In this article: Prevent illness Skip the superpremium food Consider pet insurance Invest in training

just spent $175 to cure an ear infection. I probably wouldn't be writing about it if the infection had been my daughter's. Then again, even if she'd had it in both ears, I would have forked out a $15 co-payment at the pediatrician and $10 at the pharmacy for Amoxycillin and been done with it. But this time, the ear infection was my dog's.

A year ago, my husband and I got a puppy. We can't believe the high cost of pet care. We've spent $40 every five weeks for a giant bag of premium dog food, $75 every six months to prevent Lyme disease (we live in a Lyme-heavy state), $25 a day for pet sitting if we leave town -- and hundreds to fix a couch after Pavlov ripped the new upholstery.

We love her, but there must be a way to spend less on her care. Gina Spadafori, author of Dogs for Dummies and Cats for Dummies (both IDG, $19.99), says there is. Her tips:

Prevent illness. The American Veterinary Medical Association says pet owners spend $11 billion a year on pet health care (about $200 a year per animal), making that the top expense overall. That figure includes checkups, vaccinations, flea and tick treatments, worm pills, etc. What many owners don't understand is that preventive care -- good nutrition, dental hygiene, plenty of fresh water, vaccines and regular physicals and exercise -- can mean the difference between bills that run hundreds of dollars a year and those that run thousands, especially as pets age.

Skip the superpremium food. Because of competition from superpremium brands, many supermarket brands have improved in quality. Make sure the food you buy has been developed in accordance with protocols set by the AAFCO, a not-for-profit group that develops guidelines for pet food. (It'll be reflected on the label.)

Consider pet insurance. Like people, pets live longer these days. Thank a battery of improved diagnostic tests -- ultrasounds (about $100-$150) and CAT scans ($500) -- and procedures such as hip replacement ($1,500) and kidney dialysis. A recent survey in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found 78% of owners expected pets to get the same level of health care as the rest of the family. If you're that kind of owner, get pet insurance. Some plans work like traditional health plans (the insurer covers 80% of bills after a deductible); others are like PPOs (you pay an annual fee, then get a discount on vet bills). Still others offer programs where you pay a fee upfront that covers checkups, then get discounted care if your pet gets sick.

Invest in training. Obedience training runs from $40 to $100-plus an hour (less for a group class), but it can be well worth the expense. A dog that tears up your yard, bites someone or, yes, rips a hole in your couch can cost you much more. My dog's damages ran $300-plus. I could have bought a semester's worth of obedience for that.

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