Today we are all trying to save and cut back on our expenses. Even as dog owners we need to be as thrifty as possible without putting our pets health at risk. You should not skip their annual check up and shots. Yes there are even ways to save on this. A licensed veterinarian must administer the rabies shot but any layman that knows how to give shots can give the other shots.
If you find you cannot do that yourself as I cannot you may be able to find a friend. My daughter is a nurse and she can give the shots for me. But you do not need to be a nurse to give a dog a shot.
Cheap pet supplies
The medications can be bought at any local farmers co-op or from pet catalogs. Of course your pet must be on the heartworm already to be able to call the vet for the prescription. I also buy their flea and tick products online at quit a savings.
Their heartworm medicine needs a prescription but the vet can fax it into the pet sales or you can mail the handwritten prescription yourself.
I use to buy from the vet but the prices were very high and when I found an online catalog that carried the product I went to my vet. She explained they did not sell the volume that the catalogs do and that was why their prices were higher. So I now order all my dogs regular products rather than buy locally.
I would normally buy from the vet but we must cut expenses wherever possible. I still take my dogs for their rabies shots and their annual checkups. I order all products by the year, as this can be expensive I prepare for it. Each month I put a bit aside in an envelope and by the time to order I have it all ready. Just a little set aside each month will take care of it.
Buy ordering by the year you also receive a nice discount.
Low cost pet care
You can also save on grooming. This is possible if you do a bit of the work yourself. You can brush them out more often and give them a bath yourself in between visits. This will make it possible to extend the time between visits. Also when you do have them groomed go ahead and have them cut a bit shorter than usual. This will give you a bit more time also. Every 6 or 8 weeks is nice but I have found that with a little effort on my part they can go 10 to 12 weeks between visits. This could save you about four or so visits per year and that could be from 0.00 to 0.00 or more a year in savings.