Pets MoneySaving

Becles

Shop around for vets as they all charge varying different fees.
I've just paid £53 for a course of puppy vaccinations, microchipping and some flea treatment.

A basic consultation is £10, whereas I mystery shopped another vet and was charged £25 for a visit, although my employer paid that back to me.

Badgergal

Re: the rodent beddings I mentioned - they are completely safe for rodents Much safer than dusty woodshavings that release harmful phenols and much cheaper than little bags of Carefresh!

Penny-Pincher!!

Hey There

You state that you feel I am being irresponsible as our Westie has slight skin problems and am considering studing him.

Most Westies have skin problems but this is normally easily fixed by correcting their diet and exercise. It really has nothing do with making money, more with him passing his good genes on to his next generation

He is fit & healthy, fully up to date with jabs etc, chipped and well looked after.

Penny-Pincher!!
xxx

Curry_Queen

Magentasue wrote:

And to be controversial ... have never bothered with vaccinations or insurance. Have never had problems with cat flu, distemper etc. etc. either.

I'm sorry but, speaking as a vet nurse, that's a very irresponsible attitude and I find it incredibly hard to understand why some people think it unnecessary to protect the animals they claim to love from very distressing and potentially fatal diseases.

Have you ever seen a dog with Distemper or Parvovirus? ... or a cat with flu or enteritis? ... because if you had you'd never again question the need for vaccinations. I've nursed many of these poor animals, and we're not talking just mild illnesses here, but they are very serious life threatening diseases, which more often than not are fatal.

For example, in the case of Canine Parvovirus your dog would be producing copious amounts of vomit and bloody diarrhoea constantly, which has a smell of death to it ... once experienced, never forgotten ... and would be in incredible pain for several days before he dies. It is rare that a dog actually survives this unless the illness is spotted immediately and intensive treatment therapy is started within hours of onset. My own dog even caught it, despite being fully vaccinated, but was very lucky to survive due to me recognising the symptoms immediately. She'd managed to contract the disease via me carrying it home on clothing etc from patients I was in contact with in work, and all because their owners were too damn irresponsible to vaccinate their dogs :mad: That's how highly contagious and deadly it can be.

As for pets, one of the vets who used to work at our local practice says he would only vaccinate if his cats and dogs were going into kennels/cattery. Otherwise, he reckons once they're over a year old they build up a natural immunity - don't suppose he said that before he retired though!

I think you've completely misunderstood what he meant by this. Yes it is true that animals can build up a certain level of natural immunity, but only after they have received their initial vaccinations as a puppy/kitten and had a couple of annual boosters to give them the immunity to build upon. It also depends somewhat on the level of contact they have with other dogs/cats in the area. Someone living in a city area that walks their dogs on the street and in local parks, or areas that numerous other dog-walkers use, is recommended to keep up with their vaccinations on an annual basis. Whereas someone living in a remote area where their dog is unlikely to come into contact with many others would get away with vaccinating maybe every 2-3 years.

The same goes for cats ... indoor cats don't necessarily need annual vaccinations as they're unlikely to come into contact with other cats, but if they're likely to go into kennels for any reason then they'll need an up-to-date vaccination record, as will dogs. Cat flu is just as deadly, even moreso to kittens, and nursing a litter of kittens with flu just to watch them die one by one is not a pleasant task. Not to mention FIV, which is the feline form of AIDS, which once they have contracted that they are not allowed to come into contact with any other cat (apart from another FIV+ cat) and will be susceptible to any illness going and respond poorly to treatment.

The annual vacination visit to the vet is also important as they will get a full health check-up at the same time, which is important in maintaining good health and spotting any possible problems before they become major ones!

Some of the vaccines can actually protect an animal for longer than 12 months in most cases, and research is ongoing to determine at what point the vaccine is no longer protecting the animal, but because of the regional variation in incidence of disease, plus the fact there are still some owners who don't bother vaccinating, thus creating further problems, the general consensus at BSAVA and BVA is that they should still be adminstered annually to be on the safe side. Unfortunately I can't give you the links to relevant publications to read as you're not a member.

Around 20 years ago when parvovirus was rife in many areas these vaccinations were given every 6mths as animals were contracting the disease 8-9mths following vaccination. Fortunately this is no longer the case and we see nowhere near the incidences of this disease as we did then, due to people vaccinating properly, but it is still around and wouldn't take long for the situation to revert back to such conditions if everyone had your attitude and refused to vaccinate their animals!

I happened to be working in such an area back then and we had litters of pups coming in daily and dropping dead from parvovirus, which was very distressing to deal with, not only for us but the owners too who were mostly responsible people but had contracted the disease from the streets and carried it home to their vulnerable young litters. I remember one particular breeder that had his whole stock of pups wiped out and lost thousands because of it.

I hope you take on board what I've said and do the responsible thing and get your animals vaccinated please, before it's too late!

Curry_Queen

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

Does anyone know how we can go about finding info on studing him out? He is a 4 generation pedigree with full papers etc..if that helps.

