Anyone have pet insurance and if so what and from who?

SMRTSS1

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Jan 12, 2010
5,140
7,574
Elgin
My wife and I just got our first dog on Friday night and to help with cost and to avoid having to make the horrible "We need $4000 for surgery or put him down" decision we want to get insurance for the little guy. I don't have money coming out of my ass to cover huge costs of surgery or emergency care so insurance seems the way to go. I've looked at coverage from the ASPCA which has different plans for general wellness, emergency coverage and it even covers hereditary and genetic factors inherent in certain breeds (cancer being a big one with boxers) and the ASPCA plans seem to cover the most with the best cost and i can take the dog to any Veterinarian (which I need to find a good vet in the Elgin area as well). Some regular insurance companies like Farmers have plans for pets but I have State Farm and from what I've seen they don't have pet plans. So does anyone have pet insurance? If so who is it thru and what's the coverage like?

And of course here is a pic of Duncan. If anyone is interested in getting one of his brothers or sisters let me know and I'll give you the breeders info, she had a few left as of Saturday afternoon.

bc37683f58826eaa7e8a3828f87c471a.jpg
 

GIMPY

TCG Elite Member
Feb 21, 2009
1,103
2
Elgin
My wife and I just got our first dog on Friday night and to help with cost and to avoid having to make the horrible "We need $4000 for surgery or put him down" decision we want to get insurance for the little guy. I don't have money coming out of my ass to cover huge costs of surgery or emergency care so insurance seems the way to go. I've looked at coverage from the ASPCA which has different plans for general wellness, emergency coverage and it even covers hereditary and genetic factors inherent in certain breeds (cancer being a big one with boxers) and the ASPCA plans seem to cover the most with the best cost and i can take the dog to any Veterinarian (which I need to find a good vet in the Elgin area as well). Some regular insurance companies like Farmers have plans for pets but I have State Farm and from what I've seen they don't have pet plans. So does anyone have pet insurance? If so who is it thru and what's the coverage like?

And of course here is a pic of Duncan. If anyone is interested in getting one of his brothers or sisters let me know and I'll give you the breeders info, she had a few left as of Saturday afternoon.

bc37683f58826eaa7e8a3828f87c471a.jpg

I can't really give u any info on insurance for that little guy but I'd like to refer you to one of the best vets I have found in the elgin area. Fox valley animal clinic off of sundown and 31. Right next to the Thortons gas station
 

10sec

I haz dat teddy bear smile.
TCG Premium
Jul 26, 2008
25,942
5,812
I looked into it when I got my puppy 4 yrs ago and it was just too expensive. For basic coverage it was $65+/month. Better coverage was a lot more. At least at my vet that's how much it was. It's not THAT common people are making a decision like you're referring to, maybe when the dog is 12-13+yrs old. By then the insurance would have taken you for a lot more than $4000.
 

wolfe

in black sheep's clothing
Jun 2, 2008
17,632
333
Si Oh Em Pee Tee Oh En
I can't really give u any info on insurance for that little guy but I'd like to refer you to one of the best vets I have found in the elgin area. Fox valley animal clinic off of sundown and 31. Right next to the Thortons gas station

Same vet I would recommend. Amazing Vet. I would drive over an hour to take my dogs there. The name is "Animal Clinic of South Elgin"

South Elgin Pet Vet IL 60177 offers affordable rabies shots. | Animal Clinic of South Elgin (847) 742-3906

I also have had no experience with pet insurance.
 

BrianG

Big Dick Team Octane
Oct 5, 2008
5,715
74
Streamwood
Real Name
Brian G
Get insurance. There are lots of pet insurance companies out there. We have used VPI which is now Nationwide (http://www.petinsurance.com/) for a long time and are happy with it. They have various coverages you can purchase, but it's nice to have the coverage if they get an ear infection, eye infection, hot spots, sicknesses, or other chronic issues. Get it ASAP though because in my experience, they don't tend to cover anything related to preexisting conditions. I've been pretty happy with it. We're up to about $70/mo for each of 2 dogs, but my wife added riders for covering frontline and heartguard and I think routine checkups so I think that's why it's higher than in the past. With this particular insurance plan, we pay up front then submit the bill to insurance for reimbursement. I suspect most are like that rather than having direct billing like health insurance.

For those arguing that it's not worth it, and "put $50/mo aside for issues", you know damn well that you're not going to "put aside" any money each month, and for a $4000 surgery bill, you wouldn't have that saved up for 80 months (6 2/3 years) and that's assuming that there's not a single other issue that comes up in those 6 years. Get the insurance now for $50/mo or less and you'll have peace of mind AND immediate coverage along the way.
 

Primalzer

TCG Elite Member
Sep 14, 2006
25,259
61
I'll have to ask the GF who she has....she's got it because she has a lab that likes to eat whatever hoves into his field of vision and a cat that's in perpetual renal failure. For some, it's worthless, for others, it's a decent investment...for my GF it's definitely paid for itself a couple of times over now.
 

cacicgtp7

Some Military Dude
Nov 9, 2008
4,762
253
Boston, MA
Real Name
John
I can't say either way if pet insurance is worth it. My dog growing up as a child didn't have any major problems (wheaten terrier) and lived to be 14 until she was hit by a car.


My current dog is a Wire Fox Terrier (also no insurance) and the only two problems I've had in his 9.5 years of living was eating some caffeine pills my wife left out and we had to rush him to the vet to get activated charcoal (cost us 340 bucks). And then he had a UTI at like 4 years old and that was a 70 dollar fix. If I had insurance I would have been out roughly 5400 dollars at this point. I love my dog like a kid (because I have no kids) but honestly if at this point he were to come down with cancer or something catastrophic I'd have to put him down over paying thousands in cancer treatment or something to give him another 3-4 years of life. Might sound heartless but that's the reality. And again I'm a huge dog advocate.

Pet insurance in most cases (just like extended warranty's) are not worth it. But a lot depends on the breed of the dog and what they breed is prone to with heath problems. Terriers are pretty hearty so I declined. YMMV.
 
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