I just wondered where the PDSA stood on treating animals from breeders?? I remember ages ago at a cat breeding seminar I got talking to a lady and because she was not working she got all of her kittens vaccinations done for almost nothing at the PDSA, baring in mind pedigree kittens have to have there full course before they leave the breeders and it is around £70 for each kitten. Then yesterday another lady who had bred her bitch 5 months ago had trouble with one of the 8 puppies and had to keep taking him to the them for treatment, to the value of around £500 :-O  Just to make matters worse, that same bitch has come back into season already, she is not registered and has no health checks either but, the vet has said it would be fine to mate her again this season !!!!! :-(

I am just shocked that they are happy to treat animals free of charge for breeders, surely this is completely defeating the object. What on earth is happening to the world !!!!!   

As far as i am aware(& it certainly is correct at the local PDSA animal hospital)they do not do vaccinations at all, they do not do preventative treatment. They are there to provide veterinary treatment. they do spay bitches if they have pyrometra etc, but do not spay as a preventative measure.

You have to be in receipt of a qualifying Hosuing/Council Tax Benefit.

They would have treated the puppy if it was ill & the owner was eligible for help

Think the PDSA is one of the animal charities who really do have the welfare of the animal at heart. I understand that if you are on income support you can request treatment at a lowered cost or free. Yes, it is bound to be abused, that is the way of the world, but better that than an animal suffering because the owner has fallen on hard times.

> I understand that if you are on income support you can request treatment at a lowered cost or free

10 years ago I had my darling lurcher Bracken pts at the PDSA - I was on income support at the time, bringing up 3 children on my own. They asked for a donation as payment - I gave them £25 which was an awful lot of money to me back then but I would have paid more if I had had it.

Yes I would have thought, for breeders, they would be able to pay expenses with sale of puppies, the money doesn't go on health checks, showing, training or quality food for bitch and pup...

But if your eligable with the right paperwork they can't turn you away.

However if they are claiming benifits and breeding am sure they arn't paying taxes for income of litter sales...Maybe Inland Revenue would be interested?

I think you'll find their stance on spaying & innoculations has changed, they will do both but it is subsidised.  I know of someone who shows Samoyeds and uses the PDSA as her vet, drives a very new MPV too!

I would probably qualify for help from the PDSA but would consider it totally immoral to do so.  I have chosen to breed and keep the number of dogs I do. 

I had quite a lot of Vet expenses over the last 18 months.  Starting with Mastitis in one, then a Ear Infection that wouldn't quit, a cracked tooth and epulis removed, and a mystery lump.  All fairly minor (except the mastitis and ear infection) all costing over £200 a time.  I would never have dreamt of (ab)using the PDSA

As far as I am concerned the service should be for those who find themselves in tight financial circumstances when they already own a pet, not if they choose to breed or buy one (rescues excepted).

> I think you'll find their stance on spaying & innoculations has changed, they will do both but it is subsidised.  I know of someone who shows Samoyeds and uses the PDSA as her vet, drives a very new MPV too!

Will not at the nearest hospital to me as I rang them before I posted. They only do treatments not preventative treatment, now the local vets do subsidised vax/ elective neutering, not sure who funds it but i know it is not the PDSA or Dogs Trust

I absolutely think they are wonderful for helping anyone that genuinely has fallen on hard times and I would hate to think of any animal suffering just because the owners couldn't afford a vet. I do however not think it right for anyone that cannot afford vets bills to be breeding, its just wrong !! I wouldn't even mind so much but, the other 7 puppies from the litter had already been sold and had gone off to their new homes when the one they were keeping needed treatment. Money can't have been an issue but, why pay when you don't have to was the response I got :-(  Its just disgraceful and there should certainly be some rules against breeders having there animals treated there, it is their choice to breed and therefore their responsibilty to foot the bills.
 

It is an issue I had with the Rolf Harris TV shows when they showed pregnant bitches and pups that had been bred being treated at the RSPCA hospital.

oh dont get me started on this one!!!! You only have to look at the types of people frequenting those places, and the big "expensive- to -run "breeds they all seem to have (despite being on the poverty line....what a joke) sorry but i would have no intention of subsidising people on the dole...I already do enough of that as a tax payer!!!

I have a friend who was eligible for the PDSA. She had 2 dogs but only one was accepted by them for treatment. You can only have one animal registered for treatment at one time and the cover only lasts for 6 months then you have to reapply. The area that I'm in won't accept anyone for the PDSA treatment at all. No idea why.

i worked for the pdsa as a student, and they do not treat animals who have been delibrately mated. they will treat the puppies if ill, but wouldnt do their vaccs for free. some hospitals do the preventative care now, but charge similar prices to local veterinary practices. you can have three animals registered at any one time, and all three can be treated at same time. you have to reapply after 6months, but all you have to do is bring in a recent letter from housing office.
they are pretty strict on who they see, but will always treat an emergency. people try daily to get around it, neighbours bringing the dogs etc, then have no idea of history!  i loved working for them, a great place to work.

