The latest trend in pet insurance is to insure your pet on your regular auto insurance policy.

Yes, dogs and cats are now covered by most car insurance companies -- at no extra cost to you, the pet owner -- should they be injured in an auto accident!

Well... almost.

While it is true that many car insurance companies will cover vet bills associated with car accidents, there are a few "catches". So, if you're not careful to read the fine print, you could easily get tripped up.

Here are some things to keep in mind when selecting car insurance that covers your pets...

Remember this post where I bragged about us not having to use an E-collar with our dog after TPLO surgery because he wasn't all that interested in licking his surgical wound?

And remember how proud I was that every time we could tell that he was thinking about licking at the site of the incision, we would immediately scold him with "NO LICK!" -- which would scare him enough not to want to lick?

Well, much to my dismay, our Tenor dog betrayed us. In the 20 minutes we left him alone while we caught up on things around the house the other day, Tenor had enough time to discover what it was like to lick his wounds.

And it wasn't pretty.

While he didn't do much damage, he did make it bleed a bit. This was Day 7 after surgery, so there really wasn't much to bleed at this point. The wound, while still tender, was fairly well healed, believe it or not.

Turns out the moist blood droplet we saw after Tenor's solitary licking session was actually coming from between the folds in a doubled-over surgical site. Meaning, they folded a part of Tenor's leg skin over itself to create an extra thick suture (and probably a very thick scar when it's all said and done).

Anyway, there was no "leaking" blood, as we had experienced before with our other dog's surgery. Tenor had just moistened the area quite well.

Not ideal, mind you. But not life-threatening either.

Nonetheless, we learned that we can't take our eyes off of him for a MOMENT until those stitches had completely disentigrated!

The worst part... immediately after it happened, now that he had the taste of blood in him and he had "awakened" that part of his leg, he couldn't seem to get his attention off of it. Every chance he got, he felt the urge to lick it.

Thus began our nightly routine of using the E-collar (Elizabethan collar).

E-Collar To The Rescue!

To tell you the truth, I wish so badly that we had given in to using the E-collar earlier.

We didn't because we felt bad for the dog. We thought he would be "scared" of it or feel "punished". P-shaw! No need to feel bad for something that will protect your dog and make him heal faster. (And get you a few extra hours of sleep!)

If I had this to do all over again, I would definitely use the E-collar at night (and any time we had to leave him alone), simply for our sanity. You cannot watch a dog 24 hours a day, no matter what you think. We tried. We failed. It wasn't a major ordeal, just a lesson learned.

I also think it happened when it did because at Day 7 post-op, his skin was getting especially dry and itchy. Even flaky. So it was more noticeable to him.

At 2 days post-op after TPLO surgery for a torn ACL, we took Tenor home from the pet hospital. 

Dr. Beckman said that he was healing faster than most dogs, and he was also putting more weight on his leg sooner than most.

I think Tenor paid the price for that extra weight on his leg in those first days post-op, because his leg and ankle swelled up like an over-stuffed balloon just moments after we got him home.

Here's a little about our dog's recovery from TPLO surgery, as well as the stories of other dogs who've been through it.

Last month, on a warm sunny day, Jim & I had just returned home from a trip to Canada.

We picked up our dog at the pet sitters, then we all played at home in the backyard together. Tenor was soooo happy to see us. It had been a week -- about the longest he'd been away from us.

Suddenly, he got this urge to just start running... HARD!

Tenor was running laps from corner to corner -- the entire perimeter of our fenceline. When all of a sudden, as he was running and turning the corner, he yelped and fell down. His knee gave out. That was the start of Tenor's 3-legged mobility.

Our Dog Tore His ACL

We immediately called our vet, who said to put him on the Deramaxx pain killers we had leftover from the last time he pulled his leg muscle.  If it continued for more than a week, he wanted us to bring  Tenor in for x-rays.

It continued. The meds didn't help much. Tenor wouldn't put any weight on that back right leg at all. When we took him to the vet for x-rays, it was obvious that he'd torn his ACL.

 

The vet said Tenor had about an inch or so of free-range motion in that knee -- in a direction that he was supposed to have NONE. (More proof that the ligament was torn.)

So we scheduled our initial pre-op visit with the veterinary surgeon who comes highly recommended in these parts: Dr. Samuel Beckman with Affiliated Veterinary Specialists here in Nashville. (They're also the doctors associated with the after-hours emergency care center.)

 

So we took our vet's x-rays to the surgeon (Dr. Beckman), who also did a visual exam of Tenor and agreed the TPLO surgery was necessary.

By the way, while examining Tenor's x-rays (one set included his hips), Dr. Beckman said that Tenor will never have a problem with his hips -- they look REALLY good. Whew! some good news for a change!

Dr Beckman also spent a good deal of time explaining to us the parts of a dog's knee, how the knee and ACL work in dogs -- including ways that they're similar and ways that they're different from a human's ACL and a human's knee, the options for this type of injury, and what to expect in terms of the surgery and recuperation period.

Health insurance -- whether it's for our pets or for ourselves -- is supposed to be a good thing. Right?

After all, having pet insurance means our pet's medical bills will be covered in case of an emergency. Or are they? Unfortunately (as is the case with human health insurance), most insurance companies are in it to make money, not necessarily to help their clients.

The idea is to pay for health insurance in the event that your pet has a medical emergency and needs to be treated for a high-cost ailment such as cancer, for example.

Just to throw in a little statistics, there are about 6 million dogs diagnosed with cancer in the United States alone each year.

So, is pet insurance a good idea or not? That answer can be problematic for pet owners to find, and really depends on more factors than just whether or not you actually need pet insurance.

Did you know that owning a dog costs about $1000 for the first year alone? Then, it costs about $500 each year after that -- and that's just for the basics!

According to a report I saw on the news this morning (on my local FOX news channel in Nashville), there are a number of ways that you can save money when you own a dog.

Here are a few...

As the Senior years go by and the Geriatric years approach, we dog owners need to add a few more things to the list of what to watch for and do, in order to help our aging -- yet still very lovable -- companions get as much out of life as possible. 

Here are some Senior dog health issues to look for, plus some changes to make to your daily routine when you have an older dog...