Aww I am so happy for you   .... what a relief .... great news

  <----  still grinning!!

thank you

we have just been to pick up the cat from the vets... she was speyed today.    The dog is wanting to  have a bit of rough & tumble & poor kitteh is just wanting him to go back to being the unmoving mass of hair he has been over the last four months. 

I shall give her sanctuary in one of the bedrooms for a day or two... 

then..   all is fair in the cat dog warfare   (the dog owes her a few cheeky ones )

Great news Ditty  

lets hope you are done with the vets for a while now  

till the bills come rolling in 

sounds like they need their own *dens* for a while or maybe AJ will just nick the sofa and gloat while kitteh aint up too much 

good news all round for you all   you will look back on drama as a distant memory very soon 

it really is great news Ditty - I'm glad ickle AJ will soon be back to the peak of health

Great news Ditty.   

Velvet, Pengy, MrsH..    ...   its soooooo good innit! 

MrsH...   we are squared up with the vet...    just the meds to keep paying for now...  and they are only £13 a month from the uber vet.    Amazingly the uber vet is really really cheap!!    They are an amazing practice... if we lived closer I would consider registering with them full time.    6 partners... each one an expert in a different area...  top of their game..    and yet their costs are so reasonable.

E.g.    Mondays tests cost us £660 with them.   At our normal vet it would have been over £1000, at the Newmarket Animal Hospital we'd have been lucky to get change out of £2000.     The meds..   they'd cost £26 a month from our normal vet.

We've been lucky on so many levels...   I think the total cost over the last 4 months comes in at about £2000.     Considering the amount of tests, meds, anaesthetics, scans, consultations etc he's had...  that's pretty good going. 

And then there is the outcome...   which is priceless 

thank you Sparkles...  

You're welcome  Good to hear some great news in this age of doom and gloom on the telebox!

yes defo priceless 

I think the *specialist* vets in some areas get some kind of funding plus if given the chance they do some testing to use in training /developement  studies - maybe why the price varies 

Lets hope the super duper vet keeps you with him for the meds as half price is a little something nice to have while you can 

yes... its been agreed between the uber vet, us & our regular vet that AJ will remain under the uber vets care for the IMPA, whilst the rest of his care remains at the normal vet.

to keep costs down (the vets suggested this)..   I do the communicating back to our normal vet, until AJ is cured and we get discharged from the uber vet...  he will then send all records back to our vet (at no extra charge)..  

I think, if Petplan or some other insurance company was funding this... there would be a lot of billing for referrals & information sharing going on 

GREAT NEWS

fab pic!  

thanks erin 

I had my own Lab who wasnt insured - mainly because we rehomed him when he was 4 and the premiums were quite expensive - he cost me minimal until the final weekend of his life when he had a weekend stay and finally had to be put to sleep

 I also had an *adopted* Lab at the same time - a much younger dog who was a near neighbours but because of health couldnt look after him - he was insured  

4 weeks after we lost ours he became poorly - after a couple of weeks of teatment he deteriated and had the afternoon in the vets for testing etc - he had a major heart attack while there and was gone just before we arrived to collect him 

the bills - the insured bill for the afternoon was nearly twice as much as mine for the weekend 

similar tests etc ..........  so yes I do think they milk the insured pets and hence why the premiums are so high in some cases 

yeah...   its bloody expensive to insure a dog... 

we have resurrected our family pet insurance slush fund.. (its been a bit depleted cos of AJ's recent troubles)..   but we still think its gonna be cheaper to stick money into a pot each month to cover the bills than try to insure a 7 year old dog.

Thankfully its way cheaper to insure a cat (we are getting the cat insured)

That's brilliant Ditty    

Great news Ditty... you must be so relieved 

Ta Nuts 

Baz...  yeah, just a bit     

Ditty: Fabulous news!! Can't begin to tell you how pleased I am. That awful feeling of knowing the end is near and wondering if you will know the proper time to call it quits for him... yay!!

Must be tempting to do that thing one sometimes does with antibiotics: quit the meds short of the full course because you're feeling so much better? But I'm sure you're clear that you have to keep it up until they tell you to stop.

My Kenji is insured, and has been since we got him. My lovely dog, however, was never insured, and we never needed it until she got cancer. I spent a LOT of money trying to make it right, and it was worth every penny, even though it was disproportionate to my earnings, if you know what I mean. Still, she only lasted about 6 months past the diagnosis. I would definitely do insurance for the next dog (if there ever IS a next dog....)

Love the pics, btw...he's SO cute! Hopefully he can make it up to the kitty pretty soon.

awww.. thank you Lori.

I am glad you managed to catch this thread...  I know I'd told you AJ was ill a while ago... so wanted you to know the recent good news.

If the costs had continued to mount up then we had discussed releasing some of the equity out of the house to cover it...   (some people think that's bonkers...  but there are a lot of people who totally get it)..

AJ wasn't quite so well again yesterday, he was limping again & we had to carry him up to bed last night...   we're not particularly worried about this.    I think he'd been so thrilled to have some mobility back that he just totally overdid things on Thursday night.

he's still a million time better in himself..  he's a happy happy boy.

And no... we won't be stopping the meds until we have the all clear from the uber vet.   He is closely monitoring AJ throughout this treatment...    fortnightly check ups...   he won't sign us off back to our normal vet until AJ is totally in the clear.

I am grinning again typing this...    I still can't quite believe our luck! 

