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I really recommend the ear packing.  For those who missed that ….

My vet will pack infected ears with medication, using a syringe (no needle). 

For me, the old way

• Flush ears twice a day
• Medicate twice a day

Didn’t work because frankly when you already have an ear infection all of that works and it really runs the relationship you have with the dog.  Makes me sad when I think about how I used to have to chase down Marcie (no longer with us), because she had really short ears and got infections a lot.

Besides @VPI covers it 100%!

So far, I have been happy with @VPI with an insurance company, though I know dog people who have had trouble with them.

I will say that the best way to handle pet medical expenses, is to put money away in a bank account and let it earn interest.  However, I have never been disciplined enough to do that.  So I went the insurance route.  Right now, I pay it yearly, which makes it a bit cheaper.  Can’t remember exactly how much it was but I think around $700.00 for the first dog for the full coverage, included Well Care, and less for the second.  I’ve got a third, older dog on Well Care and Injury Only and the Injury Only was just over $100.

I had only Well Care claims for the first year with Macy and then she was hit will allergies, ear infection, and hot spot.  The majority of that has been covered after the deductible.

As I blogged before, I had a bit of problems with Dulce, I checked the “had seen vet before” box as I assumed she had – dumb move – she had not.  In June, she came up with blood in urine, blood in stool, ear infection and high white count.  VPI wanted all of her vet records and my vet office said they had been getting a lot of that.  That held things up, but now that the mistake has been corrected, they have reimbursed for most of the charges.  The detail doesn’t show up on the website, but I”m sure part of the difference is the deductible.

Thank you @VPI!

Note VPI stands for VPI Pet Insurance and @VPI is their Twitter Handle.

Hey, it's something I can vent about.

So Macy's coverage is great — they've paid out $110.73 for her allergies, and $141.69 for her ear infection.  100% of what I've submitted so far, but I'm sure I'll hit their limit, eventually.  They are covering her allergy meds, and if she is like Marcie, she'll probably be on them forever.  Especially since she is one unhappy and sick pup without them.  Still kicking myself for taking her off of them to see if that was the problem.    They are doing real good on the CareGuard Premium, I just happen to go to an vet that charges more than they allow, but every little bit helps.

Maggie's Heartworm is still in process.  Still haven't seen or heard of Dulce's process.

Macy has had three really good runs so far.  We're currently waiting for our novice run.

While she hasn't Qed, she has been up, happy and trying.  I have gotten a ton of compliments.  Her Open JWW today was her best — she was actually ahead of me on the weave poles, but was behind me the rest of the run.  We had too many faults to Q, I think a refusal and time faults, but not sure — have to see the score sheet.

And man oh man did I screw her up.  Did a blind cross and ended up in the wrong place.  She is NOT Marcie and she did NOT appreciate it.  Once she got over that she had a good run.  AND SHE DID THE TEETER.  It wasn't a pretty teeter, in fact it was a refusal then teeter but she did it!

I made a small mistake when I signed up Dulce for @VPI Insurance, I indicated that she had gone to the vet before I signed her up.  Whoops.  She had not.  I didn't know that for sure until June.

I have her with the same coverage as Macy — basically the MAX, and I took her to the vet in May for a check up with no problems.  Was reimbursed according to the schedule for the well-care visit.  In the meantime, the vet and I decided that she hadn't been seen by a vet and we weren't sure which vaccines she had gotten, so was started an initial round.

Then one night we were in agility class, and she peed pink.  Whoops, looked like blood.  Took her to the vet the next day, and they found dark blood in the stool, but not in the pee, but did find an elevated white count and an ear infection.

We treated her for all of that, and then the problems with VPI began.  They wanted all of her vet records.  My vet set her records and I sent a statement to them telling them that I was mistaken and that Dulce had not seen a vet before I got in her May.

Still no word on reimbursement.

I finally got word via twitter than another letter was on the way so I called the 1-800 number to find out what they wanted.  They wanted a statement saying I was mistaken when I checked the "had seen a vet in May".    Even though I sent that in July, I faxed them another one.   Now we wait again.

The good news is that they are reimbursing Macy appropriately for her ear infection and allergies.  Also she is feeling loads better — more about that so I don't jinx us at the trial this afternoon, but we had two nice runs yesterday and lots of compliments.

Macy has been very healthy until recently.  She got a bit lethargic, got a big hot spot and we started dealing with ear infections.  Anyone who has had a dog with allergies knows where I am going with this.

So far, VPI has covered most of the associated expenses and have been very prompt with payment.

I was also happy to find out recently that I could cover my older dog with an injury only policy. 

Just wish we could get Dulce’s paperwork problems straightened out!

I'm almost afraid to post this, I'm sure she'll forget she's a dog, but she has been a dog all day.  This is nice, and my intent when I brought home an almost year old dog, rather than waiting until the six week old puppies were old enough to come home.

She's been frustrating because she's gotten into more stuff than any dog I remember, though she hasn't eaten my driver's license the minute it hit the floor.  Okay, I was more careful about things not hitting the floor.

We have lots of things to train and lots of issues, but we're getting there!

We went over to Keller for an indoor fun match.  Just like at Dog City last week, Macy did NOT like the AFrame, but I think it was too tall.  NICE weaves, was able to correct a bad table which was good the rest of the runs.  AND she took every single teeter. 

She was very up and had a good time.  Now if we could just both lose a substantial amount of weight in two weeks.

So both girls are still scratching their ears, so the vet packed them again.  I got to see it this time.  She basically fills a syringe with medicine and squirts it straight down into their ears.

Process is MUCH easier.  Costs under $30.00 so has to be equivalent to the regular stuff which they hate.

Vet and I are a bit concerned with VPI – seems I’m not the only one they have asked for full vet records.  Got a letter Saturday from them asking for the information.