Embrace Pet Insurance Blog

Eulogy for Grace

Grace is the dog currently in our blog's masthead (yes, she has 3 legs in the picture). Brian, one of her pet parents, wrote this beautiful piece for Grace after she succumbed to cancer a few days ago and I thought I would share it with you so we can all spare a thought for a dog who will be greatly missed.

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At 6:00 pm last night (Tuesday, 5/9/06), Hudson, Ohio’s 3-legged Church Street mascot, Grace D. Dog, was put to rest. She was an 11 year old chocolate lab. Her people were Mary McDonald and Brian Diehl.

After about a week of Mary medicating Grace for an upper respiratory infection, the pup’s hacking and coughing continued. Even her doctor missed that Grace’s cancer had returned and had metastasized in her lungs.

Grace’s breathing was labored and she was alert when Mary took her to the vet’s (Metropolitan Vet Clinic, Copley, Ohio). Luckily, Mary got hold of me just before I was about to set my phone down to exercise. I raced from the gym and arrived at the vet’s in time to hear the doctor’s assessment. They found fluid in her lungs and they said that anything they could do would just be “heroics.” So, the difficult decision was made quickly – and (alas) fairly easily. We had about 5 – 10 minutes of hugging and kissing our precious little one and then the doctor administered the drugs that forever put her to rest.

In June of 2001, Mary found Grace in the parking lot of Grace United Church of Christ, in Uniontown, Ohio. The overweight, dehydrated dog had obviously lost her people, so Mary and I took her in and placed “Found Dog” signs all over the town. I never wanted a dog and had no interest in having one in my house. We finally received a call from a man who ran an animal shelter. He said that he had placed her in a home just two or three days earlier and that the young, new pet owner’s mother had apparently abandoned the dog (dropping her off about 10 miles away from their house). Mary named Grace after the church as a temporary moniker, but it stuck. Grace loved swimming in the ocean, rolling in snow (see attached), riding in the car and rolling in smelly things. Yes, I had quite a bit in common with her.

We were blessed to have Grace in our lives – she taught me many things…most importantly that I love dogs and I will always want one in my life!

Grace had a blessed life; she lived 31 months past her amputation and Chemo, just in time for her to be featured as “Miss May” on the Sanctuary for Senior Dogs 2006 calendar (photo attached). She befriended everyone who met her and certainly converted a lot of people into dog fans.

For those of you who knew the Grace dog, smile and do your best to carry her gleeful, honest approach to life into yours.

All my best,

Brian

Top 3 Pet Insurers in the UK

According to David Seel of Thornside Insurance:

1. Petplan
2. Direct Line
3. Thornside

Many of you in the UK will have heard of the first two companies but not likely would have heard of Thornside because it is a "behind the brand" underwriting agency. They administer the policies and arrange the underwriting for their branding partners. Thornside's brands include Petwise, Lloyds TSB Bank, Kwikfit, PDSA and Argos.

Related links: Where was the first pet insured?, 2002 Pet Insurance Market in the UK is 12%, unusual brands for pet insurance in the UK

2006 Animal Welfare Bill in the UK

One of the presentations at the first International Pet Insurance Conference I attended last month was given by Peter Craske who is with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in the UK [warning - some of the images on this website are pretty disturbing as you can imagine]. He gave us the state of affairs on animal welfare in the UK and the European Union, which was very interesting.

Peter talked about the new bill coming out in the UK in October 2006 called the Animal Welfare Bill. According to the RSPCA website:

As well as increasing the penalties for those who inflict the most serious cruelty offences, the Animal Welfare Bill introduces the new welfare offence. This will introduce a 'duty of care' on pet owners to provide for their animal's basic needs - such as adequate food and water, weterinary treatment when required, and an appropriate environment in which to live.

Peter said that this is extremely important for the RSPCA as it allows them to step in before an act of cruelty occurs, not after as they have to now (and you can imagine how awful that must be for the people of the RSPCA who see attrocities every day.) 

This new law, "the most significant piece of animal welfare legislation for nearly 100 years", has major implications for British pet owners. For example, tail docking for dogs other than working or gun dogs is banned, and so is declawing.

