Quick food question

I highly doubt your outside dogs that are being fed crap get the best.

Why would you need to buy shampoo and conditioner monthly? Dogs should not be getting bathed more than once a month for their skins sake. My shampoo for 12 dogs lasts be 6-12 months, and I bathe them every 1-2 months.

Brushes..I barely go through those. I have 1 longhaired dog..you don't even have longhaired dogs, why would you replace brushes monthly?

And please tell me how you spend 100$ MONTHLY for red eared sliders? The cost to get all the supplies in the beginning is high, but food for them is NOT expensive..there is no way you spend that every month. I spend about 100$ dollars on ALL my small animal (not counting dog and cat) supplies monthly, and I have a LOT of small animals.

Vets are NOT dog nutritionists. Most vets advertise Science diet..which anyone who knows dog nutrition, know is a HORRIBLE food.

I have 15 goldfish.,..there food monthly does NOT cost 20 dollars. Fish food costs about 6-8$, and fish do NOT go through an ENTIRE container of food in a month. Also, filter cartridges are changed once a month, and ONE filter cartridge is less than 4$.

Chemicals to treat the water LAST longer than ONE month. You are pulling these numbers out of no where.

The appropriate bulbs your turtles should have do NOT burn out every month. If you leave it on for the appropriate amount of time and you have both the UVB bulbs and the heat bulbs, then these should be lasting for atleast 3 months.

My mom started out feeding science diet, and went to Beneful...When I got my first job (not that long ago sadly..) I started buying 11 of my dogs Kirkland Signature, and my picky chi Innova evo. Kirkland has done wonders for their coat and skin, and there was a big improvement over the crap food my mom was buying. And now she buys the cats Kirkland brand cat food. She noticed the difference, and has changed her views of dog food. When I first bought the kirkland, she kept saying "The dogs don't like it..I am going to buy beneful again"..but now after seeing improvement in our dog Brad, who had terrible food allergies..she completely understands why before I got a job, I begged her to buy better foods for them!

LOL! Someone needs to go back to 2nd grade math class :lol-sign:

There are not 30 weeks in a month, lol! So it would be:

12 hours per day x 30 days a month = 360 hours.

And why are you doing 150 gallon water changes a WEEK? That is EXTREMELY excessive.

Hahah! That is exactly the post I was going to make. As soon as I saw that I was amazed that she is squeezing 210 days into every month!

As I said before, some people have financial problems because they never bothered to learn basic arithmetic.

ok so maybe my mind is not perfect and thinking staight, but the point is clear. i apologize for the mistake, the water changes are simple BECAUSE I HAVE 4 RES, and if you know anything about turtles they are very very messy. and needs to be done..

ya know something i think you just have something against me personally that you do not like and will not get over it. and you will not let it go. i am sorry for the mistakes i have made, but do you need to keep shoving them down my throat!!??!

Here is the correct math (this post is meant to help you):

Basking light, $16.00 for 2,000 hours
12 hours/day x 30 days/month = 360 hours/month.
That means, 1 bulb = 5 and 1/2 months max
Even if the bulb only lasts half of its maximum life, that is nearly 3 months.
Cost per month = ~$4

SeaChem Prime, $8.00 for 2,500 gallons
150 gallons/change x 4 changes/month = 600 gallons of treatment
That means 1 8.45oz bottle lasts over 4 months
Cost per month = $2

Filter pads (white, fine), $8.00 for 9 filters
1 filter pad/week, 4 weeks/month = 4 filters/month
That means that 9 filters will last you about 2 months
Cost per month = $4.50

Zoo Med Reptile Food (16oz), $6.00
Max of $6.00/month according to you.
Cost per month = $6

Treats: $10-15/month.

