Our Best Friends

Fur children are a hit in Aotearoa! Not only do we have one of the highest instances of pet ownership in the world, we spend an enormous amount of money keeping our pets happy and healthy.

However, when you are watching your budget carefully, you and your pet can still enjoy the good life.

According to the New Zealand Pet Food Manufacturers Association, 68% of households own at least one companion animal, and with a total pet population of 5 million, they outnumber people.

Cats are New Zealand’s most popular pet with 48% percent of households owning an average of two cats. That’s a total cat population of 1.4 million. There are 700,000 pet dogs in New Zealand with 29% of households owning at least one dog.

Those living off the smell of an oily rag may need to think twice or thrice about how much they spend on pets – and be imaginative in the way they can reduce the costs but continue to enjoy the pleasures of pets.

Earlier this year Fairfax published a very good article about the life-time cost of a pet, which includes the initial purchase cost and housing and the like, and the expected ongoing costs. This is what they found.

Goldfish – $300 lifetime cost over 10 years, or $30 a year.
Guinea Pig – $1,150 lifetime cost over six years, or $192 annually.
Budgie – $1,650 lifetime cost over 10 years, $165 a year.
Cat – $7,250 lifetime cost over 15 years, $483 a year.
Dog – $13,250 lifetime cost over 12 years, $1,104 a year.
Horse – $80,000 lifetime cost over 25 years, $3,200 a year.

For some pets, like a dog, there will be a significant variation depending on the size of the animal. (Just think how much is must cost for zoos to keep lions and elephants and the like!)

One thing that new pet owners will be confronted with is a decision about pet health insurance. Southern Cross has a very good online calculator so you can work out how much insurance for your dog or cat would cost. For example, insuring a Golden Labrador would cost between $53 and $71 a month depending on the type of plan. A Rottweiler is between $80 and $107 a month. A Burmese puddy cat would cost between $33 and $44 a month. These are fairly big numbers compared to the expected annual cost of keeping a pet.

As with all insurance policies, certain conditions apply. In the case of Southern Cross the pet can be no more than 6 years at the time the policy is taken out. Besides the normal inflation premium increases one could expect, there is a 30% age loading added to the premium when the pet reaches the age of 10.

On thing is for sure. Keeping a pet is a big responsibility in terms of care and cost. Fortunately oily raggers have lots of ideas on how to keep the cost to a minimum without compromising the care.

• Having a dog invariably means having a carpet full of dog hairs and doggie-doos. A reader recommends cleaning carpets with baking soda. Pierce the lid of a jar with about eight holes. Fill the jar with baking soda and shake it all over the carpet. Leave for about 30 minutes then vacuum.

• Another reader makes their own dog shampoo. She mixes baking soda with water to make a wet shampoo and rubs it into dog’s coat. The baking soda neutralizes odours and is gritty so it removes dirt and oils.

• Another has a recipe for a low-cost flea repellent. Simply mix equal parts white vinegar and water. Place in a spray bottle and spray onto your dog’s coat, then rub in. Apparently fleas are not keen on the smell of vinegar. Another says they put a clove of garlic into their dog’s drinking water; they say its keeps fleas at bay and works as a worm treatment.

• Treat pet sores with a leaf from the aloe vera plant – break open a leaf and apply it to the sore.

• Margaret from Whangarei adds linseed to her cooked dog food to give them a shiny coat. She buys cheap reject cuts of meat from a butcher and freezes them – and dog biscuits in bulk from a rural wholesale outlet.

• Kaye from Te Puke says, “When feeding puppies or younger dogs, boil up all your vege scraps (potato skins and carrot peelings etc), then when soft, mash them up…. they really love it and it’s great for them. Also lavender, freshly picked and rubbed along a dogs back, keeps away fleas!”

By Frank and Muriel Newman. Read more here.

Don’t forget to send us your tips and queries so we can share them with the oily rag community – you can do that by visiting the oily rag website (www.oilyrag.co.nz) or by writing to Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag, PO Box 984, Whangarei.