OLD DOGS NEW TIPS

Unproductive.

We have two old-ish dogs. The younger of the two, Flapjack is a Hurricane Katrina rescue from New Orleans. He's a mix of something, we think Catahoula Leopard Dog (what?!) and pit bull. He came to us with worms and many other small issues. He healed pretty quickly from his week or so livin' on the streets after the hurricane most likely eating rotting corpses of whatever to survive - my hope is that he ate only skunks and squirrels since that is what he's most interested in now. He'll be 8 (we think) in a few months and NEVER gets sick and is only mildly anxious during fireworks or very loud storms. His ears are very soft. Wait I forgot - he likes to eat poo, rub his back in decaying dead animals that he finds on our walks and killed a skunk a couple of weeks ago. All things considered, he's still a great dog.

Sasha hiking at Cloudland Canyon in TN

Our older dog, Sasha is a card carrying Rhodesian Ridgeback from Kalahari in Mobile, Alabama  - her aunt won the hound group of the 2002 Westminster Dog Show, which is how I found her. I was watching the show, then I looked up the breeder on the internets and the next day she emailed me that she had a couple of non-show females available and that was that. Sasha has a crooked ridge and she's really big - not a show dog. I love her dearly, but she was definitely a spontaneous purchase. She'll be 10 on October 18th. She was bred by a very conscientious breeder who brought the father to Alabama from Australia. I'm pretty sure that she's not inbred. However, they can come with some health issues even if they're bred well - so read up before getting one. They are large - which has never been an issue for us since we've had a house and a yard throughout her life. Sasha is too good to play in her yard, so she needs to be taken to other large open areas to play. She doesn't like dog parks, too many dogs in her pretty face - we were just told that she looks like Sandra Bullock. Back to the health issues - I think I mentioned that Flapjack never gets sick and is a mutt. Sasha had mange for about 4 months as a puppy and required expensive baths every couple of weeks. She started peeing on our bed the night before our wedding and has been on Proin ever since. She lost a bunch of her hair on her sides (seasonal flank alopecia) and takes melatonin for that - it all grew back. Oh yeah, she has a heart murmur too. If you're looking to save money on pets, don't get them. If you are still set on getting them, get a mutt it should save you money on meds and vet bills. I've found that ordering pet meds is much cheaper from KV Supply than from other online shops and definitely cheaper than buying meds at the vet.

Sasha and Nico from a few years ago

Regardless of mutt or purebreed dog you'll need to get them on heartworm preventative and flea meds - buy the generics and you'll save a lot! The ingredients in Iverheart Plus matches Heartgard Plus and Ecto Advance is exactly the same as Frontline Plus. You'll also want to feed your dogs, they like that. We used to spend a lot on Evo dog food and on a recommendation from a friend a couple of years ago, we switched to the salmon no grain dog food from Costo - it's about $40 cheaper per month than the Evo and seems to work well for our dogs. Our vet instructed us to feed the dogs less than what it says on the bag of dog food. Our dogs are really fit and I'm sure that only feeding our 85 pound dog 3 cups of food a day helps. It all depends on the dog and the type of food - so ask your vet how much you should feed your dog and don't rely on the bag of food to guide you. They make more money when your dog is fat. We buy them milkbones at Costco too - the dogs dance in circles nightly at 8pm to let us know that it's time for their T-R-E-A-T-S'. Nico (my daughter) makes them lay down and sets the milkbones in front of their noses then tells the dogs to wait, then after watching the saliva run out of their mouths for a bit she yells "OK!" and they devour their T-R-E-A-T-S'. We can't say that word in our house without the dogs freaking the f out. 

FlapJack

You probably can't take your pets with you everywhere you go. We've used nice kennels and paid $30 per dog per night, but I'd much rather use a pet sitter. For $30 per night you can hire a college kid or recent grad to stay at your house and take care of your pets in a way less stressful setting than a kennel. Bonuses are someone watching your house, taking in your mail and watering your plants. You can find them through local schools or on sites like sittercity.com. We can't take our dogs anywhere, so we spend a good chunk of change each year on pet sitting. To wrap it all up - dogs are expensive. Kids are expensive too, but eventually they'll clean up their own poo.

PS. I'll add a google doc with a breakdown of costs tomorrow. Pinky swear! DONE - here it is. We spend roughly $2,825 each year.

PPS. Catahoula, Ridgeback, and Alopecia are not in google blogger's spellcheck dictionary - for shame!