Question for animal lovers

[froggie]

As a mom to 3 labs, 1 shar-pei, 1 border collie, and 1 bunny, my dh and I are seriously thinking of purchasing pet insurance. I would love to hear of your experiences with pet insurance.

Happy 2007 to all

[Ima saver]

I have never had any. My biggest pet expense was surgery for my doberman. I took her to a college vet teaching school and she had the surgery to her neck and was there for 4 months. The bill was only $800, which I thought was great!

[PRICEPLUS]

Never had pet insurance. We thought about it but decided to do without! We have spent several thousand dollars for Mikey but he is a member of the family.

[LuxLiving]

No, I don't carry the insurance, but I do have a budgeted category wherein I save for veterinary expenses. We haven't had any in quite a while, but have had several $250+ bills that came up at unexpected times in the past before spending plans were firmed up and carried out. Meaning that they threw the budget wonkers for a while as they had to be charged back then.

NOW - I just consider myself 'self-insuring' on this point and save to have money put back in case the pupsters need medical help. If they had a major 'event' it would have to go on the CC at this point, but I'd still work to pay it off before interest accrued.

[shengmei]

It is about $30 a month, which is $360 a year per animal.......You probably spend the same amount of money on the vet every year.

Put the money into higher-quality food and a drinking fountain and the animals would get sick less often in the first place.

[scfr]

Check out the policy carefully. It may not cover routine care, only emergencies.
We looked in to having pet insurance but decided against it. Instead we have budgeted extra and have an ample surplus of funds to cover any veterinary needs that might arrive.

While eventually all pets are going to get sick and die (so sad), prevention can go a long way in saving on vet bills. Have you heard about the "Real Age" program for humans? Well, there is one for dogs too. You can take the test and get tips at: http://www.dogage.com/Index.aspx

Also, your local Red Cross may offer a Pet First Aid course, which may not necessarily help you save money but may help you save your pets' life some day.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

It depends on age of pet. Our BF is too old (11 years) for insurance and the younger guy we've thought of. But we pay $60/month for a comprehensive medical plan for our boys and I've considered dropping it. But it really is nice to have the looked at for that much and it includes all shots.

I spend I unfortunately calculated about $2k/year on our dogs for meds, vet, stuff.

[Ima saver]

I just take it out of our emergency fund! Heck, I don't have insurance on myself!

[fairy74]

scfr's advice is very good, there's a lot of stuff it doesn't cover...we don't have pet insurance, just put away money in a pet fund every month (doggie fund). Also once your pet gets to be a senior pet make sure you are dealing with a vet who has a lot of experience, a lot of tests/procedures are not recommended for older pets, and sometimes newer vets don't know that. Also as many people have said prevention (high quality food, love, lots of exercise) are the best medicine

[boefixepa]

At one point I had five animals, I now only have three, and I looked into this. Most all I find only cover emergencies. Not regualr checkups, vaccinations, spay/neuter. It was more cost effective for me to put aside a certain amount everymonth and basically be self-insured. Another thing I noticed about the health insurance is you had to pay the cost and then send in for the infor and wait for them to send you a check. I don't particularly like that idea. If I am paying out the wazoo for insurance, I don't want to have to pay the bill too and then 'hope' they decided to send me a check.

[katwoman]

I had pet insurance for my dog who died this past June. It was the premium package and I was very disappointed with it. Apparently, everything was covered except for ACL surgery in the policy's first year. Guess what my dog needed in that first year of coverage? I paid close to 2K for the surgery! Not only did they not pay, they increased my premium simply because a claim was made.

In all fairness, my dog was 7 years old when I got him. I came to find he was arthritic, had hypothyroidism, and later became diabetic. The insurance paid for some stuff but no where close to what I shelled out. That and the fact that they claimed they didn't receive most claims mailed to them. After speaking to my vets staff I was told I wasn't the only one whose claims were supposedly not received. Many of their customers were in the same boat! If 6 months go by, no claim is honored! Now imagine having a pet with chronic conditions and having to keep track of claims submitted, pending or paid! I'm not even going to tell you about how long you will have to wait just to get thru to a live person!

The best advice I can give is to set aside a budget and then double that just to be on the safe side.

[vsjhoc]

Originally Posted by katwoman

I had pet insurance for my dog who died this past June. It was the premium package and I was very disappointed with it. Apparently, everything was covered except for ACL surgery in the policy's first year. Guess what my dog needed in that first year of coverage? I paid close to 2K for the surgery! Not only did they not pay, they increased my premium simply because a claim was made.

Katwoman - what insurance company was it? My cats have VPI insurance for emergencies (not routine care).

[froggie]

Thank you all for the advice- I'm so glad that I came here before jumping in head first (not that I've ever been known to do that?!?!). We already make sure that they eat high quality food, get lots of love and exercise, and we are going to set up a "poochie fund".

Imasaver, you must be one healthy soul! I would be scared to death to not have insurance. Mostly because I have bad genes- ha!!

[scfr]

Michelle Singletary (Washington Post financial column writer) did a column on pet insurance on Sunday:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...referrer=email

[katwoman]

Originally Posted by vsjhoc

Katwoman - what insurance company was it? My cats have VPI insurance for emergencies (not routine care).

Sorry, I didn't check back on this thread sooner.

Mine was VPI too. They wouldn't accept faxed claims but after my dog passed I hear they allow these now. Still, after the deductible and co pays, the reimbursement is quite low. And remember, if you do have an emergency, even with pet insurance YOU still have to pay the vet up front and wait for the insurance company to process the claim and then send you a check. My point is - if you have to pay anyway and you're disciplined, just set up a emergency pet care fund.

Another idea on emergencies - for the ACL surgery I took my dog to a specialist who had a payment plan set up. I put a down payment and then they had me post date three checks to be cashed over the following three months. I also had to supply a credit card as back up. Everything regarding this process went off without a hitch.

There is also a special credit card just for pet care emergencies but you do have to qualify. If I remember correctly they allow you to pay over a 12 month period. The applications can be found at vet and vet specialist offices.

[nanamom]

We have a dog and a cat. Over the years I have had many many animals. At one point I felt like I was in a zoo! WE have never carried pet insurance. We feed top quality dog/cat food and they drink the same water we do. WE never give table scraps and keep them slim and healthy. Our Golden died last summer after over 16 years of wonderful love. We also do not go to the vet very often. I buy the vaccines myself and administer them. We get rabies shots at clinics (cheaper and no vet exam). I had to have the Golden examined at age 14 in order to qualify for our home study and the vet was amazed at how healthy she was. I told him it was because she didn't go to the vet every year and he said "yeah that might be right" In turn I don't go to the dr for regular checkup either.

[scfr]

16 years is amazing for a larger dog like a Golden. Well done, nanamom and family! Not sure if I agree with the part about not going to the vet, but clearly you took great care of your dog and I'm sure s/he was appreciative of all of the TLC.

[tinapbeana]

my parents had a mastiff/great dane mix that lived 13 years, a very long time for that size dog. he suffered from congestive heart failure and we finally had to put him down.

with that said, all he received were yearly vaccinations, home administered heartworm and flea prevention, home administered ear cleanings, and a baby aspirin offered to him every morning for arthritis. some days he'd take them, some days he wouldn't.