OT: Pet Insurance?

[makoti]

After the past 6 months of pet costs, I've thought about getting pet insurance going forward with pets. Anyone have it for theirs? Really wondering if anyone has gotten a rescue, maybe an older one, and been able to insure them.
In the last 6 months, I've had several ER visits, a kidney removal, chemo, Ultrasounds, an MRI, and spinal surgery on my dogs. That's more than one dream bike that I won't be getting.
Has pet insurance been worth it for anyone? Who do you use? Restrictions?

[Bruce K]

We just adopted a rescue puppy from the local shelter.

After looking at vet bills for our cats I am giving the insurance a try for the pup.

The problem is that wellness and "standard" treatment requires a fairly expensive policy.

I guess I am thinking more about emergencies and major illness.

Too new to provide much more than this.

BK

[daker13]

With your situation, it sound like it might be a good idea. I had pet insurance for my rescue for about four years, about $35 a month (went up every year), $200 or so deductible, and I basically went with it because my wife thought it was a good idea. The insurance I had had a good reputation, but I never got above the deductible, so eventually I cancelled. (My dog is about to turn 7.)

My dog got attacked by a coyote about six weeks ago and needed surgery (he was off leash and chased it into the woods, once in the woods, coyote turned on him and went to town. I ran after them and the coyote backed off when I entered the scene, but he followed us at a distance... this was at 9 am). Very scary, took him to an emergency animal hospital, slowly nursed him back... mostly, puncture wounds and one big laceration, no major arteries hit. Cost about $1200. He's fully recovered now.

I love my dog dearly but there's only so much I would spend if he were to get sick, etc. We'd have to take into account prognosis and chance of recovery and quality of life (the coyote thing was a close call, but $1200 was a no-brainer). I hope this doesn't sound cold hearted, I'll be absolutely heart-stricken if/when I lose him, but I grew up with pets and this was kind of how I was raised.

[R3awak3n]

I was talking about this with my wife today. Its a tough one for sure.

My dog is at the hospital, this will be the 3rd night there, I know we are now at close to $4000 in bills already and they still don't know whats wrong with him. That said, he has been great for 14 years, never had a single problem. We are hoping he comes back but there is the chance that he doesnt and its so expensive.

[makoti]

The cost to care for you pet can get nuts. I paid it because that's just me, but can't fault anyone for saying they can't afford it. Luckily I had the money (mostly from getting hit by cars, but I wouldn't suggest that as a plan), but if I didn't, I don't know what would I would have done. Brackets was only 7 when his hit, so thinking he had a long life in front of him made the choice easy, and Damsel all happened so fast and at such a bad time, I didn't really even think.
I'm hoping that, for catastrophic things, the coverage might be worth it. I'll cover day to day stuff. It's the surgeries & ER visits I want covered.

R3awak3n... pulling for you guys. Good luck.

[R3awak3n]

It is indeed a really hard situation (that insurance would technically make better). Its hard to say no and not try to get my boy ok. I am pulling some money from savings to do this and to me its worth it, even if its to hang with him for 3 more months (providing his quality of life is good of course) but I understand if someone does not have the money then the situation changes.

and thank you! He was doing better today but still not great. We were going to bring him home today but doctors want to keep him over night. Still no real idea what is wrong with him, they might have to do an endoscopy soon.

[Don49]

I had it for several years with my cat. I don't believe it saved any significant money overall. There were some stiff exclusions for age and pre-existing conditions, and if the policy was allowed to lapse it was non-renewable.

[Ken Robb]

We have it on our two rescued dogs. It gives us peace of mind to know that we will never have to decide if we can afford to get one of them treated. When you get right down to it why shouldn't we be thrilled if the insurance cost more than we ever collected because that would mean our pets had been healthy.

[Clean39T]

Not really the same thing, but we have a wellness plan for our cat through Banfield Vetrinarian clinics: https://www.banfield.com/pet-healthc...wellness-plans

He's getting up there in years and we did the math - without any "accidents", we're about break-even for the year - but have a bit of peace of mind in case something weird happens.

