Pet insurance

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NitrouStang96

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Because a friend of mine paid $1,500 for an operation on a cat, I had to wonder if I would do the same. I love my pets dearly. Could I fork out $1,500 for one of them? There are thousands out there that need care and are adopted for free... But they're family, right?!

Which is why I got pet insurance so I never have to make that decision.

I previously thought pet insurance was a silly/stupid idea, until I put it into those terms. I'd really hate to have to make the decision my friend made.
 
We considered it. Our dog was 2 at the time and thought it was not usefull because she is young. We will get it next year or the year after. It is cheap, all things considered, we priced it at about $20 a month or something. At that price it would take years to catch up to what a surgery would cost.
 
We had it for the first year of both of our pugs lives. Kinda wish we kept it as we recently had a $3500 bill for one of them.
 
I love pets, but I've made a family decision that no animal will receive medical care that costs over $500. Years ago, we had to pay $1300 for our cat when it got attacked by a stray dog. We sacrificed our quality of life for a year because of it, and we decided that it just is not worth it. I know some people like to personify their animals and treat them like another human being, but I don't. Animals are great companions, but when it is their time...I'm going to let them go. I hope my family does the same for me.
 
I love pets, but I've made a family decision that no animal will receive medical care that costs over $500. Years ago, we had to pay $1300 for our cat when it got attacked by a stray dog. We sacrificed our quality of life for a year because of it, and we decided that it just is not worth it. I know some people like to personify their animals and treat them like another human being, but I don't. Animals are great companions, but when it is their time...I'm going to let them go. I hope my family does the same for me.

+1 That is about all I'll say about it. I know its a touchy subject for some people.
 
I'm indifferent about the whole situation...

My parents had a Cocker Spaniel who had a great fulfilling life, when he was 15 years old he became ill and passed through the night 2 months shy of being 16 years old. That dog never gave my parents any trouble, he had the usual check-up visits and typical vet bills, never had I heard my parents complain about the bill being high... for a pooch like that I don't see the need for insurance, my parents had a great run with him and he wasn't a burden on the family's finances.

Now there's my Aunt and Uncle, they had a Golden Retriever who never made it past 10 years of age, that dog was constantly at the vet and underwent surgery 3 times to remove lumps on him... the first lumps were found when the pooch was 7, then 2 more times later on... I remember my uncle sold his Harley to pay for the medical bills for their dog... in that situation I think pet insurance would have helped them greatly...

but, you just can't tell when you are buying an animal how long they'll live...

My SIL and BIL wanted a dog so bad they took a loan out to buy it, 5 years later the dog died and to this day are still paying for it...

My solution: Tropical Fish.

Don't get me wrong, I know this is a sensitive subject, I love dogs, but I grew up on a farm... animals are just that, they serve a purpose and once it's their time there is no changing that. I won't get a dog or cat b/c things are too expensive these days and I'm more concerned about feeding and making sure my family is healthy first.

To each their own, I say if you have pets then the insurance wouldn't hurt.
 
I used to be the hardass that always said that I would just take it out back and put it down.
But I now don't think I could do that. My dogs and my cat are my kids, but only better. They are always happy to see me, always want to play with me and never say " I hate you"..
 
I used to be the hardass that always said that I would just take it out back and put it down.
But I now don't think I could do that. My dogs and my cat are my kids, but only better. They are always happy to see me, always want to play with me and never say " I hate you"..

Yeah, I definitely think it's different when you're actually faced with a decision like that. Our cat got into some poison, and in the end, required over $500 worth of kidney flushing, antibiotics, intensive care, etc. I just can't imagine letting something like that die, for something like that - it's not dying of cancer, it's a one-time thing we have to get rid of. The cat is perfectly fine now, and that was money well-spent.

I think it depends on a lot - the age of the animal included. I certainly don't understand why someone would pay so much money for an animal and then refuse it treatment.

Anyway, in summary, if you can't afford to take proper care of an animal - and that may include some medical treatments - then don't have a pet. You take up responsibility for that animal's life and well-being when you take that animal into your home.

And how that can be misinterpreted as "animals are more important than people" is beyond me, but it happens. :confused:
 
I'm indifferent about the whole situation...

