# your thoughts on pet insurance???



## Rvent (Apr 15, 2012)

After our whopping E-vet bill for Max, and the thousands of dollars spent prior, as well as on my 2 old ladies, I have been researching pet insurance, although the conditions that are pre-existing are not covered I am thinking that for an emergency or big surgery it might be helpful. 

Does anyone have pet insurance, if so which company and what is your experience with them.


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## CoverTune (Dec 20, 2011)

I have insurance on Corona, but not George. Corona is young(er) and has been quite healthy her whole life, so a year or so ago, I got coverage for her with Trupanion and it's already paid off when she got sick this past summer and had to spend a few days in hospital. It was SO nice to not have to make care decisions based on cost. Trupanion was great to work with and I wouldn't hesitate to insure a new pet with them. I also spent 2 years working in a vet clinic and had lots of interaction with Trupanion that way, and it was pretty much all positive.

I chose not to insure George because he was already 8 years old when I got him, and he had a pile of pre-existing conditions... they wouldn't cover anything to do with his knees, urinary system, behaviour etc.. 

I think that's the biggest thing, is to get insurance on them when they're young, before they have any issues. That way, any accident/illness that comes up will be covered.


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## Rvent (Apr 15, 2012)

I was looking into trupanion, even though my 2 are 12 with some pre existing conditions it still might be helpful if they get sick with something new since they are old and it is bound to happen.... do you have to pay the bill first and them get it back from them, sometimes its hard to come up with the cash first.


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## Savage Destiny (Mar 16, 2011)

I have Healthy Paws insurance on Melon and my old lady kitty Monstee. I decided to get it after Riddle needed her 2nd knee surgery. Neither Melon or Monstee have any preexisting conditions, so they're covered for anything and everything. Riddle is pretty pointless to insure, since she's had pretty much everything wrong with her already. 

I like the idea of insurance vs. savings because if you get hit with a double whammy, you're still covered. HP doesn't have a "ceiling", so I can spend as much per year as needed. That would have been nice, since Riddle already had knee surgery this year and now needs an elbow procedure as well. Instead of being able to just do it, she now has to wait a couple months for us to save up (again). It sucks.


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## Rvent (Apr 15, 2012)

Savage Destiny said:


> I have Healthy Paws insurance on Melon and my old lady kitty Monstee. I decided to get it after Riddle needed her 2nd knee surgery. Neither Melon or Monstee have any preexisting conditions, so they're covered for anything and everything. Riddle is pretty pointless to insure, since she's had pretty much everything wrong with her already.
> 
> I like the idea of insurance vs. savings because if you get hit with a double whammy, you're still covered. HP doesn't have a "ceiling", so I can spend as much per year as needed. That would have been nice, since Riddle already had knee surgery this year and now needs an elbow procedure as well. Instead of being able to just do it, she now has to wait a couple months for us to save up (again). It sucks.


It does suck, been there done that, and doing it again....Macy needs to be spay and for an old dog its noy cheep. Babs ACL stuff won't be covered but maybe if any surprise comes up, it would be nice cause multi dogs sure can drain you, I should have done it a whle ago but I listened to my husband, if I did maybe I would be able to payoff what was put on credit cards so I can use them again instead of being maxed out and not having them to use if needed


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## Javadoo (May 23, 2011)

I have Petplan for my girls. Both girls are 3 year old labs. 
We insured both girls AFTER Moka broke her leg and needed 2 surgeries ($4850) and Java tore BOTH ACLs at the same time ($10,000).
If my girls had been insured at the time of their injuries we would have saved thousands and thousands of dollars...live and learn.

I will never bring another dog/puppy home again without insurance.
Petplan covers cancer, accidents, illnesses, hereditary diseases (such as hip/elbow dysplasia-common in labs), etc.


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## CoverTune (Dec 20, 2011)

As far as I know, there are no "direct bill" insurance plans for pets... you always have to pay the vet first and then will get reimbursed by the insurance company. I can't speak for other companies, but Trupanion has been known to pay out within 10 days of a claim being submitted.