While pet insurance is not mandated by the law to provide the veterinary treatment mentioned above, the RSPCA feels responsible pet parents should have pet insurance as part of their duty of care to their pet.

Why do we care about this in the US? Because you can be sure that animal organizations in the US will be pushing for a similar bill this side of the pond. Do you think that something like this legislation could pass in the US?

Dog or Cat Protective Head Cone

Did you ever wonder what the proper name for one of those weird head cones that cutely frames a cat or dog's head when you need to stop them from bothering a wound they have on their bodies (either their heads or their bodies depending on where it is)? Elizabethan Collar. It's pretty self-explanatory really when you see the kinds of ruffs the Elizabethan men and women used to wear in those days.

I know you are sitting on the edge of your seat for this one but it's called an

[BTW I picked my pictures before I took a look at the Wikipedia entry for an Elizabethan Collar - I suppose it's kind of an obvious comparison isn't it? Especially my kitties above :)]

Update: check out this cool alternative to an e-collar that Lea blogged about over at the Embrace Pet Community blog. No need for such an "Elizabethan" look any more.

Tom Peters and his dog Ruby

Tom Peters has a new puppy called Ruby he mentions here. I don't know what kind of a dog she is but since he calls her an Aussie, I'm guessing she's an Australian Cattle Dog. Tom, how about a picture or two?

I'm a big fan of Tom Peters through his blog. I must be in the miniscule part of the population who has not read one of his books (I can't believe I admitted that out loud) but I avidly trawl his blog and his manifestos. I know, I know - I really should read his books. I will make it a priority.

One way to calm your dog down

Do you have a dog that gets stressed when you leave her alone in the house? Or a new puppy that gets nervous when in a new situation?

If you said yes to the above questions, I just saw an announcement for a new product that could be very helpful for you - a pheromone-laden collar that helps calm stressed out dogs. Pheromones are the same hormones a mother dog releases to calm her new puppies.

The pheromone in the D.A.P. Collar reduces or stops undesirable behavior related to stress in most dogs. In fact, in recent studies, puppies that wore a D.A.P. Collar showed improved learning and a reduction in fear and anxiety levels compared to puppies with a placebo collar. The D.A.P. Collar also helps dogs cope with new situations, such as adjusting to new homes, new pets, visitors and strange environments, as well as dogs that are frightened of thunderstorms and fireworks.

You can only buy the collars through your vet, along with a diffuser and a spray of the same pheromones.

personalized genetic portraits from a sample of saliva!

Talk about a gift for the person that has everything. There are a lot of unusual pet-related products on the market but this has to be one of the most imaginative - a portrait of your pet's DNA!

Actually, it is quite beautiful (see the picture to the left) and you can even do the whole family (this one is of a family of 6 with 3 pets).

Check out the website at www.geneportrait.com to see the details.

[no benefit to Embrace for mentioning the company]

Sherlock Bones - lost pet detective

I get this newsletter every day from Petaholica, which has all these interesting tidbits on pets - stuff to buy, places to go, services to hire. Well, the topic today really caught my eye:

Get relief for yourself or friend/family member whose pet has taken off for the hills. With over 30 years experience John Keane "Sherlock Bones" can help you recover your loved one quickly and efficiently. You can order their "guide" or get a personal consultation with the man who found real life Ace Ventura's pet.

John Keane, professionally known as Sherlock Bones, "Tracer of Missing Pets", is the leading authority in the field of pet recovery. He could find an ant if he had to!

An easy call or email can put you in touch with Sherlock Bones. If your pet is missing you may be the next to say.......“You've saved my life Mr. Bones I don't know what I would have done otherwise. You reunited me with my best friend.

1-800-942-6637
www.sherlockbones.com

New poll

Check out this week's new poll on the right - how many times have you been to the vet in the last year?

"Enquiring minds want to know?"

How many cats do you have?

Here is the poll summary for this week.

Of course, this is highly skewed to the types of people who are reading my blog and those that like to do surveys but that's OK, I like to know more about the people who are reading my blog.

None:                33%

One:                 17%

Two:                 17%

Three:               22%

More than 3:     11%