Beat Unexpected Veterinary Costs With Good Insurance

Each stage of their life presents different issues. Take dogs, for instance. Puppies need all their first vaccinations and later on most people opt for spaying or neutering. As your dog grows, preventative care like shots and blood tests are needed to be sure he stays healthy and happy. By the time they are seniors, just about anything can happen. There are many businesses that understand all this and have developed insurance plans for pets.

Sadly, I can give a perfect example of what can happen when you dont have pet insurance. Very recently we took our sweet, wonderful golden retriever, Jezebelle, to the vet because she seemed very lethargic and wasnt eating much. She had just turned 11 and we assumed it was something simple, possibly related to aging. To our shock she was diagnosed with an enlarged spleen that was cancerous. Our vet wrote up an estimate for surgery that would be required to remove the spleen and everything involved with that. It was $3000.

Many factors went into our decision to let Jezebelle go. One was that we could not afford the surgery and another was that even that would have only given her another three or four months. However, if we had a pet insurance policy, we probably would have opted for the surgery to give us more time with her. Most of these policies pay 80% of the costs after a deductible has been met.

As we look for a puppy to fill the void from our loss we also are looking into pet insurance. There are different levels of coverage you can get for your pet from a basic plan to premier plans that will even cover things like chemotherapy and radiation for cancer as well as some alternative treatments. Unlike health insurance for humans, most pet insurance plans dont have rules that limit what procedures are eligible for coverage. You and your vet can decide how to treat your pets illness, not the insurance company.

Depending on the level of insurance policy you choose, they cover the routine care like yearly immunizations and wellness checks, as well as illnesses, surgery, prescription medication, and emergency treatment. You usually are required to pay the veterinarians bill upfront, but after the doctor has completed and signed the proper forms you will be reimbursed.

The best time to start your pet insurance plan is when your pet is a puppy or kitten or still young. Most plans will not cover pre-existing conditions; so dont wait till your pet is sick to look into buying insurance for him. There is no network of doctors that you must choose from so you can use any licensed veterinarian, including emergency vets or vets in another city if something happens when you are travelling.

I strongly encourage all of you who love your pets and hope to keep them for a long time to consider an insurance policy for your pet. Our situation was devastating and we spent a long time beating ourselves up because we could not do more for our dog.