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Thought I should start a new thread.
I’m wondering what everybody pays for flea and heartworm protection for their dogs and what you use. I’d like to use Sentinel which is a tablet that covers both but I pay $173 for each dog for six months…almost $700 a year for two dogs. In the past I’ve used Heartguard and Avantage but the two of them cost more than the Sentinel. The only problem is, I have a hard time getting a prescription from my vet (he wants me to buy meds from him but he doesn’t carry Sentinel) so 1800PetMeds can’t provide me with them.
Any suggestions?
every first of the month. The package comes in a six to a package for a once a month supply that costs about $53 plus tax so with two different sized dogs (Border Collie/Shepard at 60 lbs and Cocker Spaniel at 27 lbs) it can get expensive, but the alternative is not an option in my house. The ounce of prevention is so very worth the pound of cure (if they can cure them as those heart worms do permanent damage to the pooch).
I was always kind of leary of giving a six month dose of medication like that to my dogs – so I just mark on the calender the first of each month and hid it in a treat. My Vet, who I love – won’t used 1800PETMEDS at all – I asked him about 8 years ago, and he said he didn’t like that the medicine wasn’t "fresh" some times, but I also think he makes a profit on the meds that he sells. A lot of Vets in my area won’t uses the mail order either.
They were on Interceptor (because that’s what my vet sells and of course they want you to buy from them) but I have to give my dogs flea prevention also. When I first moved here they didn’t have any fleas. It was a new development and no dogs. But then, as the neighbors started getting dogs, mine started getting fleas. After what I (and the poor pups) went through in CA before that stuff (like Advantage) was available, they suffered so badly and my house was full of fleas. Now, thank God, we are all flee-free, house, yard and dogs.
So, anyway, when you add the two meds together for two dogs…well…
thank goodness no fleas ever in the last 30+ years of doggiedom in my house even when I lived for 8 years on five acres out in the "wilderness" with the wild turkeys and skunks and other various creatures – the doggies never got fleas knock on wood.
It is very expensive the meds and vet bills for sure! I rescued my little old Cocker girl in May of 2009 – she was just turning 11 and she has chronic cough, (not kennel – vets and extensive testing can’t come up with what it is), plus she was lumpy bumpy (fatty tumors) of which several had to be removed. Her owner had passed away suddenly at 64, and the family was going to put the little girl down because they got the inheritance but didn’t want the dog around. Mag’s is the best little girl and I may only have her another year or however long, but it is worth every penny for the sweet little girl’s waggy tail and her snuggles. When she eats dinner, and her nose is in her bowl, she makes this funny little sound the entire time she is eating like "oh, this is so good, yum, so good, so yummy". Just the smiles that she’s (and her other rescue sister) have put on my face are so priceless.
Mine are on Heartguard and it’s the biscuit and they both love them. They had fleas a few months ago and it was awful. Ellie’s tummy between her legs was full of little red bumps like prickly heat. I reviewed the FurMinator earlier this year and using that on her I’d bring the fleas to the top of the fur and would remove at least 15-20 fleas a day. Stretch was hardly scratching but we did find a couple on her. Called the vet and got Comfortis which is a once a month pill. Within 4 hours we found dead fleas around where Ellie was laying. They said to give it for 3 months to get rid of all of them. It’s about $80+ for 6 months but our vet was letting us buy it a month at a time for $15 which was easier on the pocketbook.
We also treated the carpet and furniture but my understanding is they can get them just by going in the yard where squirrels, racoons and other animals can get to.
when she’s eating but it reminds me of the vacuum cleaner the way she scarfs it down. It’s like she’s been starved and this is her first food. I can’t figure out why some dogs eat so fast and others (like Pepper) just leasurely take their time and dine on their kibble like it’s an expensive meal.
As far as vet bills go, I guess I’ve been very luck with mine because it’s only been regular check-ups but Frostie is still young, only four, but Pepper is getting up there at eleven. She’s had problems with pancreatitis years ago but since I stopped feeding her people food, that has passed. All I have to do is give her a couple of left-overs and she pukes it all up. Such a delicate little tummy in that dog. Teeth cleaning is the most expensive thing, usually $500/dog by the time they do all the blood work, anesthesia, pain meds, antibiotics, and all the other stuff. Boy, I wish someone could figure a way to clean their teeth without having to go through all that.
But in the past, I’ve had some doozie expenses with other dogs. Shoulder surgery, knee surgery, one was hit by a car, so I’ll just keep my fingers crossed with these too. (I still want that dog in the magazine but she’s probably gone by now anyway.)
from catalog (w/out Rx) for $35-45 for 3 or 4 months’ worth. Tractor Supply also carries these.
Pet care expense is ridiculous. Vaccinations a total ripoff. What costs like $20 at a vet I get for a $3 and give them myself.she had an emergency visit – tummy trouble (I won’t put the gory details in) but after blood tests and X-ray’s and 6 hours at the vets and a ton of meds to bring home, she’s feeling her old doggie self today…thank God! "Mom" was just a bit more stressed out than usual yesterday, but I didn’t bat an eye at the bill because I got to bring her home!
