We have VPI for our two feline boys - and what a great investment is. We started their insurance in 2001 and pay a pretty penny for what can seem like no return (unlike humans who seem to use insurance more) but when disaster strikes it is nice to know that we have a cushion. On the Friday night of Memorial Day weekend (US holiday) one of our boys was sick as all get out and was having litter box problems. He'd had urinary blockage problems as a young cat and we were so afraid that was the problem. We called his regular vet (answering service forwards emergency calls to her) and she didn't call back right away (10 minutes) so I called the ER vet and let them know we were coming. There is no time to waste with a cat in urinary distress. Long story short... he was constipated! To the tune of 500+ Insurance will cover 2/3s... Nice to have since I am out of work. Our other fur-son is diabetic and that gets expensive quickly. We are reimbursed a small amount over the year - but every bit helps. I really like knowing that we have SOME coverage. Most years it is a loss (financially) but it is ALWAYS a gain (peace of mind).

Blu: This might be a good time to chat about diet and what we experienced while combating the cancer and chemo treatments. We learned a lot. Give Spencer Canned food high in protein. Keep his carbs and expecially sugars as low as possible. Sugars feed cancer cells. The protein helps a lot. Carrots, and potatoes break down to simple sugars and are often found in foods. When you experience the days his appitite is off, it is a good idea to have a few things on hand. First go buy some powdered goats milk from a feed store. We used the brand Pro Bloom Instant Goats Milk plus Probiotics. You just mix enough to last one day at time. I used a magic bullet to mix it up well and put a little in and mixed with the canned food. Also keep Chicken or Beef baby food on hand. I Spencer refuses food, try the baby food on a spoon and hand feed him. Sometimes this will work and you had even mix with the goats milk. There is a book out on Amazon called the Dog Cancer Book. There is a lot of info in it. One of the canned foods we used when our Shelby's stomach was "off" was a simple two ingredient food called "Wellness Simple Ingredient Lamb with Oatmeal". There are others with duck, etc. Just find the one that smells the best to Spencers tastebuds and keep on hand. Feed stores carry it and you can buy by the case more economically from Amazon too. We made pill pockets out of lot of food items to keep her from getting wise to the scripts. What we noticed was some chemo treatments our dog tolerated better than others. Make sure you always do the blood count appointments exactly on time. Those are important all the way through diagnosis. Never do them at a vets office that can NOT give you the results immediately. We found out some vets mail them off. One weekend it nearly cost us the life of our dog, so use your specialist for this and always ask about the results. It's that important. We had several ER visits when Shelby's BC's got off. I hope you don't have all the same experiences we had and Spencer comes through these coming weeks like a champ. Our prayers are with you. It is rough, and its a good thing to have a support group. I'm so glad you have the insurance and others to talk with on all subjects that my come up. We always wondered if we were doing enough, and it was helpful to talk and even sometimes just vent or cry it out. The worrying has a way of messing with your own emotions.

Horrible Sofa.. I bought the Sven Leather sofa and the back cusions got flat in 8 months, we put it in front of the TV qnd use it daily. ARTICLE sent me the back cusions replacements, but they leather color is lighter, faded and it seems very stiff (maybe storred incorrectly). I instered couple od dawn pillows in the back cusions which bought me around a year. Now it looks horrible and deformed. Now installing the replacements which would probaby last 8 motnhs as well, then will add the dawn pillows to buy another year. will end up getting 4 years out of this thing!! The side round pillows sagged after a year, they sell them for $180! My 12 years old Ikea leather sofa which I moved to the basement has 0 sag what sp ever! Very comfortable, no sag what so ever, the leather peeled off little at some placese, corners but thats about it (after 12 years). Do yourself a favor and buy from Ikea, they have some high end leather sofas, prices are close to Article and quality is much better!

My dog has allergies to most of the grains and some seasonal allergies, and she gets digestive upset from beef liver and similar (too rich). The vet said it was best to still pick a food with grain if at all possible. She's on apoquel daily, has been since she was young, with no side effects, and it does help; you can always tell if a dose gets missed because sge gets itchy. A red flag that she's getting an allergen is that her ears and tummy skin get more red than pink (she's a bichon). Apoquel helps some with food allergens, but not enough to hide those signs of irritation and itch. We've gone through a number of foods and have to watch out for reformulations that might add an allergen. She can't have wheat, barley, corn, or soy (corn and barley are the worst). She's sensative to quinoa, beef, and organ meat (okay if it's far down the list). Rice and oat are okay for her. She currently eats 3/4 Acana Wholesome Grains Duck & Pumpkin (also looked at Acana Singles - their limited ingredient) and 1/4 Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Duck & Brown Rice. Both are fine on their own for allergies, but the Natural Balance wasn't rich enough for her (she was always hungry and eating grass); our other dog does great on the Natural Balance by itself. My advice: stick to limited ingredient, always keep a copy of the ingredients list (cut it off the bag if you're tossing the rest of the bag), and check the ingredientsof every bag ... We've had multiple foods reformulate on us causing issues (Barley was added in one case, and another increased the chickpeas or lentils or something - I think that brand may have subsequently switched back to its old formula.) I'd be surprised if coconut oil was the issue, but it's hard to rule anything out. We always transition slowly 75%-25%, 50%-50%, 25%-75% between a current food and a new food; we can usually tell by 50-50 if there's a major issue with a new food for her, though sometimes it takes getting to a majority of new to see it (if it's really bad, you can see it within days of adding new). When adding the Acana, we just didn't bother fully transitioning to it for fear it might be too rich ... and it's working, so if you find something working, just go with it! May I ask what the prescription diet is for? Our non-allergy dog was on prescription food for bladder stone prevention, and it was about what wasn't in the food more than what was in it, but she was going down hill on it (because it was mostly corn!) ... we ended up switching her to the Natural Balance, and she improved! She might be slightly more at risk for bladder stones, I guess, but at 14, we're willing to risk it, since the switch caused her fur to thicken, her energy to improve, and her to be generally happier, with less stinky breath. I can't speak to supplements, as none our dogs have had them, though the Pet Vet, Lucky Dog or one of those shows seems to like to give Cosequin to most of their dogs, so there's probably something to it.