[Vinniedoggy]

Vinnie suffered from a bout of pancreatitis years ago and it was horrible. He puked for days, had to be admitted to the hospital briefly, and it took a few weeks to clear up. His symptoms were similar to what you describe (vomiting, mucous in his stool, etc).

A few things to consider -

1. One of the things that REALLY helped Vinnie was switching to a raw diet. I feed him Nature's Variety raw medallions. They are great and perfectly balanced for a dog.

2. Vinnie did develop an intolerance to chicken for about 3 years. It's apparently really common in dogs.

3. You mentioned in one of your other posts giving your dog frozen yogurt. I used to do that with Vinnie, but realized it was making him sick. Sugar is a HUGE no-no for dogs, so they are better off getting plain, full-fat yogurt (with no sugar added).

4. For Vinnie, when he is having one of his bouts, Flagyl works wonders. You can get it from your vet.

I feel your pain re; the vet bills. I take my little guys to the vet all the time. I have VPI for one of them and Trupanion for the other. I earn a very decent salary, but even I'm sometimes amazed at the cost of our vet (especially here in the DC area). It's a reality that we have to face and I don't blame you at all for considering it, as it doesn't sound like you're being neglectful at all. I even think the same thing about my own doctor's visits these days, and I'm fortunate to have great insurance!

Anyway, some things I've found to help control the costs include:

-Asking upfront what things cost and deciding what things are the most important to be done;
-Doing a lot of preventative stuff at home, namely TOOTH BRUSHING. Yorkies are prone to having bad teeth. If you brush their teeth every night, however, you can save TONS of money. I know this from experience. Vinnie and Alex get their teeth brushed every night, NO EXCEPTIONS. I spend about $10/month on toothpaste and brushes for them.

-Feed raw. I really believe (based on my own experience and what I've read) that feeding raw can really keep dogs healthier. This is just based on my observations over the years, especially in dealing with Vinnie and now my new little guy. Our old dog, Guru, lived to the ripe old age of 17+. He was healthy right up to the end and I believe that part of that was due to the excellent home-cooked diet he had. Unfortunately, conventional pet food is not that healthy.

As for insurance - I've been moderately happy with VPI, although the premiums go up each year. I've yet to have any experience with Trupanion (other than paying the monthly premium), but their premiums don't go up. One thing to think about - once your dog turns 7 or so, you can't really switch companies too easily. So do your research for what works best for your budget.