Pet Insurance

Recently I have looked at getting pet insurance for my dogs, but have decided against it. Now the reason for this is I have found they are full of hidden talk. For example, one plan would only cover my dog after they had been on the plan for six months, then it would only cover what it deemed to be necessary, not what the vet wanted. Do you have pet insurance? Any recommendations on a good company to look into?

 

I have waffled back and forth on getting insurance. I found the plans confusing, so I didn't make any decision at all. There was a review of the various plans on TV a few months back and the opinion was mixed. Their conclusion was you'd be better off putting the money in a special savings account for the dog's vet bills.

The one plan I thought sounded fairly good was by the ASPCA. They have a couple of options for levels of insurance. I believe they even had an option that covered vaccinations and yearly exams. I'd take another look at that one.

How much you might save would really depend on the dog and the problems it has. You can't really predict that. My Lab had very few health issues for the first 10 1/2 years of her life. Then, it was cancer. But for the first 10 1/2 years, she had been to emergency once and maybe saw the veterinarian 3-4 times in between yearly check ups. My Jack Russell had three emergencies in the first year and a half.

 

I don't have pet insurance, in my country it's not very popular and I think that no one of my friends has it. I hope I'll never need one, but if it was more popular, I think that I'd consider getting it. I always save some money for pet's emergency though. Fortunately, Homer is very healthy.

 

I have heard of pet insurance but I have never actually got my dogs covered. Like you I know that these all come with certain stipulations about what they will cover and not cover. I guess when you stop to think about it life insurance for a person is pretty much the same way. Anyway, I think its nice that there are companies that now offer this type of insurance for pet owners but I'm not sure such a plan is right for me.

 

I used to have it, but with the excess fees and what they don't want to pay out for, it was pointless. I pay less than £20 a month for the meds for Sherlock, and I don't spend stupid amounts of money taking him to the vets for things I know he doesn't need to see a vet for. He's well fed, exercised and the stuff he IS fed, is really good quality food.

I do worry sometimes, because they charge extortionate fees for treatment as far as animals are concerned, or rather INVESTIGATIVE treatment. But I figure if I keep them healthy and try and put a bit of money aside for things like that, then I'll probably be better off.

 

I don't have it either. I did look into pet insurance for my cats before even, and didn't find anything that seemed worth it. Basically, it was only going to be worthwhile if one of them needed to be hospitalized for over a week plus long term care and special medications. Yes, that's expensive and insurance would help, but they wouldn't cover it completely.... and I'd pay in so much over the course of several years for an emergency that may never even happen.

 

There's home and content insurers in Australia that cover cats and dogs for up to $500 for necessary veterinary treatment if they are injured in an accident during the period of insurance. I guess its a selling point to sell there insurance packages.

 

I personally don't get insurance. Trixie has been to the vet to get all her shots and treatments, but we don't take her there that often. To us, it seems like it isn't worth the money.

 

I do not have pet insurance, this is because a close friend of mine had been paying into her pet insurance for years when her Jack Russel suddenly got sick. She took him to the vet and the pet insurance company did not cover much of anything to help her out. She had to pay the hospital stay, x-rays, blood tests and other costs that you figure would be covered. In the end it cost her $2 Grand in vet bills. Needless to say she cancelled her insurance, and I opted out of buying it.

 

You should definitely make sure your Home/Renters insurance policy covers if your pet bites or injures someone though. I was always under the impression that Pet Insurance covers this, but it doesn't. I've seen instances on the news where young kids were pretty severely attacked by someone's dog and had to get hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of reconstructive surgery.

 

That's a good point, Tom. Most home owner's insurance does cover it, but it's key that they actually know you own a dog. You can't file a claim out of no where if your dog isn't listed on the policy somewhere as a liability. I hadn't even considered that people might think that's what pet insurance was for.