Pet Insurance

[midori115]

I got to wondering about pet insurance this week -- after our rather expensive visit to the vet this week.

Does anyone have pet insurance? Or know much about it? I mean, is a small monthly premium would save me the $300 vet visit, is it worth it? Or are the companies that offer insurance a little fishy?

Thanks for the info!

[xavierandrea]

Hi. I have the Veterinary Pet Insurance for all 3 of my dogs. I pay $19.95ea. I love it. I have been with them for 2 years.

[xavierandrea]

It is $19.95 each dog each month but it is worth it. I copied the link below for you. I highly recommend it.
http://www.petinsurance.com/

[Guest Anonymous]

When I got Brooklyn, I was 21 years old with a full time job & no bills... I absolutely wanted to make sure I did everything right for him as he is my first dog that is absolutely mine, so I got him Pet insurance from Petplan for $80/month ($71.95 to be exact. ) http://www.petplan.com/petplanpolicies/compareplansdog.asp
anyway, I enrolled him when he was about 10 weeks (I got him at 6weeks) When he was a bit older (like 5 mos.) He had lameness in a rear leg for 1 day, so I took him to the vet... I'm a nervous pet mum, and hate to let things go for even 1 day. Anyway, they took lots of xrays, gave him a steriod shot, blood test, and we came back the next day and they told me about his arthritis & degenerative joint disease, as well as how bad his legs really were (He was just a little guy, so I could tell his legs were a little bowed, but not nearly as much as they would/have become) Anyway, the vet perscribed daily metacam & glucosamine (something like$60-80 month) This is when the crap with the dog insurance started. They refused to cover it... I called them at least once a week, and finally got so upset, I gave up... Really I wanted to sue them, but I'm not as litigious when I'm not angry... Instead, I cancelled insurance and sucked up his vet bills myself... The deductable was $200 ... Since them (when he turned 2) He hasn't needed his medication, so he just goes in for yearly visits (or emergencies, which we had this year) Still, the yearly bills are only around $150

I think Dog insurance is a good idea in theory... Or like if the dog gets hit by a car or gets cancer, but there is no guarantee they'll pay when you need it.

Dixie

[courtnek]

because insurance is so "sketchy" about paying, you'd be better off taking the monthly insurance payment and depositing it in savings. That way, the money is there and the insurance cant turn it down, no matter what is done, AND you earn interest on it while it's in the bank...

You just have to steel yourself to make the deposit every month

:D

unless the dog has chronic problems that is. I need to add that.

[StarFox]

We were seriously thinking about getting pet insurance when we first found out that Zebra had HD. BUT then we found out that most, if not all pet insurance don't cover genetic deseases like HD. So we are just paying off all the vet bills ourselves. And if your pet as a medical condition before you get the insurance they won't cover any of the future medical bills for that specific condition.

[KP]

I highly recommend pet insurance. I think its very well worth it!

We go through Pet Care insurance. I think just this year we've gotten back 3 checks....its saved us over $1000 this year. We have the Pet Care Gold plan. I highly recommend it. It relieves a lot of stress when something happens because you know you'll get almost all of it back.

I almost went through VPI but they wouldn't return my request for pamphlet or some sort of printed information mailed to me through 3 phone requests or 3 different email requests and I never did recieve anything in the mail. I submitted a request through their website on an information request page 2 times aside from that as well. They wouldn't return my phone messeges either so I figured if they were that hard to get anything out of I didn't want to have to worry about getting my money back but I have heard good things about them and their price looks pretty good.

For both my dogs I pay around $50 so I may switch since VPI sounds so much cheaper. I hate to leave Pet Care cause they have been great but we are going to be pinching pennies here shortly. I may go back later to them though.