Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda…(gotten pet insurance)
While pet insurance is still in the process of “catching on” I hear way too many stories from pet owners all ending in “I shoulda, woulda, coulda gotten pet insurance before I was slapped with this [insert exorbitant amount of money here] bill!”
We all hear stories through the grapevine about how so and so had to spend $5,000 on their cat’s hit by car injury, or $7,000 on their dog’s cancer treatment. And what do (most of us) think in return?
“It will never happen to me!”
“Well,” I say back to those people, “please teach me your psychic ways so that I can know how to best predict the future and so that I know whether or not I will be slapped with a large vet bill and determine if I should get pet insurance or not…”
…wait…
The sad truth is that it DOES happen. And for so many people out there, it happens when it’s “too late”. If you care about your pet like a child (and I know most of us do) pet insurance should really be something you look into so that you don’t have to get a second mortgage on your house or max out your credit cards just to make sure your furry friend stays alive.
I would really like those of you who have had similar stories to share. Do you wish you would have gotten pet insurance ahead of time? Let’s try to save other pet owners from hefty vet bills!
In the meantime, check out some actual claims and associated veterinary costs.
I got pet insurance intitially on my first Japanese Chin so he was covered for the neutering. It also covers rabies shot, routine testing,etc. Then I canceled it thinking I have a small indoor puppy that should be healthy for another 7 or 8 years. I can save up the money I would have paid for ins so I would be prepared to care for him if anything serious happened. Then when he was 11 months old I found out he had a bad hip and needed surgery. So you never know. Still the vet bill was in the hundreds, not in the thousands. I was paying almost $30/month for the insurance. I would recommend putting up your own savings account for pet health. There are probably other things you’ll need done that the ins wouldn’t cover. Unless you have a pet living dangerously, constantly running in front of cars, etc I would recommend your own savings plan.
Dixie,
Thank you for sharing your story. While I do agree that pet insurance might not be the correct answer for everyone, I don’t think that it is only for pets that are constantly “living on the edge”. And I would hope there aren’t too many dogs out there that are left to run in front of cars all the time…
Even as you mention, the puppy that you thought would be healthy for 7 or 8 years turned out having hip problems at an extremely young age. Lucky for you the vet bill wasn’t too astronomical!
I would be curious to know how many checked into insurance after they had an emergency happen. Well, that’s what happened to me. I found out my dog had cancer and of course, that’s never going to be covered by an insurance company after the fact.
Now all my pets are insured. I know insurance isn’t for everyone and I certainly understand where Dixie is coming from, but for some “saving” isn’t a strong concept. I’m one of them. Give me a bill, I’ll pay it (insurance premium)…but put savings away and i have a much more difficult time.
It took a major illness and surgery in my older Bernese Mountain dog to understand that pet insurance probably made sense for us. Dr. Nancy Kay’s book Speaking for Spot has an entire chapter on paying for veterinary care and pet insurance. Her website (www.speakingforspot.com) also has a 2 page excerpt from the book with questions to ask about pet insurance and a worksheet you can use to compare various companies. For Berners we found that some have breed specific exclusions to malignant histiocytosis and at least one other had an exclusion for malignant histiocytosis in any breed. The worksheet was a great help in looking at our options side by side
Melissa, I would like your thoughts on those of us with multiple dogs. How do we afford to insure each one–or is there such thing as a group rate? We have 10 dogs (7 Border Collies, 3 Pomeranians) ranging in age from 14 years to 17 weeks. We both know that there will be breed-specific exclusions for the most common complaints in the breeds we are owned by. We both know that, for just one dog, insurance is affordable–but as the system works NOW, health insurance for large numbers of dogs (or cats or whatever) in a single family is prohibitive. Any advice? “Downsizing” is not an option.
Thanks,
Irish & Family
Hi Irish Eyes,
First off, I would never suggest “downsizing” to anyone!
For certain, I can only speak on behalf of Trupanion, but we do not have any breed-specific exclusions and all dogs are under the exact same plan and policy with the same coverage.
With 10 dogs I would be more worried about affording veterinary bills without pet insurance! There are some companies that offer 5% discounts for enrolling multiple pets, however with those companies you also need to weigh the premium amounts and the coverage you are getting.
My best advice would be to select a plan that allows for a high deductible. For example, Trupanion offers up to a $1,000 per incident deductible, while keeping monthly premiums pretty low. That way, you’re covered for any major incidents that occur without having to shell out an arm and a leg.
To read more about customer reviews, to make sure you’re choosing a company that you’re happy with, I would also suggest visiting Pet Insurance Review which is a third party website that allows customers to submit reviews on pet insurance companies in the US and Canada. This will allow you to narrow down your search and will also give you contact information to all companies in North America. I would next call around and ask for a quotes for all 10 pups, keeping in mind that most companies do place age limitations on new enrollees.
I hope this helps
Best of luck with your 10 pups!
Thanks for getting back to me, Melissa. I’ll check out some more insurance companies, including Trupanion. The one I remember getting quotes from is VPI. There was another one, too, but I don’t remember the name.
