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  • Discount Pet Medication: Best Places to Save Big

    Discount Pet Medication: Best Places to Save Big

    When it comes to your pets, you want only the best. If your pet is sick, you want to make sure you’re getting the best quality medicine to help them get better.

    However, medicine can be prohibitively expensive. If you want to make sure you can afford the best for your pet, you might need to pick up their medications with a discount.

    What are the best ways to save on pet meds, though? Today we’re walking you through some of the best ways to save money on your pet’s medications.

    Discount Pet Medications

    Shopping Online

    It can often be much more affordable to shop for your pet’s medicine online, as opposed to vet’s offices. Vet’s offices, while important in animal health, are often unable to match the prices found on wholesale sites. They often have to include more markups in their medication, making it difficult for them to match online prices.

    Online prices, however, aren’t everything. When you shop online, make sure you’re shopping through wholesale sites to get your discounts. If you’re buying medicine from disreputable vendors or from shady, overseas sellers, you might find you’re getting sub-par medicine for your pet.

    What to Look For

    The last thing you need is to support a shady vendor. When you’re looking for the best deal on pet medication, make sure the site is reputable. You’ll want to only buy medication from VIPPS-approved sites that require prescriptions. It can be a pain to make sure you always have a prescription for medication, but it ensures the site is trustworthy.

    You’ll also want to make sure that the site is verified and secure. Some disreputable discount pet med sites are actually elaborate scams and have no intention of sending you real medication. Even those that do could be selling your information to identity thieves.

    Non-Prescription

    Even with non-prescription medication, you need to be careful. If a deal is too good to be true, it is. When you receive medicine in the mail, check the sell-by date to make sure you’re not giving your pet outdated medicine.

    Likewise, make sure any medication you buy online hasn’t been tampered with. Keeping your animal happy, healthy and safe is your first priority, so accidentally harming them is something you need to avoid.

    Remember, when in doubt, go through reputable sites, even if it means spending a bit more money. There’s no reason to let harm come to your pet just to save a few bucks.


  • Managing Cat Allergies when You Own a Cat

    Managing Cat Allergies when You Own a Cat

    Who doesn’t love cats? Their sweet demeanors, soft purrs and adorable meows make them appealing for fans of all things cute. Their propensity for cuddling and spending time in their owners’ laps makes them great for people looking for a little companion. However, they also have unique proteins in their saliva and urine that can cause allergic reaction in some people.

    If you want a cat, or have a cat, but suffer from cat allergies, you’re probably wondering how best to handle the situation. On the one hand, you want a sweet little kitty to keep you company. On the other hand, you don’t want to be sneezing and scratching your eyes in your own home. So, how do you manage your cat allergies?

    The Good News

    Here’s the good news: most people with cat allergies find themselves experiencing less and less symptoms as they are exposed to cats for longer. Most people will lose the worst of their symptoms after they own a cat for a few months. While this isn’t true for everyone, it means that most people can look forward to eventually being able to hug their kitty without sneezing and having their eyes water.

    Cleaning

    One of the first things you’ll need to get in the habit of when you get a cat is cleaning regularly. Their saliva and their urine are the causes of your allergies, and their saliva is present in the dander they leave behind, since they lick themselves to bathe.

    As such, dusting, sweeping and vacuuming need to become common parts of your routine. Letting their dander pool up in corners, under furniture and around the house is going to make you a very sad camper very fast, as your allergies pile up and your motivation to clean vanishes.

    Likewise, you’re going to need to keep that litter box cleaned out. Even if you only have one cat, it’s a good idea to clean their box out once a day. This keeps the smells from accumulating, keeps bugs from infesting the room you keep the box in, and it also helps you to not have as strong of an allergic reaction. On this note, you’ll also want to fully rotate all of the litter from the box about once a week, replacing it with all-new litter.

    Washing the Cat

    We know that washing your kitty is likely about as easy as chasing a car on foot down the highway, but this can help a lot with your allergies. If you can manage to give your cat a proper bath about once every four to six week, you’ll likely see a marked improvement in your allergy symptoms. Just make sure you’re careful and gentle with your kitty: she probably hates the bath tub.

    For a few pieces of advice on how to pull this off without getting scratched all to pieces, ask your vet if they know a way to carefully give your kitty a bath. Some things you could try would include bribing the kitty with their favorite wet food, or even sneaking them some (vet approved) sedatives that will make them kind of drowsy while you sponge them off. Remember: don’t give your kitty any medicine that a vet did not write a prescription for!

    Air Purifier

    Air purifiers can help to contain any lingering cat dander in the air. This is a good way to help your cleaning efforts if you feel like sweeping and vacuuming alone aren’t covering all of the dander in your home. Not to mention, air purifiers can also help to make the smells of the litter box much harder to notice, if at all!


  • How to Keep Dogs Flea-Free

    How to Keep Dogs Flea-Free

    It’s nearly time for Spring, which means that all types of insects are waking from their months-long slumber. Most evil and devious among them is the flea, which dog owners of all kinds know and despise. Today, we’re going over some of the best ways to keep your pup flea-free and happy.

