r/UK_Pets

Putting my dog on a brand of food that's made for Pets At Home.

My local shop doesn't stock the big bags which are a lot cheaper per kg than the small ones.

And the easy repeat service online takes 10% off.

Wondering though if it's reliable?

I used money supermarket to compare pet insurance to my rescue dog and am unimpressed by Agria and other huge insurers due to 10/20% co pay and over £200 excess. I found that Sainsbury's seems pretty good value for money. As it's my first time insuring a pet in the UK, I thought I'd look for some feedback from people who have had Sainsbury's (maybe others as well) for years. Does co pay apply when the pet gets older? Does the premium increase too much each year? After a claim? Any insight would be highly appreciated.

Thank you☺️

Hi all. My little dog recently died. I'm not ready to get another (very much still in the randomly crying phase) but my house feels so empty without a dog and my routine is all out the window.

I wanted to look at rescuing a dog this time, but I have two children (5 and 3 in a couple of weeks). Almost all the rescues I've looked at don't even consider you if your kids are this young. I get why, to an extent, but it seems that even if the dog is super gentle and friendly, they automatically put 10+ or 12+ in the adoption requirements.

Does anyone know any rescues that do consider families with kids? My kids are super gentle and would never be left alone with the dog ever. We're based in the Pennines and would be willing to travel.

Spending a few months in the UK at the end of summer with my sister and bringing my kitty along (don't worry, pet charter, not the cargo hold!). She has two cats herself and feeds them the Untamed food subscription. I've been looking it up and I see a lot of mixed information about it. I've seen people say their cats love it and people say their cats get sick from it. I've even seen some things about it being low-quality. (Those seem to be from a while ago, but still...) So, can anyone who's used Untamed give me an idea of how your cat did with it? I do like to feed my cat a largely meat diet, so I'm happy with the ingredients, and I do mostly trust my sister lol, but I feel like a few more experiences would put my mind at ease. Otherwise, I'm packing an entire suitcase of cat food.

Kino has been with me for 6 days now and I'm beginning to worry. Not because anything is wrong....that's what's weird. Nothing is wrong.

He was rescued at 5mo from a 1 bed flat, along with 21 other dogs and cats. Spent 5 months in the shelter while a legal battle went on, and came home with my husband and I last Sunday.

They said he wasn't toilet trained - or trained in any other way. He has a naturally awesome temperament - gentle, affectionate. From the moment he came home he went toilet in the garden, ate his food, slept straight through. No barking or pining. Kisses and tail wags. Plonked himself on the sofa.

My husband is a chef, I wfh. I stayed with him solidly the first two days. On day one he learnt Sit. He responded to his name from day 3. He is learning Stay. I just mean a few short minutes of very fun training, to bond, and he gets it.

He was doing so well that in day 3 I went into the front garden for a few minutes to tidy some plants and see how he'd be alone. I could see him but he couldn't see me. He sat down quietly. When I came in he was all tail wags and kisses.

First few days he wouldn't go in the bacl garden alone, I always went with him. Now he goes out and potters and lays down. We play. He's got used to the sound of the neighbours and wind in the fence panels and all those other outdoors noises, and slept through it all today.

At night, he started off sleeping by my side of the bed, but now sleeps in his bed (which is in our bedroom). When the alarm goes off, he's there ready for kisses and cuddles, then we go out for his morning wee.

During tue day he is dozy, with bursts of playfulness. He totters along on his walks - no pulling, lunging. He waits patiently to be put in his harness.

Is this weird? The calm before a storm? Other people who have adopted in similar circumstances - how did it go? It feels like he's always been here, it's so weird. But...well, he's an adolescent and a rescue so surely it's going to go crazy at some point?🤣

The shelter told us he was very well socialised and loves everyone, including cats and dogs, and to make sure he meets lots of dogs...he's already got more friends in my village than I do 🤣

Maybe it's because we have a very solid routine (you could set your watch by us) or maybe he's just like this while he's adjusting? I know the 3-3-3 guideline...I've had many other pets. It's not shutdown.

Can one just slip into your world this easily??

Has anyone managed to get any Isaderm gel for their pet recently? I have a prescription but it is out of stock absolutely everywhere. Pup has a nasty rash :(

I have a terrible habit of talking to myself while making a cup of tea in the morning, and now my cat literally sits on the worktop and mimics the exact cadence of my voice back at me. What bizarre human traits have your animals copied?

Just want to share this post as a bit of a warning, as now we're into summer and others are arranging pet care during holidays.

I live in Wimbledon and have 2 cats and am heading to Germany to see family. I was looking at local cat sitters, and google pushed a company called "London Cat Sitting company". They appear to manage and coordinate cat sitters centrally across London, but the about me page on the website indicates its run by one person.

