# Health Insurance on Dogs



## Sally Crunkleton (Jan 13, 2012)

I know the majority of people on this board have a lot of time and money invested in their dogs. 

With all the recent talk of bloat and dog food scares, I am curious how many of you have pet insurance on your dogs in case of an accident or emergency such as bloat?

I myself have gone that route. Before I knew such a thing existed I had forked out lots of money on emergency surgery for bloat and a TPLO. Once I got my most recent dog I felt I had no choice. Glad I did to say the least!


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## James Downey (Oct 27, 2008)

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...ely-worth-the-price-in-our-analysis/index.htm


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## Brian McQuain (Oct 21, 2009)

Instead of insurance, I've always just put away a little bit of $ each month and that seems to work out pretty well.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Agreed...I recommend to clients having an emergency fund for major unexpected surgeries or emergencies.


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## Sally Crunkleton (Jan 13, 2012)

Thanks James, I think I actually read that one before. I agree with that article in many ways, but for shit magnets like me I found a company that was worth it. When my company started offering one of those dominators, I was glad I read the fine print before finding a different company. It saved me a lot of money on a few freak things not many people encounter. Good read though, glad I stayed away from the big names mentioned in that article.

Brian, good idea- but if I had stuck to that I'd still have one heck of a credit card bill. I realize this isn't a good option for all, and some are more fortunate than others in not having crazy things happen. I wish that worked for me too.

For example, 2 years ago both my dog's got a mystery illness. Due to a very incompetent vet, a second opinion sent me to a specialist which all would have cost me 6k. I only came out of pocket about 1k and had I not gotten that 2nd opinion my dogs would have died, and without the insurance I would not have bought furniture for the new house. I may be one of few with a good experience, but mine really had no benefit restrictions or age/ breed rules.


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## Sara Waters (Oct 23, 2010)

After experiences with 2 cruciates, dysplasia and pyometra I decided to take out insurance on a new pup. Turned out she had elbow dysplasia and a congenitial urinary tract problem. So $6000 later and the liklihood of more to come, yes I was glad I had insurance in this instance . I have insurance on 2 of my dogs currently, on the dysplastic dog and my best working dog who as it turns out has less than stellar hips and although he is fine now the ortho did warn me that the future may or may not see him requiring surgery. I go for a larger excess to keep the cost down. Another friend has forked out $20,000 on her elbow dysplastic dog, most of which was covered by insurance. I think it is a bit of chance really as to if it pays off or not. One definitely needs to read the fine print. 

Also my insurance cut the excess option recently which hiked the price up. Unfortunately I cant change companies because both my insured dogs now have preexisting dysplasias. The other thing that caught a friend of mine - her dog was eventiually diagnosed with hip dyplasia and once the annual policy was up they refused to continue to insure her because her dog may likely need a hip replacement. My insurance did not do that to me even with the dog they forked out nearly $6000 on with possibly more to come, but they could have


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

Hi Sally..

what company you with?

what are payments like?

deductable?

coverage?

network? referrals?

if personal, PM. or tell me to mind my own...LOL....


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## Sally Crunkleton (Jan 13, 2012)

Joby Becker said:


> Hi Sally..
> 
> what company you with?
> 
> ...


Hi Joby, not personal at all...I chose Pets Best Insurance. The reasons were mainly because I do not believe in benefit schedule- no one can predict what quarter an illness or emergency will happen. Also, I had a hard time finding a company that would cover a large breed over 4-5 yrs old. I had a 9 yr old gad at the time and just bought a puppy.

The payments depend on the coverage you choose based also on age of pets, how many, and pre-existing conditions. 

For my 2- then, I now have just one 
Both males- on the 9 yr old I took out 14k per year, and 7k on the pup. I only got accident/illness emergency coverage as I have no problem doing routine care on my own.

You can go monthly, but just opted to pay the year at a time, and it was around $900 a year for both. It does go up slightly as each dog ages, but it was minimal.

The deductible is $100 per dog, per incident, they pay 80% of the total after that. 

The only stipulation I saw then was a 1 yr waiting period for a TPLO which didn't bother me since I already did that for the old guy and guessed the pup could go a year without an acl tear.

I just researched online. Here is the website if you want to dig around...

www.petsbest.com


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## Sally Crunkleton (Jan 13, 2012)

Dang autocorrect- gad should be GSD


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

thanks, I always have wondered about it...


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## Sally Crunkleton (Jan 13, 2012)

Your welcome!


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## Marta Wajngarten (Jul 30, 2006)

Sally, does your company deny coverage for any cases of injury deemed a fault of the dog when the dog has been spayed or neutered after the age of 6months old?

Is coverage denied if your dog is deemed to be a working or competition and not pet dog?


