Is your pet's medicine too expensive? Don't be ashamed to ask your vet if there's something else that will work for your pet.

I don't know about you guys, but this year has been a financial black hole. I feel like I am living in a bad country song....

Our 1 year old cat died very suddenly of a heart condition that we didn't know about. We had just gotten him neutered too and then spent a lot of money trying to save his life. His death was just about a year after we lost a 7 year old cat to lymphoma. Explaining to a 7 year old why God keeps taking her kitties to Heaven was pretty hard.

At nearly the same time, our 14 year old dog started coughing. We thought it might have been kennel cough since we'd boarded her somewhat recently, but it turned out to be bronchitis. Ca-ching at the vet since I needed to refill her expensive -- yet much needed -- arthritis medication at the same visit.

And within the last week, I broke the dishwasher. I swear I didn't do it on purpose, though my hubby knows I have a hate affair with it and refer to it as the "sanitizer" because it never seems to get the dishes clean and I often needed to tear it half apart to clean it since it liked to mildew in there, despite frequent use. So, I need to replace the dishwasher now too.

So, with all of this in mind, when I visited the vet, I did mention that I wanted to see if there was any other cheaper medication that my dog could try. While there were none, he did suggest a different dosing schedule that should (hopefully) cut her medication needs almost in half for the most part, while still alleviating her arthritis pain. Since the medication is $100 bucks a bottle and dosage is based on weight (she's 70 lbs.) you can see why I would ask! So, while I didn't walk out with cheaper medicine on the outset, the medicine I did get for her will hopefully last nearly twice as long. Finally, I am catching a break.