We rescued a 2 year old corgi/beagle mix a week ago. He was chipped, updated on immunizations and neutered shortly before we got him.
We have only had one other dog who we adopted at age 4 and honestly at that time had no idea there was such a thing as pet insurance.
Looking for pet insurance recommendations. Pros/cons. Things to be aware of, etc.
The one that has been recommended to me by another family member is Healthy Paws. I believe they do not cover routine care. Not sure that’s a deal breaker. We are more concerned about unexpected costs/illnesses rather than routine care.
I had to take my dog to a specialty vet and started talking with the family the next car over. They had Healthy Paws and were unbelievably grateful that they did. Their dog tore up it’s leg, and has had to have several surgeries. They said that Healthy Paws paid out over $10k in costs for this incident, and would continue to cover things in the future as long as they kept paying.
I didn’t have insurance for my dog who had to be put to sleep earlier this year. Out of nowhere she started to not be able to walk and lost her voice. I put her to sleep after I thought she had enough. I spent about $8k on this unexpected illness, and if we discovered what was wrong, I would have kept going. You get so attached, and they are so dependent on you; I keenly felt the responsibility for making sure she lived a good life.
Anyway, thank you for your post because you reminded me to get this for my new puppy. Will be following this thread with interest.
I have Healthy Paws and my dog wouldn’t be alive without it! They paid almost $10,000 without blinking an eye. They have paid all the follow on work and we will keep it for the life of our dog. We even got it for our older dog even though we knew pre-existing conditions are not covered. We are happy we did and now a significant new item is being covered. The biggest problem is that you have to pay up front but they will get you the money back (after deductable) within 10 days. They mean it! I would get it again with every new pet!
Another happy Healthy Paws subscriber here. We did not have insurance with our first dog, and she had a lot of issues. ACL surgery x2, hip issues, lots of ear and skin infections due to allergies. We were young and just starting out, and we didn’t have a lot of extra money for those expenses. Sadly, by the time we found out that pet insurance was a thing, our pup just had too many preexisting conditions to make it worth it. With our current two dogs, we enrolled right away. It has definitely been worth it for us!
We had a beagle corgi. What a wonderful dog. Lol, ours was strongly beagle and strongly corgi. Fabulous watch dog.
We didn’t have pet insurance on her, made sure to get it on the current rescue pup. Went with Nationwide. Daughter has 3 cats on Nationwide and has saved thousands on the Maine Coon and his long fur issues, including surgery.
But we also have a plan via the vet, for ordinary things.
It’s some peace of mind to know the insurance is there.
I would purchase pet insurance if we adopted another pet. We asked our vet about 10 years ago, and she recommended against it at the time, but our pets were “middle age” then. I believe at that point in their life she felt we should instead save the premium dollars in a separate account meant for emergencies.
With any insurance, my general philosophy is that you pay for it one way or the other, either in a lump sum, or over time. But having insurance can help lesson the guilt or tough decisions sometimes needed when finances are an issue determining treatment options.
To that end, I collected bits of wisdom (from others) over time. None of the notes are from personal experience, and they’re several years old by now. At this point, I doubt we will adopt again, but maybe it is useful for someone else?
• Trupanion better than VPI
• Check“Embrace” pet insurance
• Questions to ask:
• What is considered pre-existing? What if it were an unknown condition?
• Any breed specific problems excluded?
• Per incident cap?
• What is policy on rate rises?
• Who determines what is a “necessary” treatment? the vet? the insurance co.? the owner?
We have Healthy Paw insurance too. Thankfully, we haven’t used it yet. I never had insurance on a dog before but our new dog had to have surgery for a blockage at four months! He eats everything. Now, we have insurance. It was an expensive lesson.
