I am curious to know if you have got dog insurance.I personally have but the few times i have taken my jack russell to the vet I have had to pay all the vets bills, as they have been things not covered by the insurance plan.
I wondered what your views are on this?

I have a JRT, too! And I have pet health insurance on her. it covers a TON of stuff, even routine visits, so in the end, I more than break even by having the policy. That said, in order to get a lot of the stuff covered, I had to upgrade from the basic plan. But like I said, I make the money back with vet's appointments, so it's worth it to me.

I decided to get it when a friend's kitten ate a rubber band and cost a couple thousand dollars at the vet's...that's the sort of thing that a $200 annual pet health insurance policy covers and makes it worth it. Of course, you have to have the policy in place before rubber-band-eating may commence.

Google "pet health insurance" and you will come up with a bunch of options.

We have discussed this but not come to a decision. It's a tough call, I think, but as phoebelee said, it pays for itself if you have a serious problem (which, of course, is true of all insurance, not just dogs).

Our border collie mix ate some prescription medicine once and we didn't discover it for about 12 hours. She was hospitalized for two days and had a lot of treatments that cost us about $2000, so insurance would definitely have been worth it in her case, had we had any.

I've been considering getting pet insurance as well. But i want to find one that others have used and have great track record with... what company do you use Phoebe's Mom? How do they figure out how much it'll cost? Does it only work in certain Vets offices or all? Thanks!

This one is new to me. I think this is already an existing here in our country, but probably only High Class people uses them here because of the cost. Thus only few know about it. I never thought there is an existing dog insurance.

I think if you've got one or two dogs then it can save you struggling to pay with a huge vets bill at some time and more likely when they get older.
But the odds seem to change with the more dogs you have. A friend has five and they are insured, but it costs a bomb.
Then again it did save her forking out over £1000 last year on a big op for one of her girls.

i have tried to get insurance for my puppy, but can't because of (get this) pre existing conditions, so if your dog or puppy already has this aliment then you could be denied, which has happened to me with 4 pet insurance companies. good luck

First thing I did when I got my dogs, was to buy a 1 year policy for about $140 dollars from a company called VPI. They have different policies , but I felt that this one would give some protection in case anything serious happened. Since then I have heard stories about vet bills easily exceeding $1,000 or more when your dog gets sick. I am very glad I got this insurance, and will be renewing it next year, even if I don't use it.

Yup, VPI is the one I have a policy on Phoebe through. And I also found that the time to get it is when they're really young and have had no medical problems, otherwise you definitely could run into the pre-existing conditions issue. And, naturally, I've never *needed* it as Phoebe hasn't had anything major done at the vet's, but I know that the second I drop the policy, something bad and expensive will happen.

Some policies even cover chemotherapy and dialysis for animals. Obviously, you'd pay more for those policies, but I remember a friend saying her dog's chemotherapy (which didn't cure his cancer but did prolong his life for a year) was running them about $1500-2000 a month, so that seems like a good deal to me....

I didn't even know that you could get dog health ins. I would like to check up on this.

I would say no to health insurance for pets.........yes all insurance is really created for the "what ifs" of major problems, but in the end you will pay more yearly in time then you would get in return....and by the time you would need the insurance (older years) the coverages you would have really woudn't cover the ailments of old age.

I think that really in a way you are just spreading the cost.

It does save you getting hit by a big bill, but you end up paying out whatever.

Unless of course your animals never get sick.

I pondered this subject for a long time. In the end, I decided against it. I felt that in order to get a lot of coverage it was going to cost me $80/month and then I wasn't really sure if some stuff would be covered in the end.

Instead, I started a bank account for my dog. I have $150 transferred directly from every pay cheque into an account for dog emergencies only.

That's such a sensible and common sense solution, GSP, that it's irritating!!!

Why didn't I think of that???

Now don't you go dibbing into that money and lets hope you never need to use it!

Originally Posted by GSP Lover

I pondered this subject for a long time. In the end, I decided against it. I felt that in order to get a lot of coverage it was going to cost me $80/month and then I wasn't really sure if some stuff would be covered in the end.

Instead, I started a bank account for my dog. I have $150 transferred directly from every pay cheque into an account for dog emergencies only.

This is a really great idea I would have never thought about doing this I need to start a account for this type of thing.

I think that dog insurance or policies is too expensive for me right now. I'll just have to wait if I'll be able to save enough for this. Is dog insurance really necessary even if we only have one dog? What are the best dog insurance that you can recommend?

Actually, I am not the one that came up with the doggie bank account, it was my vet. He feels that it's better to stash away the cash than buy insurance.

I also have a credit card that has substantial room on it for the same thing.

If you set up an automatic transfer to the doggie account, you don't even notice the money is gone.

That bank account idea is a good one.

Still, I don't regret getting the insurance. As I said in my original post, I more than break even considering my policy covers routine visits, too.

I am always back and forth on getting insurance. On one hand, I think it would be a good idea..on the other, if I never use it its kind of a waste. I'm still considering it.