Labrador Rescue

Over the last year we have had some difficulties on a personal level family illness and with our own dogs sad thing is they are all gowing old together Mr G had his spleen tumour it happened so fast we nearly lost him in his life hes had a lot of vet treatment mostly to do with his immune system many trips to vets and Rutland house we call him the million dollar dog two years ago his insurance bumped up that much we cancelled it ( it wasnt Pet plan ) Poor Pat has been in the wars too after months on eye drops for poorly eye she had to have it removed she did ok but then developed a chest infection.
On sunday ( its always weekend ) emergency vet again her heart was failing we saw a lovely Vet and she checked her over gave her an injection and Vetmedin and let her come home to go back yesterday she seems to be doing ok but needs an ECG and Xray under anesthetic always risky with a brachycephalic breed ( Flat face ) .
also was queried tumour yesterday as most of you know we didnt go out to get a Pug she was my son Gareths he got her when he moved back home then left Pat stayed with us .
The purpose of this post is not for sympathy but merely to say these days owning a dog is not cheap and must not be entered into lightly Vet fees are massive obviously insurance is a must but many have also added extra charges and excesses and the penalty comes when your dog hits a certain age surely the time you need it most often insurance hasnt been used and when they get to that age the goalpost moves . Thats why I never hesitate to recommend Petplan.

Many reasons are used for giving up dogs over the years the main ones were bereavement,divorce, new baby .
These days topping the list is financial and eviction it is all very sad.

We will continue loving dogs and spreading the word all our own dogs are old now when they leave us we will become fosters and take on oldies as we are oldies ourselves now .

Hi Glenys
Like you our 4 girls are all older, Shelly was 12 last year and there is not a great deal in age difference with the other 3 .
With two of our girls last year Bonnie and Molly two operations were almost £4000.00, this coming Tuesday Shelly is having dentistry estimated at £660.00, so yes it can be very expensive, we decided very many years ago not to have insurance but that was our choice. Our dogs give us so much pleasure as did all the others that are all around our garden, I really hope that we can for as long as possible have dogs at our side, they are so wonderful loyal and loving.
Love Liz Shelly Bonnie Molly n Polly

If needed, I would sell my house if it benefited my pets. I know, a bit drastic, but, that's how I feel.

Thankfully, we are benefiting from Molly's insurance at present but, I dread to think what the premium is going to be this year. She is approaching 11 years of age so, I expect a huge hike. She is on permanent meds costing £120.01 (the penny is obviously important ) a month up to the value of £8,000 per condition. Hell, I'm frightening myself now.

Hey ho. Worth every penny. At least we still have her, and her quality of life is still good. So many beloved furbabies have passed over to the bridge lately. I know it comes to all, but the later, the better.

Thinking of you all who have lost your beloved babes.

Positive thoughts to the babes at MKF.

Glenys,

Sorry to read you had an emergency with Pat over the weekend and that she needs more tests. I wish her good luck with her treatment and tests. Glad Mr G is getting along. They are a worry as they get older because we love them and because of the vet bills but I feel so lucky that I've had my Gang of 4 and now have Rowley & Douma. Up until I was 40 ish I never thought I would have a dog although I'd wanted one all my life.

Hilary

So sorry to hear that Pat the pug isnt so well
so many of our older doggies have struggled recently and so many of us have lost our pals
when we adopted jess we put to one side a sum of money for emergencies over and above what we could pay from our pensions and when we adopted bracken we added some more the past year has been a bad one and we used the last of that money trying to help jess to no avail thank goodness for a credit card our first ever credit card was taken out in the eighties to pay for our ebonys major cancer op but it gave us another 3 years with her
right now with Malcolm so poorly and elsie needing more help she is 83 i am tired and know i couldnt give a new dog the home they need but things may change and if so i would be looking for another oldie or 2 in the meantime i will continue to support the rescue as best i can being part of this community has brought me great joy and i get my much needed lab fix from all the happy dogs
fingers crossed that pat will feel better soon

anne (and all those at the bridge)