When I decided to start using coupons and save money, that decision wasn’t just for the human inhabitants of my house. Pets were included as well. This presented some problems because I didn’t want to lower the quality of their food or deprive them of their special treats. Although I haven’t had to resort to buying cheaper/less quality food, there were other ways in which I was able to cut back on my pet expenses.

Chairman Meow and Zoey

1. Cat treats: With eight cats who expect (okay, demand!) their treats every morning, buying treats got very expensive. Although I was sometimes able to get treats very cheaply or free with coupons, it didn’t happen as often as I needed them. Plus, those small packages don’t go very far, and at more than $1 each it was’t a frugal thing to do. As an experiment, I bought a large bag (with coupons, of course) of a Purina Cat Chow to see if my furry friends would find this acceptable as “treats”. To my surprise and delight, they liked it even better than the Pounce! Although I would never feed my cats Purina Cat Chow as their steady diet, I find it is fabulous as treats. It’s sort of like kitty junk food. And at about $1 per pound, iy’s extremely frugal.

2. Cat litter: My friend, Becky, who owns Hidden Treasures Adoption Center for Cats, recommends the use of a litter like World’s Best Cat Litter. This is a natural and biodegradable cat litter made from corn that can be actually flushed down the toilet or composted. In addition, it is much healthier for your cat than the clay type litter because it is less dusty; and it clumps, so scooping is easy. However, she freely admits World’s Best Cat Litter is outrageously expensive. Thankfully, Becky has a great substitute for this type of litter. Believe it or not, game bird feed in the crumbles form is exactly the same as World’s Best Cat Litter. You can find huge 50 lb bags of this at Tractor Supply or feed store for about $13. Because this product is much lighter than your average clay scooping litter, the bag is HUGE and lasts for much longer. I have six litter boxes for my eight cats, and one of these bags lasts a little more than a month.

3. Dog Treats: My dog isn’t as fussy as the cats when it comes to treats. In fact, she’ll eat almost anything. I have found she especially likes raw carrots, though. I got this trick from my vet when she told me one of my dogs was getting a little porky around the middle. Buying a huge bag of carrots is much more cost effective than buying dog treats, even with coupons. Plus, carrots are much healthier. I still buy regular dog treats on occasion, but I’ve found the bulk package of raw carrots is just fine.

4. Pet Medications: This is one of the most expensive parts of pet ownership. Heart worm and flea medications alone can be incredibly expensive. The only way to make these things somewhat affordable is going through online pet medication companies like Pet RX or 1-800 Pet Meds. In addition, I always try to buy in bulk so I get free shipping.

5. Adopting a New Pet: If you are looking to add a new member to your household, I strongly urge you to go through the Humane Society or an adoption center like Hidden Treasures . First, there are so many dogs and cats in need of new homes that there really isn’t a good reason to buy a pet from a breeder. Second, adopting through a place like Hidden Treasures is actually very frugal.

Believe it or not, getting a “free” kitten isn’t really free. You have to take it to the vet for shots and to be spayed/neutered. When all is said and done, you’ll spend at least $300 and a bunch of time running back and forth to vet appointments. Conversely, a donation of $120 is expected when you adopt a kitten through Hidden Treasures and the kitten you get is fully vetted. Plus, you aren’t the one who had to run back and forth to the vet! Cats are less expensive to adopt, but again, they are fully vetted and healthy. Furthermore, if anything should go wrong in the future, Hidden Treasures will ALWAYS help with the problem or take the cat/kitten back without question.

I hope my little tidbits of information help you save money with your furry beasts. Remember, you can also find free samples for your pets on my blog along with free samples for adults, kids and teachers. If you have a money saving trick, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to email me at ginaskokopelli@yahoo.com.

 Gina is the creator of Gina’s Kokopelli, a blog dedicated to all things coupon, free and cheap. You can get more frugal tips, freebies, coupons, and great deals by visiting her blog at http://ginaskokopelli.com. Gina also teaches couponing classes and would love to be invited to your organization or business to teach a class. For more information or to inquire about a couponing class, please email her at ginaskokopelli@yahoo.com. She’s also happy to answer any couponing question you may have!

I’m talking about these 20 percent off per item coupons.

What Jennifer told me – and which I checked out myself at other BB&B stores – is that cashiers don’t even look at the expiration dates and will honor one per item for as many coupons as you have at one time.

Yesterday, on Tuesday I stopped at the Enfield BB&B store with two out of date coupons for 20 percent off one item each. I purchased two boxes of coffee pads and received 20 percent off each one, saving me about $4 in total.

Please us know about your experience with BB&B coupons as well as great policies at other chains.

By the way, check back tomorrow if you are interested in coupons or want to learn how to save big by collecting coupons. We are starting a new weekly feature called Frugal Fridays.

Gina Juliano, of Enfield, the editor and publisher of GinasKokopelli, is writing the column. Check out her site and consider signing up for one of her classes. Her first column will be on how to save on pet supplies.

Gina

The normally tough (I tell people she is a cross between a Terrier and a German Shepard) and calm girl starts barking and running around demanding she be taken outside, where she will simply try to run away.

Muffin sporting the Thundershirt

We had lost her several times for hours before realizing the issue.

Recently I saw a display for the Thundershirt and decided to give it a try. It works wonders. But it doesn’t work for all situations and for all dogs and YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.

First of all make sure you get the right size. The Thundershirt has to fit tight, so as to embrace your pet.

You have to introduce your pet to the Thundershirt so he or she will like it and associate it only to good things. The company recommends letting your dog first smell the garment, and then place treats on it, so she will associate it with food.

