Is there any reason you don't want to use Frontline Plus? I have used effectively on my dogs for 10 years. I prefer it because it only travels through the skin and not the entire body and kills ticks. I am very careful to follow the directions otherwise it is not effective. Here is Meghane's post- she's our resident decorating vet- from the Comfortis thread on the Pets forum. * Posted by meghane (My Page) on Sat, Sep 27, 08 at 11:11 Vets don't get kickbacks per se. We may get pizza during a lunch meeting from a drug rep, but that's about it. In fact, I was just eating Comfortis-supplied pizza yesterday. Here's what I learned: 1. Comfortis is an organic product, but it is ingested and stays within the body for the entire month or longer. Frontline TopSpot is not systemically absorbed- it stays within the sebaceous glands. Advantage IS systemically absorbed and then redistributed to the skin within a couple of days. 2. Some dogs vomit the first dose, but rarely vomit subsequent doses. 3. It is labeled for dogs older than 10 weeks and greater than 5 pounds. 4. It is transferred through breast milk, which may cause puppies to vomit. The drug rep acted like this wasn't a huge problem, but I've seen too many puppies aspirate and die after vomiting, so to me it IS a huge problem. They don't know how much of the drug gets into the breast milk, and therefore cannot guarantee the puppies are not getting an overdose. And remember, it's only labeled for dogs 10+ weeks and 5+ pounds, so who knows what it does to younger and smaller dogs? 5. 100% of the fleas die within 4 hours. That is VERY impressive since Frontline takes up to 24 hours. Since the fleas die so quickly, it is impossible for them to lay eggs and continue the flea life cycle. Frontline Plus has an insect growth regulator which accomplishes the same task. 6. Comfortis does not kill ticks, leaving your dog susceptible to all of the tick-born diseases unless other measures are taken. The drug rep recommended the PrevenTic collar (amitraz) along with Comfortis. The PrevenTic collar is VERY effective against ticks but is a very potent insecticide and has adverse effects on people and cats. The dermatologists and parasitologists at school have been recommending people rotate their flea/tick control products monthly to prevent resistance. Comfortis allows another tool in the belt to accomplish this.

A couple of years back our dog was stiff and sore to the point where he couldn't even shake his head. His neck was obviously sore, and we assumed that he had strained or sprained something. Our vet noted that his teeth were plaque-covered, and his gums were slightly inflamed, and said that bacteria from the teeth could get into the bloodstream and cause inflammation and pain elsewhere after a round of antibiotics and pain relievers he was feeling better, and we took him to a friend who was a animal dental specialist who did a thorough cleaning, but he said that some of his teeth were bad enough that they needed to be pulled. After that our dog seemed better and back to his usual happy self for a couple more years. I have no idea whether this could be that case for your little guy, but your description sounds similar. Good luck, I hope he feels better.

There is a new boss at your house - Emma Belle! I can tell by the look in her eyes - my kind of pup. We also have Trupanion, although the plan has changed considerably since it started as Vet Insurance - a Cdn. company that bought a U.S. company and is now based in Seattle with a satellite office in Vancouver. We preferred it when it was VetI nsurance - partly because there were no deductibles and also the plan was enhanced - it started offering coverages that were not grandfathered to existing clients - despite no incidence of the particular illness - hip dysplasia was the one that really upset people. However, since Emma Belle is young, you will want to have her spayed before she is a year old if you want coverage for hormone related illnesses - and that includes diabetes, which was a shock to a few people. Re the Deductible - note that it is PER CONDITION. Not in total. A few people covered by VetInsurance did not read the fine print and so took the $3,000 deductible to have a lower monthly premium and well you can see how that backfired - a broken leg one week, something else the next. Also as pointed out the plan does not cover rechecks. And there can be a lot of rechecks - but you still will be paying your monthly premiums. Our premiums started out at $32.00 a month - they have been $75.00 a month for a few years now - plus our taxes - and that was before we had a claim. We signed our dog up at 13 months and he is still covered at the13 month old rate - runs from ages 1 to 3. Our guy is now 10. His corneal abscess has cost us a fortune over the past 3 years although we caught it on day one since said rechecks are not covered and we had to go every 3 - 4 months at $150 a visit. He is now stable and unless things change our next appointment will be in Jan. 2014 - so a year after his last. Had surgery been the first option, Trupanion would have paid, but surgery is a last resort at least in Canada. He will always have "gunk" in his eye though. In retrospect we would have been better off with a bank account - but that is in hindsight. At least should he develop Patellar Luxation or an ACL both legs would be covered (generally if one goes, the other will shortly thereafter) because he did not suffer from either pre signing him up. When looking at the various plans you need to look at the deductibles (cost and how many of them there are) - some plans have admin deductibles, breed deductibles, annual deductibles, etc. - then others put an annual spend limit per year per condition. So say Emma Belle broke her leg and the limit is $1,000 coverage per year. Well in Canada that wouldn't even begin to cover the cost - all in it would be closer to $3,000 (vet care is much cheaper in the U.S.). Same with a blockage etc. Then you will want to check out lifetime limits per condition - much like kids' braces. Some plans will only cover something major up to $2,500 lifetime. I wouldn't go for one of the plans that covers physicals etc. because you will be paying for them through your much higher premiums. The U.S. has a much bigger pet insurance market so check around but really read the fine print! I trust Emma Belle has you on your toes.

Well thanks, GYPSIE and FIDDLE: FIDDLE - I read MOST every post EVERY DAY. Would you say that's an addiciton? If you'd read the posts, you'd know that I made two others and couldn't get it to where I was not embarrassed to send it to my friend. Still don't like it, but it's the best I could do. In a conversation w/ROSIE this evening, she said I was too intent on copying the image. That was a lesson for me, ROSIE. If I had time, I'd do it again and forget the image I was sent to replicate, and go w/something completely different. NOT gonna do another one, though.