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Old 03-14-2011, 04:37 PM
 
455 posts, read 1,233,113 times
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I don't have pet insurance as such, I have a set amount transferred into a separate account for them. I have five pets altogether 3 cats, 1 dog and 1 rabbit.
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Old 04-27-2011, 07:27 AM
 
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Hi all,
I think pet insurance is needed. It's not like that having pet insurance is an expensive deal. It will be beneficial to take pet insurance at the early age of your pet. In this case you and your pet both will be in profit.
As you know that vet bills are increasing day by day. With pet insurance we can fix a particular amount which will be paid for the vet pet insurance.
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Old 04-27-2011, 08:56 AM
 
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I found pet insurance to be very well worth it for my cats. I have accident / illness coverage, and it's more than paid for itself several times over. However, I am a "lightweight" cat lady and currently only have 3.

Chico, age 7 & Mickey, age 11 (Mickey passed in September) - insured by ASPCA $20 / month per cat. Very satisfied with what I've been reimbursed with their vet bills. I shelled out approx $5,300 total this past year for them and was reimbursed $3,850. I honestly didn't know what to expect, and was expecting a smackdown and the company trying to deny the claims at every turn, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Pasquale, age 6yrs, Monkey, 8 mos. - both are insured by PetPlan. This company received very good reviews online and was highly recommended by a woman I was talking to one time in the waiting room at the vet's office. I paid $340 lump sum at the beginning of the year for both total. Just submitted a claim and will let you know how that goes....
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Old 04-27-2011, 09:11 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,527,214 times
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For those who do have insurance and think it worthwhile, who is the provider? I assume there is more than one choice for pet insurance.

Seems like I've priced it a couple times and found it not worth it, but it's been a while. I have one cat and she's 15 now, so I'm also assuming it will cost more to put her on vs a younger cat. Since my vet expenses have never been particularly large, it usually stays below the radar. Certainly now is the time there could be significant costs in the future, but I'm still not certain it would be worth it vs funding a savings account or whatever. (In my case it would be just pay as I wouldn't find a dedicated savings account necessary.)
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Old 04-27-2011, 09:37 AM
 
346 posts, read 495,716 times
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That is a good question of whether or not it pays to have insurance when you have a 15 year old cat, Greg.

I adopted Mickey at age 11, and had a hard time finding insurance that would cover him at that age. I went with ASPCA for this reason. ASPCA just lends their name and it's underwritten by the United States Fire Insurance Company. I'm sure there are others out there, but they might be more costly or have different limits / levels of coverage.

Depends what you want your pet covered for. I was most concerned about illnesses / diagnostic tests & treatment that hit unexpectedly.
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Old 04-27-2011, 09:44 AM
 
346 posts, read 495,716 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lola4 View Post


This is our sweeeeeet boy, Leonard. Due to feeding dry kibble, he had a medical emergency a few years ago. The initial visit to the emergency room, plus the follow-up with our regular vet, cost a tad over $1000.00. I'd pay it again in a nano second. We are far from filthy rich, but the dollar amount we are willing to spend on our pets' care depends on the ENTIRE situation, not just the dollar amount. We couldn't "just get another" sweet Leonard. He isn't replaceable.
Lola,

I agree with you 100%, this is also how it is for me. Really does depend on the whole situation. I also feel that my boys are irreplaceable.

Leonard is beautiful, by the way!
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Old 04-27-2011, 12:01 PM
 
88 posts, read 235,757 times
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We have five pets & no insurance. I have never purchased pet insurance as I self-insure by setting aside a yearly budget for the pets. My pet account far exceeds what our yearly costs run for any Vet bills.

Pets are in good health & kept in shape so
that said, our yearly medical costs are very very low. The pet insurance premiums are an uneeded pet expense for us so the money is kept for any future potential costs.
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Old 04-27-2011, 12:26 PM
 
Location: Near Nashville TN
7,201 posts, read 14,882,033 times
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No Ins for pets. We have several thousand earmarked for vet care.
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Old 04-27-2011, 12:29 PM
 
Location: In a cat house! ;)
1,758 posts, read 5,459,442 times
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I checked into pet insurance about 3 or 4 years ago. The premiums and all the "rules" that came with what they would or wouldn't pay made it not worth it to me. I'm not against pet insurance. If you want it, go for it... just make sure you read all the fine print.
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Old 07-29-2011, 01:40 PM
 
Location: Virginia
575 posts, read 1,983,718 times
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Two schools of thought on things that I have personally done. We have a Care Credit account from when my husband had surgery. As long as you charge over like $300 my vet gives you 6mo no interest. So when my first annual of the year came up I pre-charged all of my estimated regular vet expenses for the other 3 animals when I paid for the charges for the animal that was being seen. It gave me a positive balance to use up for the year at the vets and then I had 6 months to pay Care Credit off. Then when the rest had to go it was basically "free" (not really) but it wasn't a huge hit because it was being paid as a small monthly bill not a huge hit all at once and it didn't go on an interest accruing credit card.

Now that we luckily have more flexibility in our budget we put money aside every month for vet expenses. It's basically the same thing as doing the Care Credit only it goes into my personal savings account and when I see the vet I either pay on that card, or we transfer the money. It works really well. I don't panic if unexpected things come up.

It does require you to be faithful though and count that as a real bill when you have to put it in - not an "extra" if you are short on cash. I'd rather pay myself than an insurance company that I may or may not be able to count on to pay the expenses. I know I'll pay them!! We just figure what everyone will need for the year and divide it up - that's what has to get put up plus a bit for the extra cushion.

I like using my own account better than Care Credit because I can take that money anywhere. It gives me extra flexibility. I just feel safer in having the money myself
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