Vet bills again
Our poor puppy (ok, so he’s an 85lb, 6-year-old dog) gets chronic ear infections. We do our best to keep his ears clean and dry, and to watch for signs that his allergies are acting up so that we can give him medication for that too (because the allergies seem to bring on the ear infections) but he still gets the infections pretty often. That’s just seems to happen fairly often with floppy-eared dogs.
My husband took him to the vet recently, and it’s just amazing how expensive it always is. But we did find out that vet prices vary pretty greatly from place to place even though the service seems to be about the same no matter where we go. If your pet has a chronic condition (and probably even if they don’t) it’s probably worth calling around to compare prices and services.
And now for a few articles from other blogs:
Consciously Frugal receives an unexpected windfall as she wins an essay contest. Congrats!
Four Pillars describes the theories behind rent to own.
Frugal Dad tackles something that I need to work on again as he simplifies his personal finance life.
Squawkfox continues her series on how to write a resume that gets job offers with step six: 6 resume action words
Clever Dude gives 7 tips to extend the life of your business clothing.
Canadian Capitalist gives an update on the sleepy mini portfolio
Finally, MoneyNing hosts the 55th Money Hacks Carnival with TONS of interesting-looking posts.
March 14th, 2009 at 8:07 am
My dog is currently having ear issues and on the Golden Retriever Forum I found a recipe that some of the breeders use. I’m including the link. With this recipe you may be able to reduce the amount of vet bills.
http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showthread.php?t=52725
March 14th, 2009 at 8:35 am
KC, thanks for the recipe, it sounds worth trying!
March 14th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Is it a yeast problem that your dog has? Our beagle was continually getting yeast infections. We will not use the steroid drops b/c of possible side affects so the holistic vet suggested an all natural solution- vinegar mixed w/ equal parts water, and about 3 drops of iodine. Put it in an eye dropper and drop it in the ear once a day. You can also clean out the years w/ the same solution on a cotton ball. This worked to clear up one ear, but not the other.
We cleared up the other using Lamisil Athletes Foot cream sprinkled into his ear every day for 2 weeks. He was completely cured.
We found the problem kept developing, and assumed it had to be an allergy cause. We already had put the dogs on an all natural prey model raw diet because the grains in commercial pet food did not agree w/ them, so we couldn’t cut out too many other unnatural ingredients. We had, however, been purchasing our Chicken at Walmart & it was enhanced w/ some sort of solution. We cut that out and he has been perfect ever since, no more problems.
So, to sum up- vinegar, iodine and water; lamisil athletes foot cream; make sure his food doesn’t have an ingredient that causes the allergy
March 15th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Coupon Artist, I’m not sure if it is a yeast infection or something else. Could be though…
March 17th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Thanks, my dear! I appreciate the shout out. I hope your doggie gets better soon! Sadly, I have no suggestions for an easy remedy. :(