Pet owners in the US spend serious money every year — food, litter, toys, grooming, and the occasional scary vet bill. The clever folks at The Points Guy have worked out how to route all of that spending toward free travel instead of letting it vanish into the paw-shaped void.

The core idea is stacking several reward layers on a single purchase. Start with targeted card offers: Amex Offers and Chase Offers rotate through deals like $10 back on a $20 Bark purchase or $5 back on a $50 Chewy order. Add them to your card before you shop and the discount applies automatically.

Next comes the shopping portal layer. Aggregators like Cashback Monitor or Savewise show which portal pays best at each retailer. Current rates worth knowing: Petco earns 6% cash back via TopCashback or 3.4 miles per dollar through Rove; PetSmart pays 4% via TopCashback or a mile per dollar through Delta or United shopping portals; Chewy sits at 2% via Rakuten or one AAdvantage mile per dollar. Rates shift constantly — during Black Friday 2024, one TPG editor got 15% back at PetSmart through Rakuten, turning a $47.76 order into $7.16 of cash back.

United flyers can add a third layer with the MileagePlus X app: buy an e-gift card for your exact checkout total (say, $85.84 at Petco) and pay with it to earn bonus miles on top of everything else. United cardholders get a 25% mileage bonus through the app, and it works at Walmart and Sam's Club too.

Don't skip the stores' own programs. Petco Perks (free) earns 10 points per dollar — 30 on Petco brands — with $5 Petco Cash at 5,000 points, roughly a 1–3% return. PetSmart's Treats Rewards gives 10 points per dollar, redeemable from 1,000 points for $2, about 2% back, with better rates at higher annual-spend tiers. Amazon shoppers can stack Subscribe & Save discounts with the Prime Visa's 5% back.

The big-ticket scenario is vet emergencies. TPG's editor in chief put his dog Winston's nearly $5,000 spleen surgery on a new Chase Freedom Unlimited with 0% APR for 15 months, spreading the cost into manageable payments while still earning rewards — a smarter play than draining savings, provided you can pay before the standard rate kicks in.

For everyday vet visits and grooming that don't hit any bonus category, a flat-rate card works best: 1.5% back on the Freedom Unlimited, 2% with Citi Double Cash, or 2 miles per dollar on a Capital One Venture card if you'd rather bank airline miles.

None of this requires hoarding receipts or spreadsheets — it's just checking two offer tabs and one portal comparison before clicking buy on the cat food. Over a year of pet spending, that's easily enough for a flight or a hotel night your dog will guilt you into anyway.