*Banfield Pet Hospital provided me with the Banfield Optimum Wellness Plan & 6 month Proheart treatment. All opinions are my own.
When we had pets growing up, caring for them seemed so simple. Give them food everyday, make sure they have a constant source of water, let them outside a few times a day and if they get sick or hurt take them to the vet. My pugs Frank & Beans were the first dogs that I ever had as an adult on my own. I did a fair amount of research about pugs prior to getting them because I knew they were a unique breed. It didn’t really occur to me to research dog care in general because I thought I knew enough.
One thing I wasn’t aware of was the importance of protecting dogs against heartworm. Dogs get heartworm disease through mosquitos that are infected with the disease. They can actually get the disease from a single bite and heartworm is a serious issue for dogs and can even be fatal. Preventing heartworm can be as simple as having a ProHeart® injection given to your dog at the vet once every six months. (Hint – there is a giveaway at the bottom of this blog post for a 6 month ProHeart® injection treatment plus a free vet office visit to have it done!)
Banfield Pet Hospitals are found inside of Petsmart locations across the country. I live in a rural area and there are two Banfield pet hospitals within reasonable driving distance from my home. Banfield Pet Hospitals strongly encourage prevention for all aspects of pet care. We recently signed Beans up for the Banfield Pet Hospital Optimum Wellness Plan®. The plan pricing can vary based on your pets age and other factors but for my 11 year old Pug it was about $300 for a year plan. This covers a comprehensive physical exam twice a year, vaccinations, diagnostic testing, 2 fecal exams, 2 dewormings, unlimited free office visits for the year and discounts on other services. We took Beans in for her first comprehensive physical exam and they looked her over from snout to tail. She was caught up on her vaccinations, given blood tests, checked for parasites and more. We had a few questions during the process and the staff was really friendly and helpful at answering our questions and explaining everything to us the entire time. Beans’ tests all came back as we’d hoped and it was great to walk out of there knowing that my senior pug was completely healthy. While looking at Beans’ ears the vet noticed some build up so they did an ear swab (covered under the plan) and we learned that Beans had an ear infection. As a result, she needed an ear-cleaning and to be put on medication. These weren’t covered under the plan but the vet was sure to point out to us that it would be out of pocket if we moved forward, there was no confusion about what was and wasn’t covered under the plan. I felt that Beans was well cared for the entire time. I also liked how they had a dish of water ready for Beans – it’s a small thing but in the past at my old vet I would have to request water for her.
There’s no way of knowing what is in your pets future regardless of their age, but I love knowing that if I begin to suspect that Beans isn’t feeling 100% I’ll be able to take her in without worrying about having the cash to pay for the office visit because it will be free. Plus, if it turns out to be nothing I haven’t wasted my money. I have no doubt that we’ll be getting our $300 a year out of the plan.
Banfield is going to donate $1 for every comment left on this blog post up to 100 comments. The donations will be made to Banfield Charitable Trust, a donor-supported non-profit. The BCT mission is to keep pets with their owners who love them in an attempt to preserve the animal-human bond. BCT helps 100,000 families per year through seven different programs that assist with needs like life-saving emergency care and assistance with pet food and other urgent pet care needs.
Banfield Pet Hospitals are found inside of Petsmart locations – check for a location near you here. I recommend putting in your zip code instead of just your state as searching for my state didn’t bring up all of the locations in my state.
Banfield wants you to be proactive about your dogs’ health. They are sponsoring a giveaway for a free office visit at any Banfield hospital that will include a free heartworm test and an injection of ProHeart® that will protect your dog against heartworm for 6 months. Enter below. Giveaway ends 9/26/2014.
Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has 34 responses.
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What a great program! I love that this is helping out families and animals in need.
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I am such an animal lover and love that they are donating for such a great cause.
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Such a good idea….many people who love their pets and take care of them well simply cannot afford the expensive of catastrophic veterinary bills!
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What a wonderful mission! I’m glad my comment is helping raise money for a great cause! 🙂
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I really like that the BCT mission is to keep pets with their owners who love their pets in an attempt to preserve the animal-human bond.
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Pingback: Proheart 6 month heartworm protection for dogs Giveaway | Just Sweep
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I love this mission! I always donate when I go to Petsmart or take my dog to Banfield. It is a wonderful way to keep owners with their pets. Dogs especially crave human emotion and bonds and humans as well
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It’s great for them to be charitable with the goal of keeping people and their pets together. Pets capture and hold our hearts.
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I love companies that give back. There’s so many pets that people can’t take care of themselves so a company that helps that is so awesome. People just need to get their pets spayed or neutered. I wish I could have a pet but being in an apt I can’t. I’m really thankful for them helping and being charitable with their services.
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What a great charity. I love that they help people’s pets and keep them together
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Great charity. I bring my fur babies to banfield, love giving it back
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This sounds like a wonderful charity. It’s cool to think that me typing here will make a difference, even though it’s just $1, I’m sure it will add up to a nice total. Thanks for doing this, and helping others!
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What a great mission and charity program! Happy to help even with $1!
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It’s wonderful of BCT to help families because so often people fall on hard times and pets are the first to go.
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Amazing mission. Happy that this will turn into $1.00 donation.
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This is a great mission. Helping people with their pets which are truly family members in times of need !!!!
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Great mission, I have seen one too many families have to turn over their pets because they were unable to pay for the emergency care needed. Pets deserve a forever home, just like children.
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Wow this is the first time I have heard of this charity and love the sounds of it and that they try to help keep pets with their owners through SEVEN different programs! I would love to learn more about this charity and also more about the seven different programs as well, in detail! I am so happy my simple little comment = a $1 donation to them! How wonderful! I deeply love ALL animals so very much!
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What a great charity BCG. I have four furbabies and the human pet bond is so important. They keep us happy as well as us keeping them happy. So glad to see that there is something out there striving to brings pets and people together.
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I really like the idea of the BCT charity mission. I think it’s so important for charities like this one to exist. I am so happy $1 more dollar was given to them to help!!
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This is a great cause , no one wants a pet to go without necessary medicine or procedures
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I like to support companies that give back. This is a wonderful charity.
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This is a great mission! Thank you Banfield for being so generous.
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Amazing and very generous. Companion animals are a part of the family.
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I love anything that supports animals!
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I love that the Banfield Charitable Trust’s mission is to keep pets with their owners who love them in an attempt to preserve the animal-human bond. This is an honorable endeavor.
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I like the mission. Pets help so much in so many ways.
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I just happened on this for the very first time today. I think this is a great idea and wonderful public relations for Banfield. I love my two dogs very much and have great empathy for pets and their owners too!
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luv
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Wow, I didn’t realize Banfield offered a program like that! That is awesome and a great thing.
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This sounds like a wonderful program. I really like that they help 100,000 families per year through seven different programs that assist with needs like life-saving emergency care and assistance with pet food and other urgent pet care needs.
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Great program that helps low income families
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Wow. I wasn’t even aware that BCT existed, but a wonderful idea. I have heard of many people who have had to make the difficult decision to give up their beloved pet simply because they couldn’t afford to keep it/ feed it/ vet it anymore. It’s so sad, and if this group can help with that, that is awesome.
What a great initiative! The pet-human bond is definitely worth preserving.