Where we use to live I loved the vet but when we moved (20 miles south) 2 years ago we looked for one near our new house . We took Stretch & Ellie for their shots in February and they needed their teeth cleaned. Now I do need to say neither dog weighs more than 15 lbs. Then since Stretch is "elderly" at 8 years old they wanted to run some special blood tests on her. It cost us over $700 for shots, teeth cleaning and heartworm biscuits for 6 months. Now we get constant emails from the vets office that they’re both overdue for their Bordatella (sp) booster. Our old vet gave it once a year and that was it.
When we got Rascal we decided to look around. We called PetSmart and they have Banfield Pet Hospitals. We went there and it was a HUGE mistake. Last week it cost us $65 for the office visit and antibiotic. Today they gave him his first round of puppy shots, de-worming and it was a whopping $104.65 PLUS tax. They also tacked on a $3 medical waste disposal fee. Banfield’s has a Pet Wellness Program they tried to talk us into. It’s $99 to enroll then $23 a month and that covers all office visits and routine shots. Anything else is extra but you get a 10% discount on medications. The vet talked to us for an hour last week and today we had 3 separate people talk to us about it for a total of 5 talks today alone. We can’t afford that with 3 dogs. It would be over $1100 a year and we don’t spend near that much. If it covered everything, even emergencies and surgeries we might consider it but not just for routine care. They made us an appointment for 3 weeks for his next round of shots at $29.95 for the shot and $24.95 for the office visit. That doesn’t include Rabies, fecal exam and another de-worming (vet said it should be done 3 times) That would come to a total of $95.40 plus tax. Then we’d have to go back for the rabies and pay another office visit.
I called our old vet today to see what it would cast. Today’s visit would have been $56.50 and the next visit would be $61 and that INCLUDES fecal exam, de-worming and rabies. They don’t charge for an office visit, just for services rendered.
Guess where we’re going in 3 weeks.
through college on what I’ve spent on vet bills over the years. And I’m really in a pickle because I belong to a rescue that mostly places all older dogs. I adopt the oldster doggies – the ones that the families have given away or what ever fate has befallen the doggie – like my last little girl’s (10 years old and same home but her "Mom" passed away suddenly at 64 and the family was going to put her doggie down just because of her age)…I’ve had her 18 months and yes, she has cost me in vet bills but she still chases a ball, runs around the yard with the other old doggie and is just a love. I may not have ten years with her and if I have another year with her, it will be worth every cent for those little tail wags. I would love to win the lottery – I would adopt as many as I could. You’ve heard of the crazy cat lady? I’d be the crazy old rich poochie lady.
My husband’s always saying if we win the lotto we’d buy a LOT Of land and adopt a lot of dogs, maybe have a pet rescue. My 21 year old cousin is a certified pet groomer and we’d bring her out to help with the dogs. Find a vet to retain for them all. But as I remind him, we have to actually start buying the tickets to have any chance at all of winning.
We live in Alabama and there’s no lottery here but we’re 30 minutes away from both Florida and Georgia and have driven both directions to get tickets in the past.
I have never bought a lottery ticket in my life. Yes, I know, somebody has to win, but the odds are so enormous, I feel like I’m dollars ahead by not buying.
I know what you’re saying about the bills. That’s exactly why I don’t have another dog. And I think the vets are taking advantage of us with some of the things they charge. Like the waste disposal. I got charged $5 for it when I brought in a stool sample because I suspected Frostie had worms. So, I was charged $5 to drop a quarter-size piece of poop in the toilet and flush it.
Same thing with all the special tests for "older" dogs when they get their teeth cleaned. It seems to me that those things should be included in the cost of the procedure. I know many people don’t take their dogs to the vet when they should be going just because it’s so expensive.
As far as shots go, my dogs never leave my yard, not even to go to the doggie park (which is like the worst place you can go for them to pick up a disease) so the only shots they get is for rabies. I always get the "sales pitch" when I take them in for their yearly exam but I don’t care. I don’t think they are necessary. If you board them or they are around other dogs frequently it might be worth it but not for mine. It’s just another source of income for the vet. The same as when they won’t give me a prescription for their flea and worm meds because they don’t sell the brand I want to use.
so on the same page about so many things! A long lost sister perhaps? Or is it just "great minds think alike???"
If I suspect my animals have parasites (most common dog worms are visible in the stool, though not all) I deworm them. I get rabies vaccines through the free rabies clinics my county puts on every year. I feed a sensible, good diet and am not taken by costly “designer” brands. I brush my pets’ teeth from the getgo and have never needed to have them cleaned otherwise. I too, do not attend dog parks or other areas where potential disease is most prevalent.
In all the years I have owned animals – and I’ve had all kinds and many – I’d say I go to the vet maybe once every two years. I’ve rarely lost a pet to anything but old age.
It’s a combo of educating yourself, learning to do common procedures yourself, ferreting out ways to get medications at a far lower cost.
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