We insure our home, our vehicles, and our belongings, but, more importantly, we insure our families and ourselves.  Insurance enables us to take action and make choices without worrying about the cost associated with when something goes wrong,  needs to be fixed, or when we need medical treatment.  The same should be true for our pets, and, thankfully, pet insurance offers that protection to our furry family members since it functions as health insurance for them.  It helps us manage the cost of veterinary care from minor illness, to chronic conditions, to major disease or injury, to the unexpected veterinary expense.

Monthly pet insurance premiums cost only a small fraction of the cost of human insurance premiums.  Depending on which pet insurance company you choose (believe it or not…there are actually 12 companies!) and how much you would like to pay for the monthly premium, you can determine your deductible, which in some cases can even be $0. You can also determine your co-pay, which can be 0%, 10%, or 20%.  Some have per incident payout limits, while others have no lifetime payout limits. But again, this is determined by the policy structure of the pet insurance company that you choose.  Now, with so many companies to choose from, how do you know which one is right for your pet’s needs and for your budget?

One company stands out for its simplicity and its affordability with respect to their claim payout: Trupanion.  Trupanion offers one simple plan for all pets, reimbursing from the actual veterinary bill rather than a benefit schedule and covering surgeries, hospitalization, diagnostic tests, medications, supplements, therapeutic diets, and orthotic devices.  Additionally, they also offer several policy enhancements for an added premium, which includes hip dysplasia, acupuncture, and behavior modification/training just to name a few. They offer 90% coverage of veterinary costs per claim, following payment of the exam fee and an optional deductible by the client, and they have no payout limits, per incident, per year, or per lifetime.  Additionally, they cover hereditary and congenital conditions, and their premiums and coverage don’t change on the pet’s birthday or after filing claims.  Trupanion also offers a 30 day money back guarantee, but, probably most notably, they offer a free 30 day trial for puppies and kittens ages 8 weeks to 12 months.  If this interests you, please stop by either the main clinic or the Wellness Center location and we’ll be happy to get you enrolled! This trial offers coverage effective immediately, no payment information is required, and there is no obligation to continue.  Thus, it is an opt-in offer rather than an opt-out offer, so there is no money to lose.  Finally, Trupanion has a local representative that regularly follow-ups with policy holders when needed as well as follows up with their veterinarian.

You might feel that Trupanion isn’t the right insurance company for your pet or your needs, so please visit www.petinsurancequotes.com to find the right company for your family.  It doesn’t matter how old your pet is and, regardless of the exclusion of pre-existing conditions by pet insurance companies, it is very likely that your pet will gain from the benefits of pet insurance at some point.  Just ask Noel; even her dad insures her, and he is a veterinarian!  It really helped when she needed a procedure that her dad didn’t perform, and she needed to see a specialist.

Pairing pet insurance with one our BRAChealth Plans assures that your pet is covered—whether it’s preventative care or a major illness or injury. By putting pet insurance and our health plans into place now, you’ll save yourself peace of mind in the future! For more information about the BRAChealth Plans or pet insurance, please feel free to call the Broad Ripple Animal Clinic and Wellness Center at 317-257-5334.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common calls the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center took last year:

Dangerous “People” Foods

Did you know that in 2009, The Animal Poison Control Center fielded more than 17,000 calls regarding pet consumption and posioning by “people” food? The most common foods that are dangerous to your pet are:

• Chocolate, coffee and caffeine
• Alcoholic beverages
• Avocados
• Macadamia nuts
• Grapes and Raisins
• Yeast dough
• Raw or undercooked meat, eggs and bones
• Xylitol, which is a sweetener found in many products including chewing gum
• Onions, garlic and chives
• Milk
• Salt

Preparing for holiday feasts may bring more of these foods into your household, so make sure they are out of reach and temptation of your pet!

Dangerous Plants

Common household plants can be extremely dangerous to your pets. Seasonal plants such as lilies can be especially dangerous and if ingested, veterinary care should be sought immediately! Here are the top 17 plants found harmful to pets:

• Lilies
• Marijuana
• Sago palm
• Tulip and narcissus bulbs
• Azalea and rhododendron
• Oleander
• Castor bean
• Cyclamen
• Kalanchoe
• Yew
• Amaryllis
• Autumn Crocus
• Chrysanthemum
• English Ivy
• Peace lily
• Pothos
• Schefflera

For more information about whether or not other plants may present danger to your pets, visit the ASPCA’s online plant listing.