Let your dog wear it FIRST before there is any anxious moments coming up. Your dog should not associate the Thundershirt with anxiety. Have your dog wear it for a few hours at a time when everything is good.

If there is a storm coming. Put the Thundershirt on early and leave it on hours after it went away.

Now we have a second head case – Nitza – a 97 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback who has anxiety issues after the breeder kept her crated 23 hours a day during the first 18 months of her life.

I bought a large one for her and used it to take her to the vet recently – not a fun trip for anyone  especially for the annual physical where shots are given and blood is taken (I could probably wear one myself when its my time). Frankly, I did not put it on properly. While it worked a little, I will have to practice with it. Maybe its the wrong size, a little too big.

Anyway, check it out at Amazon where it sells for $40 – cheaper than many stores – and has a four star rating from 445 customers.

The company offers a money back guarantee.

“Don’t worry,” he told the owner “I have a remote injection system.”

He then proceeded to elaborate about his blow dart system and how great it was for the aggressive animals he saw on occasion. I, of course, wanted one. No, I needed one!

During the trip home, Dr. Saria marveled about the emergency service, the specialists she knew from school, the convenience for our clients and their pets and the excellence of the facility. I remained in awe that there may be a blow dart system out there that was humane, easy to use and available for me to purchase!

As the days turned into weeks, and we continued our busy schedule, all thoughts of this great system slowly faded from my memory. That is, until one fateful day…

The client’s German Shepard, Fido, had been fired from his last vet. The best I could get from them over the phone was something about a Toy Poodle, someone’s broken foot, and a lot of angst in the waiting room. We arrived at Fido’s house with the knowledge that the dog was difficult, excitable, and in need of one vaccine. The owners told us that they desperately needed the Rabies vaccine, because if he didn’t get vaccinated, the animal officer would impound him.

While filling out the required paperwork, the clients decided it was time to let Fido in the house. He was definitely excitable- to call him the alpha in the house would definitely be an understatement, but we were here to give the vaccine, so we got started.

Dr. Saria is very good with aggressive dogs, and Shepards are her favorites, so she smoothly began her exam. She poked, prodded, even opened his mouth and shoved her hand inside to check his teeth. He was being a good dog (this is a relative term here), and she did a thorough exam. Everything seemed simple and straightforward.

We only had one thing left– that little rabies vaccine. She handed me a treat that the owners had given us as a peace offering to him.

“Let him lick the treat to keep him distracted,” she instructed. “He won’t even notice the injection.”

These were the last words I remember before I had a 105-pound German Shepard jump on me, push me against the wall and make me feel like a felon running from the K-9 officers. My heart pounded and I stared Fido eye to eye as his teeth snapped merely inches from my nose, and his enormous paws pressed my shoulders into the solid wall behind me. He could have killed me in an instant, but with an abrupt change of heart, he dropped down and went hunting for the treat I had dropped.

Dr. Saria and I were frozen for an instant. It was all so fast and potentially so serious. She recovered quickly and chatted with the owners as I took a few deep breaths and convinced myself that all my blood and flesh was still where it was supposed to be. I vaguely heard Dr. Saria recommend sedation and heard the owners agree, and then the next I knew we were leading this unpredictable beast out of the house and into the clinic with the intention of injecting him with a sedative, so we could safely give him his vaccine.

Somehow, we managed to settle him down, sedate him, and give him the pesky vaccine, but I couldn’t help but think that there had to be a better way- for the owners, the pet and for us.

As soon as we got home, I was on the Internet researching, then purchasing my own remote delivery device, AKA, blow dart, which I fondly named, FIDO’s FRIEND. I could have gotten a dart gun, but it required a permit and could cause serious damage if a dart is misplaced. After all, our goal is to help these animals, not hurt them.

While we were waiting for the device to come in, we began contemplating uses for it. Feral cats vaccines, aggressive dog sedation, timid creatures that need antibiotics, unreachable animals that are in grave distress, wild animals that are injured or sick, infectious creatures, suffering animals, and those that truly want nothing to do with anyone getting near them despite having a great need for human assistance. The more we thought about it, the more we realized that this device could not only protect me, the handler, but could seriously reduce the stress on some of our patients and potentially save some that otherwise would be left without hope.

Although Fido was our initial catalyst for acquiring the remote injection system, we have discovered an amazing plethora of situations where it is fantastically useful. Vaccines, medications and sedation are much less stressful for these patients. Kudos to the vet that told me about it! I wish I remembered his name. I now have a 1 ml syringe which I load with the medication, then charge the opposite end with air. I then attach the “feathers” to the back of the dart and load it into the tube. At this point I can administer my dart to an animal from a distance of up to 15 yards. The animal just feels a little prick as the dart penetrates and the medications are administered. Then the dart falls off and we retrieve it when the animal moves away. The impact is no more than when we give a normal injection, and the animal is far less upset than when we have to wrestle them to the ground or chase them around a yard with a lanyard on a stick in order to give the same medication.

This system has proven invaluable to us as we work on animals that cannot be restrained. It has truly been a miraculous tool to use for these pets that otherwise would go unvaccinated and untreated. I bought it to protect my doctor and I, but the reality is that the pets are the ones getting the most benefit.

And for my sensitive and concerned veterinarian who always places the needs of the pets before any mere human? She, too, has acknowledged the value in using a tool she would never have considered before. In an odd twist, we have come to value a tool that is not usually associated with kindness and compassion, and have once again proved that most any tool used correctly can provide amazing benefits.

Oh yeah, if you see us parked with a few minutes of free time, you will most likely find me behind the clinic, in front of a box doing target practice. I call it work. Dr Saria calls it play. I’m not sure who is right.