Patty- I love your suggestions! I've often dreamed of creating an outdoor habitat for my cats but, alas, have no yard to put it in.

As for making my own treats- I LOVE the tidbit about freezing them. However, I'd caution those with pickier eaters to test out the "cheaper" bits on their pets before they go through the process of freezing treats. Some pets, like my kitty Mojo, will turn their noses up at some of the strangest things while others will knock you down trying to get the same morsel. How do you typically work around those with aversions to anything cold?

Have you considered doing a guest post for Petfinder? http://www.petfinder.com/blog/2009/08/04/wanted-guest-bloggers/

I'm very slapdash with my composting. My primary goal is to keep organic matter out of the landfill, not make fertilizer, so anything (I mean anything) organic goes in there. My only maintainence is turning it once a month or so. Not smelly, and the one time we had rats I just turned it more often and they left. My husband made the box out of scrap wood.

I also made my own cage for my pet rats. It's much roomier and cheaper than any commertial option out there. If you have small animals, I definitly recommend making your own cage.

I also make pet toys from used clothing like jeans. I have a Lab and a persian cat at home and they're really enjoying the toys I make for them. Although I haven't tried doing any homemade dog food nor cat food.

To me, kitty litter is a HUGE waste! (pun intended). I use both chicken feed and natural wood pellets. Both are available at farm store for $5-7 dollars for a 40-50 lb. bag. The chicken feed is nearly identical to The World's Best Cat Litter at a fraction of the price. Natural wood pellets (sold for heating) are just like Feline Pine, again at a fraction of the price. (just make sure you get natural pellets with no added starter or fuel). Both are scoopable, flushable & compostable.

I save on dog grooming by doing it myself.  I always have to go over them anyway when I get back from the dog park to check for burrs or ticks and it is easier if I have a designated place to do it.  Most school districts in my suburban area still have wooden teacher desks from the 40s, 50s.  And they replace them slowly.  The old ones are also small, a single pedestal with just enough drawers along one side for grooming materials such as clippers, dremels, etc.  And a center drawer for blades, and small pieces.  A pot holds scissors, strippers, and various brushes and matt breakers.  They usually sell them for $5 to get rid of them.  I just put a lamp with a bendable arm and a rubber mat to keep the dog from slipping.  I could put an arm on it to tie the dog to but I think it is more humane to lay the dog down to groom or have the dog sit.  The dog may not come out looking perfect but it is also a bonding experience with the dog.  Everything is organized in one place.  Once you make the investment in clippers, dremels, scissors, etc. the rest is money saving.

When I get it on sale, Fancy Feast runs .45/can.  If I couldn't get that, I'd definitely look at doing homemade. 

Another idea along the lines of making your own organic, humane meat is to skip the certification and buy from farms in your area you've taken the time to visit. We have a local tilapia farm that sells their fish (wholesale) at $3 a pound. That's the cheapest protein source I've yet found. And it's GREEN. Add some taurine for cats and it's great.

Lin, I'm not really getting any kind of extraordinary deal . . . unless things where you live are just priced higher.

Fancy feast runs 60 cents a can here; for 4 cats 2x a day thats 8 cans a day, or $4.80.  The premium food they like is about $2.10-$2.70 a can (5.5 oz) so that takes 4 cans a day or $10 a day. Even ordering online I can't get much below that price for the premium food.

Enough chicken to make a batch usually costs me $7 bucks or so.  It's a little more expensive now that I am looking for the certified humane, so that price may be going up. (But at Whole Foods the Bell and Evans was running somewhere between $1.99 - $2.49 a pound for thighs if you buy the family pack.  Not cert humane though.  Takes about 3.15 - 3.5 pounds a batch.)   The Cert .Humane local eggs are $3.19 - $3.99 each but each dozen is enough for about 2.5 batches. I can't remember what the livers are but they are usually $2-$3 with enough for 4 batches.

Add about a buck for the cost of supplements per batch.

That's about $9.50 a batch which lasts 2.5 days, for about $3 a day. 

Even if you assume that I was getting Fancy Feast for 40 cents a can, it's still $3.20 a day, which is more.

So [rationalizing here] . . . I really can afford the more expensive cert. humane chicken and still end up ahead, roughly the same price as Fancy Feast, and half the price of Natures Variety. 

I feel weird placing so much stock in the "certified humane" label because I haven't seen it with my own eyes.  A friend tipped me off about a local farm that she has visited and verified that their chickens roam freely. Their chickens run $3.79 a pound and can only be bought whole, I believe. It's an hour away and I haven't made it yet.  But even at that price it would run $15.50 a batch ($6.20 a day), only $1.40 more per 2 1/2 days of food than Fancy Feast at 60 cents a can, and still significantly less than Nature's Variety at $10 a day.

I am also trying to reduce the bisphenol they are exposed to by doing this.

I'm not sure how they can afford to do this, but Smart Chicken, which I saw at Harris Teeter here, is "certified humane" and the price was very inexpensive, which of courese, made me suspicious.

Gosh, Stefani, you must be getting a great deal on organic chicken and eggs.  I costed it out here in the CA Bay Area, and even using Costco chickens and not counting the cost of the meat grinder, Fancy Feast was still cheaper when I bought cases on sale.

