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.

Well, the answer is (and I hate being so vague): it depends.

The answer I got from one company was that if your pet got sick due to the contamination, it would be covered. However, if you know that your pet eats one of the recalled foods, so you decide to get a liver panel done just to make sure (even though they weren’t showing any signs of being sick), and it turns out that he or she is not sick, then this would not be covered.

Essentially with this company, if the pet is sick from the contaminated food, it’s covered.

Other companies I’ve heard of will only reimburse pet owners if the pet owners could prove that they had not received any type of reimbursement for damages from the pet food company itself.

My best advice, if you’re curious or hunting around for pet insurance, is to include the question in your research: if my pet gets sick from contaminated, recalled pet food, would their illness be covered?

The need for a blog of this type occurred to us recently when we were sitting around discussing pet insurance. An often disputed topic, we began looking around a bit, only to discover that despite all the information on the Internet there still wasn’t a single place dedicated to an open dialogue about pet insurance. So we decided to start this blog.

Our goal is to foster a discussion open to all topics concerning pet insurance. We aim to elevate pet insurance standards so that the pet health care industry better serves the actual needs of pets and their owners. By posting information about the state of pet insurance and health care, we are hopeful that readers will feel comfortable sharing their opinions and discussing their experiences with others. We encourage you to speak positively or negatively about any company, health care provider, website, or facet of the pet health care industry – all we ask is that you report factually.

The long-term purpose of this blog involves documenting pet insurance standards as they evolve over time and using what is shared and learned here to help make these practices better in the future.

We’re also happy to answer any general questions we can about pet insurance and pet health care.

So please check back with us regularly and feel free to comment, contact us and link to our entries.

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