Other items to keep an eye on around your pet are human medications, as well as veterinary medications. Thousands of pets each year accidentally ingest their two-legged family member’s medications, or ingest too much of their own prescribed medications. Household cleaners, insecticides and rodenticides are other items to be aware of with your pet. Keeping everything of this nature in a locked cabinet or storage containers can prevent a life-threatening accident. If you believe your pet may have ingested something harmful, contact us at 317-257-5334 or the ASPCA’s Animal Control Center Hotline at 1-888-426-4435.

Everyone at Broad Ripple Animal Clinic and Wellness Center and Bark Tutor School for Dogs would like to wish you and your pets a safe and happy holiday season!

If you’re reading this blog, it’s probably safe to assume that you love your pets and want the very best for them.  You bring Fluffy in for wellness exams, blood-work, and vaccines because you know that these are some of the essential ways to keep Fluffy healthy and strong.  And luckily, you receive reminders, either by mail or email, from your veterinary hospital, making it very easy for you to remember that it is time to bring your pet in for these services.

But what about your pet’s heartworm and flea & tick protection?  If you’re like me, you have the best of intentions and, of course, mean to give these medications on the first of every month.  But…if you’re like me, you probably have forgotten a few times, leaving your pet susceptible to these very harmful invaders.  All of the alerts I set on my smart phone and notations I made on my kitchen calendar still somehow weren’t enough to remind me.  But that’s where the Broad Ripple Animal Clinic & Wellness Center’s online pharmacy has helped me out tremendously.

Did you know that the online pharmacy offers a Remind Me program for heartworm and flea & tick protection? The convenient Remind Me system sends one dose of the medication out each month to keep your pet’s treatment on schedule. To sign up for this program, visit the website and create an account, select Fluffy’s appropriate medication from the Remind Me menu, and select the Auto-Ship button.  Plug in your and Fluffy’s information, and just like that, you will receive a single dose of protection for Fluffy delivered right to your door every month.  As a result, the days of missed doses will cease to exist, and Fluffy’s body will be much more adept at fighting off intruders full-time.

This Auto-Ship option works well for other medications, too.  Is Fluffy on any long-standing prescriptions?  You could have them shipped directly to you, in the same fashion, with whatever frequency you would like.  And what about food?  If Fluffy is eating any of Hill’s Prescription Diets, you can select the Auto-Ship option for those as well.  Imagine having Fluffy’s food shipped right to your door before you ever run out!

If you aren’t already familiar with the online pharmacy, I urge you to take a visit.  Because the products that you order for Fluffy are coming straight from our own distributor to your door, we are able to offer them to you at a lower price than in-clinic.  We already have a growing “fan-base” of clients who have tried it, and love it.  To try it out, you just follow the link and select the “Home Delivery” button at the top of the screen.  Happy surfing!

When we ask cat owners why they struggle with bringing their cats for regular veterinary care and check-ups, the number one answer seems to be that their cat gets stressed, which stresses them. Here are some tips that might help minimize the stress you and your cat feel when you visit your veterinarian:

• Wrangling your cat up and shoving them into the “dreaded carrier” is no way to start your trip to the veterinarian. To help your cat become accustomed to the carrier, leave it open and placed in your house, so your cat can become comfortable with it. You can create a positive feeling about the carrier by keeping toys in and around it, as well as a comfy towel or blanket that smells like “home”.
• To prepare for the car ride to the veterinarian, take your cat for occasional rides in the car (in the carrier, of course). You can make them short trips around the block, or a little further if you like. The key is to prevent a negative association with the car ride. You can do this by rewarding your pet with a special “treat” at the end of each car ride. Keeping your cat’s carrier covered with a towel or blanket during the car ride will also help, as it will make them feel more cozy and safe.
• On the day of your cat’s veterinary appointment, do not feed right before leaving in the car. This can help prevent bouts of motion sickness. It will also set your cat up to have a positive experience of receiving yummy and enticing treats during the exam.
• Bring a towel from home with you. Many veterinarians will use a towel during the exam, and having one that smells “like home” will ease your cat’s anxiety.
• Once you arrive home, gently place the carrier in it’s “spot” in your home, open the door and allow your cat to come out on his or her own terms. Once they do come out, offer lots of treats and cuddling to reinforce the idea of a positive experience!

We hope you’ll try some of these techniques to enhance your cat’s experience, as their health is important. If you have additional questions, or would like to schedule your cat for an exam, please call us at 317-257-5334. Preventative care is the key to a long and happy life with your furry companion!

What to do if your pet is afraid of thunderstorms…

Have more specific questions? Brad can be reached via email at b.phifer@bracpet.com

If you already have a dog, Canine Colors will help you better understand and communicate with your dog, as you discover what your True Colors Spectrum is as a dog owner. If you are currently looking for a dog, we highly recommend you pick up a copy of this book. It can assist you in finding a true match, so you and your future dog will experience a long and happy relationship.