My parents had a Cocker Spaniel who had a great fulfilling life, when he was 15 years old he became ill and passed through the night 2 months shy of being 16 years old. That dog never gave my parents any trouble, he had the usual check-up visits and typical vet bills, never had I heard my parents complain about the bill being high... for a pooch like that I don't see the need for insurance, my parents had a great run with him and he wasn't a burden on the family's finances.

Now there's my Aunt and Uncle, they had a Golden Retriever who never made it past 10 years of age, that dog was constantly at the vet and underwent surgery 3 times to remove lumps on him... the first lumps were found when the pooch was 7, then 2 more times later on... I remember my uncle sold his Harley to pay for the medical bills for their dog... in that situation I think pet insurance would have helped them greatly...

but, you just can't tell when you are buying an animal how long they'll live...

My SIL and BIL wanted a dog so bad they took a loan out to buy it, 5 years later the dog died and to this day are still paying for it...

My solution: Tropical Fish.

Don't get me wrong, I know this is a sensitive subject, I love dogs, but I grew up on a farm... animals are just that, they serve a purpose and once it's their time there is no changing that. I won't get a dog or cat b/c things are too expensive these days and I'm more concerned about feeding and making sure my family is healthy first.

To each their own, I say if you have pets then the insurance wouldn't hurt.

I agree with everything you said with the exception of no pets. I love my dog like she is my child. The reason I want the insurance is because if something happened I couldn't really justify spending around $5,000 for something. SWMBO's sister's boyfriend had a great Boxer/Sharpay/Lab mix. He was around 13 or so last year when things started to go wrong. So the BIL takes him in for a $6,000 surgery, and the dog dies two days later.

It is a touchy subject and everyone is different.
 
This IS a touchy subject - I thought beer was supposed to chill people out!

Anyway, I also grew up raising animals for meat, so I don't think it's just a matter of not accepting death like someone said previously. But whether it's a farm animal or a cat/dog, you take care of the animals you accepted.

And our cat is only a year or 2 old - if she was already at death's door and then swallowed some poison, I'd figure she was trying to off herself anyway and let her go.

We don't have pet insurance, but maybe it would be a good idea. They never get loose outside, so it doesn't seem like much of a chance for anything happening, really.
 
You know how they say you can't put a price on the love of an animal? Well guess what I can it is fairly close to $3,700, I spent that on my dog after he got hit by a car, and well I think that is pretty much my upper limit at this point.
 
I worked for a company that, as part of the normal health insurance package, also offered pet insurance.
 
How much to spend on an animal's vet treatments is a delicate issue for many people. For me, a good question to ask when facing a large vet bill is "Will this make the animal feel better, or will it just make me feel better that I am doing something?" I think some people spend money on their animals because they want to avoid feeling guilty for not doing so, rather than because of the benefit to the animal.
 
I'll just chime in here with a recent experience of ours. Our cat is around 11-12 years old. Last year he started getting what looked like a cyst on his upper eyelid. The vet just told us to keep an eye on it. We came back from a weekend trip a few months later and he had scratched the "cyst" and it was bleeding. We took him to the vet again and it turns out he had a cancerous tumor on his eyelid. We took him to an advanced vet hospital and discussed various treatment options. They were talking about chemo / surgery / reconstructive surgery, etc. and we just weren't sure we could put him through all of that, let alone the thousands of $ they were talking. This place had a veterinary ophthalmologist that visited once or twice a month and it just turned out he was coming in that week so we dropped the cat off to get his opinion. He called us later in the day and said he could remove the tumor with a laser and he just happened to have the laser with him and could go ahead and do it that day and he could come home later that day! It was quite a turn of events and of course we said go ahead. He was able to blast away the tumor with the laser and it left a small divot in his eyelid and a shaved spot, both of which healed quite nicely. I think we spent somewhere around $1500 on that ordeal but it was worth it to us.

Pet insurance isn't a bad idea, but like any insurance, it's a risk/reward situation. If you pay $20 per month over 15 years of the life of a pet, that's $3,600. Maybe your pet will never need $3,600 worth of care, but maybe they will. Would you consider spending $3,600 in care for the pet? If not, maybe spending $3,600 over time is not for you. Then again, maybe the idea of spending $3,600 in small chunks is more palatable than spending $3,600 in one chunk. In the end, it's a personal decision as to how much you're willing to do for your pet.
 
