper at my vet's office! What's more ... I called and got the boys scheduled for their teeth cleaning in two weeks. Now get this - I saved a TON of money by staying with my Lawrence Vet rather than just going to one of the vets over by my parents' place. On average the cost for a teeth cleaning in town was $350 PER DOG plus they wanted to keep the dogs overnight to observe them.

My Lawrence vet charges $152 per dog and I get to take them home with me that night. Which I love because when you pick them up they're still a little doped up from the anesthesia and it's so funny to watch them wander around the house. So, I will get to spend the same amount to get both of my dogs' teeth cleaned as it would to get just one done here in Overland Park. I guess it's a good thing that I called around!

You might think that I would be upset about taking a day off to go to Lawrence and deal with 3 dopey dogs (my mom was so impressed with the savings that I'm taking one of the family pets with me to get her teeth cleaned too) when I could spend the day working. It really isn't all that bad! My boyfriend gets back into town the night before after being out of town for 2 1/2 weeks and so I will get to spend the day with him and get this dog stuff taken care of at the same time. Now all I need to do is get them groomed and I won't have to spend money on them again for another couple of months.

2 comments:

Ashley-Michelle said...

I'm all about saving pennys here and there, but there are a few things you should consider:

1. PetSmart is not the ideal place to take your pet for medical treatment. Banfield remains an irresponsible, unresponsive practice that pushes the bottom dollar as the bottom line over the well-being of their pets. Even their former employees advise caution using their services.

2. Many vet clinics do offer discounted office visits on certain days. It's best to call ahead and find out on what days they waive the office fee, or under what circumstances. My vet, for example, allows for first-time visiters to waive the office fee provided they make an appointment first.

3. Don't be afraid to use coupons for pet items. DoggieCoupons.com carries a wide array of coupons on many dog food products, including Science Diet.

Caroline said...

I completely agree! I'm taking the dogs to my vet to get their work done. I just need some heartworm and frontline and I think I'm going to buy those from my vet too.