Ensure your will is up to date
The start of a New Year is a great time to get your affairs in order, but making sure your will is up to date and still relevant is one priority that is often overlooked.
Leading veterinary charity PDSA has developed a plain English guide to amending an existing will, making it a less daunting task.
PDSA Head of Legacies, Tina Norton-Tuck, says: “Individual circumstances do change so it is always advisable to review your will from time to time to ensure it still reflects your wishes.
“However, updating your will needn’t mean re-writing it from scratch. A codicil is a document that can be easily added if, for example, you want to add a new instruction to leave a gift to a family member or charity of your choice.”
The PDSA Codicil pack outlines the procedures that need to be followed to ensure the change is legally sound and encloses a blank form to complete.
“Gifts that PDSA receives from wills are extremely important to the charity’s work of providing free veterinary treatment to the sick and injured pets of people in need, as two out of every three pets treated are funded in this way,” continues Tina. “PDSA’s services cost more than £48million each year, so we rely on the kind people who chose to remember PDSA in this way.”
For further details on making or amending a will or to download a codicil form, go to www.pdsa.org.uk/codicil or phone the Legacy Team on 0800 591248.
This year PDSA will provide more than 1.8 million free treatments to sick and injured pets. The charity receives no government or lottery funding for its PetAid services and relies entirely on the generosity of the public. For more information about PDSA, please visit www.pdsa.org.uk
Dodge the dog house this Valentine’s Day
If you’re looking to impress your partner this Valentine’s Day, rather than buying predictable flowers, unimaginative chocolates or, worse still, not bothering at all, why not surprise the love of your life with a PDSA well-vetted gift?
Well-vetted gifts really show you care and are the ‘purrr-fect’ virtual present for anyone who cares about animal welfare.
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Spirits high at 10th Global Pets forum
The pet market will remain robust in the global downturn, according to Euromonitor International head of pets research Lee Linthicum. Speaking at the Global Pets Forum in Amsterdam on Thursday, Linthicum said a shift in global attitudes towards pets will keep the market growing in the next five years.
This outlook was mirrored by many of the delegates at the conference, who claimed the position of pets at the centre of the modern family would keep the industry buoyant through the downturn.
The pet population is growing both locally in the European market and in countries like Brazil, India, Russia and China, Linthicum explained. He added that pets are now seen by many in these countries as members of the family and as such, these consumers were unlikely to trade down.
Group sues over a lack of shelters
A group of animal rescuers has sued the city Health Department for breaking its own law by failing to provide animal shelters in all five boroughs.
The nonprofit group Stray from the Heart said the city’s neglect has resulted in the “needless suffering and death” of homeless cats and dogs.
“Homeless dogs have been dying in unconscionable numbers because the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has not provided the shelter space required by statute,” the group charged in a lawsuit filed earlier this month.
Dog Owners More Likely To Share Germs With Pets By Not Washing Hands Than By Sleeping With Dog
Dog owners who sleep with their pet or permit licks on the face are in good company. Surveys show that more than half of owners bond with their pets in these ways.
Research done by a veterinarian at Kansas State University found that these dog owners are no more likely to share the same strains of E. coli bacteria with their pets than are other dog owners.
Dr. Kate Stenske, a clinical assistant professor at K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, studied this association as part of her doctoral research at the University of Tennessee. The research is scheduled to appear in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Veterinary Research.
Stenske said the finding that these human-animal bonding behaviors aren’t more likely to spread germs is good news because there are physical and psychological benefits of pet ownership.
“I became interested in the topic because there is such a strong bond between dogs and their owners,” Stenske said. “If you look at one study, 84 percent of people say their dog is like a child to them.”
Stenske said surveys also show that nearly half of all dog owners share food with their dogs, and more than half allow the dog to sleep in the bed and lick them on the face.
“We also know diseases can be shared between dogs and people,” Stenske said. “About 75 percent of emerging diseases are zoonotic, meaning they are transferrable between humans and other animals. With these two pieces of knowledge, I wanted to examine the public health aspects of such activities.”
Stenske’s study centered on E. coli bacteria, which is common in the gastrointestinal tracts of both dogs and humans.
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“People have it, dogs have it, and it normally doesn’t cause any problems,” she said. “But it can acquire genes to make it antibiotic resistant.”
The study examined fecal samples from dogs and their owners and looked at the bacteria’s DNA fingerprints. Stenske found that 10 percent of dog-human pairs shared the same E. coli strains. She also found that the E. coli had more resistance to common antibiotics than expected, although the owners had more multiple-drug resistant strains than their pets.
