Pet food , pet ownership cost

I don't think cats are supposed to get tick meds at all. The tick ingredient is poisonous. Dogs can handle it.

Easy way around both the cost and health issues is to make your own pet food. You decide what is going into their bodies...not some corporation.

Last Edited by FeedYourHead on 08/07/2022 10:03 AM

Yep...and it's not even hard to do or very time consuming at all.

Fleas ..... come and go .Once you feel it jumps on you in bed time for action .
Using collars for week on each pet .Thicks are easier to dealt - drown it in isopropanol than pull with tweezers

Riiiight. Vets are salespeople, always coming up with new ways to upcharge you. Here, buy this really special dog food for $100 or your dog will die by age seven!

"Table scraps" do go beyond "mashed potatoes and gravy", as you earlier characterized it. The dogs are getting an array of high quality human food, primarily meat, along with root vegetables, eggs, green beans, chili, rice, etc...I don't think they need to eat BETTER than we do. Most of the scraps they get are meat (usually chicken, sometimes even fish). I hardly think that's the worst diet for a dog imaginable.

And like I said, at 12, they are the picture of health. They literally RUN up and down the stairs all day, wagging their tails.

That's awesome for you. I just lost my rescue dog after only a year and a half, suddenly and unexpectedly to acute kidney failure after 4 days. Vets, including my daughter, could not find a reason for it. I know it wasn't his food.

You sound like your feeding your dogs well... I am aware there are certain minerals your dogs need that they're not getting though.

Some people think by throwing their dog a steak or ground beef is going to sustain them. It won't. That's my only point. At least give organs ... That's what primal dogs go for. Not the muscle.

And my daughter did not go through the stress that she did to obtain the career of her dreams to be a salesperson. People like you are causing people like her to suicide.

If anything they are being precautious and proactive in preventing the illness that the stupidity of people cause their pets.

I think you have to be a salesperson to succeed at vet med. I do rural house calls and my fee is less than my appliance repairman's.

I work 60-80 hours a week, 6 full days and emergencies. I started taking Sundays off during the pandemic because I could have been working 100 hour weeks.

That said, I wholeheartedly agree- whole foods are best. I couldn't afford that for my dogs so fed a basic high quality kibble and about 30% table scraps ( we grow much of our own food and eat mainly whole foods ourselves)
Don't forget organ meats if you are doing table scraps. And fish oils are better than flaxseed. Google omega 6 to omega 3 recommendations in pets.

My Bernese made it to 16 1/2, My chocolate lab to 17. Cats in their late teens/early 20s.

Vaccinate, but minimally. Groom your pet so you catch problems early.

And I give away way too much free advice. Part of why I'm poor.

read my post above yours. please.

Don't presume it's about being a salesperson. Please.

Vets see the worst scenarios come through their doors because people make bad choices for their dogs and don't want to pay for their healing, then blame the vets for selling products that don't help or aren't the solution.

That said, I've always micromanaged my own pets' care. Didn't do vaccinations as they recommended, I'm very against them. But I also learned by experience that by not following their advice in certain situations in a timely manner, I lost each one in a way that could have been prevented. Or caused additional situations in their lives that could have been prevented.

And my daughter/vet is VERY much for holistic care and homemade food. Maybe consider that the up and coming generation of vets are more aligned with health and prevention than treatment, which has been the standard care across the medical field, both human and animal for too many years now.

Dogs can live on table scraps but cats need taurine. Got to supplement them if you give them scraps. Unless they are outside hunting which some don’t know how to do. Cat moms teach their babies this. Indoor cats don’t get training.

It would be more humane to put the animal down than for them to not be taken care of properly. Or find a no kill shelter.

listen to what you just said. It would more humane to put the animal down than to feed it.

Or find a no-kill shelter where they can sit in a cage all day.

So what happens when you get sick or even die because you have denied yourself or family essentials? The animals would be taken and most likely put down. Or worse. Take care of yourself first. Then others. If the animals are a food source then take care of them. If not they are expendable.

Buy high quality food for your pets. They will eat it after about 3 days of not eating. My cat wouldn’t eat for 3 days now she will clean her bowl. They get hungry they will eat.

You don’t take care of animals when you can’t take care of yourself or your family.

You sound like an old-fashioned gentleman or gentlewoman. Thank you for your generosity with care and advice. We desperately need more people like you in the world at large, and in vet medicine.

That said, I've had plenty of experiences of my own with vets with a condescending attitude, and I've warned my daughter, you won't have clients if/when you talk down to them. (She can be VERY cocky at times). Her response was, it's sooooooo frustrating when people won't listen to your advice!

I think we can all appreciate that.

Btw I didn’t say not to feed your animals. When you can’t afford to feed yourself or any humans in the house you can’t afford to keep your animals.

I don't see where that need for choice came into this thread anywhere..........

I have 6 cats, 1 dog, 3 tortoises, 2 cockateils, do any of them go without, no, always make sure the animals are catered for first. If the time ever came, our family would do without ourselves first, than deprive our pets of their essentials.
Quoting: Verasssisterfromchorley


This is what people will do or have been doing. Going without so their pets can eat. People will eventually get sick from this. Their families will suffer. Sacrificing their lives and even their kids for their animals. And then their animals are left without someone to protect them. This has been brought up and it’s reality. Putting animals lives above human ones.

so what, in your mind, places humans above animals? Since your bringing the topic in.

Animals are souled beings, same as humans. Humans have much to learn from animals. Humans are the most cruel of all animals on the planet.

Exactly what I do.
Often I buy cheap stew meat cook it up too

Dog loves it

Yes
Humans are cruel and numerous are evil

But if people can’t feed themselves and their families properly no one will be around to take care of the animals. Are you willing to sacrifice your life and your families life for your animals? Who comes first? The animals? You? Your children? Elderly parents etc ? Animals have a place and should not be abused but they should not be placed before the well being of humans. This is why you can kill an animal and not go to prison.

would your dog ever turn you away?

And society is slowly catching up on animal abuse and making it criminal. And killing animals is criminal.

Animals are killed every day. For food and for overpopulation. Killing them is not wrong. Abusing them is. And I don’t have an animal because I couldn’t take care of them properly. I really do love them which is the reason. Same as when people don’t have kids for the same reason. It’s very expensive and time consuming. People have to be realistic. Can you really afford an animal. Or kids or whatever. What are you willing to give up?

When I was a kid, years back, my mom raised expensive Siamese cats.
Dad used to hunt for us and them.

He would shoot rabbits and squirrels for the cats.
They loved it!

Free, natural and healthy.

This tit-for-tat is useless. Clearly we have different respect for life.

I know animals are killed everyday and it breaks my heart and brings my spirit down, something you cant' yet understand.

time and money is important to you ... Not to me. Please feel free to carry on with your own journey of life.

Never feed your animals anything that has byproducts! Iams... Purina... others. That sheet will give them cancer faster than biden can give money away! READ labels!

But it is so very much appreciated.

I envy you! Anything off our Huskies diet, results in runny storm drain Diarrhea.