Pet Insurance?

[angie8023]

Hey everyone! Does anyone here have dog insurance? I am looking for any suggestions. The vet gave me pamphlets on Pets Health and VPI. I have a 9 month old terrier mix, and it seems like we are spending a lot when we take him to the vet. Is insurance even worth the hassle?

[RawhideChews]

It's up to you to decide to what extent expedient to have an insurance for your dog. But it certainly can cut expenses on vet treatment. A cheap insurance plan at Petco.com (http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-2190336-10418834?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.petco.com%2FContent% 2FPetcareInsurance.aspx%3FPC%3Dpetcareinsurance%26 Nav%3D156&cm_ven=CJ&cm_cat=1913737&cm_pla=2190336&cm_ite=Variable+Destination+Link) offers $500 coverage amount for each first-time illness and $1000 for a number of accidents (motor vehicle accidents, poisoning, lacerations, burns, bone fractures, foreign body ingestion etc.) for $13/month insurance cost with free first month. You can get their quote online here (http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-2190336-10418834?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.petco.com%2FContent% 2FPetcareInsurance.aspx%3FPC%3Dpetcareinsurance%26 Nav%3D156&cm_ven=CJ&cm_cat=1913737&cm_pla=2190336&cm_ite=Variable+Destination+Link).
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Rawhide Dog Chews, Rawhide Bones (http://www.dogchewsrawhide.com)

[skyeboxer]

Hi,

A pet insurance company wrote an article for my site which you can see here:http://www.four-legged-friends.com/pet-insurance.html

I have linked to the whole article because it contains links to other references about pet insurance. Hope this is helpful.

[angie8023]

Thanks to both of you:) This has been most helpful.

[irotas]

We had a good discussion about this a while back:
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37905


In my opinion, the best solution is to just set aside money every month for health care for your dog. There are two major problems with pet insurance:

1) The rates are not fixed, and can go up enormously as your dog ages or has medical problems.

2) Pet insurance does cover a wide range of medical procedures, but unfortunately doesn't pay anywhere near the full cost. Take a look at VPI's schedule of benefits and compare it with the actual cost of health care.

[irotas]

A pet insurance company wrote an article for my site which you can see here:http://www.four-legged-friends.com/pet-insurance.html

No offense, but do you really think you can trust this article given the source?

[skyeboxer]

Well, I have asked myself about whether to get insurance for my pets or not. In my case, I decided not but I don't mind to have info on the subject on the site for other people. The article includes links to external sources too which seem to be legit. I am not an affiliate and have no axe to grind and if anyone was to want to provide an anti-pet-insurance article I would also put that on-line for people to consider.

Did you find the information misleading?

[Adrienne]

We have VPI insurance for Layla, it is $27.00 a month and so far we have only been to the vet once for shots and we paid 53 and were reimbursed 37. The reason I opted for it was in the first year it will pay for her shots and also a good chunk of her spay. Once she's older we probably won't keep it but we will see. It would have been very nice to have had it when Gunnar had his obstruction since we were facing 1,200$ worth of bills that we would have had to come up with in about 48 hours. We were lucky too because normally they require a deposit for surgeries, if they had we would not have been able to afford the surgery and Gunnar would have had to been put down.

I think it's a good idea to have it if you can afford it, just in case. Unless you have a nice nest egg waiting for Emergency's which I don't. The only issue I have is if your dog gets diagnosed with something like hip dysplasia it isn't covered as it is a "congenital" issue.

[shawn76]

No offense, but do you really think you can trust this article given the source?

Hello I found this forum since I too am a dog lover, I am the writer responsible for the article you mentioned, and the article and Pets Best Insurance are totally legit. Check out the Pets Best website and you will see that they are a reputable Pet Health Insurance company with great annual rates. They were actually started by Dr. Jack Stephens, who is the same veterinarian who founded VPI Pet Insurance, and pretty much pet insurance in the United States.
The article is just talking about some of the advantages of pet insurance. I know that having pet insurance for my dog has been a big help for me, especially since my dog broke his leg about a year ago and having him covered saved me a lot of money.

[Scooter]

I was going to get pet insurance, but I got really turned off by the company itself. I applied on line, then they called asking for my vets address and phone number. I had taken Zoe in for what we thought was a posible vaginal or urinary infection. The insurance company sent me an email stating they wouldn't insure me until they knew what the diagnosis was. She was 5 months old, for crying out loud. I just thought, if they are not going to insure me because she has a common infection than screw it. She turned out not to have any problem at all- I was just being an over-worried mom.