Brilliant, Sandy! My koi have been very active lately, sometimes jumping out of the water, which indicates they're trying to shake off parasites. I've read that adding salt to the pond (3%-6% concentration) eliminates most common tropical parasites but has no effect on the koi. Has anyone any experience with this? Another question for you experts out there: Will the slight salinity have any adverse effects on my placostamus and goldfish who co-inhabit the pond?

Catherinet, It is sad that we have to be so careful on line all the time. I was suspicious of both of these docs after reading the web sites. They toot their horns way to much for my liking. One would thing that if this procedure is so wonderful, far more opthamologists would be using it, and using it all the time. The costs are exhorbitant and though they claim that ins. pays for it, if you check with your ins. you will find that they don't. I checked with mine, just for fun today, and they don't pay for it with MA ins. I have BC/BS and have not restrictions on where I go for medical care in state or out, but it has to be a covered service. They told me that the Yag/NG laser is not only not covered by MA BC/BS, but no BC/BS anywhere in the country pays for it, and as far as they know, no ins does. This really peaked me, so called my sister, who lives in Florida and has BC/BS down there. No coverage, she checked with my niece who has different coverage and no coverage. My son in Kentucky doesn't have the coverage. By the time I was through checking with people I know in MA and other states, couldn't find an insurance co. that pays for it. Red flags again, as this isn't a life saving operation. One of the docs bragged that he new only 2 docs in the country that did this, and to me that was a red flag too. So unlike my spinal surgeon , who used a relatvely new method in doing my surgery. It was being done in Michigan only 5 years ago, by one doctor. This doc waited to have it perfected, then published the info in a medical journal with a request for other spinal surgeons to contact him for further info and offered to teach it. This doc divided the country into 25 sections and taught one leading spinal surgeon in each section the new procedure. He chose leading spinal surgeons who chould stay with him for 6 months to be perfected in it. My doc was the first doc to go from the new enland section. He has been doing this procedure for 4 years and is the leading teacher in the New England area for this new technique, which saves so much of the vertebrae in the spine instead of removing it. When you compare this attitude to these docs, you know for sure that something is really fishy with this laser stuff for floaters. I have always been of the thought that G-d gave us 2 eyes for a reason. If we lose the vision in one, we still have an eye to see with. Vision may not be perfect, but one can still see. Also of the thought that surgery is done as a last resort, and experimental and wacky idea surgery is only done when there is nothing else that can be done. Glasses are fine for me. Not having anything cut in my eye because of vanity not wanting to weaar glasses. I like being able to see, same for this laser stuff too. My doc told me the same thing about the floaters and also said that many times they can go back into the viscous fluid, which some of mine have done. The hydration thing really does work. I found myself with worse floaters early today and started pushing the fluids this afternoon and sure enough, they are better tonight. I had some of the vision things at night to and the extra fluids really made a difference. My eye is bloodshot some of the time and the doc told me to use refresh endura drops to help keep the eye moist, especially in the winter with the heat on. that has helped too. Give that a try and see if makes any difference. I use it 2-4 times a day and it really helps. it's not cheap, $15.99 a box. But it has individual doses in it. One thing if you start to use it, you won't use the full dose container at once, just one drop in the eye that needs it. Put the cap back on it and use the rest during the day. don't hold it overnight though. the company wants you to use it just once but the doc says no reason not to use up each individual container. Best place to buy it is Walgreens. If you buy it in quantity, I buy 10 boxes at a time, they will give you a discount on the price. Brought it down to $12.99 a box when I bought to boxes at once. Good luck and let me know if you try the refresh endura and it helps or not.

Yes! I had the IPL laser treatment for my roscea(sp?). I had it done at 2 different places. The first time i payed around $2,000 for 7 treatments. Was it painful? It feels like a rubberband smacking against your skin. After the 7 treatments i looked pretty good. But they did tell me that eventually it will come back. This is what my skin wants to do. They also said to stay out of the sun to help make the treatments last. It did come back 5 years later and i did it again. I went somewhere else because they had 1/2 off specials. I didnt think they did as good of a job that the first place did. I dont know what your interested in. They offer sevices now to get rid of age spot. This new laser is suppose to be great. What ever you decide you MUST stay out of the sun before your treatments. The laser focuses on the red from roscea or brown from the age spots. If your tan then the laser wont be very helpful. Which reminds me, the laser works best on white skin. Not women of color.

As some others have mentioned, teeth cleaning is absolutely unnecessary if animals are fed properly (a raw, species appropriate diet). And I disagree with one poster who said the cost is probably the same as dental work. What s/he fails to factor in is the suffering the animal must endure, not only from dental disease but from periodic anesthesia (which is not harmless), cleanings and extractions, not to mention other very common health issues that result from the same causes (primarily, commercial pet foods) like UTIs, liver disease, FIV, and the like. Even if you just consider the financial cost, you're way ahead feeding raw. Dental cleanings are big business in the vet industry, and a vet will never tell you how to avoid them. They are not taught this information in school, because the system that trains them would fold up and die if it taught vets how to keep animals healthy and illness-free for life. Feeding cats raw is the easiest thing in the world. Cut a leg off a cornish game hen and put it on a plate. That's dinner. If your cat won't eat it that way, cut it in small bites or use some of the transition strategies that are published in various places on the web. Here is a link that might be useful: No More Vet Bills