Trupanion insurance, anyone have it?

My husband and I have been exploring our options for insurance and comparing companies, we liked trupanion. Does anyone have this insurance? We want to start it as soon as we get Toby. My question is, if Toby (god forbid) ever gets SM, would Trupanion pay for all that goes into it? tests and treatment? Also, our breeder will be taking Toby in for his checkup and first shots before we get him. I'm sure Trupanion will want a checkup from a vet before starting up the insurance plan. Do we use the breeders exam from her vet or do we take Toby in to get another exam from our vet to please Trupanion? I know we will have to get his next shots with our vet but we wanted to start the insurance as soon as he gets home.
Thank you for the help
Becky
P.S. its only 5am here so I hope this is making sense.

gamefanz said:

My husband and I have been exploring our options for insurance and comparing companies, we liked trupanion. Does anyone have this insurance? We want to start it as soon as we get Toby. My question is, if Toby (god forbid) ever gets SM, would Trupanion pay for all that goes into it? tests and treatment? Also, our breeder will be taking Toby in for his checkup and first shots before we get him. I'm sure Trupanion will want a checkup from a vet before starting up the insurance plan. Do we use the breeders exam from her vet or do we take Toby in to get another exam from our vet to please Trupanion? I know we will have to get his next shots with our vet but we wanted to start the insurance as soon as he gets home.
Thank you for the help
Becky
P.S. its only 5am here so I hope this is making sense.

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We have it now, and I had it before. Trupanion covers SM. My vet had an application for Atlas when he was a puppy. I haven't ever made a claim so I don't know if I can recommend it. I'll let you know though.

Thank you goda. I'm happy to hear they cover it. I'd love for you to share your experience as soon as you put in a claim. I really want to get it started as soon as he walks through the door just to be safe.

Becky

When I was shopping around for insurance for Skippy it came down to Trupanion vs PetPlan....I found that Trupanion's policy does not include hip dysplasia. However, I believe you can have that covered for an additional fee as long as you enroll before your dog's 1 year birthday (Skippy was already older than 1).

Thank you dandelos. Can you tell me if hip dysplasia is common in Cavaliers?

Becky

Someone from another site suggested Healthy Paws because they do cover hip dysplasia. I'm not sure if anyone has experience with them as far as SM goes though. I'd like to know if that company would be easy to deal with claims.
UGH! I thought we pinned down a company. Now we are comparing again LOL

Becky

I love Trupanion!!! I can't recommend them enough! They have probably reimbursed us well over $8000 in less then a year for our dogs! Yes, they cover SM & MVD! As long as it is not "pre-existing". Make sure you understand what they do & don't cover. They Don't Cover office exam fees, emptying anal glands, dental cleaning and a few other things. But they have been wonderful for our CM/SM dogs.

I recently enrolled my German Shepard with Pet Plan... only because Trupanion was a LOT more expensive for her. Also Pet Plan covers hip dyspalysia. So far there policy seems great although I have not had to file a claim yet. Also Pet Plan is more expensive for us for the Cavaliers... It just depends on where you live and how old your dog is.

Thank you Reptigirl for sharing your experience with Trupanion and also Petplan. Its nice to know that Trupanion has helped you so much with your dogs. Can you tell me if your rates have gone up since you've had Trupanion and by how much? A little increase or a lot. Is it every year?
I know Petplan has increases for age and increases for rates. So we are weighing that against trupanion. But trupanion charges extra for hip dyspalysia where as Petplan does not. So we will be calling both places to get more info.
Becky

I have Trupanion for Jack, all I can say is so far it has been a financial lifesaver! I love them!
I enrolled Jack online 2 days after he came home. I think they require a vet visit sometime during the first 30 days (it takes 30 days from start of policy before coverage begins). Jack is now 2 1/2 and it has paid for all his CM related expenses (MRI, spinal tap) including his monthly medications which run over $100/month. They also pre-approved me for the decompression surgery when I was considering it.
I would recommend doing the 0 dollar dedcutible and add hip dysplasia coverage, for me that comes to roughly $44/month (cost varies by area, I live in NYC so I pay a lot more than say someone in a more rural area).
Some may think that is a lot but for me it's worth it, I have peace of mind knowing whatever happens to Jack I can go to any vet and any disease/accident will be covered, including medication (as long as it wasn't present/documented during the 30 day trial it will be covered) @ 90% of actual cost. Plus there is no yearly or lifetime cap. As reptilegirl said regular vet visits, shots,neutering, preventative stuff and office visit cost are NOT covered. However, these things I can anticipate and budget for.
Whatever you do, don't get VIP, they are awful, I have them for my cat and wish I knew about Trupanion back then, now it's too late to switch because of her pre-existing conditions.
Good luck with your decision.

