Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Shopping Online for Your Pet

Do you use flea preventative such as Frontline or K9 Advantix? If you live in the South you probably use them year round. I know I do, I swear anytime I think about skipping it for a month I find a flea on my poor pup. It's a hard choice sometimes if your budget is stretched pretty thin, as such preventatives can be expensive. Here are some ways I've found to cut back and save more.

1. Shop for the preventative online! Many of them are available at a low rate on sites such as Amazon. Even with shipping you wind up saving a lot more than buying it from your vet's office. For instance 1 thing of Frontline was 17 dollars at my Vet. The same product on Amazon is 5.83(34.99 for a 6 pack). Quite the difference in savings.

2. When shopping online sometimes you might need a prescription for their heartworm medication. You're vet should easily provide this for you. I have a co-worker whose vet office told her to start buying it online because it was that much cheaper! If they are unwilling, see if they will price match. Another co-worker of mine is able to buy her pets heartworm preventative at the same price she would online but her vet wants her business so they matched the price! It never hurts to ask.

3. Check to see if your dogs preventatives offer a mail in rebate when you buy the product. There are many different brands all competing for your business. Recently, I found a 3 dollar mail in rebate for my dogs heartworm preventative.

4. Use sites like Ebates to earn cash back while shopping for your pets medications, preventatives, toys etc online. You can use your normal method of payment and earn up to 8% back for your purchase. Even mainstream retailers like Petsmart and Petco offer cash back on ebates.

5. Use the internet to research what people are saying about certain products like Frontline or K9. You can save yourself time and money by finding out how peoples pets reacted to the product or if it worked. When I first got my dog I had her on Frontline. She still would get fleas. I did a search online and many people were complaining about having a similiar problem in my area. I switched her to K9 to great success based upon their reviews and recommendations. While not all reviews are going to give you the best advice, you can get a general sense of the product. After all, you wouldn't buy a new car without doing research, why not hold the same true for smaller more routine purchases.

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