Do you have a pet insurance for your doggie?

Hiroko · 10-30-2009, 01:28 PM

I was just wondering how many of you have the pet insurance for your doggie. I currently have Trupanion Pet Insurance for my Wink just in case he gets sick or requires immediate attention of the Vet. Any inputs on this topic? Lets talk about it!!

RBark · 10-30-2009, 02:40 PM

I don't have pet insurance for my dogs. I -do- put a certain amount of money each month into an account devoted to my dogs that I can't touch. So far, I have never gone below what I had in there in medical fees. So it works for me.

I have done this since I was a kid for Lucky, my 18 year old cat. It paid for the Chronic Renal Failure she has, pays for her medical supplies (the solution and needles) and so on.

From my math, and taking into account co-pay, it's worked out in my favor relative to Insurance. However, many people are not very diligent about saving money, so insurance can help you there. Having no insurance and no saving when your dog/cat needs a $5000 life-saving surgery is not a pleasant thing.

geekbruin · 10-30-2009, 02:53 PM

We have pet insurance for one of our dogs. We bought it for this year because we knew we would probably break even because of her spay. We haven't bought it for Logan because he's already neutered.

We haven't decided yet whether to renew. Consumer Reports says that it is usually not worth it. One aspect of it that is helpful is that you can raise your stop treatment limit (when you put the dog down instead of treating it). I think that's one of the best selling points for pet health insurance but it is one that is emotional and economical.

This American Life had a very interesting segment on pet health insurance two weeks ago (thread on that last week (Interesting NPR segment on Pet Insurance)).

If we do renew, which we might not, we will definitely purchase a different plan. This year Sookie has the bourgeois plan that includes a dental cleaning and the spay. If we renew we will probably purchase a plan that would cover her for accidents and unexpected surgeries and the like. Putting away money in a dedicated savings account for your pet is probably the most economically reasonable thing to do.

sassykzt · 10-30-2009, 02:59 PM

I've done pretty much the same thing RBark has done-- taken the monthly co-pays and actually invested the $ over 12 yrs and have made approx 21% return on my $-- so way ahead where I would be buying the insurance.

DJsMom · 10-30-2009, 02:59 PM

I've thought about it, but have never had any pet insurance.
Right now I'm kind of wishing we did, as I am dealing with severe SA with Coco & can not really afford the monthly meds for her.

philovance · 10-30-2009, 09:00 PM

I've used three different companies for two dogs and never regretted it although I had the savings. I am now with Petplan which after careful research and experience I believe best (I'm not too up on Trupanion because you can only get it if you start when your dog is a puppy). For a 3 yo dog in NYC (*very* expensive vets and reflected in premium) I paid $307 for the year with a rather high $200 deductible.

Benji was unlucky with minor problems so we collected $210, meaning the $20,000 a year in coverage we had cost a net $100. He is a small mutt so his premiums are less than a purebred. An English Bulldog is twice as expensive to insure.

Check out www.petinsurancereview.com for differing points of view on all of the insurance companies, their policies and service.

FaithFurMom09 · 10-30-2009, 10:03 PM

I did have Insurance on Jay, but not Faith. For Jay it was a waste of money since hes not really a big trouble maker, haha. I wish I did for Faith.

Labsnothers · 10-30-2009, 11:03 PM

With a new puppy every year, I figure they would stick us good. I am sure the insurance with its administration overhead would be more than all the shots.

In case of a major problem, I can always haul the puppy 300 miles to the dog guide school. Out of 16 puppies, we only did that when Zeke need orthodontic work.

Michiyo-Fir · 10-31-2009, 05:06 PM

I don't have pet insurance but I want to get it. Not sure which company is a good one in Canada. One of the ones I know only cover major problems like severe allergies, accidents, etc. Things like bordetella or worms/fleas/mange aren't covered.

Hiroko · 11-01-2009, 10:20 PM

Thank you everyone for your opinions, it really helped me find ways to think about the pet insurance

MICHIYO-FIR : I think my current dog insurance'Trupanion Pet Insurance' powers 'VetInsurance' in Canada. Try http://www.vetinsurance.com

Trupanion is pretty good, my Wink is been treated well

So VetInsurance should be equally good.