Owning a pet is good for your physical and mental health. But is this also the other way around? As a dog owner, you want to believe that you are doing what is best for your pet. However, if you feed them unhealthy foods, you can be responsible for their lower energy levels, obesity, and other long-term health effects. To help you make affordable and healthy purchases to feed your pup, we have listed three ways you can feed him on a budget.
1. Start small before completely changing your pet’s diet
Before you take the plunge into paying for all natural organic foods for your dog, try slowly adding healthy goodies to your diet. This has two advantages. First, your dog can naturally adapt to whole foods and an influx of nutrients. This is especially important if they previously had a grain-based diet, as your dog may need time to adjust to certain diets (i.e. the raw food diet).
Second, slowly implementing healthier foods can help you improve your budget as you will get used to taking this surge in spending on your pet into account. For example, you may be used to paying for dry food, which can cost around S $ 1,415 per year (or S $ 27.21 per week). However, if you do decide to introduce healthier options for breakfast, such as: For example, ground turkey (which costs S $ 17.00 per week), allow for these additional costs. By slowly changing your dog’s diet, you can anticipate the cost and response of your dog to the changes to ensure a smooth transition.
2. Get creative with alternatives
Another way to feed your dog nutritiously on a budget is to get creative with your ideas on how to feed them well. This could be as simple as mixing inexpensive vegetables (like frozen carrots and spinach) into the meat. Or, you can mix some nutritional supplements into your dog’s current diet. The American Kennel Club recommends feeding your dog glucosamine, fish oil, antioxidants, and probiotics to aid a variety of functions, including pain management, maintaining a shiny coat, and heart, immunity, and digestive support. When you buy nutritional supplements, you know that some online retailers like iHerb have inexpensive fish oil supplements for S $ 0.09 per day.
Dog Supplement Cost in Singapore
3. Shop smart
Another easy way to save money on healthy pet food is to spend some time comparing prices to find the cheapest options available, as websites sell the same product at vastly different costs. Additionally, in most cases, it is best to buy groceries in bulk. Not only does this save you trips to the grocery store because you can prepare meals in advance, but it can also cost a fraction of the price of individual groceries – especially if you’re buying frozen foods. For example, NTUC FairPrice sells frozen organic spinach for S $ 6.25 for 400 grams, while fresh organic spinach would cost S $ 7.30 for the same serving. Combined with 1 kg of ground beef, which costs S $ 10.44 at NTUC FairPrice, you can prepare multiple meals to feed your pet for the week (depending on its size). In that case, roughly S $ 16.69 could feed your dog for a full week – at a lower cost than the weekly average of S $ 27.21. Of course, you should consult your veterinarian about changes to the amount and type of food you are giving your pet to keep them from getting sick.
Comparison of dog food costs from pet food websites and human food websites
Plus, shop smartly by checking what discounts are available to you. For example, your veterinary clinic may offer discounts on certain brands of food. Finally, you can use a cashback credit card with a huge discount. For example, if you get a 5.22% discount on general purchases, spending S $ 50 per month could save you S $ 31.32 per year on groceries only.
Feed them well now so that you can prevent illnesses later
Studies have shown that including healthier, less processed foods in your dog’s diet can increase their nutritional levels and make them healthier overall. To help you do this on a budget, gradually introduce healthy foods, be creative with ways to increase your pet’s food intake, and shop smart. This way you can avoid high veterinary bills in the future and help your pet in the long run.
