# Pet Insurance?



## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

I'm thinking about getting insurance for Bonnie in the future. Does anyone here have experiences with it? I'd like to know if anyone has any positive/negative opinions on the matter and who they use. Thanks!


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

I just set aside the money that I would use for pet insurance and put it into a bank account for health finances.:hat:


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

I looked into it a few years ago and once you write down exactly what they cover as well as what they DON'T cover, I think you will find that you are paying a lot of money for very little return. A few people have collected a good bit of benefits from it but most don't.l I don't recommend it. I agree w/ what Cast said.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

RawFedDogs said:


> I looked into it a few years ago and once you write down exactly what they cover as well as what they DON'T cover, I think you will find that you are paying a lot of money for very little return. A few people have collected a good bit of benefits from it but most don't.l I don't recommend it. I agree w/ what Cast said.


I looked into it as well, and that is exactly why we don't have it. The idea of just putting money aside on your own for that type of thing is a much better idea.


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## MissusMac (Jan 6, 2011)

cast71 said:


> I just set aside the money that I would use for pet insurance and put it into a bank account for health finances.:hat:


:thumb:

This is what we do.


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## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks, all. That sounds like a good decision.


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## nikkiluvsu15 (Jun 9, 2010)

I thought about putting aside money, but I wasn't confident enough that I would have enough set aside should an extreme emergency come up. Such as obstruction or ACL/CCL tear, etc.

So, I decide to go ahead and get pet insurance. I was trying to decide between Healthy Paws and Pet Plan - they both have good plans and seemed to have good reviews.

I ended up going with Healthy Paws, I was kind of unsure because they are a newer company, but I ended choosing them and I feel completely good with my decision. I also liked that they had an annual deductible vs. a per incident deductible, but you might like it different :biggrin:

I feel good in my decision to go with insurance and hopefully it pays off. 

Here is a website that compares pet insurances: Compare dog insurance - Pet Insurance Review

Here are the 2 companies that I was choosing from:

Healthy Paws Pet Insurance
Pet Insurance for Dogs and Cats - Petplan Pet Health Insurance


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

I have the four dogs and I don't have the insurance.:hand: I don't think its worth the price at all. I wouldn't recommend it. You know how you can do like a Christmas savings at the back. Or just put it in a separate account and get interest your better off this way!:thumb:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Working in a vet hospital...you learn that pet insurance is a scam. We only have a handful of clients that have insurance on their pet. I bet over half of them complain about them every single time they have to submit a claim. 

Out of all the clients only one that comes to mind has had a good experience with it through their dogs battle with cancer. I think they claimed nearly $40K in vet bills for chemo and treatments etc but the insurance company only paid half that. They were still happy though. I'd say most people (me included) don't have that kind of money sitting around to put towards a dog....


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## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

Oh, wow... Yeah, I bet if that kind of situation comes up you're glad to have it.


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## TylersMom (Jan 19, 2011)

I do know of several dogs that literally are alive only because they have pet insurance on them. otherwise their owners could not have afforded to pay for their emergency expenses and they would have been put down. One extreme case is my friend's dog who has hydrocephalus. He was insured as a puppy and his symptoms didn't start until he was a year and a half old. But even that aside, he has racked up his share of vet bills. 

Tyler is insured and I know I COULD set aside the money every month but for me that's too much hassle and if he has a significant vet bill tomorrow I know it wouldn't have accumulated enough to cover it. Also, since Tyler was a rescue, we will be hitting the "senior vet bills" a lot sooner than if I had had him from puppyhood and had started his health savings then. So at least with the insurance I know I'm putting the funds in but I have the option to use more than I have put in to this point. If there were multiple dogs I might do things differently, but for him alone it works.

That said, the horses don't have insurance on them for unexpected vet bills. We prevent them as much as possible and deal with them as they come, but I'm lucky that most minor injuries I can handle myself and don't call a vet out for. The cats aren't insured currently though the younger one has a fund for himself. The older kitty should probably have insurance as she's in the same boat as Tyler as she was adopted as a senior. 

I spoke to many people and literally kept the company rep glued to their live online chat help for almost 3 hours while we discussed all of my questions and concerns before finally going ahead with it. I knew what companies people were happy with and which ones they weren't before I decided where to put my money, because they definately aren't all created equal! So hopefully in the long run it will work out for us...

TylersMom


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