The real cost of having pets

gettingready

GR plans on strangling Paddypaws and Fridaycat and feeding both to Zara

:P

katebl

Gettingready, I do my best not to... Do get caught out sometimes but am learning! Watching the cat litter debate with interest as my Mum gets through lot of it with her cats so thanks to you all :beer:

Fridaycat

gettingready wrote: »

GR plans on strangling Paddypaws and Fridaycat and feeding both to Zara

:P

But I think I told you before... I've moved to Australia so you can't catch me :rotfl::p

Wellyboots6

Tyson is due at the vets today for another injection but I seriously can't afford it until my last insurance claim is paid

I feel so guilty! I also don't see how insurance is helping when I haven't actually seen a penny of it yet!!

gettingready

Well, I called Goddards about Metacam for Zara - till she gets seen at Fitzpatrick. Their prices are just sky high.

Aldo called CH and their prices are a bit more resonable (although still a lot compared to online prices).

Goddards can give me 32ml metacam for £26.00 plus VAT (!!!!) without seeing Zara.

CH needs to see Zara (£12 for a visit) and give me 180ml Metacam for £36. That involves 2 busses each way, on the way back in rush hour - not sure I will be allowed with Zara on the bus on the ay back as there may be too many people travelling.

Yes, Zara is insured but Godards only do direct claims for bills over £250, anything under £250 one has to pay up front and claim himself/herself later.

Over £250 - one pays the excess and they claim the rest directly from the vets.

So yes insurance is good to have but right now I struggle anyway - be in excess or whatever...

Need to think on this one.. get a smaller bottle for under £30 fro Goddards (no need to take the dog and worry about transport as can pick it up myself) or go to CH for the bigger bottle and risk having to walk all the way back home (impossible wit her legs).

Also - nobody can tell me (called vet and 2 online pet pharmacies) about dosage of metacam. Was trying to work out if 32 mil bottle will last a week for Zara, she is 40kg.

The bottle size is in ml but the dosage in mg so really crap as there is no way to work it out myself as 1ml is not the same as 1 mg.... grrrr

penny_pincha

gettingready wrote: »

The bottle size is in ml but the dosage in mg so really crap as there is no way to work it out myself as 1ml is not the same as 1 mg.... grrrr

1 ml of water is the same as a 1g of water. I would have thought that Metacam has a very similar density to water as much as makes no difference.

krlyr

penny_pincha wrote: »

1 ml of water is the same as a 1g of water. I would have thought that Metacam has a very similar density to water as much as makes no difference.

The mg refers to the dose of medication though - so one medication may contain 1.5mg of the active ingredient per ml (which is the case with Metacam), another may be 10mg per ml so it's not a direct conversion. Even in the same medication, the mg/ml can vary, e.g. the horse version of Metacam is ten times as strong, at 15mg/ml (it's usually more concentrated for horses/livestock because otherwise you'd have to get a big volume of medication into an animal that's usually not all that easy to administer it to!). You certainly wouldn't want to give a dog the same volume of horse Metacam as they'd have of the dog version!

gettingready

krlyr wrote: »

it's not a direct conversion.

Precisely and that was/is/will be a problem....

gettingready

Just though i mention something - so peopl who think insurance in not worth it and prefer to "put money away".

Zara's operation today, hip replacement, one leg = £5500 + £180 extra 3 nights at the vets + £30 admin charge (as they will do direct claim)

I could have NEVER afforded that without the insurance.....

Geotge's 2 ops last year (luxating pattela, he ws 7 month old) - nearly £5000, again, he is insured...

Pls think very carefully if you can afford NOT to have insurance

rising_from_the_ashes

katy721 wrote: »

Tyson is due at the vets today for another injection but I seriously can't afford it until my last insurance claim is paid

I feel so guilty! I also don't see how insurance is helping when I haven't actually seen a penny of it yet!!

Katy - who are you insured with & how long since the claims were submitted?

Seems shoddy service IMHO :mad:- have you had an acknowledgement letter that they're dealing with the claim (I always used to get these with PetPlan and then the decision & cheque within a couple of weeks)

gettingready wrote: »

Pls think very carefully if you can afford NOT to have insurance

Couldn't agree more GR