poodlesrule

How terrible and very scary for you. Like you said it could have had a much worse outcome. I won't let my 12 year old son walk my male std poodle for the very same reason as he doesn't have the experience to react in a situation like this. I worry every time my 81 year old mother goes out walking her mini poodle (always on lead) that something like this may happen to her.

Hi OSS, Have always used ASAP, found them to be the most reasonably priced and the turnaround was about two weeks the last time I used them.

I never thought about home and contents insurance. I did mention to the person from Petplan that it may be beneficial for them to put specific conditions in the policy and maybe a definition of pregnancy and birth to stop any confusion.

Phone call from Petplan this morning, they are paying out the claim for Milk Fever and Mastitis.

I really think that to stop any confusion, the Insurance companies should have a more defined list of exclusions. As it is written then, if you keep a puppy from a litter and it does some sort of damage to the dam, whether it be in six weeks or six years time, what is stopping them from saying it was related to pregnancy or birth because you happened to breed the bitch and caused her to become pregnant and give birth to the pup? Just a thought.

Yes she is better, thanks. Here are a couple of hypotheticals though: 1. A bitch has a phantom pregnancy (not mated), lactates and is give a litter to foster and then gets milk fever. Technically she has never been pregnant or given birth. 2. A bitch has a litter and all of her pups die and she fosters a litter and gets milk fever. Should they pay out for either of these? My arguement with them, not anyone on here, is that the pregnancy and birth didn't cause the milk fever (it wasn't present during either) it was the feeding of a large litter three weeks later. :)

Mastitis happened when the pups were around 5 weeks and being weaned. In this case with eclampsia, it wasn't related to pregnancy or giving birth, but due to heavy lactaction and nine puppies (see below for definition) Eclampsia (hypocalcemia or puerperal tetany) is an emergency medical condition associated with a life-threatening drop in blood calcium levels that occurs in nursing mothers. Eclampsia occurs most commonly when the puppies are one to five weeks of age and the mother is producing the most milk. Eclampsia is not due to an overall lack of calcium; it merely indicates that the nursing female cannot mobilize sufficient supplies of stored calcium quickly enough to meet her metabolic needs. Females that are particularly good mothers, especially attentive to their puppies, seem to be more likely to develop eclampsia.

What they don't pay out on is caesarians, miscarriages etc relating to pregancy and birth. This is the Terms & Condition that they stated for not paying the claim "The cost of killing and controlling fleas, general health improvers and any Treatment in connection with pregnancy or giving birth" My argument is the pregnancy and birth has finished (after the last placenta has been passed). They also paid out last year for mastitis, so I can't see why this would be any different.

I've just got to have a vent. Petplan insurance have refused to pay out on a claim for milk fever on the grounds that it relates to "Treatment for Pregnancy & Birth". Never mind that she got it when the puppies were nearly three weeks old, how long do they think that "birthing" lasts for, and it has taken them five weeks to tell me. Not happy! Hopefully the letter I have written to the underwriter will be successful.

Congratulations Snofyre, have you thought about hiring out your support crew? :)

Thanks Snofyre.

We have nine babies, six girls and three boys and no sleep for nearly 36 hours. The last three pups took 5 hours, but mum was happy and slept in between. One puppy was in a double sac, has anyone else had this before?

Congratulations Hawksdale. :)

Congratulations, what a long night, hope you've caught up on some sleep.

Hi Shads, I had the same thing happen to me. The neighbours dog dug under the fence and my dogs caused a nice big hole in his back. I offered to pay the vet bill, but the neighbour (who works for a solicitor) said no her dog got into my yard and it was his fault. She has now put chicken wire on her side of the fence. I would just wait and see, legally you don't need to pay anything as the dog (even his head) was on your property.