Yeh it’s a big con largely. Mine are on Eukanuba dry food which costs me around £100 a month! I still don’t understand how Tesco can be 25% cheaper than buying straight from the producer online. They certainly don’t stock lilys “in bulk”.
Pet food, high st pet shops and vets are all a merry-go-round of big business, mostly controlled by the big food producers, Mars (owners of Royal Canin), their foods take priority shelf space in the shops and veterinary waiting rooms despite their so called premium food being about as nutritious as the contents of of my vacuum cleaner bag!
Don't get me started on dog food With Border Collies you shouldn't go above 20% processed protein (raw is fine though). Most of the expensive big branded offerings are 28-30% and cost about £70 for 15kg. The kibble we feed (we feed other stuff too) is by 'Burgess', 19% protein and only around £15 for a 15kg sack. Not available at Tesco/Pets at home etc.. We have 7 of our pups/dogs qualified for this year's Crufts, that are fed this stuff
Post op check this morning, all good and healing well. 10 more days of the cone then another check. (Yes. I know the cone is filthy. Cleaned it this morning and will clean it again later.) Not sure what to think about the food thing. Going by cleaning up their poo the only thing I noticed was when we tried a 'recommended by vet' food as they had skin problems it wasn't pleasant. Insurance and things like pets at home 'care' plan have pushed everything up I think. First thing I'm asked now when visiting a vet is 'are they insured' that tells me something. Trying to cut a long story short, our springer and border terrier / jack russell cross ate a punnet of grapes once, both insured - 3 days in vets and about £3K bill ( about 10 years ago). When I picked them up I asked the vets what they'd have done if we hadn't had insurance, he said they'd have told us to go home and keep an eye on them as not all dogs react to grapes.
Hope he gets well soon. We had two small dogs, a mini Yorkie and a mini Chorkie (Chihuahua/Yorkie cross) for 15 years, we lost the Yorkie 1n 2021 and the Chorkie just last November, we still mess them.
Thank you. I’m not sure missing them ever stops, we lost our Springer about 5 years ago and still miss him.
Glad hes on the mend, looks like isnt weeping and healing well so hope the 10 days goes quick for the little fella Yeah lets not get me started on vets, some really bad experiences with my cats in the past from me so I am very cynical now and very paranoid, to the point I have got second opinions on some things from two places who quote/recomend for very different treatments for the same thing - Luckily, think I have found a good one now for the dogs so lets hope it stays that way! But, to cheer everyone up, the tribe got a new pillow this week:
Cheers. He doesn't seem to mind the cone, though he's slowly destroying the house with it. To be fair our local 'vets for pets' have been pretty good. They were quite honest about his eyes and said it was maybe too delicate for them so referred us to an eye specialist. Insurance seems to be a must have now unfortunately. Our German Shepherd and the Great Dane are insured, my savings certainly wouldn't have covered his treatment.
Yeah. We don't have any other breed. I've toyed with getting a Parson Russell ...... but only briefly
BTW..... I've received VERY strong advice from one of the top Canine Cardiologists in the UK (Sarah Smith Cardiology of Etwall, Derby), that there is an overwhelming body of evidence linking ‘Grain Free’ diets to the condition ‘Dilated Cardiomyopathy’ (DCM. Inflammation of the heart. Often fatal). DCM has been linked to a deficiency in ‘Taurine’ (an Amino acid essential for healthy heart function). Whilst Taurine is readily present in most foods (wet/dry/raw), ‘Grain free’ diets lack Methionine (another amino acid) and that absence prevents Taurine being ‘harvested’. It now needs someone to write a 'paper' on these findings and for it to be 'Peer reviewed'. Use or ignore this as you choose....... Etwall's easy to find if you want to argue
Here's 4 of our pups at the 2022 BCCGB Puppy of the year comp. L-R .... Dizzi, Jess, Chester, Ella (They'll all be at Crufts )
It should tell you that the next question is "Are you on very good terms with your bank manager" followed by "We only accept Rolex, Omega & Cartier watches -with papers- in lieu of cash". Glad your boy is doing well.
Wife’s got a new phone that’s got some clever filter on it, I’ll be inundated with photos of Poppy for the next few days
Interesting last few days with the dogs. Middle one (Norma) managed to eat something that made her drop to the floor with sickness middle of last week (very worrying but ok now) and the youngest (Scooby the springer) decided to run straight into a barbed wire fence and take a huge chunk out of his front left leg at the weekend. What would we do without them ay?
Compared to a couple of weeks ago when he had the op he is. He's also not long got out of the car after an hour each way trip to the vets.
