The Dog Lovers Thread

Parent Cafe
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<p>It feels like this could be an on going thread for the dog lovers on CC (cat lovers, feel free to start your own, but that thread might become aloof and not pay any attention to you, lol ;))</p>

<p>I think so many of us parents on CC have kids who are in the process of leaving us in a sense, and I for one take a huge amount of comfort in my awesome 9 year old (2 years cancer-free, knock on wood) chocolate lab Sadie who will never leave me for the excitement of college life.</p>

<p>As they say:
I hope to someday be the person my dog thinks I am ;)</p>

<p>So here’s a starter question I got from another thread. Doggie health insurance, do you have it? Is it worth it?</p>

<p>Also Anesthesia-free teeth cleaning: Just did it with my dog and it was amazing. Much cheaper, very thorough (I watched the dental hygenist do the whole thing, she spent 55 minutes on my dog). Totally not traumatic for the dog. Also a HUGE improvement in terms of tartar removal and no more doggie breath!</p>

<p>Feel free to add anything, introduce your dog(s), tell us how wonderful they are ;)</p>

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<p>My dog’s name is really Cleopatra but she no longer responds to that. She goes by Moo Moo because she looks like a cow. She’s a 5 year old rescued pit bull, former bait dog, and the light of our lives. She is the sweetest and most gentle dog we’ve ever had but when she gets excited, she throws around her giant bone and it HURTS! </p>

<p>We don’t have insurance for her. We started brushing her teeth very young so her teeth are in very good shape. I’ve honestly never heard of that kind of tooth cleaning so thanks for the heads up.</p>

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<p>This reminds me that our dogs are indeed due for their teeth to be done. My SD is a dog groomer so she brushes them often for us but I like to have them deep cleaned.I have a Lhasapoo and 2 Havanese and a Siberian Husky. I don’t have “pet” insurance. I drew the line when I had to pay for our horses equine insurance.</p>

<p>Yalemom: good to hear that your Sadie is Cancer free………and I agree I too draw comfort knowing that all my critters will still be home while my DD goes off to spread her wings………</p>

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<p>I have a six and a half year old pit bull mix rescue. I was supposed to foster him for one week in an emergency situation (he was getting put down by the city the next day due to “no room” in the city pound), and it’s been almost three and a half years. He is mine now :)</p>

<p>He is the sweetest dog I have ever met. He is a HUGE cuddler, even though her is over 60 pounds, and has a really kind heart. </p>

<p>In other words, HE IS AMAZING!!!</p>

<p>I do have health insurance for him. I am just a few years out of college, and I just don’t feel that I could spend $10,000-$20,000, which a real emergency, or, God forbid, cancer would end up costing, and not go into massive debt. And not treating would not be an option for me.</p>

<p>I have Trupanion, and I am, overall, satisfied with them. They have paid all my claims, except for the walk-in-the-door fee a vet would charge just for seeing the dog, but that’s just something they don’t pay for. They even paid for my animal poison control fee when my dog ate something he wasn’t supposed to. They HAVE raised their rates on me, so that’s the downside. They don’t raise them with age, but they do adjust for the cost of medical care, and I felt the adjustment was huge, but so far there has only been one adjustment… We’ll see what the future holds. For now, I can’t imagine not having insurance for him.</p>

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<p>acollegestudent, that’s very interesting about the health insurance. I just looked up trupanion and did an online quote at it came out to $62/month for my dog with a $500 deductible. Just curious, did your rates go up more than 50% with that rate hike? I can’t seem to find a pre-existing condition clause, which my dog definitely has, but I really haven’t combed through the site.</p>

<p>crittermom: now I understand why your screenname is crittermom!! :smiley: :smiley: :D</p>

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<p>I have an almost 9-year old Jack Russell. He is nasty, surly, sarcastic, entitled and blind in one eye. However, he will accept a cookie very nicely and will not bite the giver’s foot until he has finished every crumb! He is my daughter’s soul mate, so what can we do? Seriously, though, he has just had his second eye surgery (which was very expensive) and we are waiting on pins and needles to find out if it worked because there is no Plan C.</p>

<p>I’m sure your dogs are all wonderful, but there is only one truly perfect dog. That’s right. Uno the Beagle. All hail!</p>

<p>[Website</a> of CH K-Run’s Park Me in First - Uno](<a href=“http://www.unothebeaglefanclub.com/]Website”>http://www.unothebeaglefanclub.com/)</p>

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<p>Zooser - my Jack Russell is 14 years old and she is deaf but sees pretty well and has a very robust appetite! We have tried hard to maintain her teeth but they are really fragile now so I cook her organic brown rice in chicken broth and puree various meats and heat it all up in the microwave and serve it to her twice a day with tidbit snacks here and there. We are empty nesters and she is basically our love object at this point. She is quite complex psychologically, becomes irritable if I don’t take her with me in the car buckled into her doggie car seat at least once per day. Yeah – I’m one of those ladies obsessed with her dog!</p>

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<p>LOL! Yalemom I haven’t even mentioned I have 2 Siamese cats and 2 Parrots and 2 fish….that add to our menagerie of 4 dogs and 4 horses!! Pet insurance for us would cost a fortune!!! :D</p>

