More pet costs

The trip to the vet was a bit more expensive than I had budgeted for this initial visit. I did figure I would be budgeting in a teeth cleaning sometime soon as pooch is 5 years old and has some bad doggy breath.  Well, vet suggested trying some dental wipes and an antibacterial rinse for 6 months and see how it goes, before doing a sedated cleaning.  She is guessing our lab mix might have some boxer breed in him as his teeth are small and boxers tend to have gingivitis, which she found a little on our pooch.  He also needs to diet some more. Grrr.  When we had him in last year (saw one of the other vets) he said he needed to loose about 10 pounds. We've gotten him down 8 pounds, but now this vet is saying another 10 pounds! He's such a couch potato it's hard to get him to do much activity.  We did just discover recently he will actually chase after a frisbee - so we'll try to add that exercise in regularly.

So, we were sent home with some supplies - apparently a 25 day supply of wipes, and I'm not sure how far the 8 oz bottle of rinse will last.  The wipes were $13.24 and the rinse was $23.40 - $36.64! So, me being me, I promptly got on the internet to see if I can purchases these supplies cheaper, since I will be needing it for at least 6 months.  I found the oral rinse for $10.99 online - shipping is a flat $7, but if I buy several bottles at once, that will spread the $7 shipping cost, rather than just ordering one at a time.  I found the oral wipes for a lot cheaper other places - even at $4 (but shipping was a bit high). So all in all I should be able to cut this new regular cost down by at least half, compared to what the vet wants to charge me.

She also tried to sell me on a pet insurance plan. (which she also tried a few months ago when we had young pup in for his check up). I checked into it before and it was quite pricey. She said she pays about $80 a month for 2 dogs.  As we were driving home, my money smart daughter said "you are paying for the vet costs either way - $80 a month to insurance at almost $1000 a year, or why not just put that money in savings each month and save up for 2-3 years. You might need to use it or maybe you won't.

I'm just so glad I am in a good position now to not really have to worry about this additional cost. Even a couple of years ago I would have had to sit down and figure out what to cut out in my budget to be able to afford this.