When we first rescued our little Beagle, Pookie, we didn’t really think about pet insurance. To be honest, I’m not sure what made us decide to finally look into it nearly a year and a half after adopting her. Nevertheless, we did. I did a lot of research comparing different companies and policies and we finally settled on Pet Plan. That was 2015. We’ve had a few emergencies since then. And boy has the insurance paid off.
There have been a few urgent vet visits that we did not even think to go through insurance for (one being in Austin when Pookie was having trouble breathing – allergies?). But in the past year, we have been at the emergency vet twice, a specialty center once, and had blood tests, and x-rays done more than once. Pookie is getting older (she’s 11 now) and I supposed it is to be expected that issues will come up. Never did I think they would be the ones we’re dealing with.
Last summer, Pookie again was having trouble breathing. She had this hacking cough and you could tell she was really struggling to get air into her body. We rushed her to the closest emergency vet – unfortunately we were put in a room and waited at least 2 hours before we decided to leave and go somewhere else. Our second emergency vet stop saw us right away. X-rays showed Pookie had a collapsed trachea – something that just “happens in older dogs.” We submitted our paperwork to Pet Plan. We received approximately 80% back of what we paid for that visit.
Luckily Pookie hasn’t had any emergency episodes regarding the collapsed trachea since. Although she does still have a hacking cough at times.
Two months ago, we again took Pooks to the emergency vet. She was very restless and panting for some time. She came up and laid on the bed and her whole body started twitching. I sat with her trying to calm her down. Her eyes got wide and her head started twitching…almost like she was snapping at something, but without any control. Off to emergency vet we went. She had blood and urine tests done. We kept her there overnight. That was a tough decision since we didn’t want to be without her and, of course, the cost of an overnight stay. But she needed observation and we needed to sleep for our jobs. So, we left her, and I picked her up in the morning. It was all chalked up to nerve pain (no real proven diagnosis). She was fine after some medication and resting.
Again, we submitted the claim to Pet Plan. We received about 70% back.
And most recently, Pookie had a seizure. She was rushed to our regular vet as he was open. X-rays were taken, blood was drawn. Everything looked good. We were of course concerned that this will happen again. Mostly concerned it would happen when we weren’t home. Our vet told us the next step we could take is to see a canine neurologist – to rule out the causes. So off we went. Pookie had an MRI done, under general anesthesia. She had a spinal tap, and serum was also taken for metabolic testing. All came back clear. (Which is both relieving and disheartening because we have no idea what would cause her to have a seizure.)
We submitted these bills to Pet Plan. This was the most we had ever had to pay for any vet visit – a few thousand. It will take a few weeks for them to approve the claim and send us a reimbursement.
Why am I telling you all this?
Simply, get pet insurance if you have a pet! And I’d also recommend starting a savings account solely for pet expenses. Having these two things in place made a lot of tough decisions much easier. Pookie was able to get the care she needed. We didn’t stress and fuss about where the money was coming from – and even more so because we knew we would be getting a good chunk of it back.
You may think that getting 70% or 80% back isn’t that much. But when your bill is around a thousand dollars and you receive a little over $700 back, it’s fantastic. Without insurance, you wouldn’t get a dime back.
I tell you this so you can take care of your furry friend when something happens. I say when, not if, because inevitably you will have an emergency – or as your pet ages, things will change. Their health will start to fail. You’ll need testing and medication and possibly specialists to handle the situation. I’d hate to see someone choose to put their fur baby down because they couldn’t afford what they needed to have done.
Please, please consider pet insurance. Whether you do insane research to pick the best one, or you just choose any one to have one. Please do it. And the sooner the better. Most of them (like people insurance) don’t cover pre-existing conditions. So, the sooner you have your pet covered, the better.
I only have experience with Pet Plan, and we have not had anything to complain about thus far (it’s been 4 years). But there are many others out there: Figo, Trupanion, and Healthy Paws, to name a few.
Please consider it. We pay a little over a thousand per year. This last emergency cost us upwards of $3,000. I don’t know the exact amount we will be getting back, but I’m sure it will be substantial. The insurance will have saved us so much – time, headache, money, worry.
We know Pookie will be well taken care of, no matter what happens.
If you have any experience with pet insurance, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear.
Raising LeBar 