Heimdall was an Embraced Great Dane whom everyone at Embrace was very fond of. Poor Heimdall contracted a severe case of pneumonia that became resistant to all drugs and he eventually succumbed to his condition in September 2009.
Meg, who rescued him through the Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue Group based out of Denver CO, was selected as winner of the NAPHIA pet story competition as part of National Pet Health Insurance Month in September with Heimdall's story. She highlighted the importance of pet insurance in caring for Heimdall in her story:
We'd done the usual paying of premiums for years without actually needing the insurance, not that I'm complaining. It's how we all wish it will go forever. However, within the space of six months, all our expense and effort was repaid in ways we'd never imagined. After two courses of antibiotics failed to keep the cough away, our vet referred us to Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital, staffed with specialists in all areas of veterinarian medicine. The vet we saw there is one of the best respiratory doctors in the country and we waltzed in, confident we'd have this thing licked in no time. Our optimism became months of trying one antibiotic after another, included countless lung x-rays and three bronchoscopies. At one point, we were paying over $300 a day for the "big guns" antibiotic, fighting both staph and e-coli bacterias which had settled in Heimdall's lungs. It was at this point that we realized the value of not only having pet insurance, but the added drug and dental benefit we'd decided to purchase with it. The vet visits and procedures were high enough. But, it was the prescriptions required to keep Heimdall healthy that really ran the bill up. Between November 2008 and May 2009 our pet insurance company had paid our maximum annual benefit of $10,000.
Heimdall's life and Meg's award are being celebrated this coming Saturday, November 7 at The “Cocktails for Tails” event taking place from 5:30 to 8:30PM at the Rembrandt Art Gallery, 1301 Spruce St., Boulder, for the general public; tickets are $30 per person and $55 per couple.
You are more than welcome to attend - give Meg a hug for Heimdall would you?
