The real cost of having pets

gettingready

@ Frugalista

What matters here is my insurer's and my vet's opinions really and whatever "appears" to anyone else is irrelevant for this purpose so not sure why you felt the need to post....:)

But thanks for your professional opinion :cool:

And yes, Zara is a much loved pet - whatever she is....

A friend of mine has a dog that she insisted was a GS cross, there was some company that used to do DNA testing so she sent off some saliva or whatever it was (can not remember) to be tested - her dog had zero GS in but a lot of various breeds including an afgan hound :eek:

Still, I really have finished discussing Zara's "breed" - this thread has a different purpose all together.

gettingready

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Certainly looks the same / same info on bag etc - just seems to be 'classic' rather than 'fresh'

If it's still around the next time I need to order anything, I'll stick a couple of bags in (purely for investigative purposes of course! ) - I'm pretty well stocked up now

TBH I think unless it was a substantial saving (say if the other one was full price) then I think I'd always get the 'fresh' one - I do really like the 'fresh' smell it has! (I guess you could mix them if the same apart from the smell)

Will do the same with the "original" but I too quite like the "fresh" smell..LOL

BUT have to say the clumping is not as good as GG - BUT with my news scoops (arrived from Amazon today) nothing gets left behind so all fine....

rising_from_the_ashes

*phew - wipes sweat from brow* thank goodness you like it!

Frugalista

gettingready wrote: »

@ Frugalista

What matters here is my insurer's and my vet's opinions really and whatever "appears" to anyone else is irrelevant for this purpose so not sure why you felt the need to post....:)

But thanks for your professional opinion :cool:

And yes, Zara is a much loved pet - whatever she is....

A friend of mine has a dog that she insisted was a GS cross, there was some company that used to do DNA testing so she sent off some saliva or whatever it was (can not remember) to be tested - her dog had zero GS in but a lot of various breeds including an afgan hound :eek:

Still, I really have finished discussing Zara's "breed" - this thread has a different purpose all together.

@ gettingready

I posted because I know what I am talking about and this forum is open to all posters. Just because you prefer a different opinion doesn't make mine irrelevent and I am at liberty to state it. If you wish to go down the DNA route put your money where your mouth is - I can assure you that your dog is not a Belgian cross.

Zara's skull shape and head planes; eye shape and placement,; ear size and set; bone density and length; body shape and length; coat colour and pattern and sex charactaristics are all alien to the Belgian Shepherd. She is also a lot heavier than the average adult male Belgian. What makes you believe that she is a Belgian cross?

You may not want to discuss this but I find it very interesting - especially when an insurance company is being lied to and thus defrauded. This sort of thing tends to have a knock on effect on genuine, honest claimants and is totally relevent to this thread ie, the cost of having pets.

Has your vet stated what cross he believes Zara is? And why has it taken eight years for both you and he to reach this conclusion? In my experience vets are very hit and miss in this area. A friend of mine took her Groenendael pup to the vets and he thought it was a Samoyed :eek:. Says it all really .

GwylimT

I had to renew my cats petplan insurance this month, it is 75p cheaper a month than last year which is a very nice surprise as I claimed on it twice last year.

As I've said before I struggle to get insurance for my dog due to a wide variety of conditions it is cheaper to put x away each month, especially as his three conditions wouldn't be covered anyway. Does anyone know of a policy that just covers accidents, such as road traffic, physical injury etc. I have had a bit of a look around but even will calling some insurers they still won't insure him at all.

fairymoneysaver

Frugalista wrote: »

You may not want to discuss this but I find it very interesting - especially when an insurance company is being lied to and thus defrauded. This sort of thing tends to have a knock on effect on genuine, honest claimants and is totally relevent to this thread ie, the cost of having pets.

This is exactly my point. I don't care what breed the dog is called, she can call it a poodle if she wants as long as it is not being used to bag cheaper insurance.

As for the insurers and vets opinions - the insurer cannot have an opinion as they have not seen the dog, as for the vet, if he/she agrees after 8 years that this dog is not a German Shepherd I would be changing my vet.

fairymoneysaver

GwylimT wrote: »

I had to renew my cats petplan insurance this month, it is 75p cheaper a month than last year which is a very nice surprise as I claimed on it twice last year.

As I've said before I struggle to get insurance for my dog due to a wide variety of conditions it is cheaper to put x away each month, especially as his three conditions wouldn't be covered anyway. Does anyone know of a policy that just covers accidents, such as road traffic, physical injury etc. I have had a bit of a look around but even will calling some insurers they still won't insure him at all.

I believe Tesco do accident/injury only insurance.

rising_from_the_ashes

fairymoneysaver wrote: »

I believe Tesco do accident/injury only insurance.

If you look a couple of pages back, there's another provider as well .... and most of the supermarkets offer a basic cover

gettingready

Only Zara is not with PetPlan - and that was a big mistake....

All 4 of my boys are with PetPlan now, George with exclusions but still moved him over to PetPlan.

*************

Horrid fireworks outside, the "official ones" - all 5 of mine terrified...

Still thinking about that even cheaper Biocat..hmmm

rising_from_the_ashes

I was looking at Zoo+ in Germany earlier as there's a food on there Mia loves & they don't stock on the UK website & although I can get elsewhere, it's really expensive and realistically unaffordable to feed regularly

The BK one that was £12 (the one we think is the same as the one on offer) is only £10.17 even GG is cheaper at £15.65 (full price)

The food she likes works out £7 cheaper / 12 cans :eek:

Delivery is £5.40 which I don't think is bad considering it's from another country!

Might try ordering from there next time I need to .....