Pet insurance

[liz_abby]

Hi everyone!

I'm wondering what your opinion is on pet insurance? I was originally not going to get any, since it does seem quite expensive and doesn't even cover regular vet check-ups, etc. However, I started to rethink my stance when my kitten had to go in to the emergency vet overnight (+500$...). She was (thankfully) just under the wire for coverage by the 45 day gift insurance she got from my vet after she was spayed. So seeing that insurance has saved my butt once already, I'm thinking about keeping it, for about 10-15$ a month... what does everyone else think about insurance? Worth it or not?

[KatBudz]

I have 2 cats and a puppy, and personally I don't think the pet insurance is really that helpful. I have heard from people on this forum that you actually end up spending more. What I do is just save a certain amount of money from each paycheck and put it into a seperate savings account that I call the pet account, its for vet bills and emergencies that might happen in the future. I like just saving my own money instead of paying for the insurance, which as you said also, doesn't cover everything, they only cover certain things. So in my opinion, its not worth it. But, it also depends on the person too, so in the end it is your call.

[nanook]

I that God for pet insurance!
The first week I had Nanook (he came from the pound with a month of insurance) he had a raging URI. Around $300. Insurance covered everything but the $50 deductible.
I decided to keep it. Both cats have it now at $32 a month, total.
When he was about 3, he had a mystery illness and spent 3 days at the emergency hospital on fluids, antibiotics, every test under the sun. Nearly $3000 bill. I paid $75 deductible. Little-one had a UTI, couple of hundred dollars, all but deductible covered. Recently, both cats got hold of a lily (stupid, stupid! stupid...bad Mom! Long story!). So, BOTH cats were packed off the the vet and spent 3 days on fluids. Yikes! $2500 bill. I paid, $75 deductible for Nanook and $100 deductible for Lucy, they covered the rest.
So, for me, paying $32 a month has been absolutely, 100% worth every penny!
Of course, it is possible that I could be shelling out $300 odd a year and never using it but, for the peace of mind, it's well worth it for me.
Some say, it's better to have a pet savings account and, yes, if you can put a chunk away every month and nothing happens to your pets for a few years, great.
Now, you do have to pay the vet upfront and my reimbursements from insurance have ranged anywhere from 5 days to 45 days so that's something to keep in mind.
Most importantly though, if you do decide to get insurance, READ THE FINE PRINT!!! Ask questions!!! What do they consider a pre-existing condition? One place I called considered it a pre-existing condition if they had something the previous year! IE: if your cat became diabetic and was receiving treatment, they wouldn't cover them the next term! What?!! So, be careful.
You can get insurance that covers routine care for a little more if you want but, for me, I just don't want to get hit with a surprise, enormous bill. The regular visits are not a problem.

[hoofmaiden]

Keep in mind that pet insurance in the UK is a VERY different thing than US pet insurance (which is mostly a waste of $$). Posters should mention where they live when responding for this reason (as should the original poster).

[kwarendorf]

I have mixed experience with insurance. Franklin has been a bit of a medical adventure since I got him. When I brought him home I did buy insurance. For the first 12 months I'm very glad I had it. I was was able to recoup between 50% -60% of the $4,000 I laid. Once the clock struck 12:00 on month 13, the party was over. Everything that had been diagnosed within the previous 12 months became a preexisting condition. They paid nothing. If he had been diagnosed with cancer 1 day before the end of the coverage period, on day one of the new period they would have said it was a prexisting condition and denied coverage for the treatment.


What I found was that most of these policies amount to Term Health Insurance. Not very good stuff.

[hoofmaiden]

Yes, that's pretty much the state of things in US pet insurance. Between all the things not covered in the first place and all the things they they consider pre-existing, not much does get covered after a pretty short period of time.

IMO it's better to put money away into savings every month so that if something goes wrong you have a good healthy emergency fund.

[nanook]

I'm in the US.
As I said, you need to be very careful about which company you chase as some of them do have crazy pre-existing policies.

[lv2ski]

It's so easy to just put money away every month to keep for those "emergencies" that may arise for vet bills. Why pay the insurance company and have to deal with deductibles/paying upfront deals. PLUS, the money you give to insurance is theirs forever...if you decide to put money away every month yourself, you're free to do whatever you want with it after years if nothing happens. JMHO

[nanook]

Yes, that's true, unless something big happens within the first year or two, like it did with me. Or you have 2 big vet bills back to back. I had one cat with cancer and another with hyperthyroid and IBD all at the same time before I had insurance. It put me in a hole for years. There's no way I could have put enough away to keep up with those bills...so they went on a credit card.
Granted, most of the time you're only going to have one vet bill at a time and hopefully far apart but, for me, that hasn't been the case and I am happy to pay $30 bucks a month to know that I am not going to have to spend the next 3 years paying off a credit card (with interest!) if my cats get sick or injured.
It's a personal decision and I see it from both sides but, for me, it's been fantastic.

[edkate]

i have cat insurance for one of our cats.

It's about $23 CAN/ per month and it doesnt hurt my wallet and it gives me a piece of mind!

as soon as we move to a house - i will be buying insurance for the youngest one as well.


I am up for pet insurance as we had a bad experience of NOT having one. We had to put down our old cat of 9 years due to kidney failure...maybe - if we had pet insurance it could have saved his life but maybe not....
so, we decided to get pet insurance for new kitties!