Hello from Fresno CA!

I guess this is the first place I should have posted. I have posted pictures in the gallery forum. My name is Crystal I am a full-time student, and I currently own two Bengals (Sophie & Aslan). Sophie was actually given to us by a friend's friend who could no longer keep her. She was really in a bind since she was going to be moving, so we told our friend we would take her. Well little did we know she was taken from her mom too early . I say this because we got her at 6 weeks of age, and that is very young..and who knows how long this women had her before us some breeders just don't care I guess . She came with loads of problems..fleas, parasites, and sneezing/ runny eyes. She has been through two rounds of antibiotics, and eye ointment, and seems to be doing much better. She only sneezes a few times a day now, and her eyes are all cleared up(but she does do this motion like she is going to puke and sounds like a weeze but vet suspects its hairballs which I find odd because they don't have a ton of hair although they have been grooming a lot). We are currently giving them lyesine powder in their food.

We noticed she had poor social skills, and felt bad that she did not get to spend much time with her mom or siblings, so we decided to get her a friend. For a small fee we adopted Aslan who is our 5 month old baby boy. They love each other now. We love both our babies, and decided that we wanted a third and preferred the idea of getting the third while the two are still fairly young. We want them to all grow together . We will actually be picking up our little F2 boy in a little over three weeks. I am very excited! But I am wondering if I should be concerned that Sophie still sneezes? Aslan seems to be fine, I have only heard him sneeze maybe 5 times since we have gotten him, and he doesn't act as if he is sick. Vet says she doesn't have a fever, and she looks ok.

-Crystal

I have Sophie and Aslan both on a pet plan with Banfield pet hospital. I think I will take Sophie in this week just to make sure everything is ok . Aslan was just in the other day to check on his neuter, and he seemed to be fine.

-Crystal

First of all, Welcome! I'm glad you are enjoying your babies. It is terrible that you have had so many problems with your little one. Especially since those problems and financial obligations have all sort of fell on your simply from you doing a good deed by taking her in. The only thing you can really do now is what you're doing. Take the best care you can of her and go from there. The rest will hopefully fall in place after all the medical issues are out of the way.


Are you referring to Banfield Pet Hospitals that are located in Petsmart stores? These are really not the best caregivers.... In fact... they are rather terrible. Go online and read a few reviews when you have a chance. I'm not very sure that I would even have a pet GROOMED there and thus far seems like their grooming department is the only area that anyone is positive about. Unfortunately plenty of people go there because it is so inexpensive but you do not want to compromise your pet by having them receive sub par care. Banfield does not even test for TF, which is something I learned when I was desperate and phoning around for price checks after hearing it was so expensive. I would have been damned if i took Bauer there for anything else, but I figured maybe they could handle taking a sample we gave them and ship it off to a lab for us. Wrong.

Just something to think about. Enjoy your babies! And your new F2 when you get him/her.. =)

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Yea I am going to take her to The Abby Pet Hospital so that I can get a second opinion. I am somewhat comforted from the fact that Aslan hasn't gotten sick (hes only sneezed a few times) but I am very cautious and want to make sure that she is ok before I bring my new guy home. If she isn't ok I want to nit it in the bud . Her eyes are all better, and she isn't sneezing quite as often, but I do want a second opinion. Banfield gets you with their plans -_-. If you are a new pet owner, it seems like a great deal. I just feel like once they have you in a plan, they don't care as much :/. They don't have to care, because you are stuck paying them for a year . I think I will probably just use my plan with them for my two babies I have now just to get them their revolution flea medication because I get a discount :/.

-Crystal Phend

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Yea I totally understand! Sophie is doing much better no doubt about it, but she still sneezes here and there, and her poo reaks( I don't know if this is due to her tummy not being normal from two rounds of antibiotics in the past). Any-who I got her an appointment for Thursday night at another vet office, just to make sure everything is on the up and up, so I feel confident she is doing better and the little guy will be ok!

-Crystal

I used to mail order my Revolution from either drsfoster&smith or 1800petmeds, but Costco is now selling pet medications in their pharmacy, & it is a few $ cheaper than mail order. I think I pay ~$80.00~ for a six month supply. I'm not sure, but I don't even think you have to be a Costco member to just use the pharmacy.

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Anne

Hi there.. Welcome to the site

My bengal Serafina has had a sneeze that she does a few times a day since she I got her. She was diagnosed with herpes virus for which apparently there is no cure. Gaga is suspected of having it too. It may very well be what your kitty has.

As far as veterinary care, what I would suggest is to go with a proper insurer, and then pick a proper vet hospital. I am now with healthy paws and am quite happy with them:

http://www.healthypawspetinsurance.com/

You can read about other insurers here:

http://www.petinsurancereview.com/

It's a handy site, I do suspect that they suffer from a lot of bogus "reviews", but it's still helpful. Avoid VPI for sure, most of the others I think are ok. I did have a bad experience with Trupanion which is why I switched to Healthy Paws.

One important thing... I would sign up for insurance *before* you take your cat in for a second opinion and testing, and when you get your new kitty, insure him *before* his first vet checkup. Not because the insurance will necessarily pay for it, but you want to be signed up before any diagnosis are made (because otherwise they would be considered pre-existing conditions, and thus can be used as a potential reason to deny claims for the rest of your cats life).

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The little monsters 3

I just got insurance for my dog and I went with Embrace. I really only need her to be covered for accidents and illness since I waited until after her puppy shots and practically weekly checkups to get insurance. It also covers genetic conditions which appealed to me since I don't know about her parents or anything really. I would suggest finding an insurance company that will cover genetic conditions if you aren't sure about the medical history of your cat's past generations. If you got your furkid from a good breeder that does all the testing and provides you with any medical issues in the family line, you can probably skip on this.

As I'm just looking into getting a Bengal, I played around with the quotes to get an idea of how much it'd be for a purebred cat, as I know they are a little more expensive to insure. I believe I just made up some quick things like "I have a 4 month old male neutered (5% discount and I assume if the kitten isnt neutered when I get him, he will be soon after I do) purebred bengal" and the quote came out to about $18 a month with $500 annual deductible, 90% reimbursement, accident, illness, and Rx coverage. And I believe annual limit was $5000. Embrace also has 5% discount for multiple pets and 5% if you pay annually instead of monthly. I haven't had to make a claim yet so I can't say how that'll go but I've heard that their customer service is great and their first concern is your pet's health. They'll worry about the rest later. It gives me a piece of mind to hear that but I guess I'll see should I ever need to file a claim. Fingers crossed I don't.

Definitely compare the brands and find out which one meets your needs. Decide how much you want to cover and what you want for a deductible. For me, I usually choose around $500 annual deductible because the way I see it, if something were to happen, I'd be paying that much and more if I didn't have insurance so I might as well pay that much and have insurance cover the rest.