Tried It Tuesday: Cheap Pets

No, no, not the cost of the pets, although pets should be adopted from shelters, not a breeder, and that is much less expensive, but that’s not my point.


Back to caring for pets in a frugal way:

It is estimated that a small dog costs around $600 annually, a rabbit $730, and even a small mammal is $300 a year. The only very frugal pet is a fish, at $35 a year.

There are many ways to reduce the cost of a pet. For cats and dogs, there are many animal clinics that offer annul shots and check-ups for a reduced cost. Craiglist’s is a great way to find supplies such as carriers, crates, scratching posts, etc.

I was very shocked to see how much a bunny costs annually, the majority of that being spent on litter. We have many little animals that use cages and bedding at our house, mostly hamsters and rabbits, and we have found frugal ways to cut out the cost of bedding.
We used to use sawdust, bought in bulk from Tractor Supply, but our vet advised it is not good for a bunnies lungs, so we stopped. She said the best thing is soft paper based. You can buy this in large bag at pet stores, averaging around $16 for a large bag. It lasts 4 times we change our bunny cage, making it $16 a month ($4 a week). I am just cheap and not willing to spend that so now we make our own. With our paper shredder we shred our Sunday Paper (well worth the cost for the coupons we get). One paper is more than enough for a week of bedding, meaning we don’t have to buy any to supplement.

Why I like this best is that I can then take the newspaper that is full of bunny “yuckies” and put it in my compost, which adds great material to the soil.