I wasn’t able to search for this topic (can’t search for ‘pet’), so I’m sorry if it’s been covered before.
Do you have pet insurance? I have a new puppy and I just want to have EVERYTHING for her. I am going to be one of ‘those people’
I have one friend who had to pay $600 to have his cat’s broken leg fixed, and another who had to pay $900 for tests on her dying cat that found nothing. I know my cousin has put a ton of money into her dogs, too.
I’m just a “single mom” (if you will) with a steady job and I can handle a $25/month charge on my credit card, but since I have my own startup business, you never know where I will be when my dog needs critical care.
Is it worth the $250 a year they quoted me to have insurance that covers emergiecies as well as routine exams? Have any of you gotten insurance for your pet?
I saw an ad for www.petinsurance.com today and I admit, the extemely cute puppy did make me want to cover my pet immediately, but this is something I’d like to know more about from people who have taken advantage of it.
I don’t have it, but had I known about it way back when I bought my dog, I probably would have researched it and maybe purchased it. If I knew it’d pay for routine exams plus prescriptions and heartworm/flea programs, I’d almost definitely sign up.
As it is, though, I don’t know enough about it. I’ll watch this thread with interest and poke around on the web at bit.
I wish I would have thought to sign my cats up before this last week. I just spent ~$700 on one of them, and that was just to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, because of what he wound up with, his is ineligible for coverage now due to a pre-existing condition.
I signed up my second cat today and opted for the routine/vaccination coverage as well. She is just under the 10year mark for needing an exam and bloodwork to qualify. I’m taking her in for a check-up next month and it’ll cost less because of the insurance, which is nice. And she’ll be covered if anything comes up.
This is a new one for me. Never heard of such a thing. If insurance for pets is anything like for humans though, and your pet gets too sick; are they going to try to cancel your insurance after you got past a certain limit? I wonder if the paperwork and the time you spend filling out forms will be the same equal hassle? If it takes $250.00 a year for a healthy pet; then, I’ll just keep my pet rock.
We have an interesting insurance for the cats. They are insured to be eaten by coyotes if they go over the fence. They always do, and they alway are. Then I’m insured to spend the next day or two tracking down unwanted kittens for the wife.
We only had one cat smart enough to stay on our side of the fence, but she wasn’t smart enough to not sleep in the engine compartment of the truck. :smack:
I swear its like the damned “Wild Kingdom” around our place!
ZipperJJ - My mother got this for their puppy’s first year and it more than paid for itself. Although not everything is covered, just puppy shots and spay/neuter can easily put you way over the top. PetSmart vet clinics offer a similar program. I don’t know how much it costs, though.
I bought pet insurance for my GSD puppy, from the company at petinsurance.com even. I’m training him to be a Search and Rescue dog, and I figure with all of that running around in rough terrain he’s more likely to get hurt. Just be sure you know what is and isn’t covered by the plan.
For example, Brontë [It’s easy to tell I’m one of those people because my dog’s name has an umlaut in it :)] was just diagnosed with hip dysplasia in both hips, and it’s going to cost at least $5000 for the surgery. [Or I can send him back to the breeder and he’ll replace him with a new puppy. Yeah. You try looking into this face and say you’re going back to the breeder.] Anyway, HD is genetic and three guesses if the policy will cover the surgery. I would have bought an endorsement for this but one wasn’t available. Depending on the breed you might want to look around for a policy that will cover illnesses like this.
I also added up what I was going to have to pay the vet for routine care, and it didn’t make sense to pay the higher premium to get that extra coverage. But you might want to do the math for yourself.
The bottom line is I’m still glad that I bought it, and it’s nice to know it’s there for when something that is covered comes up.
Thanks for the input, all. I hope to hear mosre responses. These have been great so far.
Servo, you are right about those sorts of procedures. My dog will just be a regular non-working dog except I’d like to get her as part of the “doggie brigade” at the local children’s hospital. Otherwise, she is pampered
Zev, I will insure you a replacement hampster upon the untimely demise of this one for only $20 a month!!