I don't advise you breed from this dog at all given that you have stated he has a skin problem!!!

Atopic dermatitis, or Atopy for short, is an inherited condition for which there is no cure and the afflicted dog will suffer a life-time of discomfort, not to mention running up substantial vets bills for the owner in treating it! Any reputable breeder wouldn't even entertain using your dog as a stud, but then all breeders aren't reputable which is how this condition has become so prevalent in the first place, along with many other breed-related conditions that many animals suffer! :mad:

In most cases insurance will not cover ongoing treatment for this condition either, and I wonder if that's why you cancelled your policy

You also mention using the PDSA for treatment, and getting vaccinations from them?!?! The PDSA do not provide regular preventative treatment such as vaccinations/flea control/worming/neutering etc but are there purely to provide a service to people on low income to treat their pets for illness/injury. The treatment administered is very basic, no frills, but sufficiently adequate to do the job, and they rely purely on public donations to fund this.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

Thanks Curry Queen for your input and will look more fully into this! The insurance for him was cancelled only due to lack of funds and having to cut back, not his skin condition.

I do have to disagree with your comments regarding the PDSA though. We have had his yearly vaccination done, worming treatment, flea treatment, shampoo given for his skin, specialised diet food perscribed and vitamin tablets given. Some other bits too but cant think off hand! Over the past 7 years we have used a few different vets etc (some costing a fortune!), but have to admit that the local new PDSA we have here has been by far the best and very informative & helpful. I would not describe them as no-frills.

Our local PDSA has been open for about 12-18 months now. You need to be receiving Housing Benifit or Council Tax Beneift to receive care for your pet.

Penny-Pincher!!
XXX

mrsmab59

Curry_Queen wrote:

I'm sorry but, speaking as a vet nurse, that's a very irresponsible attitude and I find it incredibly hard to understand why some people think it unnecessary to protect the animals they claim to love from very distressing and potentially fatal diseases.

I've always ensured my dogs have their annual boosters because the kennels that they stay in a couple of times a year won't take animals without up to date vaccination and kennel cough certificates.

However, it's nice to be reminded by a professional animal worker of the real reasons why our pets should be kept up to date with their vaccinations. So thanks very much for your informative post Curry_Queen

Magentasue

Curry_Queen wrote:

I hope you take on board what I've said and do the responsible thing and get your animals vaccinated please, before it's too late!

Well, no I won't be doing that. I realise you speak from experience but still feel that my cats and dog will be fine without vaccinations. Do I think they may pick up a potentially fatal illness in the next year? No. If they did, I don't think they would be worse off for not being vaccinated. Have to admit, I wouldn't be so confident if they were less than a year old or elderly and frail. The dogs and cats we had before this lot lived long and healthy lives and I think the present three will too.

Anyway, I accept most people will not feel the way I do and I'm not suggesting they should.

Curry_Queen

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

I do have to disagree with your comments regarding the PDSA though. We have had his yearly vaccination done, worming treatment, flea treatment, shampoo given for his skin, specialised diet food perscribed and vitamin tablets given. Some other bits too but cant think off hand! Over the past 7 years we have used a few different vets etc (some costing a fortune!), but have to admit that the local new PDSA we have here has been by far the best and very informative & helpful. I would not describe them as no-frills.

Hi

In that case your extremely fortunate in that your local PDSA hospital must be one of the few that are currently running trials into providing preventative treatment at a subsidised rate. This has only been available in the last few months though, but hopefully if the trial goes ok then more hospitals will be providing this service next year!

However, the same rules apply in that you must receive certain benefits to be eligible and these treatments are not provided free of charge, but should be substantially cheaper than private vets. I'd be very interested to know how much you were actually charged, if you don't mind (PM me if you don't want to say publicly).

I'm not sure which hospitals are running the pilots at the moment but I'll try to find out if people are interested, although I can take an educated guess at which one Penny-Pincher uses, as the PDSA have only opened 2 hospitals in the last 2 years

I would assume this new scheme, if it goes ahead next year, would only be accessible at their hospitals and medical units too, and not at the numerous private practices that provide a PDSA service in-house, but again that's something I'll try to find out about as I'm sure it would benefit many people on this site.

Oh, my comment about the "no frills" service comes from having worked in both private practice and PDSA hospitals, and there is often a huge difference, due to the financial constraints they're under, in the way things are done or materials used etc, with much improvisation, which may not be apparent to the public but I can assure you it doesn't detract from the care the animals receive

beachbeth

mrsmab59 wrote:

However, it's nice to be reminded by a professional animal worker of the real reasons why our pets should be kept up to date with their vaccinations. So thanks very much for your informative post Curry_Queen

I agree! Thanks for your information, it makes me so glad that mine are vaccinated. I can't understand how people don't vaccinate. I saw a dog on a tv programme dying of parvo and it looked horrendous, to put it mildly and the vet, when he saw it (it was brought in as a stray) immediately put the poor thing to sleep.

I say again, if everybody thought it was a good idea not to vaccinate all these diseases would have a field day and would once again become rife. It doesnt bear thinking about!