Desperately Need Deals!!

[jrashley]

We have become the local dumping grounds for unwated animals! In the last three months we have acquired 2 dogs and 10 cats...on top of the 1 dog and 1 cat that are family pets. The only shelter in the area (about half an hour away)is a kill shelter so I dont feel comfortable just turning them in. We have found a few homes here and there and it always works out in the end but lately it has gotten really bad because they just keep coming! We live next to a church and we think that people are dumping them there thinking some kind soul will take them in. They then just wander into our yard and become a part of our life until we can find them a home. Its getting ridiculously expensive though and since Ive started couponing I know there HAS to be a way to make this cheaper to deal with without giving these animals over to a shelter who will likely just euthanize them. We live in the country on about 3 acres of land with no neighbors really close...so the sheer number doesnt bother anyone else (only us from time to time!). Today we had the cutest...most adorable lab puppy wonder up and DH fell in love so I know Im in trouble unless I can start finding some deals (and HOMES!) We are currently down to 3 dogs and 8 cats including our family pets. It's a challenge and I hope there are no new additions for a while so that we can find good homes for these first!!!!!

Any advice on how to find good deals???

[3timesoccermom]

If you can't find enough through trading with friends, etc., you can always buy pet food coupons from a coupon clipping service but those pets are going to multiply very quickly unless they are spayed/neutered. Is there a low cost spay/neuter clinic anywhere close to you? It's really sad and disgusting what people do to animals.

We love on a dead end road in "the country" and have had numerous animals end up here too, once a red coon hound that promptly had 10 puppies was dumped here. Thankfully we found homes for all 10 pupplies AND the mom.

[jrashley]

I hear ya! Thats how we wound up with so many cats! We just had one dumped on us a few months ago that promptly had kittens! I dont mind having them so much because they roam and take care of mice and snakes and such but I REALLY dont need as many as we have now! LOL We are working on finding them homes and have found a few. We usually bring the girls in and confine them to the house if they are "of age" as we dont have the money to spay every stray that comes our way and we have been lucky enough to only have 2 female cats out of all of these!! The one litter (so far) is the only litter we've had to deal with...but she was already pregnant when she got here! This is the first female dog dumped on us as well so I guess we have been REALLY lucky in that respect. Not that the boys dont need fixin too but WOW... that could get REALLY expensive. The new addition will be going to the vet tomorrow because DH wants to keep her...so she will be spayed in a few months (whenever shes old enough). its always something though! I just hope I can find some good deals so I can feed all these babies until I can find them homes!

[jrashley]

oh almost forgot! We have a petco within reasonable traveling distance... can you generally find better deals there? or should I just stick to Walmart & grocery store type deals??

[motherofmolly]

oh almost forgot! We have a petco within reasonable traveling distance... can you generally find better deals there? or should I just stick to Walmart & grocery store type deals??

petco is a hit and miss with deals....their prices are a littler higher than petsmart here....

your best bet and the easiest way to spot deals: when you see a higher amount coupon for dog food/cat food come out, immediately start looking at your stores prices...and i mean all your stores....especially the coupons that say "on any size"....alot of times the 3.5 & 4lb bags are almost free with a good coupon..especially at some of the smaller local stores

example: $3/1 chef michaels coupons were great for me as kmart had them for $3.99 during one of the doubles...so i combined those with other items and a $5/$50 to get almost free dog food..

i get my dogs a little of whatever...i finally figured out that if i get the canned dog food when it is free or almost totally free, i then can add it to my dry food as a "treat" but in reality it helps by me not using as much dry...but my dogs do not get it every day as i dont want them use to it...

keep an eye on the pet deal threads but also keep a good eye on the threads for your local stores.

[Ggbwg]

you don;t have a pets mart do you ?

[BamaLady]

Does your animal shelter have the low cost spay/neuter certificates? Ours here has the program to help defray the cost of spay/neuter. The certificates are $30. each, one for the shots and one for the surgery. They also ask for any amount you can contribute over and above that, as a sort of "co-pay", as that is a sort of requirement of the program.

(Someone gave them a rather large amount of money in a bequest for this program, and part of the guidelines are that the pet owner contribute some amount, however small. I had $10 extra and they were glad to take it and call it my "co-pay".)

Certain veterinarians take part in the program and perform the shots and surgery at a much reduced cost to allow use of the certificates. The animal shelter will have a list of which vets will be in the program, and you can pick one.

Females may have to stay overnight until the anesthesia wears off, males can go right on back home that evening.

I now have eight cats, the last one dumped in my yard, female, tiny, scared, and half starved. She is now nine months old, and beautiful, spayed, and happy.

Best prices on cat food, and probably dog food, too (I'm not a dog person), I have found go back and forth between Walmart and Petsmart. One thing to look for at Petsmart--when the food gets close to the expiration date they will mark it down at least half price. It will still be good for some time after that, but they cannot sell it past that date. I have seen, and bought, the high end premium cat foods for a very good price by looking around on the bags and cases of canned for the orange stickers.

Stretch it by mixing it with some of the cheaper food. I was surprised that my bunch actually liked it!

Good luck, and I hope this helps you out in some way. Bless you for loving the poor thrown out animals.

[jrashley]

There is a PetSmart about an hour from here so its not somewhere I could just jump up and go to every time there was a good sale but I could make the occasional trip if the deal was good enough!

I have never heard of the certificates! I will have to make some calls and see if there is anything like that in this area.

Thanks everyone for the adivce! Ill definitely be keeping an eye out for sale/clearance prices wherever Im at each week and see if I can match it up to coupons I have :) I guess its just like any other deal...right place...right time ...right coupon...and plenty of searching ahead of time! :)

[Ggbwg]

Not sure if this is a good deal so don't know if this will hel you or not.

TARGET
Pedigree Dog food 20 lb bag on sale $9.99
- $2/1 Target coupon
- $3/1 coupon from the 2/14RP
Final cost only $4.99

[woopidydoo]

I also take care of a bunch of cats. There's feral cat colonies all around here. Before I started couponing I spent around 70 dollars a week on litter and food..now I spend close to no money. YAY.

I catch stray cats to be spayed and neutered. I've only had to pay for it once..other times I just donated if I had the money. If you want to PM me you can tell me what city or town you live in and I can call around and try to find someone who will spay your cats for free. It's very important those girls get spayed! I spay and neuter all my cats..but girls are most important. The shelter in my town was also giving dog and cat food away since the economy is so bad. Maybe you can call and ask if they have any donations they would be willing to donate to you. Another shelter near me, only feeds science diet. Science diet donates to the shelter. So, any donations the shelter gets that isn't science diet they donate.