Good news Ditty  my scottish terrier  dog was never insured dont know why we did not do it to be honest,when he was ill we took him to newmarket animal hospital they gave us hope,he was in there overnight we stayed in a hotel as we had to pick him up the next day,when I went to pay they said it was £2,100 pounds I was shocked if I am being honest,not that I would not have paid that and more to help him I would it just never occurred to me it would be so much money, we had already paid the vet fee which was around £700,4 days later he was so bad he could not eat or drink the vet phoned me and said the kindest thing was to put him to sleep  when I got Angus and Hamish I insured both of them with Pet Plan who were fantastic when Angus was treated at the hospital and sadly in the end had to be put to sleep, it was £2,600 pounds within 10days of filling in the form which my daughter did for me I recived a check from them for the amount I paid the hospital and the vets,I would have done anything I had to like yourself ..not bonkers .. they are part of the family, Ditty please keep us informed about AJ hope he goes from strenght to strengh,thinking of him and his lovely family AJ treat >>>>

awww  Marge...    I still get a lump in my throat about your Angus 

How is Hamish?  

& yeah... the Newmarket Animal HOspital is horribly expensive.    Wilson, my parents pup that had the tumour on his nose, was referred there.   As always, we'd have paid anything to have been able to treat him...   I think I've told you about it all before...  as you know, there was nothing anyone could to, the cancer was way too aggresive.    But..  we took him there to the Oncologist, he was in overnight, just for a biopsy under anaesthetic & then the consultation with the Oncologist & the bill for that was over £1500!!    they are really really expensive.    Or maybe its just that they bill us all as if they are billing an insurance company.

I think we will probably look into getting Petplan for AJ...    its not gonna be cheap, he's 7 now...  but then in the context of the big bills...   and lets face it, that's what the insurance is for... the big bills.

I'm working part time now... so we could actually afford it now....   I think you lot have talked me into it     

Might wait til the IMPA is all sorted out first though 

And yes... of course I will keep you updated...   

*sneaks sausage to AJ*

And... reading about all of your vet bills...   it makes me realise just how really cheap my miracle wizard vet specialist is...  

I am gonna do a bit of a big up for my wizardy vet....  in case anyone in this region ever needs a specialist...   everybit as good as the people at Newmarket... 

they are at the Millenium Veterinary Practice in Braintree, and also in Coggeshall, Essex.

Cannot recommend these people enough...    Worth travelling to, and staying in a hotel for  (& totally affordable) 

I'm so glad you found someone to help, and they were able to solve the problem.

I can feel your smile from here!

Ditty  Hamish is fine thank you he has Molly for company 24/7 now and there is definitely a spring in his step thank you for asking about Hamish 

awww...  that's made me smile.. 

<---- for Hamish

<---- for Molly

AJ  treat  >>>> Molly and hamish said thank you  ..woof woof..

So pleased to see your good news Ditty!

Thank you katerina xxx

So... as promised... 

AJ Update...   the initial tearing around the house of Thursday night didn't last.  In fact he set himself back a bit & Friday night - Saturday he was limping a bit...  but still a lot happier than he has been.

Yesterday & this morning...    improvements are starting to show.   Came downstairs on his own... at a steady pace (instead of the laboured one step at a time thing he had been doing).     When sitting he can get up more or less straight away (before sometimes he just couldn't get up, when he could it would take a few attempts & look very painful).

He is still hesitating before stepping over the small lip of the conservatory... but not as much.

Last night he was up on our bed for treats (we did have to carry him upstairs though, & onto the bed... but he put his front paws up onto our bed...  this is an improvement)

This morning he is bright eyed & bushy tailed..    trotting around downstairs (TROTTING! ).   He's just had his meds & breakfast & is now waiting for his morning walk round the woods.

Soon, we may be able to extend that short walk back to his circuit of the orchards... but we are trying to take it slowly with him.    As well as the mobility, he has muscle to build back up.    He has boney bits on his head...  and on his chest which he never had before, which are indicative of the muscle that has wasted.

So...   so far so good..   he has til Thursday on the mega dose of steroids... then that gets halved... 

then we are back to the vet to see if the dose can be dropped down further.

Also... something else we have noticed..  he hasn't been in his crate since we started the steroids.   Prior to starting the meds he pretty much spent all his time in his crate (we call it the bear cave)...    I think this probably speaks volumes about how he is feeling in himself.. I suspect he went in there when he was feeling really miserable, just to get out of everyones way.

Awwwwwww - sounds like he's really improving - what lovely news. It's not that often you get a happy ending with animal illness - it's good to hear. You are all obviously delighted ...........I can't begin to imagine what AJ is thinking - I bet he thinks a miracle has happened 

Yaaaayyyy!!!!!

Glad to hear he continues to improve.

it's great to hear your furbaby is improving.  Come on AJ keep up the good work 

Lovely news Dirty!  

  thank you, you lot xxx

& ... sorry to bore you all but... 

AJ JUST JUMPED ONTO THE SOFA & UP ONTO THE WINDOWSILL!  

He used to spend most of his time up there watching the world go by, but hasn't been able to jump onto the sofa in months...    let alone then up onto the window sill!

I'M SO HAPPY!!!     I don't care that its a miserable rainy day...    the sun is shining in my house! 

*dances*

i am over the moon AJ is getting steadily better..... you must be so happy 

Dances with you 

*dances with Marge around the forum*

&

Thank you Clumsy..     How are you feeling today? 

Please continue to bore us. We like this kind of good news! 

One day at a time ....... my poor dog is bearing the brunt as she is getting a lot of cuddles