    Keeping Dogs Flea-Free

    Flea Collar

    Your first consideration in keeping the itchy little bugs off of your dog should be a flea collar. Flea collars come in various types, but the preferred ones come from respected brands like Soresto. These collars make your dog seem very unappealing to fleas, as they put off a smell that confuses and poisons the bugs.

    Remember, flea collars only do their job if your dog has one before the fleas try to jump on them. If your dog already has fleas, you’ll need to treat them as well as getting a flea collar.

    Pills

    There are pills your dog can take that help with fleas as well. These are given to your dog with their food and make them unappealing to fleas, much like a flea collar. Talk to your vet about which option you’d prefer. Some dogs can’t stand collars, while others won’t wake pills. It just depends on your dog’s preferences.

    Carpets

    If your home has carpets, these could be breeding grounds for fleas you’ve carried in on your shoes. Make sure you thoroughly clean and shampoo your carpets to kill any fleas hiding in there! Focus on rooms that don’t get a lot of foot traffic. Fleas love quiet, still rooms. Don’t let their eggs hatch in your house and terrorize your pet!

    Consider getting hardwood floors installed if you’ve got pets and want to cut down on fleas. Fleas can technically live beneath the board of hardwood, though it’s much more difficult for them to thrive in such a scenario.

    Treating for Fleas

    If your dog already has fleas, you can give them a flea bath. Flea baths come with medicine that not only kills fleas but also makes your dog smell terrible to fleas. Such a bath is usually available at any groomer’s shop, and will run you between $20 and $50 on average.

    For fleas in the home, consider using carpet shampoo or spreading diatomaceous earth, or D. earth. D. earth is a compound that is deadly to fleas, cutting up their exoskeletons and causing them to lose all moisture from their bodies. Food-grade D. earth is available on Amazon for a relatively inexpensive price, and works wonders at killing fleas.

  • Best Cars for Dog Lovers

    Best Cars for Dog Lovers

    Dog lovers are all united in one thing: they need a good car for carting their dog around. If you can’t get your pup to the park easily then why bother buying a car? In all seriousness, it can be hard to find the best cars for dog lovers. What constitutes a good car for carrying the dog in? What kind of features are you looking for? Well, today we’re digging in to that question to help you find the right ride for you and your dog.

    Best Cars for Dog Lovers

    What Does Your Dog Want?

    There are a few things that make a car great for a dog. The first and most obvious is that it needs to be easy for them to get in and out of. If the car sits too high it might be difficult for your dog to climb in and could even result in injury if they hop out. A related consideration is ample room for the dog to move around, but not so much that they get tossed about by the movement of the vehicle.

    Another aspect you’re going to want to keep in mind is that your dog wants to be comfortable. If you think about what you like in a car, it’s what your dog wants, too! Fresh air, temperature control and the like are all great aspects of a car for a dog. This means that tinted windows to keep the sunlight from heating up the back of the vehicle are a great choice!

    Your other consideration should be whether the back of the vehicle is easy to clean. If there are a lot of nooks and crannies where dirt, fur and toys can get lost then maybe it’s not the best car for you. You’ll also want a vehicle with seats that lay down flat. If there are a lot of spaces where your dog could trip or lose their toys then you should opt for a different vehicle.

    With that being said, let’s look at some of the best cars for dog lovers.

    Kia Soul

    The Kia Soul is a great vehicle for dog owners. The car sits low to the ground, meaning it’s easy for your dog to get in and out safely. The back of the vehicle also has loads of cargo space, meaning you can carry your dog and lots of their toys and things. In fact, the rear floor opens up to allow for more storage for things you don’t want the dog getting into.

    If you’re carrying food, dog toys and the like then you can store them in the under-floor storage. This is a great vehicle for dog lovers since the boxy profile allows for dog crates to be installed easily. A notable aspect of this car is that the seat upholstery is rather resistant to pet fur and is quite easy to clean.

    Subaru Outback

    The ads for this car feature dogs getting in and out of it. Case closed, everyone, this is THE dog car, article over.

    Wait, you want more than that? Alright, sorry.

    The Subaru Outback is a sizable and comfortable SUV that is great for any dog lover. The vehicle comes standard with four-wheel drive, meaning it’s a great choice for going on off-road adventures. Much like the Kia Soul, it has cloth seats that repel dog fur and make it easy to clean.

    Also like the Kia Soul, the Subaru Outback is a low-sitting vehicle that is easy for your dog to get in and out of. This is great, as it keeps your dog safe while also keeping them from struggling to get in and out of the vehicle.

    The Outback also sports a range of safety features that help you to keep your dog safe, too. If your dog runs behind the car, for instance, the vehicle will automatically stop with EyeSight safety features.

    Honda CR-V

    Honda makes a mean vehicle for both dogs and people, but today we’re talking about dogs. This great SUV has more than just the Honda name slapped on it: it’s a Honda in terms of reliability and features, too. Tons of cargo space, easy-to-clean seats and low clearance all make this a textbook “dog car.”

    The best thing about the CR-V is that it’s rather affordable, too. The CR-V starts at $24,250, making it a very affordable pick for dog lovers. The reliability and gas mileage certainly don’t hurt the vehicle’s prospects when you’re selecting your next car!