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## creek817 (Feb 18, 2012)

I have pet insurance on Dobby, mostly because we have paralysis ticks in this country, and if they get one and get sick, it's usually at least $600 and at least one night at the vet to save them - that is, if you catch it in time. Also, he is never on leash at home, and we live on a pretty quiet road, and he is pretty obedient, but, accidents happen. Oh, and he is REALLY dumb about going around the horses' feet when I'm riding. I don't ever want it to be an issue whether I can take him to the vet if he gets hurt because I may not be able to afford it. My insurance covers 80% of vet bills, and will pay that to the vet directly. I hope to never have to use it, but I'm glad it's there in case.

That said, I am thinking about starting a seperate savings account for emergencies instead. Especially now that I have a real job again, I should be able to put some money away. I would probably rather put that $350+ into that account each year, and earn some interest, and hopefully never need it, but have it in case. I don't know, I'm back and forth about it. So I'm really not any help at all!


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## Rvent (Apr 15, 2012)

creek817 said:


> I have pet insurance on Dobby, mostly because we have paralysis ticks in this country, and if they get one and get sick, it's usually at least $600 and at least one night at the vet to save them - that is, if you catch it in time. Also, he is never on leash at home, and we live on a pretty quiet road, and he is pretty obedient, but, accidents happen. Oh, and he is REALLY dumb about going around the horses' feet when I'm riding. I don't ever want it to be an issue whether I can take him to the vet if he gets hurt because I may not be able to afford it. My insurance covers 80% of vet bills, and will pay that to the vet directly. I hope to never have to use it, but I'm glad it's there in case.
> 
> That said, I am thinking about starting a seperate savings account for emergencies instead. Especially now that I have a real job again, I should be able to put some money away. I would probably rather put that $350+ into that account each year, and earn some interest, and hopefully never need it, but have it in case. I don't know, I'm back and forth about it. So I'm really not any help at all!


I wish they paid the vet directly here, in most case I would have to pay the bill first and be reimbursed.. but the co i spoke with yesterday they pay the vet direct in some cases ( like life saving e-vet stuff)


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

I have Petplan on my dogs, lesson learned is to get the insurance asap, before any pre-existing conditions develop.


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## Cookie (Oct 16, 2012)

I've come across Protect Your Bubble who seem very reasonable, does anyone have any experience of them?


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## Savage Destiny (Mar 16, 2011)

creek817 said:


> That said, I am thinking about starting a seperate savings account for emergencies instead. Especially now that I have a real job again, I should be able to put some money away. I would probably rather put that $350+ into that account each year, and earn some interest, and hopefully never need it, but have it in case. I don't know, I'm back and forth about it. So I'm really not any help at all!


The problem with that is multiple vet bills piling up. I use Riddle as an example... She just had knee surgery I paid around $5k for. She now needs an elbow procedure that runs $2-3k. In no way do I have enough money saved up already for the second procedure, so she has to wait until I do. That's why Melon is insured... I want to be able to just have him treated, not wait around.


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## Rvent (Apr 15, 2012)

I agree about the savings, that's what we thought at first or we thought we have credit cards to use savings what we saved was gone after Babs ACL surgery, then all the other misc. vet visits for 3 dogs, problem with the credit card thing is unless you have a extremely high credit limit you reach you limit quickly, then you have to pay them off before you can use them again and add interest.
I just got healthy paws insurance, even though Babs has many pre-existing conditions I have learned that there is always an illness lurking that will need lots of money.


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## Ajaxhowls (Oct 2, 2012)

We have pet plan on our two german shepherds. One developed elbow displasia (sp?) within 16 months of age (poor boy) and petplan covered the operation, after deductible etc. was met. Certain insurance companies have clauses which don't cover certain conditions in certain breeds, luckily petplan covered this. Knock on wood, we won't need to use the insurance but as mentioned above, the surgery was quite costly..


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

Insurance is a tough discussion.... Gosh, I've never had one bill where insurance would have made sense. Had I paid for an insurance plan all these years, it would have cost me thousands of dollars.

However, others have given many examples where it helped them immensely.

Tough answer... when you NEED it, its great.

I think it really depends on your own personal financial situation.


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