We have been lucky, so far *knock wood*, with most vet bills within the past few years at <$500. However, I don’t want to count on that kind of luck holding forever. But, on the other hand, I don’t want to be paying monthly premiums that are as high as our mortgage payment for the pack! Thanks for the link to the Pet Insurance Review. I look forward to looking through it.
We had pet insurance about 5 years ago when we first got our two dogs and it was a terrible experience–cancelled after about 7 months. About a year ago one of our dogs got very sick and we didn’t have the coverage….$7000 later we thought we should consider looking at the industry again for improvements and it did appear that some improvement was made and more reputable companies were around with better plan designs. We picked up the coverage again after a LOT of research for both dogs mostly for the peace of mind that it offers should something go wrong. If something were to happen to our other dog shortly after we had just spent $7000 I don’t know that we would have been able to afford it. Had we only been responsible for 20% of that it makes it much easier to work with.
I looked into pet insurance for the first time, about 5 months ago. My puppy, Chester was then,8 months old, and very insurable. I thought about it, and was looking into companies, still. A few days ago, Trupanion,offered a 2 month free insurance ‘try-out’, and I jumped at the chance! I don’t know why I dragged my feet, for so long!
I have had cats since 1986. There were so many times, over the years, that I wished there were insurance! Like the time we came home from a vacation, and found a piece of yarn around Puffy’s foot, and the foot swelled up 4 x’s it’s size. Having to pay $350.00 for emergency vet sevices was hard, at 3:30 a.m.after having spent most of my available cash on the vacation.
Then there were the accidents; someone hit Howard’s face with a baseball bat, or something similar. At any rate, his face was smashed, and he needed emergency surgery. The cost? Over $1500.00 Then came the cancers; Puffy, then Sherry, then Howard. All of them cost an incredible amount, over the years from 1999-2008. Of course, it would have been easier to pay insurance deductibles, and co-pays.
No one expects an accident to happen- that’s why they’re called accidents. No one wants to think about their pet escaping home, and someone hurting them, but it happens, and then what do you do? Put them to sleep, or pay up? Cancer is scary, but it happens. Some are treatable, some not. When they are, you treat, and then pay.
These things are hindsight for me. I see them clearly.
And I’ll keep the insurance.
Anna Etters and Chester T. Chubbs, I’m glad that you’re trying out the Trupanion offer. As your many years of pet owning experience has shown, even the unexpected accidents and illnesses can happen at any time!
Here’s to Chester’s good health!
I was just faced with a $7500 bill because my dog ate a dish towel and it tore up her intestines. I am curently looking for pet insurance. Always thought I didnt need it now wish i had it.
Lyndsey, Oh my! I hope your dog is ok:-/ I hope you’ve had a chance to learn a bit about how pet insurance works through this blog. I’d also receommend checking out these pet insurance comparisons as well as this third party review site called Pet Insurance Review. Please feel free to post any questions!
When I got my boxer, and knowing their hyper behavior, I got pet insurance right away. I thank the good lord that I did because in the 2 1/2 years I’ve had her, she has eaten a cd and it’s cover (x-ray), cut her paw on a rock (stitches), sinus problem (scope up the nose) and of course been spayed. I got a good portion of the money I had to pay up front on those procedures back. When I got my second dog, a boston terrier, I got insurance right away knowing that if her first year was anything like my boxers, it was good to be ready. I highly recommend it!
I have a Yorkie, he is not a purebred, although he is full yorkie. He has had his share of problems. I only wish he would have had some sort of coverage. I never really knew much about pet insurance. He had a collapsing trachea, which required him to be taken to the College Veterinary clinic and have surgery, which cost in the ballpark of almost 3 thousand dollars. Would this have been covered by Insurance had we had this???
Hi Kristy,
I’m very sorry to hear about your Yorkie! How scary! I’m afraid to tell you, but in most cases yes, pet insurance would have covered that incident.
As long as you had the insurance well before the incident, and the incident did not occur within any waiting periods, then likely it would have been covered.
HOWEVER, this is a commonly known health risk with this breed so there are some companies who might explicitly exclude it as being a “breed-specific exclusion”.
I hope he is recovering ok
I have a 7 month old goldendoodle that I just adore. She is extremely happy, playful, loving, and appeared to be in perfect health. I was looking into pet insurance, but decided to wait until after she got spayed to endure another expense. We just had her spayed a few days ago, and while she was already under anesthesia, we had a hip xray done. It turns out she has signs of hip dysplasia, which now will not be covered by anyone. I am so angry to find this out, as we supposedly went to a reputable breeder. We really don’t know what we are going to do. The breeder guarantees agains hip dysplasia, which means that we will get a NEW PUPPY. We’ve already invested thousands of dollars into wellness care, obedience training, spaying, microchipping, crates, bed, toys, organic food and treats etc. as well as all the time it took to house train and fall in love with her. Why would I want to start all over again? and who is to say the next puppy wouldn’t have the same problem? Worst of all, what would happen to my baby if we got a new puppy? Any suggestions?