You can get your copy online at Canine Colors, or stop by either of our locations or Bark Tutor School for Dogs to purchase a copy and save yourself the shipping fee. We hope you enjoy this great new tool as much as we do!

We asked our clients to share their weight loss success stories with you, and here’s how they were able to succeed:

• Carol C’s story starts with Caoimhe, who was relinquished at the age of 5. When Carol rescued her she had been diagnosed with anxiety and she was obese. She is now 30lbs down from 42lbs. A combination of good food and exercise cured the weight and the anxiety. That is a 28.6% loss in excess pounds. Way to go, Carol and Caoimbe!
• Dara N’s story began when at age one, Molly (Bull Mastiff/Newfie Mix) blew out her knee. She was 130lbs. Once she recovered from knee surgery, the weight needed to come off. Nice long walks turned into short runs for exercise. Dara also replaced half of Molly’s food with green beans and carrots. She was soon down to 101 lbs. and the knees are doing great! She is now five and running up to a mile a day and is keeping her girlish figure under control. Molly’s 22.3% reduction in weight not only has her feeling better, but Dara’s probably in great shape as well with those daily runs.
• Karen R. reduced her pet’s dog food and added green beans to each meal. She also found the Royal Canin High Fiber food to be a big help in keeping her full. Her dog lost about 20lbs…hmmm, are we onto something with these green beans?
• Jenny A. says she did the same thing…green beans!!! And lots of walking/running. Her dog lost 11 pounds!
• Victoria W. used another magical whole food. Under the guidance of BRAC’s Dr. Gardner, her dog Rufus lost 10 pounds with just a minimal change to his food volume. He also gets 1/4 cup of fresh organic blueberries each morning. He is in great shape now!
• Lisa P., who works with Beagle Buddies shared Hank’s (ACD/Beagle) story. Hank bulked up after surgery/steroids and mixing wet food in with the dry to get him to start to eat again in 2005. She lives near the Monon so she upped her walks with Hank from 2 mi/day to 3 or 4 mi/day. Additionally, she added  tossing his frisbee into a pond for him to swim to and running free in the woods, and put him on 3 Dog Bakery Lo-Cal Chicken (dry). He dropped from a roly-poly 56 lbs in May to a smokin’ hot 40 lbs. by mid-Sept. Another 28.6% weight loss…incredible!

According to Dr. Elizabeth Murphy, weight loss in dogs can be very difficult to accomplish for several reasons. Spaying is a very important thing to do for the overall health of female dogs, but it does decrease their metabolic rate by about 35%, and dogs naturally have a decreased activity level and decreased calorie expenditure as they become adults. Dogs don’t take these two factors into account, because, as dogs,they have a very strong food drive and have the natural instinct to acquire as much food as possible. This is a great instinct in the wild, where dogs have to hunt for food but, for domestic dogs, this can be a good instinct gone bad! Many dogs put on the appropriate number of calories for their size and activity level will still act as if they are starving and do whatever they can to get more food, by begging, getting into the trash, even eating feces! If you are unsuccessful in reducing your dog’s caloric intake or sating their hunger, one other suggestion is the weight-loss drug for dogs, Slentrol. Slentrol decreases the appetite, which really helps in cases where there is a food drive problem, and it decreases the absorption of some of the calories from the food. It can really get a dog to their weight loss goal over a few weeks or months, and then the dog could go to a lower, maintenance dose for a while. Once a dog is at the maintenance weight for a few months, he or she will very likely be able to be taken off the drug as eventually the food drive will match the dog’s new weight.

Of course, all overweight or obese pets need to be checked for any underlying health problems that could lead to weight gain, such as a low thyroid production or an adrenal gland problem – solving those problems would keep pets healthier and may keep them from needing the drug to begin with! Weight loss is hard work! Work with your veterinary team to help you and your pet meet your personal goals. We’d love to share more success stories to inspire other pet lovers, so please leave your stories in the comments section below:)

by Elizabeth Murphy, DVM

Everyone knows that doing a crossword puzzle every day helps keep our brains sharp as we get older. But what about our pets? Well, taking your older dogs for a walk every day is the canine equivalent of getting them to do a daily crossword puzzle. Dogs “read” the environment on their walks by sniffing the ground or the closest lamppost for information on the other dogs that have passed by, such as their age, their gender, their health and even the amount of adrenaline coursing through their veins! Dogs have 200,000 olfactory, or smell, receptors, in comparison to the human number of 20,000, so they get a great deal of information from their environment, which their minds must then process and interpret.

