Pros and Cons of Having Pet Insurance?

hi jodi, we have had pet insurance on our 2 dogs. if you can afford to do the monthly payments it is well worth it. there are checkups that are free, some medications are free or partially paid for as is labwork. the nice thing is that it encourages a pet owner to take the pet in regularly for maintenace things like the checkups and shots. we had our female puppy spayed with hardly any cost incurred to us. as for our older male dog, he was sick and we didnt even know it, but, since we had been in for a teeth cleaning, the routine labwork showed he had an infection (an out of state tick bite) that would have been deadly, thus, the infection was caught early enough to fix.

Myrna
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February 14, 20080 found this helpful

I had two neutered cockers who were very healthy until they got older. The first dog we had for 13 years when he was put to sleep. He developed skin problems due to cancer, had been operated on once for tumor which returned and I had him put to sleep after he showed signs of discomfort. He developed chronic ear infections and his immune system couldn't fight it all off.

Second dog died of liver cancer; age 12 and he was neutered. I paid for an xray to find out his problem and he was taking antibiotics and water pills at this time. He was given less than a week and I had him put to sleep as he was no longer comfortable.

Neither of my two dogs developed serious ailments until they were older and cancer is a killer. I was willing to pay for one expensive vet bill to help my pet, but once I learned the outcome, I no longer poured my money into a helpless cause.
Cost of my dog's care was about $500.00 - $600.00 each for a one time surgery, xray, medicine and putting them down when necessary.

I cannot tell you if you will save dollars by the purchase of pet insurance because I don't know what it covers. Some pets develop heartworms and have poor health even when young. Our pets were fortunate to have excellent health until they grew older.

Candy

February 14, 20080 found this helpful

There are many different types/plans of Pet health insurance. The ASPCA has a good website with their insurance www.aspcapetinsurance.com/?utm_id=2100. There is no way to know if you will come out ahead with insurance, just like human insurance. Sometimes you pay for years and never need it. Sometimes you get an accident prone pet and need it every year and you make out like a bandit. You should budget for pet expenses every year if you have pet and if you don't have insurance.

In the past we had insurance on MANY cats our particular policy included the yearly shots. I felt it was a good deal considering the cost of an office call. Check out see which one your provider advocates. The Kat2

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