How much to spend on an animal's vet treatments is a delicate issue for many people. For me, a good question to ask when facing a large vet bill is "Will this make the animal feel better, or will it just make me feel better that I am doing something?"

Exactly. If it's only going to prolong the animal's life so you can have him/her around longer, that's not doing the animal any favors. If it can improve their quality of life and they will have a relatively normal life, then perhaps it is worth pursuing. I've heard so many stories where people pour absurd amounts of money into "saving" a pet, only to have the pet alive but with basically a horrible life.
 
Pet insurance isn't a bad idea, but like any insurance, it's a risk/reward situation. If you pay $20 per month over 15 years of the life of a pet, that's $3,600. Maybe your pet will never need $3,600 worth of care, but maybe they will. Would you consider spending $3,600 in care for the pet? If not, maybe spending $3,600 over time is not for you. Then again, maybe the idea of spending $3,600 in small chunks is more palatable than spending $3,600 in one chunk. In the end, it's a personal decision as to how much you're willing to do for your pet.

You do understand that your premium will increase as your pet ages, that is on top of co-pays....I think I would pass but that is just me...
 
You do understand that your premium will increase as your pet ages, that is on top of co-pays....I think I would pass but that is just me...

Yeah, but I bet $20 a month is the upper end of that, maybe for a large dog that is outside a lot and travels a lot with the family. People with 2 indoor cats and a house rabbit, like myself, would hopefully pay less! I'll have to look into it.
 
This discussion has me wondering about getting it for my cat. He's strictly an indoor cat and he turned 6 this year. Probably a good time to think about it as he's in great health now (I assume some kind of medical checkup would be involved).
 
Yeah, but I bet $20 a month is the upper end of that, maybe for a large dog that is outside a lot and travels a lot with the family. People with 2 indoor cats and a house rabbit, like myself, would hopefully pay less! I'll have to look into it.


Look out for deductibles and caps per incidents too...
 
I worked for a company that, as part of the normal health insurance package, also offered pet insurance.

I think it's Progressive that now offers crash insurance. If your pet is in the car with you during an accident they will pay for everything. SWMBO's sister has it and I think it's what I am going with next, we drive a lot with our setter.

Insurance is insurance. It always helps to have it because of those "That can't happen to me, oh wait it just did" moments. How often do those happen if at all, but we have the choice to pay into a program that will make the burden easier to bear. I would much rather part with $3,600 over a bunch of years than I would over a 2 day period. I would also rather pay that for a long time to make sure I will be able to get that care, what if you don't have the lump sum at the time?
 
Whether or not you spend that much money on a pet is one thing... but don't bother with the insurance. It's like maternity insurance... by the time you're all said and done it ends up about the same. And if you don't make a major claim, you're saving money.
 
Whoa, whoa, whoa - hold up. The insurance is way worth it for other reasons, too. It covers flea treatments, vet visits, shots, and all sorts of stuff you're already buying anyway. The insurance comes out to maybe $100 a year (not $20/mo), and I'd be spending a fair portion of that on regular vet checkups anyway. As I said before, I'd rather be out the few bucks a month for the life of the cat than have to make a horribly difficult decision about whether to spend a bunch of money on her or not.
 
What about deductibles and co-pays? Remember these companies are doing this to make money.
I can see cats being cheaper then dogs hell my Mom's cat is over 15 now and has never had a single health issue.

Just make sure you read the fine print because this can be one of those things that you get what you pay for.
 
What I have gotten is a bunch of free vet visits and pet care items, as well as peace of mind.
 
... but don't bother with the insurance. It's like maternity insurance... by the time you're all said and done it ends up about the same. And if you don't make a major claim, you're saving money.
+1, IMHO. I seriously looked into PI for my cat when I first got her. That was back when she was a year old; now she is 12 yrs. and in good health (indoor cat). After doing my homework, I decided that, financially, it just didn't make sense. You are better off just putting away $$$ in an emergency/rainy day savings account and make money while it's there!

Here's more info for those interested.
 

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