The world outside their yard is their crossword puzzle, and olfactory stimulation translates into brain stimulation for them. Just being let out into the yard is not challenging enough to their brains, and aerobic exercise is important anyway for good blood flow to the brain, so walks, even slow ones, are the way to go. What else can we do to keep our old dogs learning new tricks? Keep them learning new tricks, or at least practicing old ones! People that retire need to make the effort to stay involved with their former professions, or to develop new hobbies, in order to keep their minds active, and dogs need jobs and hobbies, too. If there are tricks that your dog enjoys doing, or that you enjoy seeing, keep doing them. If both of you are bored with those tricks you have been doing all these years, teach new ones! Dogs of any age will learn new things readily as long as the right rewards are given. Dogs can “hunt” around the house as a new hobby, too – hide favorite rawhide bones, Greenies or treat?stuffed toys around the house, and encourage your dog to find them, then make a big deal of applauding and petting him when he accomplishes that great feat!
There are many other ways to keep your older dog’s brain healthy – most can be extrapolated from human geriatric research. Social involvement with family and in the community is important for humans: for dogs, frequent daily interactions with all the human family members and frequent visits to see favorite canine and human friends would be equally important. Play time at the dog park or at doggie daycare, or just being at those beehives of canine activity and simply watching the other dogs play, would be protective for the aging canine brain.

And what about cats? Few of us can take our cats for a walk, and there are definitely no “cat parks”! We can, however, keep their brains and bodies toned up by playing with them often – even the oldest cat can usually be lured to chase a feather or a mouse on a string. Enriching the indoor environment of cats is important at all ages, too. Cats in the wild need a high perch to keep track of their predators and prey, and research has shown that indoor cats thrive if they have a “cat tree” or other human approved high perch to keep track of the other members of the household.

In addition, bird-watching is a great hobby for cats. Having a bird feeder outside a window is very stimulating to cats and amusing for their owners. No birds available? No problem! There are many bird-starring cat DVDs to play on the TV which greatly magnify the sound and images of birds, chipmunks, squirrel, etc and catch the attention of even the most sedate cat. Try “Video Catnip”, for example, and watch your cat dive for the bird that “flies” off-screen and, in your cat’s mind, out of the TV. Playing with your older cat provides exercise as well as some of the social interaction needed to keep your cat’s aging brain healthy – and don’t forget to add a little extra petting time, too!
The moral of this story is: DON’T let sleeping senior dogs (or cats) lie! Their brains might rust if they are allowed to rest too much.

Did you know: Dental care has saved the lives of more pets than any other advance in the field of veterinary medicine in the last 25 years?

• Smaller dogs and cats live 15-20% longer if they receive dental care as needed throughout their life.
• Larger dogs live 10-15% longer if they receive dental care as needed throughout their life.
• Bad teeth and gum disease can trigger serious, even life-threatening health problems including heart, kidney, liver and joint disease.
• In human medicine, a link between gum disease and heart conditions has been well established. Research shows the same thing happens in pets. A recent study by Dr. Larry Glickman of Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine (JAVMA, Feb. 2009) showed that dogs with gum disease had more heart problems (study included 59,296 dogs).

If you’re not currently brushing your pet’s teeth, or you’ve had bad luck trying to brush in the past, we want to help get your pet’s dental care back on track! Give us a call at 317-257-5334 or 317-726-2711 to schedule a complete oral examination and we’ll teach you some stress-free ways to care for your pet’s teeth and gums.

Here’s a list of items you should have on hand:

• Pet food, especially any prescription diets for medical conditions. Always have an extra bag or case of cans around in case roads become too treacherous for traveling.
• Litter for your pets, again keeping a back-up bag on hand in case you get snowed in. In the winter, keeping a 20-pound bag of cat litter in the trunk of your car can come in very handy. The weight of the bag can help with traction on slippery roads, and should you slide off the road, you can spread the litter on the icy ground to help in getting your car back on the road again.
• Bottled gallons of fresh water is a must for you and your pets should you become stranded at home without power. Keep several gallons in your basement, rotating them regularly to keep your supply fresh.
• Keep plenty of soft, warm bedding available for your pet at home and in the car. Some homes become draftier in the winter and your pet will appreciate the extra layers of bedding.
• If your pet takes regular medication, refill them a full week before you run out. Waiting until the last minute could coincide with a winter storm, making it impossible to pick-up your pet’s supply.

Stay ahead of the winter weather by preparing now for the future! If you have any questions or concerns about your pet’s winter safety, please contact us at 317.257.5334.