I have never gotten pet insurance before, I have a cat that has cost me a lot of $$$ with injuries and other issues, I am responsible for my animals and will pay whatever it costs for what is best for them. so im looking into pet medical insurance. And am wondering if anyone who has it thinks its worth it??? and if so what companies are the best?? (currently living in southern california). Any suggestions/advice would be great.

On another note, we took Dakota to the mountains yesterday to be in the snow for the first time ever (she is 10 wks), and she loved it. It was soo nice to see her play and run in the snow, def will be going as much as we can as snow in southern california is not common in our area hah!!

Here's a good thread on the pet insurance - the search feature brings up a couple of other threads as well

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t5476-should-i-get-pet-insurance?highlight=insurance

Glad to hear Dakota had such a good time. The only thing I would be wary of in that scenario is if a lot of other dogs have been in that area - wouldn't want Dakota to pick something up from there. If not, then all the more power to ya! You should post up some pics!!

I have pet insurance with VPI with the well care rider to help with shots and routine care. It helps. Especially with my Chinchilla. Having an "exotic" pet and having to go to and "exotic" vet when she is sick is killer. Last year she cost me 600 dollars for her teeth, just her teeth. Loki's neuter cost me 60 out of pocket after my insurance claim. Only issue is that they don't cover hip dysplasia so I'm praying to every God in the known universe that he doesn't get it. The way I see it I hope I never have to use my insurance for the major medical part but I'm glad it is there. The Routine part helps with flea and tick/heartworm meds, shots, physical exam 2x a year. fecal test etc, which do use. Wish that part was better but I'm not going to complaint too much.

Thanks, that thread is really helpful!! I def think I will get her insurance, just to pick a company!!

Yeah we took a less traveled trail, only ran into 1 dog, and just walked by, no other signs of dogs on the trail we took.

Im trying to figure out how to post pics lol

I was not sure if it was worth it either, but I ended up getting insurance for both of them. I use VPI Pet Insurance. It only costs about $25.00 per month for both of them with a $500 deductible. I only got it for major things; however I did get the Routine/Wellness plan for Yukon when he was going through the puppy shots and his neuter. I ended up getting about half of what I spend in the first 2 months back from the insurance, so it was a very good deal! And I just cancelled the Wellness plan after his last set of shots. The catch is you can never re-add it to the policy.

VPI only took about 4 weeks to pay me back after a claim, so they are pretty quick. I haven’t had anything major happen, although I had to take Yukon in because he was pooping blood, and they did apply that to my deductible. Unless you have to get all of your puppies shots done, the Wellness plan is not worth keeping, you will end up paying more in premiums than you get back from the claims.

I have PetPlan with my girl and it costs me around $20 a month for the bronze plan which covers up to $8,000 a year ($200 deductible). The good thing with PetPlan is they cover hip dysplasia which a lot of insurance companies won't and that was my biggest concern after just losing my chihuahua to a common problem that cost me close to $10k. It basically covers everything except for her puppy shots/check ups and spay but other than that I can submit claims!

And I'm sure she loves the snow!!! We just got 27 inches from the blizzard Nemo and Selena had so much fun..I have pictures in her scrap book of her climbing snow mounds that were 15 feet high lol.

so i was lookiing and the pet insurance.. what companies cover nueter cost? if any?

Most only cover it with the optional wellness plan which is like an extra 20-25 per month and will only cover 100-150 of the cost. VPI is 22 additional per monh and covers $100

jschrader wrote:

Most only cover it with the optional wellness plan which is like an extra 20-25 per month and will only cover 100-150 of the cost. VPI is 22 additional per monh and covers $100

so its almost not even worth it for the nueter...

I ended up getting about $300 back from the insurance after paying about $650. So if you use it for all 3 sets of puppy shots and the neuter then it is worth it. It also covers heartworm/flea prevention too. It's just not worth it if you keep the insurance because you will spend just about the same amount on premiums

I had to make a spreadsheet and do the calculations to see if it was worth it

Well i onlu got one shoy left wit koda i think.. So what would u do?

If your getting it just for shots/neuter I wouldnt think you should do it, wouldnt be worth is, and from my understanding most wont cover shots/neuter. I am getting it to cover an emergency, or any illness that may (hopefully not) arise in her future (hip issues, cancer ect) as the treatments, surgeries, boarding as it can be expensive, but worth it b/c I would do what is needed for my Dakota!

Im thinking trupanion, as it seems to cover hip issues (which I guess is common)

We use Trupanion. $40 per month with no deductible, covers 90% of all illness and injury.

This is what VIP covers with their wellness plan:
Exams $60
Vaccinations $35
Heartworm test $30
Fecal test $15
Deworming $20
Microchip $20
Flea/Heartworm prevention $50
Blood screen $50
Urinalysis $20
Dental cleaning or spay/neuter $100

My first vet bill was $108.60. Insurance reimbursed me $77.00. The second vet visit was $116, Insurance reimbursed me $44.00. The third visit when he was neutered was $327.50 and the insurance reimbursed me $167.00.

So I spent $552.10 at the vet, and paid $66.00 in insurance premiums for the wellness plan and was reimbursed $288.00. It saved me $222.00 getting the wellness plan.

