OSoSwift

I was already converted but have learnt lot of new things and it is great to have such a wealth of knowledge

YEs. But if your dog is diagnosed when it is 10 and it lives to be 15 (possible in the small breed that I have) you will only be covered for the one year of treatment? With PetPlan, you'll be covered for life (at 65% - which would land up paying out a lot more). That is my understanding of it as well.

Parainfluenza is the a viral component of kennel cough and Bordatella Brontiseptica is a bacterial component. The BB vaccine is to try and control the Bordatella component which is a complicating factor in kennel cough that can lead to pneumonia.

Dugites are a brown snake, and I believe we also have a western brown as well.

I'm so sick of this argument vets use. I'm pretty sure we're not all so stupid we can't remember to get our dog a health check every now and then. If they are going to argue against three year vacc, at least stop treating pet owners like mindless idiots. They can still send out their reminders if they wish to....just um, type...HEALTH CHECK OR VACCINATION. Oh so hard, isn't it? And really, those who now plan to never visit a vet again are not the kind who would go yearly ANYWAY. Agree totally! And also if they want the Canine cough and BB they will have to go yearly anyway. My argument was well just send out reminders. Their argument if they think their dog is okay then they won't come back and we will have lots of dogs that will not get their yearly PI2 and BB and have worse kennel cough doing the rounds than we do now. My argument was those people that do the right thing now will keep doing the right thing!

Sorry you are going through this, Insurance is supposed to ease our stress, not increase it! Hope you get it sorted soon. Petplan is underwritten by Aliianz.

OUr aged Stafford has been on and off and (on again) Pred since he was 14 months old. We could nurse him through winter quite often but spring/summer where terrible. He would go out to have a wee and come back covered in hives and red welts. We had him allergy tested and he was alllergic to 38 things other than foods. We tried the desentising injections which he was okay on for a while, then he was having non-controllable reactions to that. He is sensitive to certain foods which we avoid. I found a really good blend was using the pred spray, then we could reduce the oral Pred. I decided quality not quantity was the most important thing for us, so went with the Pred as he was miserable and tearing himslef apart otherwise. Now however he is on Pred every second day as he has degenerative spinal disease with some nerve damage. He will be on it until he dies. He has been on Pred consitantly for over 12 months and also has heart issues and is on three times daily medication. He is going extremely well and is happy and comfortable.

I am with Petplan, had no problems so far. One question If your dog has an old age related problem and some companies only pay it in the policy year it occurs and not afterwards, wouldn't you end up worse off than a policy where they pay a lesser percentage but the problem is covered for potentially many years? My old dog has been on heart medications for nearly 3 years. If he was insured with the first provider I would only have been covered for anything to do with his heart for one policy year. If I was with a company that paid a smaller percentage I would have recieved less per claim, but be covered for 3 years? I am right in my thinking of way off the mark?

My vets are still recommending yearly as apparently the said the don't think people will come in "just" for a yearly check up. They will not sign off on a yearly vaccine for 3 years. They will order in and sign off on a triennial vaccination for 3 years, but will not sign off on a off label use of their normal vaccine. I have told them to order in a triennial vaccine for me. In the circumstances it is the best I can make of the situation

Good luck and I hope Jessie is okay. I also take restlessness, pacing and panting as a sign of illness or pain. Hopefully your boss/es are sympathetic

Fantastic prizes, I make them for ny lot, but I don't know how to do a four strand braid, and they love them. Due to make some more

From my post above Apparently they can still be rego'd even if the sow was running with different boars and they don't know exactly who the boar was that mated her. It is seen as much better though if all records are kept as they should be.

