Pets are a luxury, and often an expensive one. First you have the food and the toys and the vet bills. Then you have the silly snowflake sweaters and humiliating costumes for Halloween (yep, guilty as charged). The following story illustrates how pet ownership can cost you in some unexpected ways.
The other day I received a call at work from Mr. M, trouble on the home front. A 2-liter bottle of diet coke had fallen from its place on top of the fridge. In its bid, err fall, for freedom, it landed on the spot where we feed D. D’s bowl broke the bottle’s fall, shattering in a million pieces in the process. D apparently witnessed the destruction of his food bowl and was distraught over its demise. Was he worried he won’t get fed now? I was instructed by Mr. M to not come home until I had bought a new bowl with which to console D. The things we do for dogs!
After a long day at work I headed to Target, when I really just wanted to go home and put up my feet. Mr. M had made the executive decision that we needed 4 new dog bowls, a complete set of spares for when they are dirty or get broken. I don’t buy special bowls designed for doggies, the ones designed for humans work just fine at half the price. Obviously choose a wide, low style with steep sides. Deep and narrow is just cruel!
4 bowls, and $35 later, I was on my home. It’s impossible to enter Target and just buy one thing! Of course being late, cranky and hungry, I stopped and picked up fast food to take home. D was delighted with his new bowl, or maybe it was the hamburger I filled it with. It’s funny what we will do to make them happy. Never underestimate the emotional pull of your pet and its effect on your pocketbook.
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7 comments:
I've been considering getting a dog for awhile, but this is one of those things that I have decided to wait on until money is better for me.
I do think it is rather cute that your dog was so distressed about his bowl that your guy wouldn't let you come home without new ones.
That's too funny... I would have just given the dog a plastic Tupperware container or some such thing.
It's true though - people defn. under estimate the true costs of pets.
I have bright green plastic bowls from Ikea. I think they were .39 each. The best part is that I never have to worry about them breaking due to freak 2l accidents. I know that my pup would be equally distraught if her favorite item in the house was suddenly no more. :)
@Dawn - I wouldn't part with my 3 for the world, but to be honest they cost a lot of money. Guaranteed if you get a dog when money is tight, they'll get sick and cost you a fortune. It's murphys law. But the love is worth it, I'm a dog person and feel incomplete without them.
@Jessie - I use ceramic bowls because some dogs have a reaction to plastic bowls. The bowls are actually very inexpensive, it's the extra trip to the store and the dinner afterward that made it expensive. I thought it was a cute story though and illustrates how expenses crop up in the strangest ways.
@Frugal Beagle - the bowls I buy are about a buck, if they were "dog bowls" they would cost 4 times as much!
My dogs have always made do with cheaper plastic bowls and pie tins. The littlest one preferred the pie tins because he liked climbing right into them with both front legs to keep it steady while he licked it clean, he couldn't bear down on the smaller plastic bowls as well and would lick-hobble-chase those around the floor.
What a funny story! :-)
I'm with you on the ceramic bowls. Also, larger dogs need heavier food dishes, since they tend to tip pans and bowls over. A German shepherd pup will quickly discover the fun in picking up a plastic bowl (still full of food or water!) and tossing it across the room.
Ikea: good source. Target: pretty good, too. Another good place is Cost Plus (World Market), which carries a wide variety of plates and bowls and sometimes has sales.
Unexpected costs of pet ownership ZOOM with wellness care and grooming/bathing. Our dog costs 700 to 900 a year! It's a sobering number and that's without dogfood!
Thanks, John DeFlumeri Jr, Clearwater, Fla.
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