10/24/2019
Dogs First
All that talking about HouseMyDog got me thinking would I use it? One thing that makes it tempting to me is the avoidance the kennel cough vaccine as kennels have to insist that your dogs are boosted for it, despite it not working.
I rang the two top companies, posing as a kennel owner, regarding kennel cough in dogs. I wanted to write this entirely ineffective vaccine out of my future insurance policy.
Both said something along the lines of “if you want to be insured for “all diseases” then your clients must get the kennel cough vaccine”.
I asked could I write this particular disease out of my policy and simply use good hygiene practices (the number one prevention for kennel cough) and maybe a disclaimer and they said no. It’s all or none.
This was disappointing, especially as a) you cannot prove your dog got kennel cough from a certain kennel. You will struggle to win in court as the disease is airborne, he could have picked up getting into your car at your house (got that from a solicitor running a more natural kennels in Canada who pushed it further saying with glee that she would counter-sue saying her dog infected her kennels with KC, not sure if she was joking or not!), but more importantly b) the average punter is often able to write out the core vaccines (parvo, adeno, distemper) from their personal pet insurance policy should they want to vaccinate (good) but not annually boost (needless) their dog for viruses. This option is not available to kennel owners.
This is bad news for informed pet and kennel owners alike. Just another example of how the pet market is corralled into making bad (but profitable) decisions for their pets.
It really annoys me how hard they make it to make good, natural decisions for your pet.
For those not using kennels often here’s what to do should your dog get the sniffles...
https://dogsfirst.ie/kennel-cough/
[Thanks to Dogs Naturally for the InfoGraphic]