Budget question- pet insurance.

[KennedyMcKenna]

We've been saving up for the cost of adopting a rescue dog. With our tax refund we are planning to fence In the yard. I know there's a lot of options with pet insurance out there but I can't figure out if it is worth it. This is our first dog as a married couple, we both had dogs as kids. The dog we are looking at is an adult female beagle/spaniel mix. She's super cute! Anyway, I was wondering if the cost of the monthly payment proves cost effective against just paying out of pocket. Thanks friends!

 

[marie1203]

I have 5 dogs and I think pet issuance is a waste of money. They coverage isn't good and you get co-payments. What we do is put a certain amount of money in our pet account every month. I started the fund with $2000 then added regular expenses, preventative medicine and then a little over for emergencies. Divided it by 11 months (december we put all the extra money to xmas gifts) and put that money into the account every month. When a checkup or anything comes up I take it the money and pay it. Whatever is left over at the end of the year I let it accumulate and rollover to next year so we will be prepare for the extra expenses in their senior years. If it ever goes under the $2000 I make sure to bring that cushion money back up to $2000.

 

[KennedyMcKenna]

I have 5 dogs and I think pet issuance is a waste of money. They coverage isn't good and you get co-payments. What we do is put a certain amount of money in our pet account every month. I started the fund with $2000 then added regular expenses, preventative medicine and then a little over for emergencies. Divided it by 11 months (december we put all the extra money to xmas gifts) and put that money into the account every month. When a checkup or anything comes up I take it the money and pay it. Whatever is left over at the end of the year I let it accumulate and rollover to next year so we will be prepare for the extra expenses in their senior years. If it ever goes under the $2000 I make sure to bring that cushion money back up to $2000.

That's great advice! We have a great local vet here that we really love, they take great care of our fatcat, and we know we will use them. I think that your idea makes much more sense then these pet insurance companies I've heard of so far.

 

[Evi]

2000 is not a sufficient cushion. I've had multiple pets over many years and had 3 that when they got sick the vet fees easily went over the 2k mark and very quickly. Most recently my pup who's on immunotherapy (cost 1200 + vet visits every 6 months and lifetime cost to refill shots) recently stopped eating and was very lethargic er cost $600 follow up in the er 3 days later wich also included an ultrasound and special diet $800. out follow up tomorrow amount to be determined and we still don't know exactly what is wrong with him.

I think its smart to have a savings for your pet. I do think if the pet is young pet insurance is worth it. Once you've had a pet for a few years and they've shown some symptoms of anything then pet insurance is worthless. I do like the idea of putting away a savings but from my current experience I wouldn't put a cap on it I'd just keep adding to it. Remember if your pet makes it to a ripe old age without any problems thats a great little nest egg you've created. But if not you won't be using credit cards and draining accounts to pay for the vet costs.

 

[KennedyMcKenna]

I think its smart to have a savings for your pet. I do think if the pet is young pet insurance is worth it. Once you've had a pet for a few years and they've shown some symptoms of anything then pet insurance is worthless. I do like the idea of putting away a savings but from my current experience I wouldn't put a cap on it I'd just keep adding to it. Remember if your pet makes it to a ripe old age without any problems thats a great little nest egg you've created. But if not you won't be using credit cards and draining accounts to pay for the vet costs.

I think this is a good point too. The dog I wrote about earlier was just adopted before we could get her, so now we are looking at another dog who isn't even a year old, so maybe the insurance may be worth it, with an additional savings account to fall back on.

 

[si-am]

I don't have it, but I wish I did. I guess it's kind of a gamble, but a good safety net if you need it. Think of your car insurance: I've not had to use mine in over 5 years, but it will be nice to have in case of an accident.

One of our cats is 7 years old and hasn't been to the vet for an illness since we got her. (Knock on wood)

Our other cat, 9, has had multiple issues (blocked urinary tract, respiratory infection, diabetes) and he has cost us thousands of dollars out of pocket. He's not eligible for pet insurance now due to his pre-existing conditions, but it would have really helped us a lot when we needed it unexpectedly.

 

[RMAMom]

We just purchased a German Shepherd puppy in December and my vet strongly recommended Pet Plan insurance. I did some research and she was right. Pet Plan is the best out there, IMHO. It covers genetic defects of each breed and other plans don't do that. It isn't traditional insurance in that they don't cover routine care but they cover accidents and illness. So if my puppy gets sick or suffers from something like hip dysplasia or other genetic illness they will reimburse my costs. I still need to put away money for illness or accidents (and I agree that $2000 is not enough) but if I spend it, I will get it back.

www.gopetplan.com

Good luck with your new dog, I am sure you will find the perfect pup for your family.

