On our previous post, we shared the importance of going to the vet for a yearly check-up. Good to know that many of you find the significance of a pet’s yearly check-up.
A yearly checkup is the best way to keep your pet healthy.
As prices for veterinary services continues to increase, there has been a decline of vet visits. Many pet owners have limited funds and/or don’t have pet insurance. Thus, pet parents are struggling to pay for pet care.
From the Associated Press survey, 41% percent of pet owners are extremely worried that if their pets get sick they could not afford paying for the medical bills.
Health insurance for pets is growing in popularity. Is it worth it?
Pet insurance is something I thought of getting for Sugar. Golden Retriever is a breed prone to many illnesses and diseases. As a pet parent, I looked at different options and chose to “self-insure” Sugar by saving money into a pet emergency fund.
According to the American Pet Products Association, pet owners are expected to spend $15.25 billion on veterinary care this year and another $14.37 billion on over-the-counter medicines and other supplies.
Pet Insurance: A Choice and Peace of Mind
Purchasing pet insurance is not for everyone, it’s a personal choice. Major pet illnesses do occur and its unavoidable. Many pet parents make an emotional choice to pay for pet insurance.
I wish I would have been smarter in my decision and chose an insurance for Sugar. For the past 12 years, Sugar has been to the vet many times (besides her annual check-up). The biggest expenses were mostly spent on her allergies/ear infections visits and recent tongue surgeries.
You never know when you will have to take your dog to the vet. Having pet health insurance means peace of mind and never having to ask yourself “can I afford this vet bill?”
Do you have insurance for your pet?
This is a sponsored post by E&L Insurance.
Golden Woofs is being compensated for this collaboration post. Golden Woofs only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers.
I’m going to be calling my vet tomorrow to make an appointment for Chico for his allergies. I shall check with them and see if they accept pet insurance. My last vet did not, but hopefully this one will. Thankfully, my boys have been pretty healthy, but you just never know…
No, I don’t have pet insurance. It would be to costly for me. I have 2 Great Danes and a Golden Retriever.
Danes are very expensive to insure because of the risks. It is funny because they cost less comparing to my Golden Retriever. My Golden had an Uveitis, many ears infection, Inflamatory because he was too fat and now he is on Hill Metabolic to loose weight.
I pay whatever it cost to the vet and the dogs have 2 visits per year to check their health.
Great advice Sugar!!
Smileys!
Dory
Pet insurance is 100% worth it. I have embrace because it covers illness and emergencies and unlike many other insurances does not have breed restrictions. With five dogs and 3 cats saving enough for emergencies is too difficult. I wish all of my pets were insured but unfortunately only 4 our because the others were too old. Over the years Embrace has saved me thousands
retro rover
We have one what covers surgeries and bills what are more than 250 euros. I think it’s important to be prepared for worse cases and it totally makes sense for me to have an insurance.
I asked for quotes while I was in the hospital – I just need to choose an insurance now. 🙂
Monty and Harlow
We do NOT have insurance….
Ex don’t have pet insurance…yet. I keep looking into it and trying to decide which route i want to take. We have a pet emergency fund, but who knows how many issues will arise over the next several years.
We’ve highly considered getting it but are not sure about it since it doesn’t cover basic vet visits. A veterinarian I talked with didn’t want to not recommended but between the lines he sort of said a lot of plans are not worth it. Just like people health insurance. 🙂
What a great article! We could not agree more. The costs that can come with some pet related conditions are astronomical. Having pet insurance in place can keep you from emptying your savings account or even worse having to make horrible decisions about your family member. No one should have to go through that!
No pet insurance here but being a pet owner for over 30 years we also set aside funds and break up bills. Such as today I picked up 6 mo supply of Heartguard and Frontline for Madi. The cost seems high for these but it is for 6 months. She has her senior exam on 7/18… They always do blood work too. So I won’t have a huge bill all on the 18th
Hugs
Madi’s mom shhh don’t tell here about the 18th it is a surprise
We have Trupanion and thankfully haven’t had to use it yet. Might have to this summer though…hoping they cover teeth cleaning.
Most of the pet insurance policies do not cover routine dental such as cleanings. I have Healthy Paws which is very similar price and coverage-wise to Trupanion.
I have thought about pet insurance for Bentley. We currently don’t have it, but I should probably do some research on it.
