As a couple, my husband and I are new to dog ownership. We've had a very healthy and feisty cat for 5 1/2 years with no major medical issues, but... dogs are different, so we were thinking of buying a Pet Health Insurance policy for him. I called our vet, talked to them about what they accept and their experiences with each. I also talked to the Emergency Animal Hospital that works with our vet's office - they both accept ASPCA and Embrace.

Nikolai is a young guy (between 1.5-2 years old) with no major issues - at his wellness check, he's "slightly thin" and has some tarter/plaque buildup and gingivitis (which we'll be working on in coming months... working our way up to brushing his teeth). With previous dogs, my family has paid thousands in medical care (one had lupus... then was hit by a car on one of his roaming excursions - he survived, had surgery, made a full recovery and lived many good years after that; another had severe allergy and thyroid issues and was on maintenance medications, etc.). I really don't ever want to find ourselves in a place where we're spending thousands on tests/treatments... Our pets are family, so it will never be a question as to whether or not to treat something, we're just looking for the best way to financially plan for regular care and accidents. So, I figured I'd ask here. :-) Does anyone have either of these carriers? What's been your experience? What would you recommend?

i have thought about it in the past but never looked into it, it sounds like a good idea but i think the cost scared me away.

jbealer wrote:

i have thought about it in the past but never looked into it, it sounds like a good idea but i think the cost scared me away.

Yeah... insurance in general is sort of like that: expensive and seemingly a waste until you really NEED it. *sigh* We've created a whole budget category for our pets, and are considering just chucking maybe $25 a month away for "medical"... but if we could put that toward a policy that would cover all or most of their medical, that might be better.

Just saw this, and I have also thought about pet insurance. A friend of mine woke up one morning (recently) and found her German Shepard paralized in the hind legs. Apparently, he's had this pinch nerve for sometime and finally paralyzed him in the hind legs. His surgery cost $7K! She strongly advised pet insurance, and living in El Jebel (10 miles north of Aspen), grocery stores carry them for $10/month. (Didn't ask her what it covered or who was the provider).

Another friend of mine bought pet insurance for her Mini-Dachsund and then gave it up because whenever she took her pet to the vet, the insurance plan she bought covered the basics or very little and I believe she mentioned it cost her $35/month. Her opinion was to put that money away in an account to accumulate instead.

I haven't looking into it myself, but would think that as with any 'insurance', it depends on what it covers and how much does it cost. So, if you found pet insurance that cost $25/month and it covered major surgeries at least 50% or higher, it *might* be worth it....especially if your pup is accident prone or very 'daredevil-ish'....

I'd be interested to find what's out there, how much they cover and what do they cost. It's on my list to do....so when I find any info on it, I'll re-post it here. Otherwise, let me know what you find.

I have been looking into insurance. Especially after my so called free "re check" today ended up costing me another $80 because we need another another round of antibiotics. I also know we need to have some bloodwork and stuff done. Any experience with pet insurance? I saw ASPCA says it reimburses 80% but you need to pay the bill up front and then submit a claim. Just wondering if anyone has tried it or found out more info in the time since this thread. Any info is always appreciated.

I've been meaning to look into this a little more but haven't yet. I was also going to talk to my vet to see what insurance they accept and that those insurances cover. If/when I find anything, I'll post back.

Ok, I called my vet's office to ask about pet insurance.
They recommended Trupanion:

https://www.trupanionpetinsurance.com/Enroll

You can enter your pet's age and breed and select your deductible and see how your monthly cost adjusts. There's also information on what is covered and how much is covered.

I says the vet office fee is not covered, but medication and vet expenses beyond that including surgery is covered at 90% - This is what you'll need to confirm and make sure that if you took your furbaby to the vet because he/she hurt his leg or something and needed bloodwork, shots and/or meds, are those covered at 90%? And how is it reimbursed? Do you put in a claim and get reimbursed or do you pay the remainder after what's covered and the reimbursment goes back to the vet?

I know some insurances don't cover a whole lot and if you rarely go to see your vet beyond routine check-ups and/or vaccinations, you may just be better off putting money aside every month as if you were paying a monthly insurance payment and just accumulating in a bank account for your pet's vet visits.

Hope this helps!

