EVER felt punched in the stomach by an expensive veterinary bill for your dog? Or how about that $6,000 price tag for a bag of dry food? If you are a dog owner, you’re well aware how overwhelming routine care for your canine can be. But if you are looking to cut costs, there are a few things you can do while maintaining top quality care for your pet.

Arguably the most intimidating expense for dog owners is health care. Dogs need several rounds of vaccination as puppies and booster shots as adults to protect them throughout their lives against deadly diseases such as parvovirus, distemper and canine cough. What’s more is that your pet will need the occasional deworming and require other medical attention for different health issues.

A visit at some traditional private vetirinary clinics can cost $1,500 for “consultation” alone. When the other charges are added, the final bill is often several thousands of dollars.

While you must take your dogs to those private clinics for certain health care services, there are less expensive options for some issues.

The Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (JSPCA) is one such alternative, advised Stephen Thomas, a veteran dog breeder. JSPCA is a registered charity that operates an animal hospital in Kingston which provides a range of healt-care solutions for dogs and other animals. And as part of its mission to protect animals from cruelty, neglect, injury and abandonment, it offers its services at relatively more affordable prices.

“By taking your dogs there, you are supporting them and the fees are less than the regular vet,” said Thomas, who runs Amherst Kennel, a popular breeder of Rottweilers.

A Sunday Finance check with the JSPCA on Friday revealed that its clinic charges a total of $1,500 for examination, vaccine and deworming, if you were to take a puppy there for its first round of vaccinations.

Another viable alternative to expensive clinics, for certain services, is Hi-Pro feeds store, where Thomas said he shops for medicine for his dogs.

“Some of the onerous stuff that your vet would reccommend, you can bypass them by going to Hi-Pro, which has pharmacists,” Thomas said.

“You can get your deworming medicine there or speak to the pharmacists, tell them your problem and they would recommend something.”

While health-care costs are intimidating, those bills are not as constant as the ones associated with feeding your dog. Thomas suggested that persons may realise signifacant savings through sourcing meat from leftover cuttings at food stores, which sell it for $10 to $20 per pound — a 13 oz can of branded food at supermarkets typically runs over $100.

“Go to a butcher or your grocery shop that sells meat. Once they have a saw and they do a lot of cutting, you will get a lot of leftovers from the cutting of the beef, pork etc,” he said, noting, “That’s very good, healthy meat with a lot of protein.”

You can then boil the meat and add it to some pet rice, which could supplement the expensive bags of dry food and allow your dollar to stretch further.