The cost of things: September 2012

Tags

budgeting, dog treats, finances, goat, green mush, green tripe, healthforce, honest kitchen, pet finances, soloxine, thundershirt

This is part of my ongoing effort to track our pet finances here at the House of Two Bows. Previous posts in the series can be found under the category of finances.

The Cost of (Pet) Things for September 2012:

• Food: $49
• Treats: $30
• Grooming: $7
• Accessories and misc: $45
• Vet & Medical: $20
• TOTAL: $151 (running average for 2012 ~ $153 / month)

This is apparently the month of “green” food, including a variety of supplements. We got a lot of mileage out of our sample pouch of The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form, an herbal and plant-based digestive supplement, so I bought a full canister to keep on hand — not for everyday use. After last month’s half-successful trial with green tripe (Bowdu loved his share; Bowpi barfed up her entire portion), I went ahead and picked up two more chubs. While browsing at the local holistic pet store, this item called Green Mush™ caught my eye, so I grabbed a small sample bottle.

I liked it better when I hadn’t taken a look at the company website. I’m sufficiently scared by what I read from HealthForce™ that I’ll be giving them the rest of the bottle in ratios much lower than suggested, lest the Bows start beaming involuntary telepathic messages to Mayan DemonWarriorSpirits™ to come invade our home and do their Manna-thing all over us…

1 tsp Green Mush added to 1/4 cup of Honest Kitchen Preference… it’s practically glowing

Lesson learned: take heed of the CRAZY MYSTICAL SYMBOL™ on packaging before purchase. Luckily this stuff was not very expensive.

Moving along in this month’s showcase of The Overindulgent Pet Mommy to the treats and non-essential edibles category, the Bows got some more C.E.T. dental chews and a bag of really expensive dehydrated goat liver treats. I was enjoying a fleeting sense of optimism and in a mood to buy something shiny when I picked up that $15 pouch (about $13 after my store rewards discount). Though the Bows expressed their gratitude with appropriate enthusiasm, I felt like such a sucker by the following day that I bought a couple pig’s hearts to chop up and throw into the dehydrator. MY homemade treats will cost barely a fraction of what I paid for that pack of goat liver, dammit.

Grooming costs amounted to a single tube of pet toothpaste.

Accessories and miscellaneous costs included a Thundershirt, as mentioned (yet to be put to the test), and the toll across the Bay bridge to take the Bows to the beachside Shiba meetup. The parks themselves may be free, but travel still accounts for some expense — I’ve given up on counting gas money!

Finally, I had to reschedule Bowdu’s anticipated vet appointment for early October… so this month’s medical expense is merely for a refill of his Soloxine. That’s how much I paid 1-800-Petmeds for a 250-count refill of 0.4 mg pills (his entire daily dosage), minus a $5 loyalty credit. Thank goodness hypothyroidism is a relatively inexpensive and easily manageable condition… at least for Bowdu, for now!