I almost lost my dog this week.............

thats good to hear, at least he is recovering. Dogs dont like their new food for th first few weeks then they just get used to it.

 

to me over the top was my wifes dog when she was little, her parents decided that the dog wouldn't go around with a missing eye (glaucoma) and had a glass eye made up for the dog. two yrs later the other eye goes and once again another glass eye is done to match. the dog went on to live for 14yrs and was blind for 10. it was really weird to see a blind dog with two glass eyes, I don't even want to think of the cost of that! esp when we're talking 20yrs ago.

 

So true!

Vet bills are always so expensive and it's because they know you don't know anything about what's wrong with your pet, it can't tell you what's wrong. I had to have tests done on my cat and the initial test would've determined the issue, but they did blood work on him too. It turns out this was all pointless.. there wasn't anything wrong with him. $200+ and a couple weeks later I figured out what the issue was. Ugh!

 

hmm...
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Glad your dog is feeling better!

I'm interested in pet insurance as well, but I don't know if they'd cover my little one because of her condition.

I have a Boxer named Cassius and a Boston Terrier named Yaz. Come to find out, Yaz has some serious allergy problems. One of the two main things she's allergic to is human dander. Yup, she's allergic to me. We have to give her a pill every morning (Atopica) and an allergy shot every 10 days. The cost definitely adds up, but she is 1000% worth it!

 

Thats what I figured. I could probably still get it for my Boxer though.

Have you had any luck finding an insurance company? Did you go with petinsurance.com?

 

Just picked Rigby up from the Vet. $380 bill. 80% covered by Pet Insurance.COM and dropped their claim form in the mail already. Should have a check in 10-12 days.

For pre-existing conditions, you should call them at (800) 540-2016. Pretty nice people too!

 

Hmm... is right.

 

Has anyone had any issues with the paying claims on time or denying claims for odd reasons? I had looked into VPI for our dogs last year but it seemed like there were a lot of unhappy people on the web. But then again, what company does not have people complaining about them online.

 

why hmmm???? 8 Snake, Why would there be a reason to aggsagurate (please exuse my grammer) about my dogs health and vet costs? I was just making a point that it is EXPENSIVE to take your dog to the vet these days.

 

holy crap. I have NEVER seen spelling like this.

 

You did the right thing! Losing a pet is like losing a family member.

 

The service is inexpensive enough that after a claim or two, if you do not like what you get back, simply cancel! I'm impressed with the list of things they cover. Makes you realize just how many things can go wrong with a dog! Better safe than sorry. All I can say is they have been great to me.

As for my Rigby, the DVM gave me an earfull when I picked up Rigby because she is 8-10 pounds overweight. No more 'Big-Bigs' (BBQ'd beef bones twice a day) and the treats are limited to 5-6 a day coupled with a cup and a half of her pup food per day. The DVM had a great point: There are better ways than just food to make your dog happy, like throwing a ball for an hour".

 

Thanks for the insight. I think I will call them tonight and get our dogs signed up.

 

Sorry to hear about your dog. I recently had to put my dog down because she was getting old and way too many problems. So you MUST Cherish the time you have with your dog because it hurts when you lose him/her. Im still hurtin'.

 

I'd spend $3,000 to bring back my cat Chino in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately, we lost him due to a heart/lung condition he had, no amount of money could have fixed it.

 

Non-allergenic food (Hill's Z-D) is $20 for a small bag of hard, or $2.50 for a can, I know, it's what we buy our two cats.
We go through a bag about every 2-3 weeks. The canned we give them not so often, not because of the cost, but because they don't eat much of it. It looks like brown spam with no taste (yes.... I have....)

There are pet insurances out there, and just like human insurances, they are not all the same. Check around, ask your vet, read the fine print.

 

The Hill's lo-res food is OK for times when the dog is experiencing dietary issues, but it's good to transition off of Hill's/Science Diet as a regular brand. They actually perpetuate digestive conditions in animals. Go figure.

With pet insurance, make sure you really scrutinize the policy for exclusions/pre-existing clauses/total cost determinants, etc. You may end up better off setting aside a regular savings account for any potential medical issues down the road. I know most of the vets in this area are willing to work out payment plans, too, knowing how many people don't have thousands of dollars readily available to commit to a pet's medical treatment.

The emergency vet may have felt pressed to act because had it been bloat, it can kill a dog very quickly. Large-breeds are more prone to the condition and once it advances the survival rate isn't too good. And if a dog does survive full torsional bloating, it is even more susceptible to repeat bloating in the future. There is a procedure they perform on some dogs now where they will suture the stomach to the sidewall of the dog's body cavity to keep it from twisting.

Regarding vet practices, we had a strange issue last week. One of the dogs started vomiting blood, which usually isn't a good thing anywhere in the animal kingdom. This happened at about 1:30pm. We called the dog's regular vet, and the phone was answered by a message stating that they were closed between the hours of 12 and 3---for lunch. No option to leave a message, no option to reach an on-staff/on-call anybody. Just the disclaimer that, if it's an emergency, call the emergency vet. I called them next and --guess what?! Closed between the hours of 12 and 3---for lunch. No messages, no emergency operator--nothing. WTF?! Everything worked out OK in the end, but I made sure that the dog's owners knew about their vet's unreachable policy during the middle of the day. Great service!