Vet bills

We use Healthy Paws insurance too. It’s easy to use and legit covers major vet bills. If you just have a house dog, it might not be worth it, but our two border collies have used it and it’s saved us thousands so far (and they are only 4 and 6).

One dog had an injured toe that wouldn’t heal and eventually got amputated. But it took months of treatments and diagnostics to get to that point, plus the rehab and follow ups afterwards. Once past the small deductible, 90% of everything but the office visit is covered.
 
Our oldest (by a year) Golden Retreiver (Internet quote) Healthy Paws...so double this.

Available plan based on your pet's details;

165.13/mo

Reimbursement: 50%

Annual Deductible: $1000

Maximum Payouts: Unlimited
 
It's been a long time since I have had a dog get a gash that needed stitches. With cuts that aren't too nasty or dirty,, it is not too difficult to flush the wound well with saline and use a staple gun to close the wound. I leave a small opening for drainage.

Horses are another matter. Any non routine trip to the vet is going to set you back. Anything under a grand would be a relief.

I am not inclined to buy health insurance for my animals for a number of reasons. Chief among them is that assuming that insurance company truly knows the risk,,,the price of their policy reflects that, with a decent profit left for their trouble.
 
my lab broke a couple teeth. Dog dental work is damned expensive too! My son's lab just spent a couple nights at the vet after an ER visit with GI problems. $1200.
 
We get the frequent flyer discount at our vet's office. Pretty sure their nice cabin in the Elkhorns is mostly paid by us.

Dog that just passed was easily $500 a month in pills & visits the last year of her life. That's on top of the 2 knee replacements at about $6K a pop, and the gastro-enteritis episode that was around $3K, followed by pneumonia a few weeks later at $2400.

3 year old lab usually goes in 3-4 times for cuts on legs and paws. No real big issues yet, other than continual ear infections (at around $250 a pop). Youngest pup has been relatively healthy so far, but we're still nervous over an easily aggravated left shoulder which leads to down time and a desire to eat the coffee table, shoes, rugs, rose bushes, etc.

upside is we're great at diagnosing issues with these dogs and cutting down on tests. The vet techs know us by the sound of our voices.
 
What is the stick doing? maintaining distance from wound and hip? Not seen that before.

BTW, pic of our hound where his fatty "cancer" blobs were removed from his side.

20200901_095713.jpg
 
What is the stick doing? maintaining distance from wound and hip? Not seen that before.

BTW, pic of our hound where his fatty "cancer" blobs were removed from his side.

View attachment 152592

As JEL mentioned, the stick is a drain. "A Penrose drain is a latex tube that is placed into a wound with one or two ends exiting the skin, allowing fluids to drain from the wound. The drain is typically sutured to the skin to hold the drain in place. Most likely, the drain will exit from a new incision site and not the primary wound site."

Here's some more information if you're interested: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-...Penrose drain is a,not the primary wound site.
 
900 bucks for a twisted stomach
1200 for intestinal parasites from some chickens that got to close
800 for a bacterial infection from a coyote
I could go on but those are the ones that stick out
Hounds are expensive
 
Wife and I just went to Jackson Hole Wyoming for a few days and then continued on to Breckenridge to meet up with her sister and her husband for a few more. We had the dogs boarded at our vets business in the same kennel. After all they are together every day all day long. Once in a while though and I have no idea why this happens, but Hazel our Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and Boo Boo (Yes my son named him 15 years ago.) will have a pissing match and Hazel will get the old fellow down and snap and snarl. Sometimes we can see it coming and are able to stop it before it happens, but once in a while it just happens.

They sleep in the laundry room with the door shut and each having their own beds. When they come into eat in the afternoon they eat together in the same room. Food dishes about 6 feet apart. When going for walks or anything the Cocker Spaniel (old fella) follows Hazel around like a shadow.

So they are boarded at our vets office. About finished with the trip while still in Breckenridge when the vet calls and lets us know that Hazel and Boo Boo had just been fed together. Nothing new there. Sometime just shortly after their food was eaten and the boarding crew were doing something else they heard a commotion and hurry down as Boo Boo and Hazel are fighting. In snapping at each other Hazel somehow managed to put on of her canines through Boo Boo's eyelid. They noticed it bleeding a lot I was told right then. After it was cleaned up it stopped bleeding.

Vet felt it would be best to stitch the eyelid up to help ward off possible complications. That meant putting Boo Boo to sleep for the procedure. I asked how much is this going to cost and he said between $300.00 to $500.00. So there you have it another vet bill.

Here they are together. You might miss Boo Boo as he is standing directly under the Bad Ass Dog sign. And no Hazel is NOT a bad ass dog. She very friendly and sociable and loves playing with other dogs. Boo Boo never ever really played. He just didn't have that in him and was really mellow. Now Hazel is a go getter.

Here they are. The chocolate one is Boo Boo. Hazel is the red-head female with white paws, white tip on the tail, white spot on the nose, and white spot on her chest. Maybe I just answered my question myself. Female red-head.........Oh my I apologize in advance and I am only trying to be humorous. In this picture Hazel's white tip on the end of her tail is missing. We were hunting upland birds over in Lewiston with a good friend and Hazel really got into the burrs. There was no way I could get them out of her tail. I lopped it off and it would grow back. Wife not very happy about that and yes it did grow back.

David Boo Boo & Hazel .jpg

Hazel asleep loving on her toy..jpg

She likes to take one of her stuffed toys out of her toy box and sleep with them. Now I ask is this the face of a natural born killer?
 
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Heck I forgot to mention Boo Boo ran and jumped off of the deck at our old house. It was only about 20" high to the grass lawn. They did it all the time. Landed wrong and broke his right shoulder. Had to have surgery on that.

We used to give them rawhide toys to chew on. Not any longer. Hazel swallowed too large of a piece that had not been broken down enough. It lodged in her intestine. I don't remember how much either of these cost but it wasn't pretty.
 

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