Frugal Friday - Vet Bills

Sometimes saving money is a gamble. There are some things D is a strong believer we should leave to the professionals. For example the saga of our lemon refrigerator (update: Whirlpool paid for the compressor and with a second call agreed to pay labor as well. Our out-of-pocket went from $600 to $60) to taking care of our vehicles. If you don’t have expertise in areas, it could be more costly to try and fix it yourself.

Now that was a long intro into the story of how D and I became veterinary assistants. We got two new puppies and they are stinking adorable. They were free and just the thought of vet bills for TWO dogs was enough to send my budget into a panic. But we knew when we put them in the ‘burban to bring them home we were agreeing to take care of them in every way.

I remembered reading a post from Gayle at The Grocery Cart Challenge on Frugal Pet Care. She mentions YOU can vaccinate your pets. So if you want to stop reading now, it’s okay, I understand. But if you’re interested, I’ll tell you our experience. I should also note that my BIL breeds hunting dogs and does all his own stuff like this, so we had an experienced person to fall back on.

It was not bad at all! I watched a video, read the instructions, read them again, worried, fretted, and then D took over and just gave the shot! One little yelp and it was done! So not traumatic, I did spend quite a few hours worrying they would have reactions but I’m crazy like that. I’m happy to report they are bounding with energy this morning and still cute as buttons.

Here’s the $ breakdown. Six vaccines (3 for each of them) and dewormer meds plus 2 day shipping (almost as much as the stuff) cost us $70. I don’t remember the exact numbers but last time we took a new pet to the vet it was about $70 to $100 per visit. Times that by two puppies, three rounds of shots….well you see why my checkbook was hiding from me. Now we will still take both of them for their rabies shots and to get spayed and neutered (I did joke we could look that up online too, JOKE!)but we are feeling pretty good about our decision.

Note: If you know someone who did this and their pet met with an untimely demise, please don’t tell me. We are happy in our little bubble and will be ready to give the little darlings their next shot in three weeks! Okay, D will give them their next shots, I’ll stand by ready to cuddle them.

For more frugal ideas please shoot on over Life As Mom and save yourself a buck or two or twenty!

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT suggesting anyone else do this. If you think it’s dumb or dangerous, don’t do it. It’s as simple as that.

We got our supplies and info from Drs. Foster and Smith