I asked around with friends who had cats if anyone had used them....and it was insane. One friend told me they had such a bad experience with the owner that they ended up calling the police. They also said they had spoken to someone else who had been granted a restraining order against the owner for such bad harassment.

Cue a deep dive and a rabbit hole at 2am! At first glance, the Google and Trustpilot reviews look mostly okay. But when I looked at the one/two star reviews, some of the owner’s replies were really concerning and just shocking. One reply even told a customer to “go pound sand”, which just felt wild for a business response to a bad review!

I totally get it must be hard when businesses get bad reviews, or they feel they are incorrect in their opinion, but when you are asking a business to hold keys, allow people into your home and care for loved ones (like my cats are literal family members!) how they respond to criticism matters, and the level of professionalism there.

My rabbit hole also took me down various employment tribunals accusing owner of racism, withholding pay and the company's social media on tiktok, twitter were weird with reposts from what appears to be their personal account, about their beef with the met police, lawyers, other customers etc.

I am not entirely sure the company is still running that being said, as on companies house it appeared closed but did have active website etc?

Sharing this because if I had not asked around and taken a bit extra time to research I'd have probably gone ahead and booked and I saw enough to tell me to stay clear.

Hi everyone,

I would love to hear experience of people entering the US with pets (specifically dogs) while holding a H1B visa. Me and my boyfriend adopted a dog in Italy (this is because it is the puppy of my dog in Italy and I was there when she was born so it was extra special for me). My boyfriend is American while I currently hold a H1B.

The dog is 6 months old. All the paperwork (vet certificates, ownership) are in my name. She is vaccinated against rabies and she has a universal microship. I need to fill out the CDC form and I saw that it is possible to list another person as the importer. So I am wondering if it’s better to have my boyfriend bring her or if it’s better I bring her given that there is my name on the paperwork from the vet.

Did anyone go through immigration with a dog and holding a H1B visa? How was your experience?

I’m feeling extra anxious and would love to receive advice! Thank you!

Hello wondering if anyone has advice

I have a small cockapoo. Which 21 months ago he got a grass seed in his ear so far down he had to be put under to get it out. The insurance company was arguing many things, why we moved practise (we moved 4 hours away.) his weight, his dental check and ended up paying us 20% back of the £600 bill then tripled our monthlies so we cancelled. (Since then their google reviews stand at1.8 star so they’ve got worse)

Anyway we’ve come to look for new cover but apparently grass seeds class as a pre existing condition? We live in a very grass and bush heavy area so it’s very likely it will happen again. It’s the only thing that’s ever happened to him. I can’t find an insurance that takes us with pre existing condition but I don’t want to risk not going for pre existing incase it happens again and they genuinely do not pay out.

So far I’ve read two separate policies and they both state will not pay out for pre existing injury if repeated. It’s not on purpose??

Many pets say if the injury is not repeated for 24 months then they will class it as a new condition but that means my dog effectively not going outside for 3 months. I’m unsure what to do.

Any advice? Anyone gone through this?

Have used them for years with no issues, but for the last two days their phone lines have been down, the chat bot on the website is offline and they aren't responding to emails. Seems like they have either had a catastrophic IT issue (or been hacked) or something else has happened?

Anyone had any response from them in the last two days? Know of anyway I can get one? I am desperate for my perscriptions

Will be having our 14 year old jack/yorkie cross put to sleep on Saturday.

She has numerous issues:

Kidney Disease

Lumps in her mouth making it hard for her to eat dry food (if she only eats wet she ends up with diarrhea) she's currently ignoring her biscuits unless she's really hungry and is dropping them or swallowing them without chewing. (which she is today she's got a bad tummy today so we couldnt give her wet food)

Barely plays anymore if she does it 5 minutes, has a fed up face most of the day (the I've completely had enough look)

Arthritis, has had it for 4 years. Her front and back legs collapse frequently through the day. The vet gave her anothrr pain med and said if it didn't help that was it in terms of extra things to keep her comfortable.

High blood pressure

She's also has this shake to her, like shes slightly vibrating which I think is to do with being in pain.

Vet also said that due to morbidity factors having her out under to have her teeth and lumps sorted it was something that if they did that her legs could go the next day, which I wouldn't want to put her through. Also she sounds off when she breathes.

I need advice though, I keep thinking maybe it's too soon were trying to take her to her favourite places this week give her the foods she loves so she has a lovely time. Shes always excited when something is going on, cooking, us coking home or us taking her out but alot of the time it's short lived.

