Dog insurances is neccessary?
 

Do i really need to buy insurance for my puppy? if so, What is the cost?

You don't HAVE to, but it is a great investment if something were to ever happen to your puppy! If she ever had to have surgery or got really sick, you would be really glad you did! Both of mine are covered and thankfully I've never had to use it, but there are many members here who have. I personally have Pet Plan. There are different policies to choose from. My policies run about $250 per year per dog. You can check into it at Pet Insurance for Dogs and Cats - Petplan Pet Health Insurance

I have PetPlan insurance and if you go on their website they have different prices for their plans. As the previous post she is right if your puppy got sick or had surgery. I used mine already for an ear infection and it was nice to have. There are many plans and prices out there so I think it would be a good idea to check them out. Hope this helps.

I wish i had gotten insurance before I brought either of mine home. Now that they have "pre- exisiting conditions"- I no longer feel it is worthwhile for me.

i checked online the less cost is $349 per year. Does insurance cover examination? This cost me alot because when i took my puppy to vaccine, the vet already charger the examination for 47dollar. So everytime i take her to vaccine cost me $100 something. Every year 3 vacine is almost $400. Anyway does insurance cover these stuff?

another idea
 

I did a lot of research regarding pet insurance. I actually have a savings account that hubby and I put money into incase something happened to Gizmo. ( like 25 a month) I feel like our money is better off going into a savings account. We have the money if we ever did need it. I just feel that is a better option for our family. There really isnt a right or wrong answer its just whatever you feel more comfortable doing :)

Okay weird. I just posted on another thread that my husband and I set up a separate savings account for any medical expenses Gizmo got.

Go figure hehe!

I do not have insurance, but I have debated it........especially now that I have 4 dogs. (It would have come in handly when my Rhodesian Ridgeback came down with Valley Fever, that was SPENDY!!!!!!!) But for the most part my dogs, other than routine vaccines, spaying, neutering......they have luckily not needed much emergency care. KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!

haha thats so weird.. all i can say is great minds think alike :)

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I think it is a necessity.... I'm a student and don't have a lot of disposable income (all of it goes to him already) and just to give you an idea of how it's saved my butt this year.

it costs me $28 per month (I picked a high deductible and DO NOT RECOMMEND that, cause now I"m stuck with it). I have to pay the first $300, then the rest is covered, my plan even has annual dental work. So this year Harley has had the following done that has been covered (neuter was not covered)
-retained baby teeth (mostly covered)
-two upset stomachs that cost $100 each
-ear infection

I've had two freak outs with the upset stomachs cause one time was some form of poisoning, the other we have no idea what caused it, but with insurance I feel confident that if I need to go in, I do not need worry about if I can afford it.

If I had it to do over again I would have gotten insurance. Especially, knowing all of the physical problems that yorkies can come down with. Pippin has IBD and I've spent a couple of thousand just in the last year. It's not curable so this will be an on going cost. I think its a throw of the dice. With Pippin it would have saved me a lot of money.

I honestly think having a savings account is better. I've seen too many horror stories about pet insurance... I know some have had luck with it. I just feel like I'd be better off putting $$$ into a savings account if there were ever an emergency.

but at the same time.....if you put say 25 bucks back a month...that would be 300 dollars a year..... and you could insure your baby for less. And say thay he/she has to have LP surgery or they swallowed some object or got cancer or whatever....it could be thousands,,,,and guess what!! Your insurance just coovered it!! just sayin!! :):)

of course you don't have to have pet insurance, provided you can afford the vet bills when they arise. Alot of people start up their own account and put money aside each month. You never know what could possibly happen to your little one and would be naive to believe that absolutly nothing would happen to your pet in its lifetime of around 18 years. I know people that have had their dogs/ cats put to sleep purely because they couldn't afford the vet bills to keep it alive and that sickens me.Before I got my second yorkie I first looked into wether I could insure it.:)

Just for the heck of it I looked into insurance after reading these posts and I think I'm going to get it for Gizmo. Especially with all of the possible health problems yorkies can have. Just gotta see if my vet accepts it.
Also with him coming from a BYB i want to take all the precautions necessary.

We were considering it for Basil, but delated .....so far his broken front leg has cost over $3100.00.

My other dogs cancer treatments and surgery has come to over $23,000. People ask me why I do not have a new Harley yet!

