Cathy, that was a scare, glad he came through fine.
the health insurance i have is PetCare. I already had it for my cat before i got it for Zack, i had never used it with my cat but signed up for insurance (originally VPI) after she had a UTI which cost a bit, and scared me about bigger expenses that might occur in the future. The UTI wouldn't be covered because of being pre-existing but i was thinking about cancer. I switched to Petcare after a couple of years because it was way cheaper than VPI. when i got zack, i called VPI and a couple more to ask if they covered hereditary conditions like MVD and they did not, but PetCare did. I'm not sure about Pet Partners (the AKC plan), it might cover hereditary. but on the phone, the pet care person emphasized that MVD and other conditions are definitely covered, she looked it up in a manual. There are a few exclusions for certain breeds but cavaliers are not on the list.
the first 30 days, there is no coverage for illness, it's a waiting period. Unfortunately zack got sick, costing $1100. It was diarrhea. Then one nnight, after 3 weeks, he had been lethargic all day (for the first time) and then started vomiting although he hadn't eaten. Over 3 or so hours he vomited 4 times, so i called the emergency hospital and asked if it sounded like something that could wait until the next day or not. She said no way of saying without seeing him, so i took him in at midnight. He vomited in his crate while we were waiting to see a doctor, poor little guy. Anyway, like you say, vomiting has to be taken seriously.
Even now, Zack is almost a year old but i still check things out when i haven't seen him in a few minutes, to see what he may be eating or chewing. When i leave him alone, i put away toys that have squeakers that could be torn out (even though he's never done that) or pieces that could be broken off, i no longer give him nylabones at all, even the hard ones, he's not a strong chewer but he can break pieces off a hard nylabone for some reason. I dont' even chance greenies or rawhides. anyway, the thing is, i'm scared of him eating something that might become an obstruction.
I consider pet health insurance to be a necessity, i couldn't afford to be paying thousands in big lumps. I'm paying high premiums for a high level of coverage, i can handle premiums, $53 a month, i figure i take my daughter and her boyfriend out for dinner and it costs that much and more, or i buy gadgets and things during a month for that much, it's money well spent. That is their highest level of coverage. they have other levels for less, going down to $25 a month for dogs (though my daughter said she got a letter from them saying premiums will be going up a couple of dollars).
I've used the insurance 2 or 3 times, once for an illness which turned out to be pyoderma and ran up a big bill for seeing three vets, about $500, and they paid it, less the $50 deductible. It wasn't a $50 deductible per visit, it was per incident so i only paid the deductible once. I used it again when zack scratched his cornea while fetching a ball and running into a bush, and then getting dust in it that night at the dog park after it seemed to have healed. That was around $250 i think, including the medicine. I think there was another claim, but maybe not, it's blurring together now. They paid very fast, their paperwork shows they paid the same day the claim was faxed to them, but it takes up to about two weeks to get a check in the mail.
I had a conflict with them over a mistake a vet made in misdiagnosing an enlarged heart resulting in a permanent exclusion for the heart, and at first it was difficult to get them to accept that the vet had made a mistake. the radiologist contacted them three times to say zack was ok despite what the other vet had said, but she was not putting it in a way that they wanted to hear, she wouldn't come right out and say the other vet made a mistake, although it was clearly implied. but finally when i directly emailed the person in charge of the underwriters and explained the reason why the diagnosis was a mistake in detail, the evidence showing it was a mistake, she immediately removed the heart exclusion. The conflict drug on for weeks because it took a while for me to go to the top so next time, if there is one, i'll do that sooner. but in the end, it turned out right so i appreciate that.
