Nobody wants to overpay for dog food or cat litter, but the sheer number of options makes it easy to burn cash without thinking twice. The big three pet supply retailers—Chewy, Petco, and PetSmart—each have their own quirks, discounts, and price-match policies that, when played correctly, can put serious money back in your pocket. The trick isn’t to pick one and stick to it. It’s to use all three like a coordinated strike team against full retail prices.

Start with Chewy, the online heavyweight. Its autoship program is the best way to lock in recurring discounts on items you buy every month without fail. You’ll often get a one-time percentage off your first autoship delivery, and then a smaller but still meaningful discount on every subsequent order. That’s your baseline. Pour your dry kibble, unscented litter, heartworm meds, and any other staples into autoship. But here’s the critical move: set the delivery frequency for every five or six weeks, not every month. That gives you a comfortable buffer to catch price changes and adjust before you’re forced into a full retail purchase from another store.

Now turn to PetSmart and Petco, which both have price-match guarantees. Their online and in-store teams will match a lower price from a competing retailer, including Chewy. So when Chewy raises the autoship price on your brand of prescription food—and it will, eventually—simply walk into a PetSmart or Petco, show them the Chewy price on your phone, and demand the match. Then use one of their frequent sitewide promo codes or coupons on top of that matched price. PetSmart and Petco are much more generous with cash-off deals like $15 off $75 or 20 percent off your entire order, and those stack with a price match in most cases. That’s a double win.

Speaking of coupons, manufacturer printable coupons remain absurdly valuable. Both PetSmart and Petco accept them in stores, and Chewy will often manually apply a manufacturer coupon even after you’ve placed an order if you chat with customer service. That means you can stack a Chewy autoship discount with a manufacturer coupon and then use the price match at Petco to force them to honor that stacked price. Does it work everywhere? Not always, but you’d be shocked how many store managers just nod and type a discount into the register. The worst they can say is no, and then you walk to the next store down the strip mall.

Don’t sleep on rewards programs either. PetSmart’s Treats program gives you points on nearly every transaction, and Petco runs a similar paid membership that returns more value if you buy food constantly. The trick is to sign up for both but only use them strategically. Buy your heavy bags of food at which ever store has the better current rewards multiplier going on. When Petco offers triple points on food, that’s your moment. When PetSmart gives you bonus points for buying online and picking up in store, use that. The free money from points ends up being a 5 to 10 percent rebate, and that’s on top of any price matching and coupons you’ve already used.

Another overlooked angle is return policy abuse—legitimate, not scheming. Chewy famously lets you return opened bags of food for a full refund or credit, no questions asked. That’s a lifesaver if your pet turns up its nose at a new flavor. But for everything else, PetSmart and Petco have more forgiving in-store return windows for unopened items. So buy the weird or experimental treats from Chewy to test them out. If your dog hates them, you’re not out any money. Buy the bulk 40-pound bag of litter from PetSmart because returning an unopened pallet is easier in person than shipping a hundred pounds back to a warehouse.

Finally, never buy anything pet-related on a full-price day. Chewy runs seasonal sales that stack with autoship. PetSmart has its own annual Black Friday and Cyber Monday events. Petco will price-match those huge holiday deals too. Set calendar reminders for the big retail weekends and stock up on a three-month supply of everything nonperishable during those windows. Your pet doesn’t know or care that you saved the rack of lamb trimmings for a special occasion. They just want the bowl filled on time. And with this three-site rotation, you’ll fill that bowl for a whole lot less.