[Bentley]

I did not have it for my bulldog that passed last year and I had some crazy vet bills, let's just say 3 operations and about 10 grand, not including all the other vet bills.

My youngest daughter has insurance thru Banfield, seems to work and its reduced her bills. Just like people our other family needs insurance too.

Ray

[classtimesailer]

We got insurance for our newest dog from Trupanion. 50 bucks a month has already paid for itself for this dogs life expectancy and she is only 15 months old. We will get insurance from now on.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by makoti

After the past 6 months of pet costs, I've thought about getting pet insurance going forward with pets. Anyone have it for theirs? Really wondering if anyone has gotten a rescue, maybe an older one, and been able to insure them.
In the last 6 months, I've had several ER visits, a kidney removal, chemo, Ultrasounds, an MRI, and spinal surgery on my dogs. That's more than one dream bike that I won't be getting.
Has pet insurance been worth it for anyone? Who do you use? Restrictions?

My dad is a vet a few hours away from me, who is in the process of winding down and just sold his practice. He highly recommends pet insurance for most people, and for me.

Veterinary care has become very expensive as veterinary medicine has become more specialized, large corporations have bought up practices, and vets have stopped covering their own emergencies and emergency clinics have proliferated. Unless you have resources sufficient to cover very large emergency vet bills without question, insurance can prevent you from being in the position of having to decide whether to put an animal down because you cannot afford necessary care. That piece of mind is worth the cost of insurance in his mind, and mine.

I now have Healthy Paws insurance for my Golden Retriever puppy, which is 18 months old. I pay $33/month. I have a deductible that I can live with. I do not have insurance on my older Golden, which is 11+ years old. When I did need emergent care for my older dog a few years back and could not get to my dad, I wished I did have pet insurance. I paid close to $5,000 at an emergency clinic over a weekend, and my dad ended up diagnosing the condition over the phone and suggesting the course of care to the emergency vets who were stumped (a lupus-like condition called immune mediated polyarthritis likely resulting from a virus contracted at a kennel).

The monthly premium is smaller if you lock in the price when the dog is a younger (the premium does not change), and the insurance won't cover preexisting conditions. I got the insurance effective the day I picked up my puppy from my breeder (the puppy was vetted before by my breeder's vet and I had all records to submit). Read the policies you are considering and the exclusions carefully. Most pet insurance doesn't cover routine care like inoculations or neutering.

I have a work colleague who has Healthy Paws insurance and has made a number of claims without issue. Her dog now needs to have bilateral cruciate repairs, and Healthy Paws is covering. Those surgeries probably will end up costing close to $10,000. She is very happy to have insurance.

[Climb01742]

We just went through $7000 spinal surgery for our cocker spaniel to restore mobility in his back legs. It certainly got me thinking about pet insurance.

[shamsixnine]

Our vet recommended insurance-naturally the one that he had pamphlets in the waiting room. We signed up for coverage for our German Shepherd. Read the fine print! You'll be surprised at how much they do not cover. We basically signed up for any emergency that may come up-and guess what, it did. My Shepherd sliced her paw open on broken beer glass in the park. I applied first aid, and brought her in. This was maybe12 years ago, so I don't remember the exact fees, but obviously expensive because , at least around here, vets charge fee for emergency cases. Anyway, the gist of it was that if there was anything that really should haver been covered really well was this emergency situation, and we basically got like between $35-$50 back from the insurance.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by Climb01742

We just went through $7000 spinal surgery for our cocker spaniel to restore mobility in his back legs. It certainly got me thinking about pet insurance.

I just did the same for my Peke, except it was for all four legs. The good news is she's walking great. Never again to run the stairs, but she likes to be carried, anyway.
It was the trigger for me, as well. The cancer for Brackets... a fluke. Never had an issue with 6 other dogs. Then this. Ok, maybe things happen more often than I think.