 

[Princesca]

I would skip pet insurance. If you want, you can take the money you'd spend on pet insurance every month and deposit it in an account where it will earn interest. That way, if you need it for your pet, it's there. And if you need it for something else that's even more critical, it's there. It's still your money.

 

[diznee25]

DH and I were the same way when we got our first dog. We thought we needed pet insurance and had it for 2 years. Worthless to us, according to the fine print, insurance does NOT cover medical illnesses. Pet insurance is nothing like health insurance for humans. Don't fall for it!

The pet insurance we had covered if your dog got ran over, things like that. But it was very specific in the fine print about not covering anything medical illness related.

Of course, that was 8 years ago. I don't know if Pet Insurances have gotten better with coverage.....something to look into.

diznee25

 

[caitlinsmom]

We have had VPI pet insurance for the past 7 yrs. We've most certainly gotten our monies worth. Both boxers have had numerous growths removed and our male just had numerous ultrasounds and xrays this past fall. 75% of our over $1500 vet bill was reimbursed.

 

[adventure_woman]

We are going to be getting a new puppy in a couple of months. I'm thinking we'll get insurance at least for the first year to see if there are any initial medical issues. Someone gave me this link to review pet insurance:

petinsurancreview.com

So far, I think I am leaning toward Healthypaws, with Petplan being a close second. Good luck!

 

[North of Mouse]

Just make sure you read the fine print as you would on any other legal forms because a lot of them exclude more than they include. My nephew (in another state) is a small animal vet and he sees a lot of upset and outraged people after thinking their animals were totally insured after paying so much in premiums. They are for the most part rip offs (always exceptions). Plus, he's a very humane vet and hates to see the way some people demand an animal's life be extended instead of "putting down", not for the comfort of their pet, but because of their selfishness in not letting them go. No flames, please, just stating what I've heard. We are never ready to see something or someone close to us leave us, but it is a fact of life we have to face when we "love". It's a chance we take every day in life, but we never stop loving and wouldn't want to, but life can be tough sometimes

 

[KennedyMcKenna]

OP here. Thank you all for you valuable opinions, this has given us so much more information than researching on our own. We are still evaluating our options, as our first two choices were adopted as quick as we saw them! But tomorrow we are meeting a sweet well trained Beagle who is two year sold. We're excited!

 

[jessica514]

We've been saving up for the cost of adopting a rescue dog. With our tax refund we are planning to fence In the yard. I know there's a lot of options with pet insurance out there but I can't figure out if it is worth it. This is our first dog as a married couple, we both had dogs as kids. The dog we are looking at is an adult female beagle/spaniel mix. She's super cute! Anyway, I was wondering if the cost of the monthly payment proves cost effective against just paying out of pocket. Thanks friends!

I tried pet insurance once but ended up canceling since I didn't find it to be worth the money. I instead created my own 'insurance' fund and contributed to it when I had some extra cash.. and for additional piece of mind signed up with a vet discount thing called "Pet Assure" which is only about 8 dollars a month and gives me a discount whenever I go to the vet. This in conjunction with my rainy day fund has proven to be a winning combination!

 

[marie1203]

2000 is not a sufficient cushion. I've had multiple pets over many years and had 3 that when they got sick the vet fees easily went over the 2k mark and very quickly. Most recently my pup who's on immunotherapy (cost 1200 + vet visits every 6 months and lifetime cost to refill shots) recently stopped eating and was very lethargic er cost $600 follow up in the er 3 days later wich also included an ultrasound and special diet $800. out follow up tomorrow amount to be determined and we still don't know exactly what is wrong with him.

I think its smart to have a savings for your pet. I do think if the pet is young pet insurance is worth it. Once you've had a pet for a few years and they've shown some symptoms of anything then pet insurance is worthless. I do like the idea of putting away a savings but from my current experience I wouldn't put a cap on it I'd just keep adding to it. Remember if your pet makes it to a ripe old age without any problems thats a great little nest egg you've created. But if not you won't be using credit cards and draining accounts to pay for the vet costs.

I said I started with a $2000 cushion also it has only go under once at it was when I first started. I rollover anything left over for the year and it keeps adding up. I do not take the money and leave at $2000 I just said I never let it go under that amount. Of course we also an emergency fund for just any emergencies and this will qualify as an emergency if our vet bills ever went o ver the amount in their fund. My youngest dogs are going to turn 5 soon and we have never gone over $2000 in 1 vet bill (except when we first got our puppy mill dog but that is another story). Believe my dogs and cats get every treatment they can possible need and in the past it has included ultra sounds, multiple blood panels, x-rays, a black widow bite and we still ahead of the game. We spend over $1000 a year in their food and I also add that up and put it in the fund.