Food, Home and Style

Recession Concessions: Dog Food v. Daycare

Ditching: Daycare

Keeping: Gourmet dog food

Few are immune to the necessary cutbacks that come with shrinking assets. Even dogs.

Pre-recession, Maggie, an eleven-year-old dachshund-spaniel mix, enjoyed a daily diet of Wellness — natural dog food that is “formulated holistically,” featuring human-grade ingredients and antioxidants, omega-fatty acids and probiotic cultures extracted from fruits and vegetables. Wellness retails for $15 for a five-pound bag.

For treats, she preferred the pricey Greenies, a mysterious form of proteins and antioxidants that promote good dental health — and which dogs seem to go crazy for. “Doggy crack,” a wise dog-owner once pointed out. Greenies are off-the-charts expensive for treats: a bag of 20 petite-sized treats for $13. Compare to $5 for 14 of Purina’s Beggin’ Strips of bacon flavor.

Maggie’s preference? She’d eat the Purina food all day long.

She also spent at least one day a week at D is for Doggy, a daycare center in Chelsea focused on piping soothing scents into the different rooms, where dogs are separated by size and temperament. D is for Doggy charges $45 per day.

With the recession upon us, we started experimenting with different doggy overhead combinations. Feeling socialization trumped other concerns, we switched to Purina’s Beneful dog food, an 8-lb. bag for $12. And we ditched Greenies for the Beggin’ Strips.

Maggie didn’t seem to notice any difference, but the daycare bills piled up. And Maggie, a mellow (and sometimes grumpy) pup, didn’t like it much anyway. So we switched back to good health (especially since the junk food was driving us crazy), and let the dog walker take care of her need to get out of the house during the day.

Of course, Maggie’s preference? She’s cool without the daycare, but if it were up to her, she’d eat the Purina food all day long.

Tags: budgets, pets, Recession Concessions, spending