The NFC B-Day Chat Thread

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Good morning everyone :frow

J, cute to see the little cockatiel snuggle with your cat! You mention some of them leaving you...do you sell them once they reach a certain age? It would be hard to keep all you hatch but it must sometimes be tough to part with some of those you spent so much time on.

DMC, I hear you on the cost of pets. Between the 3 cats here at home and the 3 down at the golf course, that's a lot of vet bills. Before the year is out, all 6 will have been back to the vet for check ups.

Chilly day here today. We had some snow mixed with rain yesterday afternoon and more of that is predicted over the next several days. Sure makes for slow biz at a golf course.

You all have a great day, I'll be back later to see what everyone's up to.
 
This is why I am glad I just have one cat and one dog lol I do have 8 chickens too though but still.

I do want more dogs eventually though and maybe cats (I hate litter boxes and I'm somewhat allergic but they're so sweet) but even ours are expensive.

For starters, our dog is huge lol. Half black Lab and half Great Pyrenees. 130 pounds. That said he usually only eats like 3 cups a day, though he has 4 or 5 available. If he's hungry, he will eat more. So he doesn't eat much more than a medium to large sized dog but still a lot. Plus we feed him good grain free food.

And of course harnesses, collars, leashes, cost more for a bigger dog. Well actually leashes don't cost more but the rest does. And he is huge so generally needs the biggest size which is also the most expensive.

And while our vet is very reasonable and doesn't charge very much, it is still like $200, maybe more, for the annual check up and shots. Same for the cat even though she is tiny....

And of course spaying and neutering. The cat we got done at a cheap clinic at like 2 or 3... also didn't get her shots till then. We were really behind aha the dog we got done at our previous vet who was pricey. It was like $400.... I know I could probably find it cheaper but he is a very large dog so there probably isn't any place that would do it much cheaper than $200.

Plus of course I've bought toys, treats, beds, etc. For them too. And gosh the price of even just treats and toys these days is outrageous!!! Especially cause, again, he needs the big toys.

And he's not crate trained but a crate for him would cost a couple hundred.

And the chickens don't need vet care but they need a coop and run, bowls, food, oyster shell, grit, shavings, they add up too haha

It's just crazy.

Thankfully I love them so I do it ha but it's crazy

And forget about any medical emergencies. You can be in the thousands easily.
 
oldhenlikesdogs said:
There's Iverhart. If your vet doesn't carry it you can order it from places like Foster and Smith with a prescription from your vet. I've got 5 dogs, heartworm preventative is pricey, but worth it.
Click to expand...

Note that the incidence of heartworm is regional. Basically it doesn't exist (unless imported in a specific animal) in cold climate states and is quite prevalent in warm states.

  1. "The University of Pennsylvania vet school (in a study funded by Merial) found: “Development in the mosquito is temperature dependent, requiring approximately two weeks of temperature at or above 27C (80F). Below a threshold temperature of 14C (57F), development cannot occur, and the cycle will be halted. As a result, transmission is limited to warm months, and duration of the transmission season varies geographically.”"

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/heartworm-medication-part-1-truths-omissions-and-profits/

I used accuweather's historical data to look at the temps in Vermont for summer 2016. There is no possible way any animal in the state could have been infected with heartworm IN VERMONT because there was never a long enough day and night period with temps ALWAYS above 57°.

We have 4 indoor only cats. I'm now declining all vaccines other than the legally required rabies. Why? Because:
  1. They NEVER go outside.
  2. No heartworm medicine. The chance the rare "warm weather" mosquito we see in the house is a carrier is so very small (see above) that the chance is basically 0%.
  3. The vectors for most of the diseases are other cats. There is only 1 cat we ever see on our property (he lives across the road). We have ZERO possibility of him getting nose to nose with any of our cats unless he brings a trampoline and jumps high enough to reach the window screens. There are no floor level screens in the house. And, BTW, he has never come up to the house, he hunts rodents out in the yard and the barn.
I'm saving a lot of money and I'm not subjecting the cats to nasty chemicals (the heartworm shot which is NOT a vaccine).
 
Vermont doesn't get above 57 at night even in the summer? Wow that's surprising

Here it's hot

Mine don't get heartworm meds either but that's cause my dad thinks it's expensive or forgets or whatever
 
KDOGG331 said:
This is why I am glad I just have one cat and one dog lol I do have 8 chickens too though but still.

I do want more dogs eventually though and maybe cats (I hate litter boxes and I'm somewhat allergic but they're so sweet) but even ours are expensive.