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## Sally Crunkleton (Jan 13, 2012)

Marta Wajngarten said:


> Sally, does your company deny coverage for any cases of injury deemed a fault of the dog when the dog has been spayed or neutered after the age of 6months old?
> 
> Is coverage denied if your dog is deemed to be a working or competition and not pet dog?


I am not quite clear on the first question, but do you mean something like a dog chewing out stitches and creating a bigger wound? There are no stipulations like that I know of....had my dog further injure himself after a claim, and they covered 2 more fixes and one being the ER all related to the original injury.

I was never asked what I did with my dogs nor was I asked to release any medical history. I have brought up protection sports and no problems came from it. Customer service has always been good in my experience.


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## Alison Grubb (Nov 18, 2009)

Pet insurance is not something I have ever invested in. I have a separate account for my dogs and I put some money in there monthly.

When I worked for a vet, it seemed like the pet insurance companies weren't super helpful. We had owners who were basically shit out of luck because the insurance company would blame whatever illness/injury on a breed disposition. Plus other excuses.

I don't see the point honestly. I've not had a huge number of illnesses or injuries but I take my dogs to the vet when they need to go. It's never been a big financial issue because of the savings I have set aside for them. Even if it was, well I would sacrifice.


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## Sara Waters (Oct 23, 2010)

Alison Grubb said:


> Pet insurance is not something I have ever invested in. I have a separate account for my dogs and I put some money in there monthly.
> 
> When I worked for a vet, it seemed like the pet insurance companies weren't super helpful. We had owners who were basically shit out of luck because the insurance company would blame whatever illness/injury on a breed disposition. Plus other excuses.
> 
> I don't see the point honestly. I've not had a huge number of illnesses or injuries but I take my dogs to the vet when they need to go. It's never been a big financial issue because of the savings I have set aside for them. Even if it was, well I would sacrifice.


I have been quite lucky with customer service. They forked out promptly without any question and both were dysplasias which some insurers dont cover. They waived my cruciate waiting period with a letter from an orthovet. I only insure 2 of my 6 dogs but so far am well in front with the surgery, and elbow and hip xrays and CT scans. I wouldnt bother insuring my kelpie or Koolie as they are well known for their good structure and health. Cattle dogs can have cruciate and dysplasia issues just emerging among some of the showbred lines we have where I live. These are the first dogs I have ever insured, mind you I do have a reletive who worked as an orthovet and while she was working she did 4 TPLO surgeries in the space of 2 years on the family cattle dogs for just the cost of the hardware and drugs. That would have been pretty exy if not for her.

I am kind of locked in now as I know both my insured dogs could need surgery down the track, so at least I know they are covered.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

I put the pup on PetPlan because it covers genetic issues as well and has been well reviewed by some other GSD owners. I went with high deductable, 100% after deductable plan (basically catastrophic coverage-but it does not take a lot to be catastrophic and the deductable applies to a single illness or injury, not a single vet trip)

I figure when we get past the first few years we may back off but it seems that when I do insure a dog they don't get hurt and when I don't they do. Kind of like how the car always needs a major repair when the tax check comes in......


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## Sally Crunkleton (Jan 13, 2012)

Nancy Jocoy said:


> when I do insure a dog they don't get hurt and when I don't they do. Kind of like how the car always needs a major repair when the tax check comes in......


Exactly! 

PetPlan sounds like a good one too!


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## Marta Wajngarten (Jul 30, 2006)

Sally Crunkleton said:


> I am not quite clear on the first question


I can't tell you which company as I don't know, but I have heard some one mention a policy where if your dog for example is involved in a dog fight, or is attacked, if the dog is intact or has not been neutered prior to being 6mo old, the insurance company views this in a way as the dog's neuter status being responsible for the aggressive incident (or contributing to it) and therefore not covered. I guess it would sort of be treated like a pre-existing medical condition with an assumption that intact dogs are automatically prone to increased aggression.


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## Sally Crunkleton (Jan 13, 2012)

Marta Wajngarten said:


> I can't tell you which company as I don't know, but I have heard some one mention a policy where if your dog for example is involved in a dog fight, or is attacked, if the dog is intact or has not been neutered prior to being 6mo old, the insurance company views this in a way as the dog's neuter status being responsible for the aggressive incident (or contributing to it) and therefore not covered. I guess it would sort of be treated like a pre-existing medical condition with an assumption that intact dogs are automatically prone to increased aggression.


That is insane, and I am not sure which company that is either. That is a very ignorant policy. Goes to show when choosing a company to read all the fine print before deciding. Spaying or neutering made no difference with my coverage.


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## Carmen van de Kamp (Apr 2, 2006)

Non of our dogs are insured as most exclude working dogs...


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