“This make us think that dogs are not likely to spread multiple drug-resistant E. coli to their owners, but perhaps owners may spread them to their dogs,” Stenske said. “What we learn from this is that antibiotics really do affect the bacteria within our gastrointestinal tract, and we should only take them when we really need to — and always finish the entire prescription as directed.”
The research showed that bonding behaviors like sharing the bed or allowing licks on the face had no association to an increase in shared E. coli. However, Stenske said the research did show an association between antibiotic-resistant E. coli and owners who didn’t wash their hands after petting their dogs or before cooking meals.
“We should use common sense and practice good general hygiene,” she said.
Stenske said future research might focus on the relationship between shared E. coli and the behaviors of cat owners. Not only is cat ownership higher than dog ownership in the United States, but cats also interact with people in different ways than dogs, she said.
“We have a lot to learn,” Stenske said. “In the meantime, we should continue to own and love our pets because they provide a source of companionship. We also need to make sure we are washing our hands often.”
Source: ScienceDaily
Adapted from materials provided by Kansas State University.
More homes needed for animals
An animal charity is still appealing for people to open up their homes to a new furry friend.
RSPCA staff in Brent Knoll wants families to come forward and adopt one of the many animals at the centre.
The January 8 edition of the Weston & Somerset Mercury featured pictures of 20 pets that wanted a loving home.
How to speed up your Pet Insurance claims
January 26, 2009 by admin
Filed under Claim Forms
Helpful advice with Pet Insurance Claims
Here are a collection of tips and instructions to help you speed up your pet insurance claim.
- Always make sure you have plenty of pet insurance claim forms – This way if you ever need to make a claim, you don’t have to call your insurer and wait for them to send a claim form out. You can just fill in the form and hand it straight to your veterinary practice.
- Read and fill in your form carefully – Many people do not fill in their form correctly and this leads to delays and/or possible rejection of claims. If in doubt ask a member of staff at your veterinary practice that is familiar with pet insurance claims. Many insurance companies are also happy to deal with problems or enquiries regarding filling out the form over the phone.
- Who does the insurer need to pay? – If the wrong party is paid by the pet insurance company this can lead to long delays. Claiming money back from the vet after a mis-payment to them, can be an unnecessary stress.
- Note when and who you submit your form to – It would be beneficial to remember when and who you submitted your form to at your veterinary practice as human error can occur, e.g. forms going missing. Most veterinary practices also have a dedicated member of staff who processes the insurance claims, it would be beneficial to note their name too just in case you have any questions regarding your claims progress or lack of progress.
- Find out how long your veterinary practice take to complete claims forms – Veterinary practices vary considerably, some complete their part of the claims form within 24-48 hours of receiving it, others can take days or sometimes weeks. It is important to find out how long it would approximately take as you may be relying on the insurance claim being processed quicker than it actually is. Remember your insurance company can not assess your claim until they receive all relevant information, be it from your veterinary practice or from your selves.
- Find out how long claims should take once with insurance company - This can differ from company to company and it is important to find out, as again you may be wasting valuable time under the impression your claim is being processed – but in fact the form did not arrive or there were other complications.
What to do if there are problems or delays with your claim
- Chase your claim up with the insurance company – Remember as with the veterinary practice always note the person’s name, the date and the time at which you called. It is easier to deal with that one individual each time you contact your insurance company, especially if problems regarding your claim persist. Your insurance company should have computer logs containing all relevant details regarding your call. Should an advisor not see through to completion an enquiry, yourself and your insurance company can chase up the person involved.
- Chase your claim up with the veterinary practice – Inquire with the veterinary practice (remembering the name of the person with whom you submitted the form) as to when and / or if the form was submitted.
Pet MRI scans
A technique more commonly used to diagnose medical problems with humans is being used for pets in south Wales.
A mobile MRI scanner visits Bridge Veterinary Group in Pontllanfraith, Caerphilly county once a month.
The scans, which cost about £1,000, use a magnetic field to produce a detailed image of part of the animal’s body.
Burgess Diagnostics, a company in Preston which owns four scanners across the UK, has previously carried out scans on lions and a shark.
Plea for all cat owners to have pets neutered
A Preston charity is appealing for people to get their cats neutered in a bid to stop the number of abandoned animals.
Cats Protection, based at Higher Greenfield, Ingol, has dozens of cats on the waiting list and in need of a loving home.