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Just spent $300 at the vet
Boo-hoo-hoo! In the past 4 days Lily ended up with fleas (even though they're on Sentinel) so I had to get some prescription topical treatment. 3 months worth for 2 dogs came to $99. Then this weekend I noticed her ear was scabby and nasty. We spent over an hour at the vet's office to find out that she has some nasty yeast & bacterial infections. I feel so bad I didn't notice it!! Both dogs got nail trims, Lily got a steroid shot and steroid pills, and Fluffy got a new bottle of tranquilizers (he has to take them before his nail trims). Thankfully I still have ointment from her last ear infection so I didn't have to pay for that! My pupsters are worth it though (although I really would have liked to spend $300 on clothes, darn it!)
FYI-the vet said that fleas are becoming resistant to Frontline and it will probably be useless in a couple more years. The new (super expensive) treatment is Vectra 3D.
Re: Just spent $300 at the vet
I've read, but have not tried, that you can put vinegar in their drinking water and it works as a flea treatment. 1. I'm sure my dogs are too snotty to drink it and 2. my luck is it wouldn't work and then I gotta flea bomb the house....
but, about the ear infection, if you mix some plain, lowfat yogurt into their food daily you will see a HUGE imrpovement in their ears. They will also most likely scarf their food down
Switching to grain free food was also a tremondous help for us.
I know the feeling, I just spent $170 on heartworm for 2 of the dogs and Frontline for one of them. Then another had an annual check up this weekend. But, they're my babies so they're worth it.
I will ditto the grain free food as well, it helps keep the yeast out of their ears. There are also some natural flea remedies that the girls on the Pets board were discussing the other day. I am looking into trying out some of them.
ETA: http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/22999733.aspx
The only thing we've found to be effective is Capstar (the pills). You can give one every 24 hours (no sooner).
This year we ordered the pills way before flea season, and the minute we saw one flea, every pet got one. The pets still had random bouts of fleas, but the house was spared this year (thank God!), and the dogs are much less itchy.
OMG, teeth! Fluff had his done two years ago and he needs another cleaning. My vet will not do any elective surgery w/o bloodwork first so the bill is always well over $300 for teeth (no extractions). My inlaws feed Ol'Roy and their two old dogs have beautiful white teeth-what the heck?!
My vets are a married couple and they both have Volvo station wagons. I think we paid their October loan payment this week. Well, maybe just an oil change at the dealership, ha-ha!
I understand that! We were very lucky that our dogs only got a few and we got it stopped early. But, with my parents that had alot of trouble. That had 2 cats get into their garage and the one ended up having 6 kittens. Well, they already had 3 cats and a dog, and this mother cat brought fleas with her. Needless to say they spent money getting flea stuff for all the cats and dog, but with kittens there was nothing you could do. They ended up losing 4 kittens before we found out about rubbing them down with dawn dish soap and warm water. 1 of the cats that found his way into the garage went missing and the mom of the kittens, once she was done nursing the kittens, had a long car ride ( i know, that sounds bad but she was very wild and was trying to kill the kittens and fight with the rest of their animals). They ended up bombing the house i think 3 times and the garage 2 times. They ended up getting advantix for all of them and have spent quite a few hundred. All the vets have said that this has been the worse year for fleas in many many years! Good luck to all of us!