Sunday, March 4, 2012

Saving money on rabbit food/ hay

For nearly a year I purchased all of my bunny's food at the pet store. Eventually I grew tired of the high price and the low quality. I never found a hay that Munchkin really liked, and I found a good pellet brand, but it was very expensive.

When I began planning on getting a second rabbit, I wanted to look for cheaper alternatives, and hopefully in the process find a hay that suited Munchkin's picky tastes.

Eventually I came across to Internet-based businesses: Sweet Meadow Farm's and Kleen Mama's Hayloft. Both sold hay at a fraction of the cost of the pet store, and Sweet Meadow also sold cheaper pellets. 

I decided to try them out. The pellets from Sweet Meadow are essentially the same as the most expensive high-quality pet store pellets, but at about half the cost. 

I tried hay from both Sweet Meadow and Kleen Mama's. My picky hay eater loved them both. I preferred the Kleen Mama's hay but both were much better than the pet store hay.

I did some calculating and found out about how much I am actually saving by my switch:

I used to spend about $2.40 per pound of Oxbow pellets.

Sweet Meadow pellets are only $1.40 per pound.

I estimated that by switching to Sweet Meadow, I save about $150 ever year on pellets.


I used to spend $6.40 per pound of hay. 

With Kleen Mama's I only spend $1.92 per pound.

I estimated that by switching to Kleen Mama's I save about $340 dollars a year on hay.

(and that is even with the fact that I actually buy more hay per bunny than I used to because Munchkin actually eats a lot of hay, now that I feed them Kleen Mama's)


Note: 

My calculations include the cost of feeding both my bunnies.

My calculations for the yearly hay cost, is far from exact as I am unsure of exactly how much hay my bunnies eat in a year since they get unlimited hay every day.

The cost of shipping from Kleen Mama's and Sweet Meadow is pretty expensive, but I included the shipping in my calculations. So even with expensive shipping they are WAY cheaper than the pet store brands.



here are links to Sweet Meadow Farm and Kleen Mama's Hayloft:








2 comments:

  1. This is the kind of math I like to see you doing!!
    Love and hugs,
    Mom

    ReplyDelete
  2. It sure pays to shop around! Good job!
    -Animal Gram

    ReplyDelete