Pet health insurance....

[wyliec]

Anyone have it on here, or do you go with the roll of the dice?

After our first Yorkie's unfortunate accident (at a doggie daycare) cost us over $6000 for a 6 day stay at the animal hospital, and then had to be put to sleep, we immediately picked up health insurance for our second Yorkie. This past week, between the normal vet bill, and 2 days at the animal hospital it was over $1600. I was careless by not taking what I had finished eating out of her reach. That will never happen again.

 

[Bob Denman]

My insurer offers it...
But for what it costs: we're taking our chances with TinkerBell.

 

[jcthorne]

We have it through Healthy Paws for our Lab. If you buy in when they are a pup, the rates never go up. We are far ahead on the deal and at this point in our dogs life, the monthly drugs are more than my premium so we will be further ahead until the day he passes which we hope is many years from now.

Having done it both ways and the fact that my wife goes to the vet if the dog so much as limps once....well. We will have the insurance from now on. Ours runs $38 a month for 90% coverage and a 100 annual deductible. Healthy Paws is quick to pay claims and its all done online. We have a check within 2 weeks of submitting the receipts.

 

[Pirate looks at --]

George Carlin on Pets!

https://youtu.be/ktp-Zsm25dU

 

[Pirate looks at --]

Part 2


https://youtu.be/Ny-cf1A-e64

 

[asp125]

We have a policy on our Goldendoodle. He had to have two new hips after being diagnosed with hip dysplasia while in foster care. Luckily the rescue organization paid for the operations due to some generous benefactors and discounting from the local animal hospitals. If not, each hip would've cost $5K apiece. :shocked: But he is the best dog ever and we want him to be around for a long time.

 

[UtahPete]

Anyone have it on here, or do you go with the roll of the dice?

After our first Yorkie's unfortunate accident (at a doggie daycare) cost us over $6000 for a 6 day stay at the animal hospital, and then had to be put to sleep, we immediately picked up health insurance for our second Yorkie. This past week, between the normal vet bill, and 2 days at the animal hospital it was over $1600. I was careless by not taking what I had finished eating out of her reach. That will never happen again.

We roll the dice. Two separate ACL surgeries cost over $3000, but then again the two dogs are over 10 years old. So, $150/year/dog and I don't know what insurance would have cost or covered.

 

[UtahPete]

After our first Yorkie's unfortunate accident (at a doggie daycare) cost us over $6000 for a 6 day stay at the animal hospital, and then had to be put to sleep, we immediately picked up health insurance for our second Yorkie. This past week, between the normal vet bill, and 2 days at the animal hospital it was over $1600. I was careless by not taking what I had finished eating out of her reach. That will never happen again.

Sorry to hear about you losing your Yorkie from a doggie daycare incident. We left our dogs in one of those once and they were so sick afterward we swore never again. So, they go with us everywhere now (whether they like it or not!)

 

[SpyderAnn01]

I looked at the policies and it didn’t seem that they would have covered any of the extreme issues that our dogs have had. ACL surgery wasn’t covered nor was cancer so we would not have been covered on our prior pets.

Max, our German Shepherd, has epilepsy and that would likely have been covered. I do use coupons for his prescriptions from GoodRX which really cuts the cost down.

 

[UtahPete]

I might add that our dogs are mongrels (part Cairn terrier but who knows what else) and I think they tend to have fewer issues than purebreds, I'm not sure.

 

[ARtraveler]

Unfortunately, the cost is the killer. Every major incident I am aware of costs multi thousands. Makes for a difficult decision sometimes.

Cannot afford it here, so we are also on the roulette wheel. Both the cats sitting on the desk as I type say Okay. :yes:

 

[UtahPete]

Unfortunately, the cost is the killer. Every major incident I am aware of costs multi thousands. Makes for a difficult decision sometimes.

Cannot afford it here, so we are also on the roulette wheel. Both the cats sitting on the desk as I type say Okay. :yes:

Then there's that nine lives thing ....

 

[ARtraveler]

Then there's that nine lives thing ....

One is down to 7 that I know of. :roflblack:

 

[trikermutha]

Most of the pet insurance covered some things and was pretty basic. Anything major you would pay anyway. I passed on the insurance.

 

[BoilerAnimal]

So, they go with us everywhere now (whether they like it or not!)

We have a Malti-Poo and a Toy Poodle. One has been in 17 states and the other in 14 states. They truly are our kids! By the way, ours always like it!

 

[Raprider]

Considered it but we've been rolling dice over 15 years of multiple Whippet ownership. They have been pretty solid, mostly, but a real crash-n-burn at top speeds of 32 mph could be devastating! We've been lucky!

 

[jcthorne]

I looked at the policies and it didn’t seem that they would have covered any of the extreme issues that our dogs have had. ACL surgery wasn’t covered nor was cancer so we would not have been covered on our prior pets.

Max, our German Shepherd, has epilepsy and that would likely have been covered. I do use coupons for his prescriptions from GoodRX which really cuts the cost down.

I know Healthy Paws covers both cancer and joint surgeries. We specifically checked those coverages before taking out the policy as we have dealt with them before. Our current lab has a copper storage disorder and will be on treatment for life. The medical procedures and testing to get us to a stable and manageable state was nearly 10k and HP covered nearly all of it. They continue to cover his couple hundred a month prescriptions and followups. Shotgun is a happy dog and very much a part of our family. Not sure we could have continued with the unknown testing etc if it were not for HP backing us financially. They have been excellent to work with.

 

[Rogue Hawk]

I had it for my cat. It paid until the year turned over. Then they would not pay anymore because they 'renew' each year so they considered his illness a 'preexisting condition'. Check if your coverage is the same way.

 

[wyliec]

I had it for my cat. It paid until the year turned over. Then they would not pay anymore because they 'renew' each year so they considered his illness a 'preexisting condition'. Check if your coverage is the same way.

Mine is not that way, unless you don't renew on time. To avoid that issue, I'm continuously billed for automatic renewal.