Pet Insurance

If you are gonna get it - get it early on.

I have one dog with epilepsy but since we did not get it until after she was diagnoised everything she gets (ear infections, allergies, etc) is somehow related to her epilepsy.  The other one is healthy as a horse and never needed it.  Since I could not do annual exams or heartworm med with it,  those are out of pocket expenses, I cancelled it a few years ago.  I think I have seen that one company will let you pay more to cover that stuff but when I did the math the annual premium was more than the annual exam and heartworm.  One had a bladder infection as a puppy and nothing bladder related was covered when we signed up as it was considered pre-exsiting. 

What I have done is just put 100 dollars into a savings account every month to cover any of their needs.  That method paid for the bowel obstruction surgery for the epileptic one. 

 I willprobably revisit the issue when we get a puppy in the future but our experience with it with 2-3 year old dogs was very little was covered.

Just my experience with our two.  VPI I think was the company if I remember correctly.

How so?

VPI was the one I was looking at online.  And I am worried about the "pre-existing" thing because my one dog seems to have arthritis ("but it could be something else" and I can't really say it wasn't pre-existing.  But it's what made me think of getting it.

This is really something I should have done a few years ago....

So I guess I may end up getting the cheapest coverage just to cover anything ELSE big in the future...

The rider looks like it would save you a LITTLE money every year...costs $150/year (ish) and If I use the things I think I would use it would be about $250 (dental, exams, etc.).

Does pet insurance require you to pay for the procedure up front and THEN they decide if its under coverage or not? Seems as if I've heard that.

When you sign up your vet has to send in all the records for the pet.  Anything in there is considered pre-exsisting.  So if your dog was seen by your vet for arthritis, it would be pre-existing.  If they ever had a bladder infection, yeast infection anything they were seen for other than annual fecal, heartworm test etc is pre-existing.  That was what got us.  I had Aspen seen after her first seizure and then being concerned about cost for an epileptic applied for it. 

I think it could be good if gotten early.  I would like to see them do away with the pre-existing for things like infections as those may really never be seen again.  I can see their point with the epilepsy, Addison's, Cushing type issues though.

Mine have not needed dentals to date, so I have been lucky there.  Our annual is $35 and heartworm meds cost me about $160.  I just wasn't gonna save that much money.

If the math works in your favor go for it.  You do have to pay up front and get reimbursed (or we did several years ago)  Fortunately for me epilepsy meds are really cheap.  Bowel obstruction surgery however was not so the pet emergency savings account helped. 

We have VPI, too.  We have a general coverage and then I've got a cancer rider.  I decided not to go with them paying for annual visits.  Paying for that has never been a problem.

You do have to pay upfront for the cost, but the reimbursement's supposed to be quick.

I'm a bit torn on this.

I have gone with a pre-paid yearly medical plan ( covers all the standard stuff like annual visits, vaccinations, etc. ).  That's paid for itself twice over in what I've saved due to the steep discount that gets me.

Taetum ( as you know if you've read my blog ) has begun to suffer from seizures.  I've spent ~$3k out of pocket in diagnosing the cause.  Not sure how much of that would have been covered, but that's ultrasound, xray, and an MRI.

Turns out that what we feared was the case, was indeed reality.  Taetum has a brain tumor in her frontal lobe.  Not uncommon in dogs her age, but very sad for her, as her health is otherwise great ( no joint, hip, liver, kidey issues at all ).

It's operable, but that would end up being >$10k.  

Even if insurance reimbursed part of that, not sure that I'd have 10k to front out of pocket.  Though there were short term financing options available.

Ultimately, I've decided not to do the surgery, as it's pretty invasive, and will add maybe 6 months to a year to Taetum's life before the tumor comes back again.

So... it's a tough call.  A lot of it for me depends on the age of the dog, and whether there are already any pre-existing conditions, which would end up not being covered and thus rendering the ins. moot. 

Oh I am so sorry. I hope Taetum will be ok!

Sadly, no.  The tumor is growing.  At present, the seizures are controlled with meds ( phenobarb ), but she likely has 6 months or less before the seizures cannot be controlled with meds.

She's had 12 great years though, which 4 more than Rottie's typically live.  And I'm doing my best to make whatever time she has left as happy for her as I can.   

Saved me from $3200 on my horse...horses are a bit different, a bit more expensive, but I would have definitely gotten it for my dog. Unfortunately he had a bad bout of lyme's, so he wouldn't pass the health test.  I def. recommend it, esp if you can't imagine putting your animal to sleep b/c you can't afford a surgery for them.  That is my biggest fear. 

Wow.  That review website has a lot of stuff on it.  But it also has the typical 1 or 10 mentality.   People seem to either love it or hate it and there are about half of each response!  That doesn't help!

Thanks for all the responses, guys.

I'm still torn.  One of the major reasons I was considering it was because my dog is limping...but since that would be a pre-existing condition it wouldn't be covered (that seemed standard across the board).  And as others have said, it's a gamble...you are betting you will need it and the companies are betting you won't.  So you either totally make out or pay a whole bunch of money you didn't need to.

I love my girls but I just don't know if insurance is worth it.  I worry the most when I'm not home.  While I was deployed I worried a lot that something would happen to them.  Grrrrrrr....why do decisions have to be so hard?

First, Coredump - I'm really sorry about your furkid - my little corgi had a nearly identical case and we lost him last February. He was overall very healthy otherwise, and it was really hard.

Regarding insurance, there is a reason that it's a for-profit industry. After having spent $$$ on an MRI for both a disk/spine problem for my corgi, subsequent back surgery, then more on the brain tumor and it's MRI/bloodwork, etc., none of the insurances would have covered all of it. I still would have paid for a big chunk.  Put the premium in a savings account and just pay for annual shots, etc out of pocket. If you ever need the $$ in the savings to pay the vet, you'll have it. If you don't, you still have it. Get yourself a new bike.

Or better yet, just all y'all send your premiums to me and when you need coverage I'll tell ya that whatever it is isn't covered or was pre-existing, and I'LL get a new bike.