Minimum cost per month: $26.50
Maximum cost per month: $31.50

I was very generous in my calculations so the numbers would actually be slightly lower.

i would like to break down for you my budget when i got yoshi *will admit it was a bad time in my life and i had no right getting a dog then*

these are all BASIC requirments for us to live everyday! no extras!!!
rent : 400 per month
gas for car : 20 per month *if i ran out of gas i walked the two miles to work*
electric : included with rent
gas : included with rent
insurance: 600 per 6 months *went without insurance for a while soo... yeah don't do that*
furniture payment: i believe when buying furniture/tvs/anything in paying it off then. i don't have the money i don't buy it. even if i NEED it i don't get it unless i have that money. that's how i got in debt.
cable/phone/internet: i didn't use my tv except for my p2s/i didn't have a phone/i didn't have internet i used the librarys. and that was for work and school
family insurance: i went without insurance
pet insurance: i went without *should have had but didn't*

food bills:aprox..
human: 10/week *i stretched. i will admit but i ate until i was full each day*
pups: 30/month
bird: 15/month


Pet care:aprox
pups: 300 every two months or so
bird: 100 every 6 months

toys or misc: nothing. if yoshi got a toy i made it or i streched like crazy to save up for it.

my monthly salary : $450. was i short a lot? yes. i sold my clothes i myself had maybe 3 or 4 outfits and one pair of shoes for whenever and work. i sold my books. i sold what few cds i had. i sold what few dvds i had. i sold games. i sold my nintendo ds. i sold my plates. i sold my hair *for a knife show*. i had no luxuries. i was the ripe old age of 18. and no, mommy and daddy weren't helping me.


i do brush yoshi's teeth and i do understand about the toy thing. give yoshi a ball/kong/anything and it's destroyed in under 5 minutes.

i have owned red ear sliders before and i guess i was a horrible owner lol i had drops for the water *a bottle lasted an ETERNITY* had food which i bought maybe every other month. i gave fruits/veggies from my own food sooo didn't every really go out of my way to buy for him. lights needed changed every 4 or 5 months. and i didn't test kit him . also i live in ok. so i'd just set him out during the day with a shade 'tree' and he could be in the sun if he wanted or not *in a kiddie pool*

just wanted to note.... high school tennis courts after practice you will find a TON of lost tennis balls

I just wanted to add one little thing before the thread restarts bashing puppylover again that in a recent post in another thread she has said that she is educating herselfs on the importance of nutrition in dogs. Puppylover, although we may never see eye to eye on the importance of nutrition I'm glad that you decided to research it further and investigate whether our claims are valid or not.

I understand being on a budget, really I do....I will skimp on a lot of things such as toys, blankets, treats, etc, but when it comes to the staple of their survival - food is energy is life and I find that to be well worth the expense.

I would much rather feed my dogs, literally, "mystery meat".

I completely agree!

HEALTH, for life, is much more important than buying a stuffed animal that's going to get gutted and shredded in 4 days. I MIGHT buy my dogs 2 toys per month... maybe. It's better to have a few quality toys that you use often than 100 destructable, disposable toys. Yes, there are initial costs involved with buying two puppies within months of the other. You do have to start somewhere. But, a single bottle of dog shampoo should last for in excess of a year... if it's good quality and you bathe your dogs appropriately. 2 high quality brushes will last for life. A few high quality beds will last for years. Blankets ARE re-usable and washable. A few high quality toys don't cost much and will last for years.

I probably spent $100's more every year when I fed lower quality kibble... especially compared to feeding Raw, now. I bought practically 1 Greenie per day. I gave baths every week. I had to brush his teeth daily. I had to buy chewies and toys to satisfy his natural urge to chew. He shedded excessively. Etc!

a couple of days ago I was flipping through a catologue and TADA! A pet shop was advertising a special on Ennova Evo, I didn't even know they sold it here.
Anyway, mum won't buy it for all of them, she's gonna stick with the high quality end of the supermarket foods, Buster is being swiched over next week to evo.

Actually, one great thing i see about feeding good quality, the differnce in their poo.

Ours get mostly raw, a lot of chicken wings/legs/necks/frame etc also beef soup bones, lamb etc when its around. They also get a good mix of vegies and mince a couple of times a week and their biscuits. WHen eating this their poo doesn't smell that bad, its easy to pick up and doesn't leave our small yard smelling like a dog toilet after a couple of days, now last week we had a few days where we hadn't organised fresh meat, all we had were some low quality processed foods I'd bought without readin the label properly and when I reread it later worked out how gross it was.
Well our yard stank, not pleasent.
Not a big fan of processed food but a good quality biscuit makes it easier to make sure they are getting abalanced diet, they can't live of only meat.