Re: In your opinion: Why health insurance?

[Charley's Mom]

I would love to hear your opinions on healthcare insurance for Cavaliers. I've seen other threads/posts for specific illnesses. What are your suggestions/opinions for puppies? What type of care/ plan?

I know PetCare is recommended a lot. What are the reasons this plan seems to be recommended more than others?

I'm assuming it's because Cav's have specific health problems. What are the statistics regarding Cav's getting those diseases?

My husband thinks that paying $500 a year for healthcare that doesn't cover the dog 100% is very high and said over the lifetime of the dog it would be over $5,000. That's how much it would be for our dog for the PetCare insurance.

Has anyone gotten the high bills for medical care as they give as examples on their website? What about shots and regular visits? Are they covered?

After everything I've read I feel like we should get coverage for Charley but convincing my husband is another thing.

Thank you!

[Kodee]

I posted last wk about insurance. I can answer only part of your question though as I am in Canada. We have one plan that allows 15,000 per yr, no limit on any one accident or illness. For me that is the selling point, my pet may have i.e. SM and all the 15,000 may be needed towards that. I dont know if the U.S. has something similar.

Petcare in U.S. and Canada are the same except in Can$ its way more . I like it covers all the main Cavalier issues, for you its not too badly priced but I dislike the limit per illness.

We didnt have insurance for our lab, and had we, there was nothing spent we would have ever used it for - it would have been money out the window. But cavaliers are different so my feelings are at least for the first 3-5 yrs I want breed specific illness coverage till I know whats up. There after I will decide whether to reduce the plan or stay the same. I am not interested in unnecessary coverage as vaccines, money for ads, cremation. Those are things I will budget for if I need them.

[WoodHaven]

Most people get dog health insurance for accidents and big health issues-- not shots ( which I don't give every year ) or small incidentals. I think it was quoted at 24.5/ month with a 200 dollar deductable. Petplan and Petcare seem to be the ones that cover the larger more worrisome issues.
If you have more than a couple of animals-- it would seem money ahead to put the money you would have paid to the insurance into an account to use just in case. Sandy

[Zippy]

Once he gets a massive vet bill, he'll be cured!!!!

Our Charley had MVD for years, he was on 3 pills and stuff for his skin, supplements etc.

He had patella surgery, infected anal glands that had to be removed, he got a concussion when he fell out of a tree (don''t ask how he got up there!!), whip lash X 2, ear infections that became chronic once he was elderly, needed an opthamologist....I'll stop there.

The insurance doesn't cover shots, neutering, etc. but it does cover everything listed above.

I'd never heard of SM til we got Mary Alice and that's a fortune if it happens.

Seems as if the SM and MVD are hard to avoid...same with cataracts.

I have no idea how many $$$ we spent on Charley, we didn't keep track...but it was way more than $5,000.

We haven't insured Mary Alice.....but are looking at our options.

Our experience is that it isn't the "regular stuff" that's overwhelming, it's all the things that you don't expect/hope won't happen.

This breed is prone to some definite problems that can run your bill up very fast. If I had a new puppy, I wouldn't consider NOT insuring it.

Our Charley was worth every cent.....but he wasn't cheap to keep.

We fondly called him the "Million Dollar Doggie".

[Crittercall]

My only experience with Pet Insurance is from working in the clinics. We had one couple who bought the insurance for their cat - and somehow the cat managed to break a leg about three times in the next year. Hmmmm.It was all covered by the insurance.

[Shay]

I was convinced by having a Lhasa for 13 years that had major medical problem, not unlike Zippy's Charlie. Lhasas aren't really prone to having major health issues, but with every living thing, you never know what you are going to get. I have spent thousands of $$$$ on her for the last 13 years. When I got her, I didn't even know pet insurance existed, but by the time I did, it was too late to insure her, everything would have been pre-existing. As soon as I got Lily, I started researching insurance, especially because of the health issues with Cavs. But even if I would have gotten a different breed, I would have purchased health insurance. I learned my lesson with the Lhasa. I have PetCare because it covers hereditary/genetic conditions.

[Karlin]

PetCare and PetPlan seem to be the two in the US that currently will cover hereditary conditions and that is what you want with a cavalier. Insurance is matter of your comfort level balanced against cost and risk. I believe PetPlan is less than PetCare in the US. For three or more dogs, it might be more worthwhile to create an account and put that amount you'd otherwise pay for insurance, into your own health account for the dogs.

Insurance costs quite a bit less here so I think it is worthwhile for any dog.

On the other hand people also need to consider whether they feel they would want expensive procedures. Many would do anything for a dog or a cat and that is one legitimate choice. Also, an accident can quickly run up huge bills. I'd be weighing up a lot of things like whether to put the animal through a tough treatment or surgery and long recovery for an uncertain end. I wouldn't be of the mind that anything that could be done, should be done; and am not convinced that running huge numbers of tests for reams of health information and montitoring adds much to the life of an animal as opposed to following well established treatment procedures, say for something like MVD or SM. I don't mean in cases where there are good options and you want to maintain optimal health (though again, I am not sure lots of monitoring necessarily prolongs life or comfort levels significantly. Many feel strongly that it does and in such a case insurance again might therefore be more important). It's just that I've seen a lot of cases where people keep dogs and cats going past where I would have considered them to have a very good quality of life (especially with my experience on some of the SM discussion lists) -- where it seems more for the person than the animal to keep it going as they find it hard to let go.

I also think vets and specialists in the US in particular are a lot more likely to go for surgical procedures and even routine dental cleaning for example, that have larger costs. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not but it definitely means insurance might be considered valuable to many in North America for that reason alone.

So that's not an answer but perhaps lays out some of the ways in which some people weigh up what is best for them and their animals.

Perhaps worth noting that the friends of mine who have paid out most on health bills own mixed breeds. I've had no problems at all with my cavaliers outside of Leo's SM and that, thank goodness so far, has been very manageable and not very expensive either.

[Denise G.]

I've had PetCare insurance for a couple of years on my Golden--since he was 8 weeks old. Let's just say--they haven't made too much money off of me. It's been worth every cent to me. Haven't had to use it for Mia yet, but I have enrolled her. It's definitely not cheap, but I don't ever want to have to make any hard decisions harder because of financial limitations.

Just MHO...

[Crittercall]

Pet insurance is like insurance for humans (either health or life) - it's a big gamble as to whether you will really need it or not. If you don't have it you will at some point wish you did. Or if you do have it you will regret having paid the premiums for nothing.

Back in the day, as they say, I was always discouraged because it didn't cover the things that were required yearly (vaccines) and I don't think they even covered dentals back then - which most vets I've worked with want to do once a year. Kind of like the micro-chips, I haven't kept up with what they offer now, just know what used to be.

I don't think that my vet clinic even has info around concerning pet insurance. And I think my girls are too old for it now.

[Cathy T]

Zippy - my goodness you went through a lot with Charley...am dying to know...how in the world did that boy get up in a tree?!!

I've got both of mine insured with PetCare. I've had VPI and AKC's plan and didn't care for either. The reason I bought insurance is we went through lymphoma with our cat, she was expected to live 2 months and kept going for 18 months....at a cost of about $5,000 (couple hundred here, couple hundred there...it added up!). And then in one month Shelby had knee surgery and Jake had surgery for carcinoma. My vet bills for that month alone were close to $4,000.

I don't plan on the insurance for the "small" stuff...not that $400 is small..but in the whole scheme of things. I wanted it for mvd, sm, cancer, accidents, etc.