We're with Healthy Paws and LOVE it! They've paid out about $8,000 on our claims in the past two months for Chili's illnesses. Even better, they cover 90% of his $700/month medications AND processes the claims within 48 hours (check came within the week) so that we could pay off our credit card before the bill even came in! They cover Hip Dysplasia, too. They have great reviews and reimbursement rates, plus no limits on payouts. Plus they pay out the actual costs, not the "customary vet charges". The only two companies I'd go with after extensive research is Trupanion or Healthy Paws. http://www.doggiehealthinsurance.com/dog-insurance-plan-comparisons/ has a great comparison chart.

We got it for emergencies and major illnesses. We save up for the yearly vet costs and pay out of pocket. It's $35/month for each dog with a $500 annual deductible/90% coverage (a little less for Frosti - so it's $65/month) and so worth it for peace of mind. We pay that deductible once a year per dog, so we only paid the first $500 of Chili's medical costs. Our savings would be wiped out, plus we'd be stressing about the money instead of focusing our Chili getting well. Our vet says only 95% of her patients have it and that she has to juggle cost with the best treatment, which ends up shortchanging the dog's treatment. I think having pet insurance or have a very large bank balance set aside for emergencies (self insurance) is part of being a responsible pet parent. I see far too many dogs being put down for treatable issues in my rescue work.

eander83 wrote:

I have pet insurance with VPI with the well care rider to help with shots and routine care. It helps. Especially with my Chinchilla. Having an "exotic" pet and having to go to and "exotic" vet when she is sick is killer. Last year she cost me 600 dollars for her teeth, just her teeth. Loki's neuter cost me 60 out of pocket after my insurance claim. Only issue is that they don't cover hip dysplasia so I'm praying to every God in the known universe that he doesn't get it. The way I see it I hope I never have to use my insurance for the major medical part but I'm glad it is there. The Routine part helps with flea and tick/heartworm meds, shots, physical exam 2x a year. fecal test etc, which do use. Wish that part was better but I'm not going to complaint too much.

I have VPI for both of my dogs and after a year of coverage they do cover hereditary defects such as bad knees in my lab, and hip dysplasia. I have major medical, I do not have the shot coverage. So far they have been wonderful for my two. For instance my lab needs back knee surgery which will cost around 800 and I will only have to pay 100 deductible. So yeah def worth it!

I have the Major medical as well. Under my policy they refer me to Additional Coverage got Hip Dysplasia
1. Diagnosis or medical treatment expenses for specified ineligible conditions. We will pay up to $250 during the policy term for veterinary services expenses that you incur for the diagnosis or medical treatment of any condition listed in the Diagnosis or Medical Treatment for Ineligible Conditions section of the VPI® Major Medical Plan Benefit Schedule. We will not pay these expenses for any diagnosis or medical treatment provided in the first twelve (12) months that your policy is in effect. We will not pay more than $250 during the policy term, regardless of the number of incidents or treatments during the policy term.
Surgical expenses for specified ineligible conditions. We will pay up to $500 for veterinary services
expenses that you incur for your pet’s surgery due to any condition listed in the Surgical Treatment for
Ineligible Conditions section of the VPI® Major Medical Plan Benefit Schedule. We will not pay these expenses
for any surgery that occurs in the first twelve (12) months that your policy is in effect. We will not pay more than$500 during the policy term, regardless of the number of incidents or treatments during the policy term.
So looks like they will pay for a little of it.

I use trupanion, great customer service and IMO very affordable. Delilah was I the e vet and that one trip pretty much covered a years worth of premiums...for Botha dogs lol. They also do direct deposit

Trying to decide if pet insurance would be worth it would take a little bit of research and homework. Where you are located, how old your pet is, what you want covered and how much you want your deductible to be would all has an impact if it is worth it to you.

I found some pet insurance companies are cheaper to get pet insurance while your pet is young. The older your pet gets the more it'll cost to insure your pet's health.

Since Storm is older, Healthy Paws would be the most affordable and the most beneficial. However, I haven't pulled the trigger just yet because Storm is pretty healthy (now that we have gotten him to a healthy weight) and we keep our pets as healthy and sound as we can. This doesn't mean he couldn't catch an ailment that is costly. But the monthly payments to a 'what if' situation needs to be calculated and weighed out to see if it's beneficial. I think if we can hold out, it would definitely be beneficial.

For the time being, we take the monthly payment we would be making and put it in a bank account for that ailment that you least expect so we have something in case it came to that. It's better to be a little somewhat prepared instead of not prepared at all.

I've compared Pet Plan, Trupanion and Healthy Paws. For my pack, being they are almost 8 and 6 yrs old, Healthy Paws would cost the least and be the most beneficial for being in my state.

With how much the monthly cost of insurance on my pack would be, we believe in just keeping a hefty savings, and/or some available credit.

Like, we are always building our savings, but we keep a $10k line of credit open and available for medical emergencies.

We were wondering about getting it as well. Alki's UTI cost us $130 so far and being college students, maybe it would be the smartest route. I'll have to look into it some more.

I have insurance on my girls. With all the activities we do its not and "if" its a "when" someone will get hurt (and it has happened already). We have Pet Plan, and they are FANTASTIC.

http://www.gopetplan.com/?utm_source=adcenter&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=petplan&utm_campaign=Bing-Brand-RAIS

The majority of pet plans won't cover routine shots and preventatives. Ours doesn't. If the real issue is the inability to pay for routine care, try to reassess your situation and budget accordingly.