I'm gonna at least check it out...

Oh!...Trupanion.com also lets you compare other pet insurance companies to their benefit.
It looks like they are pretty good...so I'm going to least call my local rep to get more info on the benefit they offer.

I've looked into the insurance... Not for us at all. Way too expensive and doesn't cover enough.

We go the cheap route for vaccines and heartworm/flea stuff with clinics and other low cost services. We have a "dog emergency" credit card as well as have a savings account set up for the just in case stuff. *knock on wood* we haven't had a need to really use it but it's there if we do.

I've looked into it, specifically ASPCA but I just don't think it's worth it in the end

I think if your pet is healthy, and you keep your pet healthy, you'd be better off just putting some money away every month as if you were paying monthly for insurance.

Thanks for the info. I agree, if your pet is healthy then it is probably best to just put money away. So far Frankie has had hookworms, 2 UTI's, skin infection, and the vet wants to do blood work and xrays. I need to consider insurance because he's only 2 and we have already have too many issues and is costing me a small fortune. My vet LOVES me

cmanding wrote:

I think if your pet is healthy, and you keep your pet healthy, you'd be better off just putting some money away every month as if you were paying monthly for insurance.

That's exactly what we do. I too looked into pet health insurance but with how little we get on an annual basis it would not be worth it for us. I'd rather take the money you'd be giving to the insurance company monthly and setting it aside in a savings account instead. Just my opinion.

Personally, my husband and I are on the lower end of the income scale... we don't have any credit cards and pretty much live with a few hundred extra dollars a month that we don't have to spend on bills. I have been really concerned about this because I don't know what we would do if Roxy suddenly needed a multi-thousand dollar emergency surgery, for whatever random reason may pop up. We'd literally have no way to pay for it, and I just don't want to be in that position...

But most of the good insurance I have found is only a reimbursement plan, which I don't know if that would even particularly help me... has anyone on here actually purchased a health insurance plan for your pet?

Embrace! I've had this pet insurance for almost three years now and have been very happy with it! The policy is customizable, so you can easily lower your monthly payment by adjusting different things. The customer service is great as well. The big reason why I chose Embrace is that they cover holistic care and treatments. They also cover any genetic diseases/conditions that some breeds are prone to getting. I pay about $50 a month for two dogs. When I just had Luka, it was about $23 a month. It has payed off for us with both dogs. Luka ended up needing all sorts of allergy testing. Kitty had to have jaw surgery after being bit in the face as a puppy. We got her after the dog attack had happened. She had had one surgery payed for by her first owner, and ended up needing a second as she grew. Embrace covered much of the cost.

I'm kind of glad I stumbled into this thread. I'd always sort of scoffed at pet insurance because until last week I had only had indoor cats (had dogs growing up, but wasn't financially responsible for them). What kind of trouble can indoor cats get into, right? Boy, did I learn that the hard way recently...

One of my cats came down with histoplasmosis, and I'm still not sure how he got it being 100% indoor, but after loads of tests and a trip to an internal medicine vet who ultimately misdiagnosed him as asthmatic, I wound up paying about $3000 and the recommended treatment wound up killing him. It's a mess that I'm still trying to work out, as I moved in the middle of the whole mess, but it's definitely made me take a second look at insurance.

I still need to do some research, but it looks like most of you who have had it seem to be less than satisfied. I'm lucky that I was in a good financial situation at the time, but I think I may stick with putting money away every month and/or setting aside a credit card. We'll see how things go with Ghost, but hopefully she'll be pretty easy. The only down side to my new location is that I don't have a vet on the base I'm stationed at so I don't get discounts on vaccines and routine stuff anymore.

Thanks everyone for the words of wisdom!

We have Trupanion, which so far, we've only had to use a couple of times for Dakota. But we did get reimbursed. The only thing they don't cover is pre-existing conditions. If we had managed to get it before Demon's cataracts erupted those would be covered too. Unfortunately, timing wasn't on our side with that one.

I highly recommend pet insurance. Our previous dog I got from a family friend. Toward the end (last 3 or 4 years of life) she had a lot of issues. If I had been able to get reimbursed it would have been a lot better/easier. Even if it doesn't seem necessary early on, you may be grateful for it later.