Pets grow into beloved members of families and many do what they can to keep them happy and healthy. Marc Peralta, chief program officer of Best Friends Animal Society, joined Cheddar News to discuss finances and expenses when taking care of your furry family members.

<div class="block">Pets grow into beloved members of families and many do what they can to keep them happy and healthy. Marc Peralta, chief program officer of Best Friends Animal Society, joined Cheddar News to discuss finances and expenses when taking care of your furry family members.</div>

Stretching Your Dollar

Stretching Your Dollar: How to Care for Your Pets on a Budget

Pets are some of the most beloved members of your family. So you'll do whatever you can to keep them happy and healthy. But from food and toys to vet bills, those expenses can add up. So to give you tips on how to care for your pets on a budget, I'm joined by Mark Peralta, he's Chief Program Officer at Best Friends Animal Society. So thanks for joining us, Mark. I'm a pet owner, so I would love all these tips. So let's start with one of the biggest expenses. The vet is it worth getting pet insurance? You know, there's only a small percentage of Americans, most of the studies that I see about five, you know, way under 10% that have it. But I will tell you that um it's kind of a personal choice for pet owners, but I think oftentimes it's a good idea to at least uh do a little bit of research, you can read Yelp reviews, talk to your veterinarian people like that. But pets are such important parts of our families. We have best friends are trying to do things like make sure that healthy and treatable pets are not killed in shelters and to do that, it's really making sure that pets can stay with you and be in your home. So, pet insurance is one of those things that allows owners trying to be able to have that choice to follow up on medical needs because the veterinary, you know, the, the vet is definitely one of the areas of a biggest expense for us. Uh, you know, that own pets. Now, what should people look for when shopping for pet insurance? I know when I was looking one of the things that hit me with the pre existing conditions. Yeah. So, you know, there's a lot of things that go into it so I own, tend to own larger kind of shepherd dogs and pugs. So for me, preexisting conditions are big as well, bigger dogs with hip dysplasia, um, pet, you know, pugs that have a lot of different things. So, um, I think it's, it's, you need to consider plan options. Every insurance company, just like every insurance company for us as Americans are a little bit different. So you have to do a little bit of research, but I'm telling you, uh, reviews are big, um, family members, friends. If you have a friend that works in a shelter or somebody that, you know, uh that's owned pets for a long time, those can be some of your biggest allies in trying to, to shop around and figure out whether or not pet insurance or what kind of pet insurance might be right for you. Now, there's something called a vet discount plan. How are they different from insurance? So that discount plans allow you to visit like in network providers. So a lot of people that have insurance, it's kind of the same way. You have a doctor in your, you know, in your area or you don't. Um, it differs from an insurance plan because you don't need to pay up front. You don't submit for reimbursement or anything like that, but there's no deductibles, there's no exclusion. It's just a plan that allows you to visit specific in network providers. They're kind of con together. Sorry. No worries. Now, what can you do to keep your pet healthy? So maybe you can cut down on some of those vet visits. Here's the trick you need to be going to the vet on a regular basis for your pets usually will make uh that cost over time be a lot better. So, um but before you even get to that, just like us balanced diet, um you don't need premier brand or those kind of things to, to keep a pet healthy. Look at ingredients, if your ingredients are are normal kind of basic ingredients, chicken, liver beef, those kind of things as a starting point. It's a good sign that this might be a little bit of a better food. Um but you do need to take your pets to vets and, and doing an annual visit, at least to make sure that their vaccines are updated that you can get prescriptions to do preventative like heart worm, especially for those of us that live in places that have a lot of mosquitoes. That's an important thing to keep going. Um, flea and tick prevention, those kind of things. So you need to go to the vet, but the more that you do and if you can get on a regular basis, it's going to save you money over time. I'm really glad you mentioned some of those food items because that is a huge expense. So can subscription services help you save on this front? You know, on, you know, large online realtors that sell pet food. They, a lot of times they do do subscription services that can save you a lot of money. Uh almost like a Costco or, or those kind of things that we do in kind of our own food. Um But, you know, if you can't afford, you know, to feed your pet as well, you're going through hard times. There's a lot of pet assistant uh resources all over the country. Um So we Best Friends Animal Society offer services where we have centers but local shelters, local humane societies, S PC A rescue groups. If you just Google pet food pantries or those kind of things, those things exist in a lot of areas to help people through hard times as well. So, uh, but I would say the other thing is buying in bulk, uh, really can say especially dry or wet food. You don't need to service those out within a couple of weeks. They'll be fine. You can keep them in bins that keep them fresh. So if you can buy in bulk, you're going to save a lot of money as well. Well, besides buying in bulk, where else should people look for deals on pet supplies? I'm thinking like beds or toys or maybe some of those cute outfits for winter. So I think you can almost like we do with babies. There's a lot of repurposing of things to turn into dog toys. Uh, old socks, old shirts, pillows can turn into old pillows, can turn into dog beds, cat beds. So there's a lot of things that you have, um, in your home that actually can be refocused, I think. Um, you know, again, online realtor, uh, retailers also sell pet supplies in bulk. They have sales, look for sales just like you would normally. Um, and if you purchase pet supplies from us at Best Friends, we also will give back to other places of need, other shelters and things like that. So repurpose things that you have that can turn into beds toys, those kind of things, um, buy online during sales. Those are big keys and, and finding those sales are huge for you to save some money on supplies and beds. And toys and things like that. Now, the big question, is it worth it to spend money on training or is that something pet owners can do themselves? You know, I think training is always a great idea and it's really going to be on your basic budget. But I do think there's a lot of resources out there that can get you and a lot of training has to do with us versus the pet. So what we allow them to do, what we don't allow them to do. So if you're, you know, really kind of trying to pinch pennies and you don't have a lot of money, there are resources out there. But I would say if you have a little bit extra time in budget training is never a bad idea for things like, you know, making sure pets are ok, you're at work, they're not, you know, destroying your house, but there's also a lot of tips out there that kind of help you do that on your own as well. So again, it's really about where you are in your budget. Um things like grooming too, you can um it kind of falls in that category. There are a lot of things out there. You could even visit grooming and get some tips, groomers and get some tips, but there's videos out there that can allow you to do anything if you can. And if you run up against the time where you don't have a lot of money, you know, it's not a bad idea. Well, thanks so much for joining us. That's Mark Peralta. He's from Best Friends Animal Society. Thank you.