New Zealand loves its animals. Recent research revealed almost 80% of cat and dog owners consider their pet a family member. But with rising living costs, are there ways to keep those family members content without breaking the bank?
The 2020 report from Companion Animals New Zealand (CANZ) showed 32% of people cited cost as a prohibitive barrier to pet ownership. With nutrition, vets and your animal’s happiness to consider, pets do not come cheap.
But experts say there are ways to minimise that spend, while still maintaining your pet’s health and wellbeing.
Environment
While your furry friend needs warmth and comfort, this can come cheap, says CANZ general manager David Lloyd.
Stuff
CANZ general manager David Lloyd suggests most pets will be happy with a warm spot to call their own.
Most animals are happy with a warm, dry, comfortable spot to call their own. This can just as easily be blankets or cushions over fancy beds and caves.
“Bringing animals inside especially as winter hits is a good idea, but usually they’re pretty satisfied with having a nice place to curl up.”
Nutrition
While it may be tempting to opt for heavily-marketed, cheaper supermarket food options to save costs with your pet, Lloyd recommends chatting to your vet about the specific needs of your animal.
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“There’s lots of wet food at the supermarket that is really well marketed, but has a high water content, so you actually have to feed more,” he says.
A good, breed-specific food may be more expensive in the outset, but you will ultimately use less of it.
But Alison Vaughan, SPCA scientific officer says cost is not always an indicator of quality, and you can shop around for cheaper options.
“The most expensive foods are not necessarily the best. As long as your pet food has a label that says it meets the AAFCO requirements, those are diets that have been assessed as being complete,” she says.
“As long as it’s nutritionally balanced you could buy really expensive food, or you could buy budget food.”
CANZ’s Lloyd says: “You can feel good about skimping on those expensive treats, too. “[Often dogs] would much rather have the treat of your time than an expensive food treat.”
“You can reward your animal, or enrich your animal’s life by spending more time with them.”
Supplied
Putting money aside each week or finding a good pet insurance can help with unexpected medical bills.
Healthcare
As most animal owner’s know, unexpected vet bills can prove costly. Lloyd says while animal healthcare is absolutely necessary, the real sting of the cost can be limited.
He suggests putting a bit aside each week to help cover unexpected costs or investing in good pet insurance.
“Sometimes when people think about an event happening, they’re thinking about hit by car [or a one-off event] … pet insurance really pays for itself when your pet gets diagnosed with a chronic illness, and it’s month by month [treatment].”
Vaughan also suggests prevention is a cost-effective healthcare option. She says seeing the vet at early signs of a problem is a far cheaper option than being caught out on the weekend with a trip to the emergency vet.
“If you have a medical emergency it always [seems to be] on a bank holiday or in the middle of the night,” says Vaughan.
She also suggests looking into options if you do get caught out.
“There are options even if you get stuck with a big bill suddenly, so reach out to vets for [possible] payment plans, or other options that might be available to you.”
Behaviour
If you have a pile of unused pet toys in a corner of the house, this is absolutely an area where penny-pinching will not be detrimental to your pet’s wellbeing, says Lloyd. In fact, it could even enhance it.
“Usually those unmanned toys don’t hold their attention for very long,” he says.
“We put little treats in egg cartons for our cats to fish out. You can make homemade fishing rods, and homemade tug toys for dogs. That stuff’s all pretty affordable, essentially it’s a human time thing.”
“They don’t care how much money you make, they want to spend time with you,” says Vaughan.
Joe Caione
Time and energy spent on your animal’s mental and physical stimulation can keep them happy without costing money.
“There are things you can make or do with stuff you have lying around the house … they just want your time.”
Final Thoughts
The 2020 CANZ report showed more than 50% of surveyed households received their cat for free. While this may seem the cheaper option, Lloyd warns it can prove more costly for responsible pet owners in the long-term.
“It’s definitely more expensive doing things that way if you are responsible. The desexing, fleeing, worming and vaccinations are much more expensive to do yourself.”
He says adoption services receive special deals from vets, so paying an adoption fee is ultimately the cheapest (and safest) method of acquiring a new animal.
“We know the more we delay desexing [females], the greater risk there are of some health consequences,” says Vaughan.
As for whether you can afford an animal in the first place?
Lloyd suggests the average cat owner spends $62 a month on food and the average dog owner spends $95 per month.
With vets and other expenses, he says dogs will cost owners “thousands” a year, whereas a cat would likely cost at least $1000.