I made a dog septic tank after researching online.  Vancouver's City Farmer site was very helpful, although I thought a garbage can was a overkill since I have one dog.  So I got a small lidded garbage can from Ikea, some Doggie Dooleyw waste terminator from my pet store, dug my hole, and away we went.  It does smell some in hot weather, but mostly not, and I'm glad not be throwing it in the trash.  I found this article, and was very intrigued.  Would worms really destroy any pathogens?

Most kitties are happy with extremely low-tech toys.  Wadded pieces of paper (or better yet, cellophane), milk jug caps, bouncie balls from gumball machines.  My previous cats loved hiding in paper grocery bags and batting at a finger run along the side (my present cat, not so much). Mr. Kitty does love chasing a stuffed mouse tied to an elastic string or just the string itself (don't worry, he doesn't chew the string).  I've also been collecting larger bird feathers and plan to make a Da Bird for my cat (after storing the feathers in a ziploc bag in the freezer to kill any mites).

This isn't very frugal but it is green:  I've switched to Swheat litter, and have a bin in the yard where I mix the urine-soaked litter with potting soil.  I've felt so bad about using clay litter, ever since I found it was strip-mined.  I'm not sure how long it will take to break down, but at the very least I can use it to fill the holes the dog digs. :-)

I've started making home made cat food.  In spite of the fact that I've been buying the expensive organic and/or whenever possible, "humane certified" chicken and eggs, it nonetheless comes out cheaper than the premium canned diet they were otherwise (and are still intermittently on).  It's about the same price per day as having them all on fancy feast would be. 

Not bad and I ** know what's in it. **

The big challenge is still efficiency with deboning for the parboil, but I'm getting better.

I so hate to say this when I know your budget's tight but, if your HD still has those and you like them, snag them while you can.  Ours (and Lowe's too) still show those on the websites but have switched to ones with brackets at the top corners.  If yours are FenceMaster or PetSafe, they're the ones that won't be available in the future.

PJB: I got those at Home Depot. They're sold by the double-panel or as a single panel/door panel combo. I need one more on my pen to round out the enclosure (it was previously three-sided and against a perimeter fence for the fourth side but I moved the goat shed to 'hide' the them more effectively). 

Fencing/kennel panels.  I see you have the ones I like by your goat shed.  If they happen to still have a readable label on them, please post the manufacturer/website/phone number from the label.  I'm hoping they came from a different supplier than the one I've used for years who has changed to cheaper/lower quality materials and structure.  Those rounded top corners add a tremendous amount of stability to the panels!

Thanks for the 'duh' moment! I have a pile of jeans with holes in the bottom in my laundry because 'there must be something the legs are good for' and here I just bought a rope toy!

I won't be buying a second one!

In the back of my yard there are 3 white pines with hemlocks between them - a virtual unused area - except for my "poop pits." On the periphery I've dug pits for the last 32 years & disposed of dog waste in that way. Having always had multiple dogs I had no desire to gather it & inflict that amount on the rubbish men each week so instead I just keep circling the pines digging my pits. By the time I get back to the hole I'd dug a year or two previously there's nothing there but dirt. I'll sprinkle lime in the pit during the summer to keep odors & bugs at a minimum & cover the pit with a rubbish pail cover. Each new hole I dig provides fill for the full one & a thick layer of pine needles covers the dirt. It works for me. 

I compost all the time.  One composter.  The result is that after composting and recycling, we have only 1 small bag of trash each week.

I put dog poop in the composter.  The process is easy and directions are readily available online.  I also use horse droppings all the time.  People with horses are thrilled to have you tote the stuff out.

I would say that putting meat/fish scraps in the composter is asking for trouble.  Varmits.  Doc, you don't have to worry about varmits with your herd in the backyard, but most of us do not have goats to watch the place.  

If the composted smells it is because it is anerobically decomposing, which is BAD.  When properly done, they do not smell at all bad.  The key is to "turn them" now and then.  I use either a pitch fork or a little wing ding tool.  that keep the O2 down in there and you can get aerobic decomposition.

Also, I find that keeping it moist (water hose) is good.  About like a wrung out sponge.

Once I got it started, I found it took no more time or effort than what I was doing previously.  And, the ornamentals just love the compost. 

My comoster is just like the black  plastic one you have, Doc.   My next one will be a 2 chambered barrel so that it is easy to mix- and the compost drops down for easy removal.

Galadriel: On the composting: That's only true if you're feeding your vegetable, medicinal or herb garden with the compost. It's not a problem if you're supplementing your oak trees or your ferns, for example. Anything you don't eat isn't a problem for this kind of poop/meat composting. Moreover, if you know your animals are healthy and have no parasites, it shouldn't be a problem when you're handling this compost, but I'd wear gloves anyway. As to the meat composting, most people don't do it because of the heavy stench as the carcasses decay. It truly is nasty. But if you have the luxury of keeping it far away from your home (and your neighbors') it's OK to add it to your poop composting. Again, not for food/medicinal pants, though.

Hmmm...When reading about composting, I keep seeing that compost shouldn't include feces from meat-eaters or meat of any kind.

DIY is a lot more difficult when dealing with various disabilities, but thanks to same, we don't have a lot of spare money.  So we DIY or we don't.  But boy, can it take for-eeeeee-ver when I'm working at the rate of 15-30 mins' worth of work a day.