Pet insurance

[JohnR]

For medical / emergency, etc - good idea / bad idea?

[Bob Thomas]

I looked into it years ago for my dachshund and was told by several people to put what you would pay for the insurance per month into a separate bank account and use that. Most plans didn't cover much at all.
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[chefchris401]

My girlfriend did it for her dog, was a giant waste of time, money and effort.

Everytime the dog went in for something they gave her a hard time about covering it.

She bought the most expensive plan they had too thinking it would help and be less hassles.

The company ended up dropping her and the dog after so many visits.

The first year of dog ownership is expensive no matter what.

If you do get insurance get it right away so the dog has ZERO pre existing conditions cause if he's been to vet more than two times for the same issue they wouldn't cover it.

You might want to ask your vet if they've had luck with any one company.

It's a mixed breed John so hopefully he has less issues than a pure breed.

I love my mutts
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[Raven]

all i can say is..... The VETS want cash UP FRONT -> like 1/2 of the cost of a life saving surgery...............
on the barrel Head.... like immediately upon entering the clinic
So, that's a big consideration.... before they'll even look at your dog
in an emergency situation JOHN... EVEN if you have insurance! DUDE

so unless you wanna be driving to an ATM at some point with a screaming dog
to get cash... i'd be thinking of having say $500 at the ready....

[bassballer]

man, I have VPI for our dogs and its helped out alot. For $25 month I think its worth it. My lab just got a treble hook through her paw and it cost me 380 at the vet. Well usually get about half back. Never had to fight with thtme at all.

And god forbid that day when its 2K, youll be glad you have it.

[Saltheart]

Talk to your specific vet and see what they accept , what Co they recommend. Be careful , the vet may actually get a commission n selling the coverage so the recommendation may be biased.

I like the idea of a HSA for the dog! Every month you put in $25 or $50 and use it as you go and hopefully some excess builds up.

Vet costs have gone nuts lately. Its frightening how fast a bill adds up for just the simplest problem.

When I was a kid , if a dog got really sick , you put it down. There was no question at all that you would spend $1000 plus at a vet. Now there is tremendous pressure to do all you can to save the animal. Also , the sad truth is that the vets will run up a bill of $1000 plus just doing tests and the dog still dies without you ever knowing the cause...you still owe the money for all the fruitless testing.

The point is try to be prepared by saving a rainy day fund as you go but also be prepared to let the dog go if you are suddenly faced with a potentially huge bill with no promise of a successful cure.Sounds hard natured but its the facts.

My cat got sick only once in her life. I took her to the vet. About $400 into it all the usual tests had been run and no idea of the sickness. The Vet calls me to OK an $850 MRI. I say no (all an MRI would do is tell me if she had cancer , in which case its $800 to know she's dying..I could see that myself without an MRI. Next thing you know , the vet does an Ecocardiogram on the cat..$400 without asking . Anyway , the bill got to $1400 and I get a call from the vet saying that she wants to put the cat down. I tell her to pump her full of antibiotics and steroids and see what happens. Vet says that could be bad for her health (she just called to ask to put the cat down!!!) Anyway , for $40 the cat gets Antibiotics and steroids and overnight she recovers 100%. So it cost me $40 for the treatment and $1400 for tests that eventually showed nothing.

Now this sounds like a gripe aboutr the vet but in fact our vet is and always has been an outstanding vet. That's just the way things are done today in veterenary medicine and the costs add up fast.

Sorry for the huge digression ......................

[Pete F.]

Here is the big secret. It's a mutt. That is not a bad thing. It probably won't have any of the inbred problems that the high priced Breed dogs have and won't need that much special care anyways. Feed it decent food in reasonable amounts, make sure it gets some exercise and has fun.
In fact what you need to do to make sure it is healthy is the same things we should do for ourselves
So step away from the computer, get your fishing rods, the kid, dog and some bait (Oh, the horror) and go fishing.
I'm fishing around here as soon as I get out of here. There are some big Pike but I can't figure out how to post pics anymore.

[FishermanTim]

If the premiums per year are more than the cost of the pet skip the insurance and pur away $$ on your own.
As stated earlier, mutts are less prone to genetic problems that purebred dogs always seem to encounter.
Our last dog was a mutt and her health declined immediately after she got zapped by a power surge (caused by lightening striking a
transformer near out house).
After the zap she was totally deaf.

In the long run you can't predict what will happen to your dog, but you can plan ahead for how you will handle it IF/WHEN it does happen.

Good luck!