For starters, our dog is huge lol. Half black Lab and half Great Pyrenees. 130 pounds. That said he usually only eats like 3 cups a day, though he has 4 or 5 available. If he's hungry, he will eat more. So he doesn't eat much more than a medium to large sized dog but still a lot. Plus we feed him good grain free food.

And of course harnesses, collars, leashes, cost more for a bigger dog. Well actually leashes don't cost more but the rest does. And he is huge so generally needs the biggest size which is also the most expensive.

And while our vet is very reasonable and doesn't charge very much, it is still like $200, maybe more, for the annual check up and shots. Same for the cat even though she is tiny....

And of course spaying and neutering. The cat we got done at a cheap clinic at like 2 or 3... also didn't get her shots till then. We were really behind aha the dog we got done at our previous vet who was pricey. It was like $400.... I know I could probably find it cheaper but he is a very large dog so there probably isn't any place that would do it much cheaper than $200.

Plus of course I've bought toys, treats, beds, etc. For them too. And gosh the price of even just treats and toys these days is outrageous!!! Especially cause, again, he needs the big toys.

And he's not crate trained but a crate for him would cost a couple hundred.

And the chickens don't need vet care but they need a coop and run, bowls, food, oyster shell, grit, shavings, they add up too haha

It's just crazy.

Thankfully I love them so I do it ha but it's crazy

And forget about any medical emergencies. You can be in the thousands easily.
Click to expand...
That is why i vaccinate my own pets. $9 a kitten or cat versus what ever crazy price the vets charge. Same thing for the dogs. You can also get the rabies shots at vaccination clinics pretty cheap. But the combo shots are expensive there. My husband shops online and gets food and treats cheaper than retail and free delivery. I get vaccines at TSC.
 
CapricornFarm said:
That is why i vaccinate my own pets. $9 a kitten or cat versus what ever crazy price the vets charge. Same thing for the dogs. You can also get the rabies shots at vaccination clinics pretty cheap. But the combo shots are expensive there. My husband shops online and gets food and treats cheaper than retail and free delivery. I get vaccines at TSC.
Click to expand...


I'm kind of nervous about doing vaccines myself haha but that does sound cheaper! He can't go to clinics cause he doesn't like other dogs :( or at least, he likes most but some he doesn't and either way, I doubt he would do well in an environment with tons of dogs around at once plus pet store animals. We actually get food and treats online too or I find treats at this store near me but I still find it absurd they can even ask that much. Some treats are like $6, $7, even $8 a bag, and some toys are like $12 or $14.. of course online is definitely cheaper but crazy they get away with that to begin with! We buy food either on Amazon or Chewy. We used to be strictly Chewy but a lot of their prices have gone up plus they stopped carrying one we really like. And one we're feeding now is $10/bag cheaper on Amazon... Chewy used to be the cheapest around. They still have excellent customer service though and ARE the cheapest for a lot of stuff just not everything anymore. Makes sense with all the ads, instructional/info videos, and full color pamphlets they have now. We rotate foods every month or few months though. Brand and flavor.
 
CapricornFarm said:
We love Chewy! Or order got lost in transit and they sent us 2 of everything we ordered! Great company!
Click to expand...

We love them too! We've gotten refunded on a couple things and they just said to donate the stuff!!

They really are excellent!!

I'm just disappointed some of the prices have gone up on our favorite brands or they stopped carrying them :(
 
KDOGG331 said:
I'm kind of nervous about doing vaccines myself haha but that does sound cheaper! He can't go to clinics cause he doesn't like other dogs :( or at least, he likes most but some he doesn't and either way, I doubt he would do well in an environment with tons of dogs around at once plus pet store animals. We actually get food and treats online too or I find treats at this store near me but I still find it absurd they can even ask that much. Some treats are like $6, $7, even $8 a bag, and some toys are like $12 or $14.. of course online is definitely cheaper but crazy they get away with that to begin with! We buy food either on Amazon or Chewy. We used to be strictly Chewy but a lot of their prices have gone up plus they stopped carrying one we really like. And one we're feeding now is $10/bag cheaper on Amazon... Chewy used to be the cheapest around. They still have excellent customer service though and ARE the cheapest for a lot of stuff just not everything anymore. Makes sense with all the ads, instructional/info videos, and full color pamphlets they have now. We rotate foods every month or few months though. Brand and flavor.
Click to expand...
I am a nurse now, but even before that i used to vaccinate all the kittens and puppies we sold in our pet stores. It is not hard. Probably videos on you tube. Sure saves a load of money. I paid $66 for everything at the spay clinic instead of $100 the local vet wanted, and the vet charges more for pain meds etc. I could have had it done even cheaper but i didn't want the tip of her ear cut off.
 

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