Frugal Family Pet tips
So many people out there have cats and dogs, and they know just how pricey cat/dog toys and supplies are. I have a few tricks that I have used to save money over the years with our critters that I thought I would share with you.
Covered Litter box
The first kitten we got was Milo cat
Here he is snuggling with Kiki when we first brought him home. He was so tiny!!! But man could that kitten make a HUGE mess with cat litter. He would kick it all over the place! It drove me nuts, I felt like I was constantly vacuuming up cat litter! We tried a litter box tent, but it still spilt over the sides and when I moved the tent to clean up the litter there would still be a pile around the outside of the box. I started looking at covered litter boxes, but they can get super pricey like $20-$30 on average. I was just not ready to spend that kind of money on a place for my kitten to poop. So I came up with a solution, I bought an 18gallon rubbermaid tub at Target for less than $5. I took a pair of scissors and a heavy duty box cutter and sliced a hole in the side of the box.
You could also cut a hole in the lid to get a litter box like this
but I chose not to because I thought that the hole in the side was going to be the easiest transition for him. I love my home-made litter box because it's so easy to clean and it keeps the litter inside of it! To clean it you just pop the lid off and scoop away. I try to clean the cat box completely out at least once a month and since it's a giant tupperware container it's so easy to just dump the contents in a trash bag then take it outside and hose it out.
Inexpensive cat shelves
So I love this show called "My cat from hell" it's a humorous and informative show about naughty cats and what their humans do to change their behavior with the help of a cat behavior specialist. One of the things that he mentions all the time is that the cats need someplace to observe their domain from. I couldn't stomach $100 for a cat tree and we don't have a ton of floor space so when he mentioned cat shelves on one episode I thought, now that is something that we can do. So I researched them online and they are pretty pricey. I decided that I could build them for cheaper so after some more online research at Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Walmart and IKEA I found that IKEA was the cheapest option for our shelves. I picked up some of the cheapest shelves
These were all under $10 and we bought 3 of them. Then we also got some of the cheap brackets. They were like $0.50 each. We only used two brackets per shelf, but you could use more if you want it to be sturdier. They also have longer shelves that I would recommend using more brackets with. I also got some of the cheapest rolled carpet that they have on rolls at Lowes, I think I got a 4 foot section and it was enough for all three shelves with a little bit left over. I cut it to the same size as the shelves then used a High Temp hot glue gun to glue the carpet to the top of the shelves. We hung the shelves on the walls fairly high because I didn't want the boys trying to climb them, but if you don't have children you could put them lower. We also made sure that the brackets were put into studs in the wall so that they wouldn't rip out the drywall. The shelves are pretty sturdy and can hold even Milo cat (full grown now at 15+ pounds) and Ginny cat (about 7 pounds) at the same time with their food and water. That was another bonus, keeping their food and water out of reach of the dog and kids.
Here they are checking out the shelves. The one with the cat grass is the shelf that now holds their food and water as well.
These were all under $10 and we bought 3 of them. Then we also got some of the cheap brackets. They were like $0.50 each. We only used two brackets per shelf, but you could use more if you want it to be sturdier. They also have longer shelves that I would recommend using more brackets with. I also got some of the cheapest rolled carpet that they have on rolls at Lowes, I think I got a 4 foot section and it was enough for all three shelves with a little bit left over. I cut it to the same size as the shelves then used a High Temp hot glue gun to glue the carpet to the top of the shelves. We hung the shelves on the walls fairly high because I didn't want the boys trying to climb them, but if you don't have children you could put them lower. We also made sure that the brackets were put into studs in the wall so that they wouldn't rip out the drywall. The shelves are pretty sturdy and can hold even Milo cat (full grown now at 15+ pounds) and Ginny cat (about 7 pounds) at the same time with their food and water. That was another bonus, keeping their food and water out of reach of the dog and kids.
Here they are checking out the shelves. The one with the cat grass is the shelf that now holds their food and water as well.
This is a picture from Christmas time with Ginny cat checking out one of our resident elves on a shelf Rosey.
Inexpensive Pet bed
Another inexpensive tip is to get a cheap pillow from Target or Walmart for a couple of dollars and then get a couple yards of fleece. You can usually catch some great deals at JoAnn's or Hobby lobby and they have adorable patterns and colors. Then all you have to do is lay out the fleece, put the pillow in the center on one of the short ends of the fabric. Then fold the excess sides in over the pillow and then simply roll the pillow until you are out of fleece. It's kind of like making a pillow Burrito. It's cheap and REALLY easy to wash in case of accidents or even just to get rid of the gross dog hair or pet smell. I have one of these next to the couch that the dogs and cat use all of the time.
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