pet health ins..

[irmanator]

Having just paid out 86 last week for a kitten with worms and 147 yesterday for a dog with an ear infection, makes me wonder if anyone has health ins and how much does it cost and how much does it cover

[PetMom]

Have you looked into any plans or asked your clinic which ones they might recommend? Or if they themselves use them.

Read some of the fine print on some of these policies. I have always gotten the impression that they have a lot of 'out clauses' meaning a lot
of exemptions.

They could be getting better and cover more.

One thing I did not like was you had to pay the vet - then you had to collect from the insurance company and be reimbursed. Maybe others here have done this and had some good experiences with it.

[am_vanquish]

I have always gotten the impression that they have a lot of 'out clauses' meaning a lot
of exemptions.

One thing I did not like was you had to pay the vet - then you had to collect from the insurance company and be reimbursed.

We received a 6-month pet insurance policy when we adopted our 4-legged son (Rufus - "The Red-Haired One") from the ATL Humane Society. That policy had both of the flaws PetMom mentioned above. We were given the option to extend the policy when it expired, but we were less than impressed with the coverage.

[PetMom]

Read your message and realized you did shell out big bucks for a dog's ear infection.

I was always doing this also. The pricey test: is it yeast or bacteria? Then they give you the standard medication they (the vet clinic) sells.

do this: ask the side effects of the ear medicines they shell out.

I have had an older dog who became stone deaf and was on almost daily yeast ear infection medication. I never thought to ask side effects of this ear medication. After checking a website (can we list websites here if not Moderator erase): Petmeds I found out about a safe made with milk enzymes and for both yeast/bacteria infections in ears medication. It does not affect hearing in dogs.

Can we list a product? If not Moderator erase: it is Zymox and can be gotten without a prescription.

Most vets (note not all) will not tell you of this because they do not profit from it.

Still, to be safe, and this is what I did, have your dog checked out and ask about using the product. Sometimes ear infections can worsen. Then you discuss the benefits versus the risk of hearing loss for a bad ear infection if the vet insists on his standard medications. I was hesitant to use this milk enzyme product but did so on my dogs and it has been amazing and only cost $20.00 plus shipping.

Also a tip for chronic uti's in dogs: use a glucosamin/chondroitin supplement (I get mine at Wal Mart). Ask your vet about dosage - but this theory involves a mucosa anti bacterial lining protective thing. My dog has not had a uti since she was a puppy when she had three in a row and that was quite pricey. Again, check with your vet on this and be ready to have test to make sure an infection clears up. If kept on maintenance dose it should keep away a chronic uti. Still, to be safe I have had the uti test when some symptoms were showing and it was still not a uti.

Sometimes with certain things, better than ins. is just knowing and studying and researching and asking are ways to cut costs in vet care.

Also, I once posted on this forum how I could not find out what wholesale prices were on major pet medications. The vet I was going to said it was impossible to find out. The reason they did not want me to know the wholesale price they paid was because their price was $10.00 more per month then the new vet we go to charges us. This is a monthly heart medication and saving $10.00 a month will add up. Vets do charge different fees for medications.

And my new vet does not charge a prescription fee of $10.00 to write me a prescription for heart preventative that I get at the above mentioned website. My ex vet clinic said they would which forced me to buy it only from them as they were wiping out the savings (and they knew it).

Some may argue 'well they have to make a profit'. True, but I am a very high volume regular loyal customer and I had a vet through the years overcharging and not giving me the facts about products.

More disturbing: many shelters fill up with people who dump dogs who are getting too expensive with vet costs.

[GREENBACK]

Many people take their pets to a vet for a lot of things that can be done fairly easily at home. As a sometimes dog breeder, I learned a long time ago that it's far cheaper to do most simple medical work(shots, dew claws, etc.) at home. Their is a great deal of information out there about this if you research carefully.

I don't do anything major but try to find out what the various procedures entail so I at least know why I'm paying what I am for it.

[Beppington]

Having just paid out 86 last week for a kitten with worms and 147 yesterday for a dog with an ear infection, makes me wonder if anyone has health ins and how much does it cost and how much does it cover

I do not, but twice have wished I had. Male cat 4 years ago with blocked urinary: $2,000 for several visits & finally the "man"hood-removing surgery required. "Ouch" (to him & to my wallet), but he's still alive! I would've said "and well" there, but yesterday we had to have the mobile vet come visit his lethargic self: $210. She gave him antibiotics, & he perked right up; So far so good. We have two other cats that have never needed a thing

The black & white one is the expensive beast:

[irmanator]

well they looked at the stuff they swabbed out of her ear on the microscope and said it was 90% yeast 10% bacteria.

Yea somethings we do ourselves like they always want to clip the toenails. No matter what I am in there for. They are like " those toenails look like they need to be clipped." No thank you my daughter goes to the vocational school for animal sciences she will take care of that.

I haven't had many problems till this week.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Pet insurance isn't worth it. We looked into it, but it wouldn't have covered our chemotherapy, so what's the point? Nothing. It was pretty expensive to cover nothing.

They often have a lot of preexisting conditions and out clauses and it's not cheap. Not like treatment is cheap.

So for our dog, we have spent...around $10k thus far.

[irmanator]

I was contemplating I might be better off putting the equivilant of premiums into a saving acct.

[Mjenn]

We've been really pleased with our cat's health insurance, but I will say we aren't in the States so I'm not sure how it would compare. We pay about 80 dollars per year to have her insured. We have a 100$ deductible plus 20% of the total. We need to pay the deductible every 4 months.

Our little kitty was struck by severe allergies and all of the allergy tests and her regular allergy shots run us about 400$ per year at least. So we usually manage to get back a couple of hundred dollars from them per year.

[poundwise]

Pet insurance falls into the realm of extended warranties. That is, on rare occasion, it is worth it; the rest of the time, not in the least.

Consumer Reports did this write-up on the topic a few years ago. Later, they revisited the issue when the pet food scare happened in 2007 and said that "...pet insurance is usually a dog."

[banditfist]

I have pet insurance. But, it is because I have a purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback. I was careful with selecting the breeder, but I cannot negate the chance/probability that a major injury is going to happen. A Rhodeian is an agile and very active dog. I use him in lure coursing event and routinely let him chase deer into the woods.

I will say that I was diappointed the first year when I had maxed out some standard stuff. I had him neutered prior to the end of the first year. It was covered by the policy, but since I maxed out that part of the coverage it was not. If I had only waited another month, it would have been. So there are gotchas.

[terces]

Have you shopped around for vet prices? They can vary quite a bit regarding the location. I've found that out myself in my area. Also check for mobile vet clinics, or services offered through your animal shelter or humane society. For routine shots and check-ups you could save a bit.

[PetMom]

Beppington: love that picture! those little cuties in their chair.

[Gary Barzel]

I don't think pet insurance is always the best option. If you do decide to purchase insurance then it is best bought when your pet is young and before problems occur that might be considered pre-existing. Also be sure to thoroughly research all the companies to see if you can find a company and policy that best fits your situation.