Comments on: Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda…(gotten pet insurance)

By: Kamilla

Kamilla — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:02:32 +0000

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?

By: Melissa Kowalchuk

Melissa Kowalchuk — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:40:02 +0000

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

By: kristy

kristy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:26:06 +0000

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???

By: Fiona

Fiona — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:57:34 +0000

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!

By: Melissa Kowalchuk

Melissa Kowalchuk — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:49:16 +0000

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!

By: Lyndsey

Lyndsey — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:45:07 +0000

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.

By: Melissa Kowalchuk

Melissa Kowalchuk — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:21:16 +0000

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!

By: Anna Etters and Chester T. Chubbs

Anna Etters and Chester T. Chubbs — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:59:43 +0000

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.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:15:40 +0000

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.

By: Irish Eyes

Irish Eyes — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:01:15 +0000

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.