How We Budget For Our Pets
Our beautiful cats joined our lives over two years ago, and I can’t imagine life without them. Having a pet isn’t cheap, although it’s worth every penny. We can only afford it by having a budget for our pets in the same way we budget for everything else we spend.
Here’s how we budget for our pets.
We budget for our pets by putting money aside each month
In the same way that we have a monthly food budget, or a monthly budget for each other, we have one for our pets. We put aside £80 a month which pretty much covers everything they need (unless something totally unexpected came up).
Some months we don’t use this up, whereas other months we spend a bit more than this. But having a regular saving every month means the money is always there.
For us this covers their litter, food and their medication like flea and worming tablets.
Litter and medication is on subscribe and save
To save a little bit of money (and make sure we always have it when we need it), we have some items set up on Amazon subscribe and save.
Every three weeks we get a bag of litter from Amazon, and then their worming and flea tablets come every so many months when we need them. I always keep an eye out on prices to make sure there’s no deals elsewhere. But almost always our subscribe and save is the cheapest price.
We budget for our pets with Vac4life cover
When we first took the boys for their kitten injections at Vets4Pets we bought their Vac4Life cover. I can’t see the same cover on their website now, so I’m not sure if they still offer it.
But we paid £99 each and this covered them for their annual vaccines, and a nurse check up every six months. This one off payment means we never have to pay for top ups and check ups which makes a huge difference. We’re close to almost making back our money in just a few years which is great.
We buy food in bulk when there are deals
Our boys have wet food every morning and evening and then dry food for lunch. They won’t eat food in jelly, so it’s gravy all the way which is more expensive. And with two of them we go through quite a bit of food.
We’re quite lucky that they will each a fair few different brands, although we tend to alternate between Whiskas in gravy and Felix tasty shreds.
I monitor across a few places for food deals including:
- Ocado who do discounts on the Whiskas in gravy meals that we buy them.
- ZooPlus who offer really good deals on various pet products.
- Purina Direct where I buy their Felix food from as they offer deals and you can earn points for purchases.
If you have pets how do you budget for your pets?
14 responses to “How We Budget For Our Pets”
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Rhian Westbury
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Budgeting for pet expenses is such a great idea! They need yearly vaccines and checkups, and you never know what else might come up.
I never budgeted from my cat but I definitely need to! Pet food is becoming very expensive…I will try to buy in bulk as you suggested.
It really is expensive! x
I loved reading about how you budget for your beautiful cats! It’s clear that they hold a special place in your heart, and it’s inspiring to see how you’ve integrated their care into your financial planning. The idea of setting aside a specific amount each month for your pets, just like any other expense, is such a practical approach. £80 a month seems like a well-thought-out budget that covers their needs without breaking the bank.
Great idea to budget for our pets. Will have to have my kids read this so they understand what we need to do before we get the dog they are longing for. p.s. your cats are adorable!
Yes, if you don’t have a pet (or a bigger pet) it can be hard to realise how much they cost x
We don’t have pets now, but are planning to adopt a dog soon. I’ll keep these tips in mind if we get one. Thanks for sharing your budget planning for pets with us .
I love how you set aside a specific amount each month, making sure you’re financially prepared for Thor and Loki’s needs. The subscribe and save idea for litter and medication on Amazon is brilliant – definitely going to try that out.
It just saves me having to remember x
We’ve had two dogs (at different times) & it is so important to budget & save for our pets, especially when it comes to medical emergencies. I wish we had pet insurance back then, but if/when we get another dog, I’ll follow your steps.
I could not be without insurance, we’ve not had to use it (thankfully), but I can’t imagine having to decide how to pay for treatment if we didn’t have it x
Ohh these are great to consider first before adopting a cat or puppy. We are planning to adopt a puppy but I always want to think about these things including the monthly checkups and everything, now I have the lists that will help me to consider these things first.
Having pets is definately not cheap!! My cat recently had a UTI and it cost me around £280 to get her back to health, I do have insurance but I’m keeping that for emergencies. Having things like Vac4life helps spreads the cost
Laura x
Aww poor thing, hope your cat was okay x