My biggest concern is Saturday she's going to get all excited she's going out but it's to the vet and she won't be coming home, and I think I'm gonna panic and change my mind.

I don't want her to get to a point where she's really suffering and I have to make the decision but I also don't want to loose her. Part of me thinks this is the best for her before she gets too bad. Had her for 9 years and she has been spoilt rotten.

We have a Golden Retriever, and my brother in law has asked to take him for a walking holiday. He often takes him to visit the Lakes, etc, so we're not concerned about his ability to care for him. Our dog loves walking with him.

He's visiting France. We know about all of the requirements in terms of the certificate, rabies vaccine, etc, but I think the idea of an animal travelling is usually that it will be travelling with the registered owner. This will not be the case.

BIL has suggested a change of ownership on the Microchip, on a temporary basis, just to avoid any confusion/issues during the boarder checks. His plan is that he will take our dog to the vets for the certificate and add his details, then we will provide a letter.

There are no issues around trust, etc. He isn't going to steal our dog, he'll transfer ownership back immediately, but I'm just not totally comfortable with the idea of transferring ownership.

Does anybody know if it's possible for somebody to travel abroad with a pet, and not be the legal owner? I'm happy to write and sign a document to say we give full permission for our dog to be taken out of the country with this person.

Our vet seemed to think it would be fine, providing my BIL is there when the certificate is applied for, but he also said they haven't dealt with issuing a cert without the owner travelling.

It's a bit of a complicated one - any ideas? Anything else to consider?

Hello!
I’m currently dog sitting for a 4 year old rescue (not sure on the breed as I think she’s a mix). About a medium to slightly bigger dog and looks like she has a type of working/hunting breed in her.

She’s pretty well behaved and often goes off and relaxes by herself. However, at random times she can become excited and aggressive. It’s usually in the garden, which the owners did warn me she can get territorial over.

She will start barking, clawing, and snapping. I wouldn’t say she’s biting but I think she’s barking so close and jumping up she’s nipping me badly, at times.

I say no and try to ignore her. I’ll sit down and ignore her. I wouldn’t say these things work as she will continue to bark really close to my knees.
So I wouldn’t say it’s anything I really do but she does just stop and will be completely normal again.

I don’t do any playing in the garden (by the owners recommendation. I just throw some biscuits into the grass for her to keep things calm. Then she doesn’t associate it with being high energy.

I’m currently out in the garden with her closed inside hoping that will make her see it’s not her place.

Any help on what I should/ should not be doing will be greatly appreciated! As I have another 11 days with her and she’s usually really lovely and easy to be with.

Edit: she’s had a walk in the morning and she gets a long walk in the evening. Still a bit too warm where we are for midday walks.

For me, it was paying for a really good quality pet bed. I remember wondering if it was a bit over the top at the time, but seeing how much my pet actually uses it every single day, I don't regret it at all

My wife’s Gran passed and we took ownership of her dog. He’ll be 11 in September, and seems to be in good health aside from his teeth. He didn’t go to vets much over the years so we decided to register him and get him checked over.

The vet advised about some dental work, which we were expecting and booked him in to get it done.

Given we didn’t have insurance, and know a lot of insurers wouldn’t cover dental illness anyway, we decided to hang off with insurance for the time being.

When they were doing blood tests before the dental work, they made us aware his liver enzyme readings were particularly high. They did further tests and still went ahead with the dental work which was all fine.

Because of the high readings in the blood work they suggested getting him back a few weeks later to do the same blood work, and a urine sample. The urine was normal, but the liver enzyme readings remained high.

They’ve suggested a liver supplement to see if that brings it down.

There was mention of Cushings and Pancreatitis as possible causes. But so far he’s not had symptoms and seems his usual self, no vomiting or diarrhoea which the vet has asked about several times.

I’m now starting to wonder if we should take insurance out, but thinking it would now need to be a pre-existing conditions policy - even though he hasn’t been diagnosed with anything (and given he seems normal wouldn’t have had bloods taken if it weren’t for the dental work).

I just want to know if my thinking on this is correct, that even though no condition has been diagnosed, if we were to get insurance it’d need to be a pre-existing conditions policy?

I had a dog growing up but new to actually dealing with the not-so-fun aspects of it

Received the following (shocking) email just now:

At Marro, we believe all cats deserve the best. That's why we're committed to making fresh food that's made with the highest quality ingredients - food we’re proud to serve our own cats. It’s also why we won't cut corners when costs rise.

We've worked hard to hold our prices steady since launching in July 2024, but to keep delivering the same quality you expect, we now need to make an adjustment. 

From 21st July, your daily food cost will change from £1.53 to £2.19 

What on earth? 50% up??