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<p>My dog is of unknown origin, and I love him. He’s beautiful, about 4yo. No insurance, and dh cleans his teeth. When we got him a couple of years ago he was overweight. He’s now lost 10 pounds and is a svelte 63.3. That’s good for the vet, who wanted him between 60 and 65, but I could see him losing a couple more. If he doesn’t get enough attention he acts out, like digging out of the yard or pulling Kleenex from the trashcan.</p>

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<p>My rates did go up more than 50%. They went from about $40 to about $65, but that’s with a $0 deductible. My dog was pretty young when I registered him. Plus, I think it was when they were first starting out. I don’t know if that made the rates cheaper. Even at the rate you were quoted, I would go for it. But again, that’s just me. If I I knew could cover a major emergency (in excess of $10,000), I may reconsider the health insurance (or I may not). It’s a peace of mind for me. Without insurance, I don’t feel I can ‘afford’ a dog, because, to me, being able to afford a dog is not just the day-to-day care but any large vet expenses without putting yourself in huge debt. And I feel like my responsibility to my animals is to make medical decisions for them not based on money.</p>

<p>I would call Trupanion and ask the questions that you have. I don’t think most insurances cover pre-existing conditions. Fortunately, my dog didn’t have any when I got him, which is probably another reason insurance works well for me.</p>

<p>Also check out PetPlan. They are another great provider, and their coverage is somewhat different. They do have a cap on how much they would pay out in a year and maybe(?) lifetime, which bothers me a bit.</p>

<p>Oh, and check out Embrace (I know NOTHING about them - just Googled them), but it looks like they cover pre-existing conditions after a year: [Pet</a> Insurance & Pre-Existing Conditions | EMBRACE](<a href=“http://www.embracepetinsurance.com/coverage/pre-ex-conditions.aspx]Pet”>http://www.embracepetinsurance.com/coverage/pre-ex-conditions.aspx)</p>

<p>This webiste about is good for looking up people’s reviews about different insurance companies: [Pet</a> Insurance Review - comparison of VPI, ASPCA, etc.](<a href=“http://www.petinsurancereview.com/]Pet”>http://www.petinsurancereview.com/)
It was very useful in doing my research, although the prices that they list can be off - I mainly like it for the user reviews.</p>

<p>Personally, the one company I would NOT recommend is VPI, because they pay a percentage of what THEY think a procedure SHOULD cost, not what it actually costs, and, living in one of the more expensive cities, that just doesn’t makes sense for me.</p>

<p>As you can tell, I am huge fan of pet insurance. I only wish the same insurance options were available for my other animals…</p>

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<p>We buy a lot of the dental bones. They work pretty well. One of our Havanese had such a bad underbite that his teeth rotted so bad the vet removed all of them. He is a much happier dog now :D</p>

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<p>ZM, I was wondering how the puppy was doing. Best wishes to him and you.</p>

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<p>Thank you Romanigypsyeyes! He is hanging in there but a little traumatized. Sewhappy, I am jealous. My guy hates to leave the house/yard. He gets paralyzed with terror to go in the car and doesn’t like to take walks. However, he did recently gift me with the corpse of the muskrat he found wandering in our backyard. I really love dogs. TV commercials with dogs crack me up and to this day, Snoopy makes me giggle.</p>

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<p>*However, he did recently gift me with the corpse of the muskrat he found wandering in our backyard. *</p>

<p>lol, mine killed a garden snake last fall and ran figure eights in the yard for a long time with the poor dead snake hanging out her mouth. So charming! </p>

<p>She didn’t always love the car but when we moved states and I had to drive her a long distance I got one of the doggie car seats and she loves it. When I unhook her from it when I leave her a little while in the car to run an errand she remains in the car seat. It has a lamb skin cushion so I guess it’s comfortable. Plus she can see out the windows from it.</p>

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<p>For those of you under Arctic air, how’re your pets doing? My dog refuses to go outside in the sub zero temps, even with her clothes (she’s got thin fur!). She has twice gone to the bathroom in the basement, something she hasn’t done since she was very young. Poor babies in this weather.</p>

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<p>My dog hates the cold, just like me. He sits in front of the heater with me or he slowly makes his way up the stairs all day to follow the sun in the window. He could sunbathe all year long and often does! Also he naps. But he will not wear a coat or boots no matter what the weather. I love dogs who will dress up. My next dog is going to be a fashionista!</p>

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<p>My beast loves the Arctic cold–I’m the one who hates it and balks at going out. I’m especially worried about the layer of ice under the 2 inches of snow we got this weekend. I tried to avoid the ice by going into the woods near our house, but when the beast started sliding all over the place we carefully walked back home and that was it – so now I just tie him up in front of our house.</p>

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<p>We’ve never put clothes on our dog before the cow. When we first got her, she wore a sweater to help her stitches stay in place. A rescuer knitted it for her. Now she refuses to leave the house without a coat.</p>

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<p>* Poor babies in this weather.*</p>

<p>Yes, mine seems to think I control the weather as I control food and rides in the car and everything of importance in her universe. She gets very aggrieved whenever it is wet outside and refuses to go potty. The cold doesn’t seem to phase her – Jacks have a thick coat.</p>

<p>* But he will not wear a coat or boots no matter what the weather. *</p>

<p>Mine won’t either EXCEPT she loves to wear her doggie car seat harness. She will wear it all day long to be at the ready in case there’s a joy ride in the offing.</p>

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<p>My dog is a chicken and would never gift me with a dead anything!</p>