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The Life Of Hugo


Dju
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Raincheck after raincheck, the day was finally here for Hugo to get his vaccination! There was a slight hiccup as we all arrived about one hour early and then had to go home and wait for our turn, but Hugo had gotten quite used to driving in the car so it wasn't a big issue. On the previous times he'd be riding in the car, I think Hugo was a little scared as he went all rigid and sunk down into my lap. I can thank my lucky stars that he's not the type to get carsick or lose control of his bowels!

On this day though, at home, Hugo was blissfully unaware at what horrors await him at the vets surgery.

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Check out that expression. Have you seen a happier puppy?

Well an hour after we initially set out, we went back again and finally we got in! Success! Firstly he needed a bit of a checkup before his vaccination though. It was a bit late, I admit, but some things couldn't be helped! He was a little bit shy coming in, and the vet and his assistant kept calling Hugo "she", which I'm sure is what made Hugo so shy as he does not like to be confused as the wrong gender by people, since he is a Viking. All in all, he was pretty brave as they checked his heart, his tummy, something at the back of his knees, his eyes, ears, teeth, etc etc etc.

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Hugo weighed in at a healthy 4.1 kilos. At least I hope it's healthy. My mother thinks he's much too skinny, but I think she's going to keep thinking he's "too skinny" until he's about as large as a barrel. The last part of the checkup that Hugo needed was.. a temperature check. I must say, rectal thermometers don't exactly bring the best out of humans or my stepmother's cats for that matter, but Hugo was surprisingly placid.

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He didn't do so bad, I thought that I would have to restrain him so I was gently resting my hands on his head scratching behind his ears in an attempt to calm him, but he was very brave and it wasn't needed at all. Although I have to say after the experience, his tail was shoved so far between his legs that I thought he'd suffer a spinal injury!

The vaccination went well as well, I mean, he is a Viking and they are quite brave in the face of pain whereas me, a mere mortal, who needed a chickenpox shot a few months ago cried like a baby at the thought of it. Hugo barely noticed the needle going into his neck! What he did notice though, was the instrument being stuck up his nose to receive what I was told was the Canine Cough counterparty thingy or I dunno, something like that. All together, the vaccine cost us $96!!!! Wowza! My mother asked in shock, because she's never had a dog before, "Why is it so expensive??" and the vet felt the need to question our choice of breeder and said something along the lines of "Your breeder got the bare minimum vaccination, if she had gotten a better one with more coverage, then Hugo would not have needed so much during his visit here". No idea what that means. He got a C3, I was like.. a C3 is a C3?

We also told him about the flea infestation Hugo was suffering a few days ago. He kept pushing "Comfortis", but I haven't really heard amazing things about it so I didn't want to buy anything like that until I did more research into the matter. Still clueless, still don't know what to buy. I might by one of the "Adv" brands, (that is, Advantage, Advantix, Advocate--why must they confuse us with the names???), but I still don't know what the difference between them is and which one does the best job. The vet also told us that the Capstar tablets I bought a few days before was an utterly useless invention made by the inventors of the spectrum stuff (sentinel and what have you) because that product didn't cover nearly enough. I don't believe that Capstar doesn't work since I have heard good things about it from people who have actually used it, so I'm not sure I should believe him about the spectrum stuff, but I'd better err on the side of caution and opt for the Adv brands instead anyways. Thoughhhh having used Capstar the day before, I'm not entirely sure it's cured him of his fleas, because he's still biting and scratching every now and again, albeit after his bath, the flea dirt from his ears are gone, which is nice, they're all silky smooth now.

The Fido's Concentrate and Heartguard arrived in the mail--I think I might wait until the first of December to use the Drontal and the heartwormer together, because it's easier to remember than a random number like 24th of the month or something like that. It sucks because I think Hugo's worms have come back! He might have to hold out for a little while longer, it's only a week more to go, so he'll be fine, hopefully!

As I write and look over to Hugo, he's doing this weird twitching thing in his sleep. He's been sleeping a lot today apparently, I think they may be the side-effects of the vaccine. I'm thankful that the side-effects don't include throwing up or diarrhea though; sleepiness is easy to deal with! Just need a blankie and his teddy and he's all good.

