Frugal Tips for Our Animal Family Members

[Mischief]

I thought I'd start a thread where we can share ideas for making life more comfortable for our non-human family members in a frugal way.

To start:

Instead of the litterboxes sold as litterboxes (which are both expensive and too small for the comfort of most cats), I buy large plastic storage containers and cut an opening in one side for ease of access. (For those of my cats who have a phobia about being waylaid in the litterbox by other cats, I cut openings in two sides.)

From Goodwill or other thrift stores, I buy the following:

Towels for bath time
Fleece blankets for curling up on
Receiving blankets for use in the pet carriers at vet time
Crib comforters for curling up on
Pillows for curling up on (mine especially love the stuffed animal/pillow hybrids)
Baskets
Ceramic inserts for slow cookers (these make great water bowls - easy to carry, plus tip proof)
Super size mugs (the cats love to drink their water from these)
Assorted dishes/bowls for feeding
Stuffed animals for the dogs
Odds and ends of baby/toddler toys that w0rk as cat or dog or bird toys
Sleeping bags - great dog beds, and the cats like them too

The fleece blankets can also be cut into suitable sizes to make cat hammocks, which are very popular in my house. It's easy to make a no-sew hammock: just make a knot in each corner, and then tie a cord under the knot and use it to tie the hammock to whatever hammock holding object(s) you have handy (for instance, and under-chair hammock can be tied to the chair legs).

 

[Poppy]

I've found that Tuesday Morning usually has nice pet items at great prices.

 

[KLS52]

I love the idea of storage containers for litter boxes. I'm going away for a few days in June. I think I will get one or two and try it out, especially for Stella. I have to use the covered litter boxes because she's a sprayer. I could get a really deep container and then I won't even have to worry about a lid.

 

[Mischief]

I love the idea of storage containers for litter boxes. I'm going away for a few days in June. I think I will get one or two and try it out, especially for Stella. I have to use the covered litter boxes because she's a sprayer. I could get a really deep container and then I won't even have to worry about a lid.

Yeah, I get the deep ones, because I have a few guys who simply won't squat to pee.

 

[silva]

Only one of ours is a sprayer, but he goes high! I have huge storage bins with cutouts, higher than the biggest cat-the one that sprays. They sit nicely on the lids to help contain some walkout litter.
I would be extremely careful about giving them used chew things- bigger choking hazard than they would be for kids.
My cats never tire of hair bands, and those big rubber washers for PVC pipes, or the pull tabs from milk cartons. They had a golf ball they were crazy for a while, liked that more than the ping pong balls. Putting things in small boxes with holes cut out, with some catnip sprinkles.
Easy to repurpose old furniture for climbing and scratching with carpet and rope
Won't lie- I have an old jacket that was meant to go to Goodwill that's in a corner. It's Momo's favorite!
I should get a kids fishing pole again, those are great feather chasers
Those mini rc cars were fun with string attached
Still never put the shelves on the walls for them like I promised. They have the second bedroom and i wanted to put shelves going up to the ceiling