Bloody Hell Chocolate! Other than the out of hours consult, those fees are ridiculously high!! I live in SW WA, and when my girl was bitten December 2008 I raced her in - at the time not knowing what the symptoms were actually caused by. I was in such a panic over her strange symptoms that I only figured it out on the hour long trip to my vet. The Consult was $60 Meds she had were Adrenaline $25 3500iu of Brown/Tiger Snake anti-venom $730 Histamil (whtever that was?) $14 The Blood Tests (anti clotting test to determine a positive for the snake bite) $25 IV Fluids $130 All up it was a little over $1000. This seemed very reasonable to me, even after the vet said "It could be quite expensive, probably around a K!" Is that all, I thought. That is NOT 'quite expensive' in my eyes!! I guess depending on how much anti-venom is needed is going to influence the price, but those numbers just seem so off the chart!! What on earth were the tests??? My girl made a full recovery, the vet and all the nurses were excellent, like they are ALL the time and I couldnt have asked for better care. Anyway Im glad your kids are ok! And that you didnt have to fork out for anti-venom! One thing I have found out recently about venomous snakes - adult ones anyway, they decide when to envenomate, and how much! Babies arent born (hatched) with the ability to do that, so they just get cranky and bite!! Seems to be quite a Snakey Summer!! Rat That is very reasonable. A non complicated (if there is such a thing!) Snake bite here would be $2000. The Histamil is an antihistamine which helps to reduce the likely hood of an antivenom reaction. Ours also get Vit C and Vit B I think, and would be more for fluids and we would have hospitalisation costs.

I have always had purebred dogs bar 1. However 6 have been registered and 3 haven't 1 X pedigree British Shorthair 1 X moggy. I do not think I will have any more cats, but if I did I wouldn't necessarily get a purebred one. My absolute love of my life cat was a siamese cross. Incidentally My British had a Persian in his pedigree either 3 or 4 generations back but is considered pure and has a brother that was shown and done very well. My Sheep are rescues 1 X orphaned 2nd cross Damara 1 X rescued merino - so I have been told! My horses are a Purebred Clydesdale - rescued not registered that I know of 1st cross QH - whom I bred from my TB mare. He is exactly what I was aiming for Palomino Mare - registered My Guinea pigs are not pedigree or rego'd, however a friend of mine now breeds them. Having said that she was explaining to me the other day that the Cavy Association registers breeders, but not individual animals. So your "pure" something can actually have a different coat type/colured parent or grandparent. You may have a red self smooth that has a black grandparent (actually done to strengthen and deepen the red colour) Or in the case of another Cavy a long haired Grandparent in a short smooth type of cavy that then went on to produce babies with coats that were not correct for his type. Chooks - 4 definate cross breds and goodness knows what they have in them 2 X Chinese Silkies that re not papered and rather large for Bantams!

Agreed Fifi. Having Whippets and two of them I am very sure that if they were both off lead and a bunny decided to hop infront of them, they would be gone. I even walk mine on lead around the farm. There are fences everywhere but as they are stock fences I know that they could get through them. I also believe have the two they would "feed" off each other and be even less likley to respond to a call. I can Call Rommi off a bunny but would never try it anywhere near a road or scrub.

Glad all is okay Chocolate. My rule of thumb is see my dogs withing striking distance of a snake and bolt to the vet hosptial. You may get there and they are fine, however that extra time I leave it until they show signs could be the difference between life and death. That is one of the exact reasons I have taken out pet insurance.

What a horrible experience! Just reading what you had written had goose bumps all over me. It was very well written and a very 'real' portrayal of your situtaion. Hopefully people who read it think twice about letting their dogs off lead in an unfenced area.

Yep mine too - particularly when it comes to showing/training!

I am also a CDL. At least you can't lose an argument with a dog, because they don't argue in the first place! OH thinks I'm a bit weird. These days I don't care about that too much

So so very sorry to hear about Reg. You must all be gutted. He tried so very hard, but in the end got far to tired. Rest easy Old boy, you didn't win this battle big boy. We are thinking of you as you go on your journey. My girl "Angel" will be there to show you around RIP Reggie.

I believe it was mentioned earlier the breeder said one of the other dogs must have mated the bitch? I guess she has more than one on the property? ETA this bit from an earlier post.

I remember reading somewhere you needed colourbond cemented 60cm's into the ground, 6 feet above. All gates closing firmly into angle iron frames. No things at all near the fence to be used to gain entry. Bricks are quite easy for a snake to climb. When I finally get my fenced house yard it will be fenced as above.

I have the budget cover for Mine and I am not sure about monthly but they are $413 dollars a year I think? Something close to that anyway. My main concern was broken bones, snake bites and major stitch ups.

Fantastic to hear he is improving Go Reggie

I would definately lodge a complaint and get it sorted out. Many people could be affected by this, some may have bought puppies for breeeding. They need to know