PLEASE insure your pups
 

I know we talk about this a lot here. I just want to reiterate that unless you can charge many thousands of dollars at a moment's notice and afford to not get it back then please get insurance.

Saving a little every month instead is good in theory, but catastrophic events don't just happen with old pups.

Please do it or you may regret it later.

I wish like anything I COULD have done this, sadly, I don't think cricket would have been covered because of her liver shunt.....

I have it on my 3 thankfully. Pixie was just diagnosed with PLN and it was expensive to diagnose and will require medicine and frequent tests the rest of her life.
I'm sure the insurance company comes out ahead but when your spending thousands at one time it's nice to get some reimbursed.

What insurance do you use? Have you needed it and are they pretty good about paying or do they find excuses not to cover procedures? I know we will be getting it soon but I am researching at this time which one to go with. I had a dog with Addison's disease/no insurance and that cost many thousands, we could have bought a car, but he was totally worth it. Thanks for sharing any useful info.

It is still worth it even with this exclusion.

I have PetPlan for one of mine. They are fair and pay within two or three weeks. There are several good companies.

What is a good company that would cover pre existing conditions such as LP? Uni is already 7 and Toto is probably 9+ so I should be adding them on a plan soon.

I haven't found an insurance company that covers pre-existing conditions. I wish I had... I could have used it to recoup about $20k off my Presley. I lived and learned. I have Healthy Paws for Ripley.

None will cover pre existing unless it is pre diagnosis/pre symptoms.
i know LP can be a major expense but I would not avoid insurance based on it not being covered.

Doesn't preexisting just mean they would not cover future incidents of that condition but would cover any other new ailments that are not related to the preexisting condition ?

We just recently got insurance for our little guy through Petplan. I haven't had to use it but I feel good knowing that it's there if we ever need it.

I've never bought pet insurance for my dogs so am clueless as to what's out there. I would greatly appreciate recommendations as well as companies to avoid. Thanks!

I started out here and looked through all of them.....

10 Best Pet Insurance of 2014 | Consumers Advocate

I narrowed it down to healthypaws and petplan. I chose petplan.

Good luck!

Thank you, Miranda! ^___^

If you got ins, they would exclude covering LP, but cover everything else.

For those looking for companies -- I was first w/ PetPlan until they raised their rates so ridiculously that it was time to switch. I do not like they methods they use in deciding to raise their rates.

I then went to Healthy Paws - I chose them bc of the way they handle rate increases and the way they work their deductibles.

Isn't there an actual test they do to truly diagnose LP? X ray or something? Uni has only had the vet manually pop her knee caps in and out. Toto I can feel his pop as well. Would they do a thorough exam before deciding to cover us?

But I agree with you Ellie may, ins not covering LP is not a reason to not get it. I think LP surgery would be one of the cheaper bills to have to pay for, comparing to if the dog eat poison, or treatments for cancer, etc. I would sure hope they help to cover those costs.

Bumping this Up.. and by GOSH we need a STICKEY on it
 

My dear Yorkie owners new to this Forum

This is an appeal to you to get pet insurance for your Yorkie or your Yorkie mix, now prior to an emergency happening.

Why you ask? Well one of the most distressing things we read here time after time are sick Yorkies whose owners do not have the financial wherewithal to care for a sick pup. Just go to the Sick and Emergency forum to see all the threads on this.
This is not a pain you want to suffer - to have as your only recourse PTS your beloved dog due to a simple lack of financial funds.

Look at the top Health concerns for Yorkies, which shares some very broad brush strokes on costs of certain health conditions. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/die...p-10-list.html

Now some of you will think that well if I put $X into savings every month without fail, then I will have my kitty put aside just in case of an issue.

But what if there are two or three conditions or emergencies will you truly have the resources to meet them? And then what? Your kitty is at zero, how will you save $$$ for their senior years when health problems are also likely to occur?

These are sobering thoughts that an informed potential pet owner should consider very seriously before embarking on the joy and the (pain) of owning a Yorkie.

This is a chart with most of the companies to compare benefits from March 2013....

http://veterinarybusiness.dvm360.com...64/article.pdf


The Consumer Reports has these tips from 2011:

*Download and read the company's sample policy, including its terms and conditions. Watch for limitations, cost-sharing, and service fees. Most policies require deductibles, co-pays, or both. Look for coverage with simple, percentage-based payouts and no reliance on judgments of what's "reasonable."

*Watch for what's excluded. No pet insurance covers pre-existing conditions. Carriers often exclude hip dysplasia, a chronic malady. QuickCare Gold won't cover any illness claims for Chinese shar-peis or their crossbreeds, though it will cover accidents. VPI has its own long list of excluded conditions. Some insurers will exclude a newly diagnosed ailment when the policy is renewed or charge you more to avoid such exclusions. An insurer also might impose a maximum limit on treatment for individual illnesses, or on the yearly or lifetime reimbursement.

*Avoid riders for wellness care, which we found are generally not worth the price.

* If you plan to use the insurance for catastrophic coverage—say, $1,000 and up—go for the highest deductible you can comfortably afford.

*Don't be caught off guard by premium increases, which can vary by state. Insurers may base their hikes on a pet's age, veterinary cost inflation, or other factors. Trupanion, the company that performed best overall in our New York example here and in our test with the two cats, recently raised its premiums an average of 52 percent in parts of California. The company, which projects payouts of 69 cents of every dollar collected, says it adjusts premiums according to veterinary inflation and the scope of available treatments.

I think that insurance is an individual decision. For years, I was against it, and for the most part, I'm still playing the odds. I did purchase a catastrophic type small policy last year on my younger dogs to take the stress off of emergencies. I also recently applied for and was approved for care credit. I want to be able to float certain bills without dipping into savings or depleting my paychecks as I have in the past for sick pets. If I were purchasing a new puppy today, I would not structure it as a catastrophic type of plan because too much could be discoverable in the first year or so where a lower deductible and more comprehensive coverage might be more sensible.

A reason for insurance. .. in March Mina became ill with tummy issues. 3 vet visits in 5 days, $700. $600 returned to me. Two weeks later Skittles became ill. 1 vet visit, $500 . No insurance on this 12 yr old poodle, no $$ returned to me. I also keep a fund and we have care credit.

I purchased a plan with my new puppy, that covers genetic types of conditions such as HD and ED, with no life time limits of coverage on each condition diagnosed, how-ever my deductible is per condition. So if there are 3 different conditions diagnosed, my deductible is applied newly to each condition. But other illnesses that are linked to a diagnosed problem would also be covered and come under the original deductible.
All meds are covered, and I purchased a separate rider for other types of treatments.

Trupanion states that my premiums won't go up as my puppy ages, but yes their premiums will be adjusted for vet costs with=in my area.

She is also covered in case of accidents - ie when we are travelling, but only in Canada, USA and Mexico, not Europe or other parts of the world.

I hope that she never needs any of her coverage and I gladly pay monthly the premiums.

I have all my dogs insured. One of my irish setters suffered boloat and gastric torsion 3 times in 8 months and required emergency surgery on each episode, thankfully she survived each major abdominal surgery. All were insured with petplan, however when I came to insure the baby of the family ( Lou Lou's pup) at 8 weeks I mentioned that she had 1 episode of colic at 10 days old . They wanted to put an exclusion on the policy for any gastic/abdominal problems for 12 months. I decided not to go with petplan with the baby as after discussion with my vet he thought it outrageous for them put that exclusion in. One other fact was that the premiums for petplan have escalated over the years. I now pay about £2000 a year for my pets insurance but I reckon it is worth it. When Sophie had bloat/torsion the vet fees were about £6000 in 8 months.


Shirl