Oh, I understand. I haven't put it out of my mind yet. It just seems a lot of insurance companies will be like "oh, that's considered genetic...." or something and not cover it. That idea just scares me. I'd be worried I'd select the wrong plan and then be screwed and have been paying for something that doesn't even work. I just find insurance in general to be such a big scam anyways, even though it's necessary for so many things... I dunno, I'm just skeptical. LOL. I'm probably over-thinking it. I am still looking into it.... haven't decided yet.

We have decided to go with Trupainon basically for two reasons. One it will cover hereditary and congential issues which have me the most concerned and I actually called them and explained my fears to the girl and she said depending on my vet's acceptance they can preapprove some things and even pay the vet directly if the vet agrees. I am going to speak with my vet about this before I actually send in the money. Have an appt coming up so we shall see what she says.

I have never had pet insurance before but thankfully have never had to deal with major health issues with our previous dogs that we couldn't find a way to do out of pocket. Though the health concerns that come with a toy breed and a yorkie worry me to the point that I need to know I can handle it if it happens.

We are a paycheck to paycheck family, I am sure we are in the lower income bracket as compared with other forum members and I believe the only way I can bring him home is with insurance cause to do otherwise would be unfair to him since we don't have the income or the credit to just go and pull 1000 for an emergency.

I had thought of just squeezing out extra per month and putting it in a savings but what if what he needs exceeds that account balance? I wouldn't feel confident unless I had at least 3 grand in that account and that would take some time when I can't see more than 100 a month to put in there.

With the insurance, after the 30 days I know he would have access to emergency surgery funds and I need that piece of mind.

Just my 2 cents.

I also have Trupanion. This is exactly why I chose them! My income is also limited and I worry about the crazy things, the thousands dollar vet bills in particular that I no matter how much I could afford to save would probably never be enough.

I just rather not be in the position wondering how I was going to pay for a vet visit on top of worrying about my baby.

Just a note: Petplan also covers genetic related problems. I did learn that they will not cover LP surgery in yorkies for 6 months UNLESS your vet makes a note that their knees seem normal at their 1st visit. We insured our newest puppy at 3 weeks of age and have already had his knees checked out by our vet. We have both of our yorkies covered and even though I could possibly just be throwing money away, I at least know if something major ever did happen, they are covered!

Question -- so, for example, if I got insurance for Jackson now (who is now 2.5yrs old and perfectly healthy thus far) and let's say... 2 years from now, he gets diagnosed with LP and needs surgery. It won't be covered, right? Because the vet never noted anything at his first puppy visits about his knees or anything.

Insurance is something I'd love to look into more into... I can definitely see it being useful in the case of an emergency. I just have a hard time justifying it and if it's worth it, etc.

Brit...Apple had clean knees up 'till her 12 month check up, and had the reports to say so...Because of this, she "is" covered for LP now, because the insurance was already in place...You can't have a pre-existing condition, when you take out the policy...ie: liver shunt, LP, collapsed trachea, etc...As long as your pup has a clean bill of health, when the policy goes in force, anything that happens afterwards is covered, including genetic issues that are pre-disposed to Yorkies....

I think the insurance companies vary.. When I spoke with the Trupanion rep the way she explained it to me is, If their are no symptoms prior to coverage then their is no reason this could be a "pre-existing" condition. Basically She said as long as she is healthy she is covered. Trupanion does not require a vet check before covering insurance.

I know this is different with Pet Plan as mentioned previously... they require a vet check concerning LP.

The reason I went with Trupanion is there is no life time limit. And it covers the catastrophic cases. It does not unfortunelty cover vet visits, dentals or any preventative care.

This, I am ok with. I can plan for my yearly vet visits, dentals, etc. Plus, the plans that offer preventative care, can get expensive a month. For me, It's the crazy stuff like LP, Liver Shunts, Kidney disease, HGE that I can't plan for.

I pay 39 for Taycie a month, this covers Hip displaysia if added before their first birthday. I also Opted for no deductible. You can also choose your deductible from 50 up to 1000.

This video is really helpful..

It will cover it. It does not cover ANY pre existing.... So the sooner you get insured the better! It will cover LP, but has a 6 month wait unless you take your dog to the vet and he notes the knees appear normal. Then say in 3 months, the pup suddenly need LP surgery....it would cover.

Thanks guys!!! :):)

I just enrolled Gizmo in trupanion. At 25 dollars a month I have a 250 deductible and he's covered. Reason being I hair got done reading all if the sick threads and panicked. But honestly 25 a month I can manage. Thats one less dinner out with the husband in order to cover Gizmos health.
I feel good about that.

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