... or do you actually splurge some money on more expensive food or on a ton of things? I know some members of my family are very tight with money and they would have never gotten a pet if it meant constantly buying the expensive quality food and all manners of toys. For the birds, they buy used cages, and that often comes with some manner of toys. For one of them, we found out soon enough that it did not like the food mix specific to his kind of bird, so we switched to more generic bird food (also cheaper) and now he eats everything happily. Do you have a budget for your pet and stick to it, or do you not care and spoil it rotten?
Quality ones don't have to be expensive all the time. There are cheap ones, say affordable that are really of high-standard, and that getting them for your pet wouldn't actually hurt your pet's nutrition and healthy physique. Some cheap ones are not only nutritious, they are also delicious that your pet is going to really like and really look for.
I don't like to change my dog's food on him just to save money. I always buy him the same kind because it agrees with him so I just budget the cost of that particular food into our shopping budget. We have found success with Purina Beneful which I think is pretty much in the middle of the road in terms of cost. But, we do occasionally buy him a new toy or some tennis balls but they are never very expensive or anything I'd consider to a budget breaker. The expensive part of owning a dog is the vet bills!
I can't buy cheap for my pets. I put health above all.. for my family and my pets (also family), so in doing that, I absolutely can't go cheap and feel like I'm giving them health. I have yet to find a food for them that is cheap AND without all the fillers and grains. Even the most expensive foods have a ton of veggies in them which is just silliness, but it's better than the garbage in the other stuff. I'd make them their own food myself, but where I moved to, I can't find a decent place to buy them meat yet. Once I do, I will be feeding them raw.
@JosieP - Our dog was a raw dog for a while too. I couldn't believe how much money I saved from the expensive kibble and treats to the raw food. It really worked well at first...but then we had some issues with him food-guarding, which we could have coped with if it hadn't come at a time when he was indulging his instincts to bury leftover raw bones/meat in case he wanted it later. I couldn't cope with raw bones in the couch cushions, especially when he got cranky if someone approached the hidden goodies. And if I penned him in the kitchen to eat, if he was full, he wouldn't just let me pick up the food. It was a headache so we switched back to the 'good' kibble. We never did go back to dog treats though. He still gets people food as training treats, usually really cheap hot dogs or chopped fine chicken organs that I have dried for him.
Generic food is OK for pets I believe. It's normal to see "experts" advice people to buy brand name pet food because they are promoting those products and expect to make some good cash from suckers who believe everything they read on the net. Because I know the tactics these marketers use to get people to buy more expensive pet food, normally, I buy the cheapest pet food available and supplement it with [healthy] table scraps.
I know marketing quite well too, I played the game.. what I know better is food and how the animal body works when it comes to what they ingest and what these "experts" are endorsing, are not healthy either. Going cheaper won't change anything if you were giving them these foods anyway. In the end, just like with humans, they can and do live long lives on cheap foods (my first pet lived 26 years on crap cat food).. but I will always know a food label for my pets now and understand what they can and should digest vs what they can't so I can buy them the best possible foods. Because I don't know if they will be the ones to die young or live long lives, so I buy healthy(er!) to give them a better chance. Just like with humans, animals die every day from junk food related issues. Mine won't be one of them.
Yeah I don't like to change food on them because I know it will agree with them. If you switch too much it could cause problems. We used to give him the canned but we stopped because all of a sudden he started having problems with it. Also we don't go for expensive toys either because he'll just end up destroying it in no time.
For sure I would spoil my pet often if I had the money to spoil him, but since I don't, I just stick with a specific budget when buying food for him. I think it's ok to spoil your pet as long as they don't get overweight.
I'm kind of in the mix. For our pet Hachi(a Maltese dog), we buy both branded and generic food, and we mix them together because this enables us to save money on his food. For his toys and cage, we don't buy used ones. But we do buy from our local shops because their products are cheaper compared to dog accessories from big box stores.
We have an estimated budget for our pet but we try not to stick with a fixed price. We're more flexible in the sense that rather than saying the family shouldn't spend more than $50 a month for all of our pets, we try to set a range instead. For instance, estimated budget for cats will be between $15 to $20 and $25 to $30 for dogs. Sometimes there's an allowance of $10 for emergency supplies such as when they get sick and need antibiotics. We also try to buy their kibbles in bulk as it's a lot more cost-efficient.
We were debating between switching from their food, but after doing a bit of research online we realized the food we were giving them was actually pretty good -- even though it was the cheaper stuff. Naturally, that's based on ingredients + nutrients. We just supplement a few things by giving them fresh veggies and all that. In terms of other things, we can usually make most of their toys just using throw away clothes. Admittedly, we do skimp on the vet visits from time to time as we opt to bypass the $50 visit and instead just get the prescription meds since we usually know what's up.