We don’t have pet insurance for Boomer and Dottie but I wish we did!
We have insurance, but not for regular visits, just for accidents, illness, and cancer. So far with all the small stuff that pops up and meds for Katie as she has aged it is almost break even. It is good to know if we suddenly have to pay thousands, we have help. We pay a ton of money for the car and house insurance and rarely use that, so to pay for our care if something happens is totally worth it to us.
We do!! And it has been such a lifesaver since Rooney had to stay in the ER when he hurt his back, and all of these reoccurring rechecks and refills on medications are being covered as well.
I have Trupanion now for my Havanese, Babydoll but had VPI for my other dog, Woody, a sharpei that passed in April. The only issue with VPI was the fact that they had a schedule of things that they covered and certain drugs that his vet used to pt him under for surgery were not covered which ended up being costly. Trupanion covers everything which is nice. I also have Banfield wellness for my dogs every day care. It makes it easier for care and less hassle when I need to take her to a doctor. If I need a specialist I have her covered and every day is covered.
I don’t have pet insurance to be honest with you. I know it is a good idea to have it, but we don’t :/
Thanks for the informative post!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
We wish we would have done that earlier too!
We tried pet insurance for the first time and aren’t impressed as we hoped we would be. Especially when it comes to pre-existing conditions like pancreatitis. I mean I was 3 when they signed me up what do you expect? Thanks for the great info Sugar! Love Dolly
I don’t have pet insurance either, but I am thinking about it for my next dog. I do have a Care Credit credit card, which has helped in emergencies.
We don’t have pet insurance but our sisfur Sadie did for awhile until the wouldn’t pay for anything then Mommy quit it. Maybe it pays better than it used to though.
Good information Sugar. Dogtur bills can be very expensive!
Your pals,
Murphy & Stanley
Yep MOM wishes she had gotten insurance for me, especially with my recent mystery illness. Be assured she was going to get me better no matter what and continue with my vet care and follow ups. Butt that meant that she was going to forgo her own health insurance. Butt by the grace of God and wonderful friends she did not have to do that. The insurance companies we have checked into say I am to old it insure. Butt MOM did start putting money in a Goose vet account so anything that may happen In the future.
Blessings,
Goose
We had pet insurance for many years but the past 2 years I found everything was constantly being rejected and I was paying all the vets bills on top of the insurance. I cancelled our pet insurance and instead put the monthly amount into a doggie saving account – have already saved $2000 which will can use when we need too.
Have been researching it for a week now. Does anyone have good or bad to say about Healthy Paws? Also, does anyone know if there is different or separate insurance for Service Dogs (they are not pets).
We are not familiar with Healthy Paws. Check out, Trupanion’s “working dog” insurance.
I have Healthy Paws and have submitted a claim (the true test of any carrier/policy). I was impressed with the speed in handling of my claim and I got back exactly what I expected. I did a lot of research as I work in the insurance industry and found Healthy Paws and Trupanion to be fairly comparable.
nice post, i don’t have pet insurance but because I work at a clinic i do get a small discount that helps, the people that come in with insurance are happy with the insurance they have and it does cover a bunch of stuff.
We have pet insurance and we love it… we have Trupanion. I got it when Riley was little, before she turned a year and got a special option to cover things like hip dysplasia and luxating patellas if she needed it down the road. I’m glad I did!! It’s an extra $600/year to our budget, but so worth it as it has paid for itself already in the past 2.5 years I’ve had it!
Yes, after our experiences, we gave it a lot of thought, did a lot of research and ended up insuring Cookie and JD with Trupanion.
No, we don’t have pet insurance yet, but we are exploring that option further, because it’ll probably get expensive quickly with three pups. 🙂
I have Healthy Paws for both of my dogs. After spending over $3,000 trying to save one of my previous dogs, it was an absolute must when I adopted again. I did quite a lot of research and since I work in the insurance sector I can sift through all the policy verbage.
The issue with pet insurance is that since they work on a reimbursement basis, you have to pay the vet up front unless they will work with you to accept payment from your carrier (usually at least 7-10 days after submitting your claim). This means that even if you carry pet insurance you probably still need a savings account or line of credit for emergencies.
A savings account alone is great, but if you are only saving what you’d be paying for insurance premiums, it will be a long time before you have thousands of dollars accessible.