I dont know about breeding but this is what I know when PDSA pay private vetinary treatment through a vet that is registered with them.
You are only allowed 1 pet registered under them.  They DONNOT pay for vaccines, they DONNOT pay for blood tests.
You have to be on housing or council tax benifit to qualify.
They do pay for spaying due to pyometria, but not routine spaying.
They pay for euthenasia, but not for house calls or cremation.
They also donnot pay for the out of hours fee.
This is just from what I know.
HTH let you know a bit more of what PDSA pays for
Lea :)

i have to disagree slightly. i worked in a pdsa petaid hospital, and people could have 3 animals registered at any one time. they do pay for blood tests but are obviously limited in what they can do, they do not do routine bloods, eg before anaesthesia as other practices would, but will check phenobarb levels, do ACTH stim tests etc etc. they pay for euthanasia AND cremation (only routine) if you want private individual cremation then theres a cost. the pdsa i worked for had an out of hours service, they ahd a vet, nurse and aca overnight on the premises doing emergency appointments, working alongside vets now a private out of hours company.
some are now doing preventative care such as spaying and vaccs at a cost.
i worked for them as a volunteer and then as a student veterinary nurse, for 5 years. :)

I know of someone who at one point had three dogs and was on benefit. She had all 3 spayed/castrated by the PDSA at a reduced rate. I think they gave her a voucher or letter to take to a certain vet but I'm not totally sure how the system works.

I can understand the PDSA helping someoe with multiple pets if they have had them before they fell on hard times, but when someone decides to get 3 dogs while already on a low income, it is just wrong and is abusing the system. I'm working and just over the threshold for all help and benefits, and one of the factors I take into account before deciding to get another dog is the costs involved, whereas the lady I know with the 3 just assumed correctly that the PDSA would help her.

they do do vaccinations and they sell wormers, and you are allowed 3 dogs on your thing

It must vary from area to area, and whether or not you use a PDSA clinc/hospital then.

I feel that if you can afford to breed then you shouldn't be using the PDSA for anything except possibly an emergency.

i dont think that they should even be used during breeding as an emergency as some vets are open 24/7 so there would be no need to use pdsa

i have to disagree slightly. i worked in a pdsa petaid hospital, and people could have 3 animals registered at any one time.
Things are probably different in the hospitals, and maybe they vary from area to area, but I know, what I said is what happens in the pratice I am registered with (they probably do pay for basic cremation but not for private, and we are lucky enough that our vets have its own crem )
They do not test the blood, one for a pre op check to make sure a dog wth cancer could cope with it (paid privatly and turned out the op would have killed her) and another time to check what Rimadyl was doing to her system (something the drug company say they should have when on rimadyl for long periods :) )
So looks as if things are different whether you are registered with a specific PDSA hospital or a private vets that take on PDSA :)
Lea :)

The PDSA where i work... treats 3 animals from one household.
We do vaccinate etc at a reduced cost.
As for 'breeders' they are given some information stating that if a problem occurs during pregnancy, whelping etc we would not treat them. However, if it was an emergency.. of course we would thats what they are there for

I agree their scope of service is not as wide as a private vet however they do all they can.

The PDSA in my area will spay if the dog is at risk and the charge for this is 70.00.
I dont know what its like now but some time ago i was registered with them and had three dogs on their list although one of them was removed a couple of months before as i lost her she was nearly 18 andher heart just gave up, anyway they say you have to waite six months before you can register another dog which is fair enough, but it is not true they will treat an animal in an emergency they along with the RSPCA and several vets i tried wauld not even look at my dog on this night because i dident have a penny to my name until the end of the week luckily i did find a realy nice vet who not only took my boy in and treated him told me never to worry about money just pay as much as i can until the bill is paid.

Amberleaf,
I dont know about the one you use, but the one where i work always treats animals in emergency. Regardless, if the owner claims benefits etc However this will only include emergency treatment only.
The three pet rule only stands if you had previously received a letter regarding this

Donna x
(and my boysx)

PDSA LEFT MY FRIENDS DOG BLEED FROM THE EARS and crying in pain!! all cos she had 3 cats regestered with them already , the sickest thing was she only owned two of these cats the other was left by the women nxt door who moved out and left her two cats to live and fend for their selves i took one in and she took the other (we live in a row or terreced houses )
we relized the cat had a problem with its jaw (was an absus) i rushed her to the emergancy pdsa cos the the jaw looked bad like their was a bone sticking out, and they put the cat as her pet even tho it was explained the neiboure had left the cat 2 days before we'd just been feeding it along with the other one, then a good few months later my friend dog was bad his ears were bleeding and he was in a bad way , the PDSA refused to help cos she'd taken the last cat their, i ended up paying for the cellia hamond trust for them to treat her dog i couldnt sit and listen to it howl in pain,
we later took the cat to battersea dogs home for rehoming as she could not afford to keep it( i still got the other one)  but still the PDSA wont see her dog saying she still has 3 animals under them and they refuse to remove the cat she no longer has, i cant get my head around it all really i cant, am so glad i dont have to go though what my friend does to help an animal, this was 2 years ago dont no if anythings changed,