Ollie's health UPDATE got confused!!!

[vikki.k]

We have insurance for both of ours and wouldn't ever think of not having it.

But there are people on here who don't have insurance from what I have read they just put money aside every month. Maybe it works for them, and maybe they have been lucky and not had to claim for anything yet.

Would be good to hear the reasons as to why people don't pay insurance every month, maybe they are more fortunate to be better off than others and pay the bills without any problems?

Just reading a couple of stories on hear about vet bills going up into the thousands is enough to make me always want to keep our insurance going.

[I love cockers]

I apologise for not having read all the posts on this thread so sorry if i am repeating what anyone else has said.

Has Ollie been wormed recently?

In terms of feeding I splash a bit of water from the kettle onto the biscuits (i flick the kettle on and when it starts to make a noise i splash it on the biscuits so dont wait for it to get too hot). When mixed with the biscuits it creates a bit of a gravy - my dog Blue is a bit of a fussy eater and she seems to like them done this way.

Regarding insurance Blue was very poorly last year (unexplained haemoragic gastroentritis) and racked up £1500 of vets bills. We stopped getting her insurance when the premiums dramitically increased when she was over 8 and since she was a puppy we had only once claimed about £100. We could afford to pay the vet bill although it did mean no holiday for us last year   In hindsight i wished we had continued with insurance as when you are put in the position that your pet is ill you want to be able to do everything to get them better.

[Mudmagnets]

Obviously certain conditions may not be covered but insurance is definitely worthwhile and imo essential when you have a dog 

Peeps!! I wasn't advising not to take out insurance - but just to check that the policy covers what you want it to as far as possible, as we know all insurance policies are different, be they for car, home or pet..

[Oliver21508]

Thanks guys. Will look at insurance companies this weekend. I think we'll take him to the vet next week just to put our minds at rest. He's now eating well from the watered kibble, and having two bowls of 75g of food daily. He has been wormed with advocate but the vets said that we had to repeat each month on EXACTLY 30 days, obviously it doesn't work or something, and for the past two months, we have gone to 31 days. Would this mean that he is effectively not wormed?

[Sarah.H]

Thanks guys. Will look at insurance companies this weekend. I think we'll take him to the vet next week just to put our minds at rest. He's now eating well from the watered kibble, and having two bowls of 75g of food daily. He has been wormed with advocate but the vets said that we had to repeat each month on EXACTLY 30 days, obviously it doesn't work or something, and for the past two months, we have gone to 31 days. Would this mean that he is effectively not wormed?

You have to worm for tapeworm as well with advocate. Have you been doing that? I wouldn't think going one day over would make a difference  .

[Oliver21508]

no, we haven't been doing tapeworm because as always the vet say that the advocate does "everything" and doesn't need anything extra. You can use Milbemax alongside it can't you?

[Jeanette]

no, we haven't been doing tapeworm because as always the vet say that the advocate does "everything" and doesn't need anything extra. You can use Milbemax alongside it can't you?

Yes you can use it as well, advocate doesn't cover tapeworm - have you never used a worming tablet alongside that?    One of the symptoms of tapeworm is weight loss.

[Jeanette]

Laura

You posted a month ago about anal glands ago as Ollie is chewing his back end - this could be worms as a sign is scooting and not his glands.   I suggest you go to the vets and get worming tablets. 

[Jeanette]

Laura

And take note of your previous thread as you already asked previously about worming and what you should use 

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=53024.0

[Oliver21508]

I know, but the vet says we don't need worming tablets as they think the advocate covers everything. so how am i going to get him to give me worming tablets that he thinks i don't need?

[Oliver21508]

Advocate apparently covers everything (fleas, demodex, loads of worms, lungworm etc) EXCEPT tapeworm. (typical!!) What does Milbemax cover? I thought it only covered a few worms? I've looked at the symptoms, and he only has one (itchy bottom, but I think he's glands are full so I'm suspecting it's that). None of his poos have the tapeworm segments. I agree the weight loss is probably due to something affecting his digestive system as he's obviously not taking in nutrition.

[cbaker023]

Martys quite similar to your ollie at the mo, he's not been eatin his food with much gusto lately, he does eat it but no where near as fast as he used to. Need to do his worming and flea treatments again but i use advocate and then drontal to cover the other worms,  the drontal only needs to be done every 6 months and the advocate is every month though i need a consultation with my vet to see if he needs changing now he's a year old


sorry this probably doesnt help much but it sounds like they're fairly similar in age etc

x

[Oliver21508]

After looking back through my threads, I said in January, that he was 13kg and again in Feb, I said he was 13kg. So I must have got the weights wrong in my head. So it looks like he's only dropped 2kg over the last month. He weighed 13kg a month ago, and now weighs 11kg. Is this still a worry? Looks like he was never at 15kg, I just plucked it out of thin air. (silly head!!!) Over this time, he's increased his exercise from 15 mins off lead & 40-50 mins on lead to 30 mins off lead, 1hr off lead in country park once a week, 1hr 5min on lead, and starting agility. Would the exercise have purely caused this? He is a picture of health, active, poos are fine, etc.

[joanne_v]

Its mostly like a combo of exercise and just his age. If he's fit and has muscles then weight isnt too important. Many people think my lurchers are underweight because their ribs are so prominent but an underweight dog would show symptoms of being unwell and would have good muscle definition. Keep on with feeding a little extra but dont let it worry you too much.