gamefanz said:

Thank you dandelos. Can you tell me if hip dysplasia is common in Cavaliers?

Becky

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Yes, hip dysplasia is common in Cavs and you should probably get coverage for it.

As for Healthy Paws, there was some discussion earlier on here about it, where it was mentioned that they "don't cover eyes". I checked their website and don't currently see anything about eye exclusions, so I'm not sure if perhaps they've changed that. Either way, if you're considering them it would not be a bad idea to double-check that with them.

Thank you Irene for telling me about your experiences. I am so glad I asked this question. If we go with Trupanion we will be getting the hip dysplasia coverage. We might not start out at 0 deductible but we can change that at any time. It really does settle my nerves that there are people who have gone through the CM/SM claims and Trupanion paid without many issues.
We are not worried about the general care/office visits. We can afford all of that. I don't foresee us needing the coverage on the first 30 days so we should be good there too..crossing all fingers and toes.

Becky

Thank you Dandelos for answering that.
I will definitely ask when we call around if they cover the eyes. You would think that they all would but who knows.

becky

dandelos said:

Yes, hip dysplasia is common in Cavs and you should probably get coverage for it.

As for Healthy Paws, there was some discussion earlier on here about it, where it was mentioned that they "don't cover eyes". I checked their website and don't currently see anything about eye exclusions, so I'm not sure if perhaps they've changed that. Either way, if you're considering them it would not be a bad idea to double-check that with them.

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gamefanz said:

Thank you Irene for telling me about your experiences. I am so glad I asked this question. If we go with Trupanion we will be getting the hip dysplasia coverage. We might not start out at 0 deductible but we can change that at any time. It really does settle my nerves that there are people who have gone through the CM/SM claims and Trupanion paid without many issues.
We are not worried about the general care/office visits. We can afford all of that. I don't foresee us needing the coverage on the first 30 days so we should be good there too..crossing all fingers and toes.

Becky

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The sooner you get it the cheaper it is especially with the 0 deductible. It doesn't cover routine things though so that is a bummer.

Also, check out this interesting fact.

At the end of the day this didn't sway my decision to go with PetPlan though. Based on my research (reviews, pricing, coverage, reputation, etc.) I would have either gone with PetPlan or Trupanion (note that I am in the US, this would probably be different if I were in the UK), but as mentioned previously, Trupanion turned out not to be an option for Skippy because he wouldn't get hip coverage due to his age. I don't think you'll go wrong with either Trupanion or PP.

gamefanz said:

Thank you Reptigirl for sharing your experience with Trupanion and also Petplan. Its nice to know that Trupanion has helped you so much with your dogs. Can you tell me if your rates have gone up since you've had Trupanion and by how much? A little increase or a lot. Is it every year?
I know Petplan has increases for age and increases for rates. So we are weighing that against trupanion. But trupanion charges extra for hip dyspalysia where as Petplan does not. So we will be calling both places to get more info.
Becky

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I have only been with Trupanion for about 8 months... so I can't say on the rate increases. So far our rates are the same but I am very scared of increases. Pet Plans states that there WILL be an increase at each age group... Trupanion leaves you not knowing.... I think they are both great companies but there are so many variables.

Thank you everyone for your honest answers. It helps a great deal.

dandelos that is very interesting. I will show that to my husband. Not sure that would sway our decision though.

Reptigirl according to all the reviews and websites, Trupanion does not raise rates for the pets ages but they do raise rates for inflation of vet services and such.

We will probably call sometime this week to get further info. Not sure if they would be open on a Holiday so we are just gathering info at this time.

Becky