Pet Care on a Limited Budget

In the given state of our economy, we're all looking for ways to cut expenses. Many pet owners are trying to give their dog or cat the best care possible on a more limited budget. Skipping recommended checkups can put your pet at risk, but there are do-it-yourself (DIY) preventative care routines that can potentially reduce veterinarian and other pet-related bills. Here are resources that can help you DIY.

Drs. Foster and Smith's website offers helpful "How To" videos that show you what you can do yourself at home. The following pages include a video:

Preventative Ear Care:
How To Clean Your Dog's Ears
How To Clean Your Cat's Ears

Preventative Dental Care:
How To Clean Your Pet's Teeth

Groom Your Pet Yourself:
How To Trim Your Dog's Nails
How To Trim Your Cat's Nails

Save by vaccinating your pet at home:
How To Vaccinate Your Dog
How To Vaccinate Your Cat

MSNBC offers an article with several tips: Putting a Leash on Your Pet Spending

Another idea is to break treats in half. Your pet can still have the same number of treats, they'll just be smaller. He'll still feel rewarded.

Ear Care for Dogs

Routine ear care is an important part of your dog's health. Prevention is the best medicine, and simple ear care at home will keep the veterinarian bills away. It's easy and your dog will learn to like the one-on-one attention---sort of like getting brushed.

Here is part of an article taken from the Drs. Foster & Smith Pet Supplies online library. It offers tips for maintaining your dogs ears:

• Gently pull the pinna (earflap) upward to straighten the ear canal. Squirt an ear cleaning solution into your pet's ear and massage the base of the ear between your thumb and forefinger for 20 to 25 seconds. This ensures that the cleansing solution gets a bit deeper into the ear. We recommend a solution like Ear Clens® for this step.


• Let your pet shake out the extra solution, then get him relaxed again for the next step.


• Use a soft cloth or a product like Ear Clens® Pads to remove excess wax and debris that the solution and shaking have brought up. Do not insert anything down the ear canal.


• After cleaning, fold earflaps back for about five minutes to dry ear canals, and then finish with a small amount of an ear drying powder.

You'll be surprised at the amount of debris that you can remove. Regular cleansing of your pet's ears can prevent many potential ear problems before they start and will save you time and money in the long run. Your pet depends on hearing as one of the strongest of his senses and it just makes sense to take good care of them.