ferret

[gavin]

poo

[plasticdaft]

Our dog was £400. You obviously get more dog per £ than you do a cat!!!

[kallis3]

Some I meet whilst walking our dogs has a labradoodle and they paid £800 for him. Our Great Dane was £500 way back in 1994.

Even mongrels from the RSPCA are now £120 with prices for pedigrees varying. Mind you, that does cover the cost of neutering, innoculations and chipping.

[Shining]

Designer breeds should be banned in my opinion but that is only my opinion...some of my friends pay well in excess of £1k for their ideal dog....I have never been in that fortunate position to do so. £400 for my cocker and he's no good for showing (cateracts) bad luck I guess but with all the in breeding that goes on now days, I'm not surprised.

[Skippy]

It's the same with cats, some of the breeds are now just cruel, e.g the Sphinx and another breed that I can't think of the name, but as far as I'm concerned looks deformed.

There are so many beautiful pedigree breeds (I'd love a Siamese if I didn't have Harry) but I wouldn't want any animal that was so in bred that it had health problems.

[kallis3]

I don't do designer dogs either. We stick to mongrels now. Our Great Dane had to be put down at 13 months old as he had a very rare disease which was only known in Danes, and only three other dogs were known to have had it. The breeder just didn't want to know.

[scirocco]

Jan, a condition well known to Danes, wobblers, is also known to affect dobermanns. The breeder of our dobermann bitch didn't want to know either.

I also keep 'working' ferrets but I am convinced that they would not be capable of killing a healthy cat.

[kallis3]

Not wobbler - that's what they thought it was, but it was something called Cenral Core Myopathy which is to do with the muscles and the energy from the food not getting there so they waste away. It was heartbreaking to watch.

I actually like ferrets, although I wouldn't keep them as my lurcher would think they were a snack![:D]

[Julie]

Wobblers is my worry with Dobby...although both his Mum and Dad and grandparents were all healthy. On saying that I worry about anything and everything with my little man [:)]

Hubby always wanted a bengal kitten...they were about £400 I think, but then we rescued Latch for free. Much precious to us than a bengal...even though he's a smelly so and so!

[kallis3]

Our Dane's parents were both healthy - the father was huge! We even met the grandmother as well, and she was almost 10, which is an excellent age for a Dane.

I got so annoyed though when the breeder was told of the problem, and the vets at Cambridge University (which is where we had to take him) said that she could contact them at any time, and she just wasn't interested.

We vowed then that we wouldn't have another pedigree. Bella was a Lurcher (greyhound crossed with whatever), Lloyd is a Heinz57 but we do think he has Staffie in him, and although we know Suzie is a Lurcher, other than greyhound, we have no idea what else is in there as she is not the prettiest dog in the world and you just cannot tell!

[scirocco]

I love lurchers, I have a whippet x greyhound and a whippet as well as 2 dobermanns. They all get on very well with my ferrets who work with the whippets to help feed themselves and the dobes.

My bitch dobe came from a supposedly fantastic line. So much for pedigree'd dogs. It's one of the reasons I'll eat cornflakes 3 times a day to afford decent insurance.

[kallis3]

They sound fantastic!

We were lucky with the Dane that we had insurance. Way back in 1994 the treatment and tests etc cost over £1k. We recouped most of that plus the money we paid for him, but it doesn't compensate for the loss of a much loved pet.

I would never have a dog without insurance now.

Thankfully (touch wood!) our two are very healthy - long may they remain that way.

Curious to know how they help feed themselves? I'm afraid mine get fed normal dog food!

[Julie]

[:0] you have your hands full scirocco...lots of love and fun there I bet [:)]

My daughter is the breeder of our Dobby, so any problems and she'd be in trouble [:D]

I agree about the insurance..its a must.

[scirocco]

Julie, what I get from the dobes, no human could match. Their affection is unconditional and they don't care that I have no money nor assets.

Jan, the lurcher and whippet catch a natural, healthy and readily available source of protein and bring it unmarked to me. I can't elaborate more than that as I'll end up in the doghouse with the OP. However, it's legal and above board and what they don't eat we swap for dog meat from the butcher. We have even managed to swap for sirloins and chicken.

[kallis3]

You would not offend me!

Add me as a frugal friend, I will do the same for you and we can swap notes!