BYC Café

[Sally PB]

The info sheet with the gabapentin said, "two pills of gabapentin the night before," and "two pills of gabapentin and the melatonin" one- two hours before the appointment.

There was no melatonin. I mentioned this to the vet, just in case it should have been in there.

$1100, including 12 months of flea/tick and heartworm medication. I can see why people have to surrender their pets when they can't afford them anymore.

Thank goodness we can afford to keep Freya. She is our baby.

 

[RoyalChick]

The info sheet with the gabapentin said, "two pills of gabapentin the night before," and "two pills of gabapentin and the melatonin" one- two hours before the appointment.

There was no melatonin. I mentioned this to the vet, just in case it should have been in there.

$1100, including 12 months of flea/tick and heartworm medication. I can see why people have to surrender their pets when they can't afford them anymore.

Thank goodness we can afford to keep Freya. She is our baby.

They started all that with the gabapentin for my cat - but then they just said one pill 30 mins before the appointment and it works fine.
My cat is a bit of a space cadet and she has a habit of staring at the wall until it wears off.

 

[DobieLover]

$1100, including 12 months of flea/tick and heartworm medication. I can see why people have to surrender their pets when they can't afford them anymore.

Thank goodness we can afford to keep Freya. She is our baby.

That's a LOT.
I don't vaccinate once the core set is done and boostered. There are studies that prove lifetime immunity for the core diseases. Humans don't get vaccinated annually for the diseases we get vaccinated for as children and humans live far longer than dogs. Rabies, they get every 3 years at clinics.

Annual blood work starts at 5 years for Dobies and 8 for other breeds. I purchase heartworm and flea/tick treatment at online vet pharmacies and only treat during the risk period, not year round. My dogs don't spend hours and hours outside to be at risk of exposure.

I might spend $500-$600 a year for 2 dogs with all required treatments.

 

[Sally PB]

Yeah, it is a lot. I don't know why they recommend flea/tick and heartworm to be year round, when we have winters like we do. Oh, right, there's money involved, isn't there?

We have to, by law, get dogs vaccinated for rabies every 3 years. I had to show proof of vaccination to get her license. I'm not sure what the penalty is to skip it.

 

[SkyAJK]

Vet bill is scary.

I vaccinated my 2 little dogs until they passed 2 years old, then I stopped all vaccination. I wash their feet and wipe their body in the sink after a walk. I do give them heartworm tablet 1 a month that I ordered online cheaper than the VET, the same medication.

I do not give them heartworm tablet in winter. I was told to give it all year round to kill the eggs.

With flea/tick....they do not have flea, and I clear my garden of any overgrown to prevent tick and also snakes. Summer is the snake migration season. One of my dogs got tick bite awhile back and the vet hospital bill was scary. I clear my garden ever since and I do not take them for a walk in bush land area.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I have had blood teeters for my dogs since life began.
I do puppy vaccine every three weeks till 4 month old.
1 more at a year.

 

[LaFleche]

Good afternoon Café!

Fresh coffee is on the counter, help yourselves to it.
For several weeks now we are experiencing daily ( and nightly) heavy rain falls and strong winds, there is hardly any short interruption and when there finally is, I have to take advantage to run the dogs and clean the coops. It does feels like autumn.

But there is uplifting news as DH's latest three-monthly follow up cancer check declared him to be totally free of any signs as values were below detection limit and all organs clear! So another follow up in October and the first year post surgery is weathered. What a relief!

 

[LaFleche]

@SkyAJK Glad your mother is so much better by now! Wishing her a full recovery.

I don't vaccinate once the core set is done and boostered. There are studies that prove lifetime immunity for the core diseases. Humans don't get vaccinated annually for the diseases we get vaccinated for as children and humans live far longer than dogs. Rabies, they get every 3 years at clinics.

That is how we do it with our dogs too.
Overvaccinating is very common as it provides a stable income but it more often leads to autoimmune problems with the patients as well, be it humans or animals.
Having a titer determination done will prevent the unnecessay health risks and cut down on the costs.

Here in Germany vet costs have skyrocketed to an insane level and many animals end up in shelters, sanctuaries, are abandoned or even killed.

An example:
Neutering male dog was ~150 €

Last February we were presented with a bill for both our males of 1.000+ ! Despite their prior cuotation being 240-300€ per dog.

I call this a rip-off! With male dogs it is a no brainer done in about 10-15 Minutes max.
Neutering females is much more complicated and time consuming and I would consider a bill around 500 € justified.

 

[DobieLover]

Overvaccinating is very common as it provides a stable income but it more often leads to autoimmune problems

It's just plain unethical. Any veterinarian or anybody else working in the medical field should educate themselves with data not provided by pharmaceutical companies that are looking to make a buck.

The other thing I have issue with is when puppies are brought in for vaccination no matter what breed the puppy is or the size of its body, it gets 1 ml of vaccination serum. You can bring in a 25 lb Mastiff puppy he gets one ml. Maybe that's not enough. You bring in a 3 lb Miniature Pinscher puppy she also gets one ml. That's more than likely too much. I read that toy breeds have the highest incident of vaccination reaction. Big surprise.

So many people have been conditioned and indoctrinated to think that their dogs and cats have to have annual shots. If they'd bother to stop and think about the fact that they themselves don't get annual shots they'd start to question things. In any veterinarian office that requires annual shots in order to get prescriptions for things like heartworm prevention are also unethical.

My current vet works out of a dilapidated old house about 25 minutes away. But the man figured out what was wrong with Bella the very first time she presented to him with symptoms. And he does not force or promote unnecessary vaccinations. He's an excellent vet.

 

[DobieLover]

Good morning Cafè. Thanks for the coffee LF.

I had a lovely visit with my floating friends yesterday! I plan to fly down to Florida and stay with them on their boat in March.

This happened overnight.

This one will likely go up tonight or tomorrow night to cocoon.

Have two more itty bitty ones that have a long way to go. Still hoping to find more.