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We also told him about the flea infestation Hugo was suffering a few days ago. He kept pushing "Comfortis", but I haven't really heard amazing things about it so I didn't want to buy anything like that until I did more research into the matter. Still clueless, still don't know what to buy. I might by one of the "Adv" brands, (that is, Advantage, Advantix, Advocate--why must they confuse us with the names???), but I still don't know what the difference between them is and which one does the best job. The vet also told us that the Capstar tablets I bought a few days before was an utterly useless invention made by the inventors of the spectrum stuff (sentinel and what have you) because that product didn't cover nearly enough. I don't believe that Capstar doesn't work since I have heard good things about it from people who have actually used it, so I'm not sure I should believe him about the spectrum stuff, but I'd better err on the side of caution and opt for the Adv brands instead anyways. Thoughhhh having used Capstar the day before, I'm not entirely sure it's cured him of his fleas, because he's still biting and scratching every now and again, albeit after his bath, the flea dirt from his ears are gone, which is nice, they're all silky smooth now.

Dju:

This is the Bayer Animal website that makes these products - the link will take you straight to the comparison page.

quick summary:

Advantage = fleas and lice

Advantix = Fleas, Lice, Mosquitoes, Sandflies, Stable flies, Ticks

Advocate = Demodectic Mange, Ear Mites, Fleas, Heartworms, Hookworms, Lice, Roundworms, Sarcoptic Mange, Whipworms

FYI - there is no excellent product on the market that only covers ticks. Hence why i use Advantix and deal with the worms in other products

Edited by Toujour
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i would ONLY ever recommand Advocate to a owner who lives in really cold climates and there are NO TICKS or very inner city dwellers. Because then Advocate covers everything else (heart worms and intestine worms).

sorry but im very adamant about protecting my dogs from ticks

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I might end up using Advocate actually.. it's the most price-efficient, by the looks of it. I mean out of the things it covers, there's heartworm coverage, and those tablets cost $30 by themselves! Same with the allwormers too, another $30. And the decent flea treatment costs $40+, so I'd be saving enough buying Advocate to buy something else for ticks separately. I dunno, I'll figure something out before I run out of worming stuff.

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I might end up using Advocate actually.. it's the most price-efficient, by the looks of it. I mean out of the things it covers, there's heartworm coverage, and those tablets cost $30 by themselves! Same with the allwormers too, another $30. And the decent flea treatment costs $40+, so I'd be saving enough buying Advocate to buy something else for ticks separately. I dunno, I'll figure something out before I run out of worming stuff.

Heart worm is $30 for 6months.

intestine worms is $2 a tablet that covers up to 10kg - for hugo you would need 4 tablets a year = $8 (because its every 3 months doseage) i buy mine from the vet (and i buy a whole jar full cause i have 4 dogs)

i have worked out my budget and i spend $200 a year on each of my dogs for:

Advantix for 12months

Heartguard for 12months

intestine tablets from the vet for 12months

** and my dogs weigh nearly 3x as much as hugo.

there is no tick leading product that solely covers ticks (that i have been able to find)

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Haaang on where did you see intestinal wormers for that price?? :dancingelephant: Our Drontal puppy will probably only last three doses and that cost me $20.

If going by your calculations, it would cost me about $200 and a bit a year as well. Hmmm...

Provided that the Spectrum stuff does work, which I must do more research on because my vet scared me with his "that stuff was invented 30 years ago and only put on the market 6 years ago because it was so crap" talk, I like the combination of Advantix and Interceptor Spectrum. Should total $180 for the whole year and cover everything :dancingelephant:

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Actually scratch that, I just figured out that both my method and your method would cost pretty much exactly the same, Toujour :dancingelephant: I do like the idea of less stuff to give him though. I know it's not technically less, but it's less that I have to remember to give him! :birthday:

I also asked the vet about tick cases coming into the office in a week and he estimated about three. Is that a high occurrence?

edit: $150? Where are you getting prices from?

edit again: Oh probably Priceless Pets lol I've been looking at a different website! :birthday:

edit yet again: Wait, no, it's still more expensive if I go by there, so where did that price come from? :dancingelephant:

Edited by Dju
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Hrm hrm hrm, I shall do some calculations (this is what happens when you're Jewish, you become so tight with money looool).

Vet Shop Australia:

Advantix: $122.97

Heartguard: $56.90

Worming pills: $8

Total: $187.87

and for Priceless Pets (everything is x2 doses because they only sell 6-packs):

Advantix: $110.00

Heartguard: $53.20

Worming pills: $8

Total: $171.20

I must be missing something here. What do you mean your provider, do you get a member discount or something? :dancingelephant:

Edited by Dju
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Adcocate is $166.83 for 12months .... where are you going to find a tick product for $20 for 12months cover???

this morning my dogs had their advantix put on and as a reward to standing still i gave them their heartguard (silly's think its a treat) :dancingelephant:

no confussion to have to handle these products - and both products come with stickers for my calender to remind me for the next month when i need to do it again :dancingelephant:

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