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This past week my beloved cat, Oliver, became very ill and was diagnosed with a partially blocked gall duct. He was given medication to break up the gallstone and seems to be on the mend (fingers crossed he continues to heal). However, if the medication hadn't worked or he had been completely blocked I would have to face the decision of euthanizing my cat because I don't have $5,000 for surgery. This whole experience has made me wonder if I should get pet insurance. I understand they cannot cover this condition should it arise again since it is now considered pre-existing, but what if something else were to happen? I never want to be faced with decision of euthanizing my pet because I can't afford the life saving medicine or surgery he needs. That being said, is pet insurance worthwhile? Right now I am looking at two different companies and it would cost about $50 a month. All in all, I think that is worthwile considering I spent $2,000 to diagnose my cat and then needed $5,000 for possible surgery. Thoughts? |
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My thoughts are that if you dont have insurance you need to have a "vet bill buffer" account where you put money in monthly for emergencies. I cant imagine not having insurance on my pet(s). |
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I always tell people there are a few things you also have to look at, the deductible, age of the pet, and your own ability to not touch savings. If you can afford the deductibles, the pet is either old or really young, and you are bad at not touching your own savings, pet insurance is a great option. If you are good at saving or can't afford the deductible easily, I'd put that same amount you would put into insurance into a savings account instead. Especially for a younger to young adult pet. The rest are a 50/50 shot. With it being gallstones, anything gallstone related won't be covered for the rest of the cats life, so there is another thing to think of as well, since you don't know if this will happen again and the money you could put into insurance could cover the surgery depending on how long it is. |
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It's the same thing with all insurance, if you never need it you think you're being ripped off but when you need it, you never regret it. The downside to having a saving account for your pets is that it takes time to fill it with money and when you need it and you use it, it's gone and you need to fill it again and that can take time too. Sometime bad luck just keep coming. I can be an option but it has its limits. In your situation with a pre-existing condition, I would do both if I could afford it. If you feel like you would not forgive yourself for putting your animal to sleep because you can't afford the life saving medecine it needs, you should get an insurance. You still need to look at all your options because you could use one that's a little cheaper but a bigger deductible. In that case you would still be able to put some money in your saving account and it could be use to pay the deductible or the treatment for the pre-existing condition. |
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Not the same as a cat or dog I'm sure, but my horse (5yrs old) had a terrible career ending stifle injury in May 2024, only 5 months after I got him. We spent a ton of money on him just to get him pasture sound. His insurance had a $400 deductible, and paid back $3000 for diagnostics and $3000 for treatments (that was the maximum for each on our plan). I don't remember what the cost of insurance was per year but the company was great to work with and sent us the money in a timely manner. I only ended up paying around $1000 myself for those bills I believe, plus the $400 deductible. We canceled it in November when we were told that the injury was definetly not fixable and my horse could not be ridden again, because I am no longer willing to spend a lot of money on him or have any type of surgery/intensive care done on him. This means his vet bills should never reach a point where I wouldn't be able to pay them. At the point where he may need things that I mentioned above, I would almost 100% euthanize him. Don't take that the wrong way and think I'm a terrible owner haha, he is very spoiled but that's where I set the limit in terms of expenses. If you don't want to set that for your cat - totally understandable - then I would recommend insurance. A savings account can only do so much, because if you reach that limit, you are in the same situation. It also depends on how much more/less you could put in a seperate account compared to how much insurance covers, because you can also reach an insurance maximum. I would do the math and see which option is better.
For my families dog, we do not have insurance because we are lucky to be able to afford vet bills, unless it was something very extreme. Our dog is like our baby so we would do anything for her, similarly to how I suspect you feel about your cat. I would think that insurance would be a good idea in your case, especially if you can afford the plan comfortably and your cat has many medical expenses. |
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Trivia Team |
Not to be rude, but I don't think there's much of a question here? If you couldn't afford the surgery and were going to be facing the very hard decision to euthanise your cat because you didn't have pet insurance, why would you leave yourself open to potentially being in that same situation again? To me personally the health scare with your cat is answer enough as to whether or not you should/need pet insurance on him. I don't think polling the internet for an answer is necessary when you've already had a brush with a worst case scenario outcome and were lucky enough to not have to make that call this time. Again not trying to be rude, just my opinion. |
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My intention was not to poll the internet, but to see if my thinking is logical and maybe to see if anyone has experience with pet insurance. I tried bringing this up with my Mom, who is my normal confidant, but thinks I am crazy for even considering pet insurance. Thus far I have learned that some people have it and think it is great and others don't and don't think it is necessary because they have savings.
The Joker said:
Not to be rude, but I don't think there's much of a question here? If you couldn't afford the surgery and were going to be facing the very hard decision to euthanise your cat because you didn't have pet insurance, why would you leave yourself open to potentially being in that same situation again? To me personally the health scare with your cat is answer enough as to whether or not you should/need pet insurance on him. I don't think polling the internet for an answer is necessary when you've already had a brush with a worst case scenario outcome and were lucky enough to not have to make that call this time. Again not trying to be rude, just my opinion.
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I appreciate everyone's input and hearing your personal experiences. I just signed Oliver up for Trupanion. In addition to this I am hoping to save up enough money for any future risks associated with his gallbladder. I am sad I didn't realize how helpful pet insurance would be sooner as it seemed like a luxury only the rich can afford. However, I hope things continue to look up and Oliver continues on the path of healing. |
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As someone who's worked at a few vet clinics, I do want to say that the most common misunderstanding I've seen people have with pet insurance is that it doesn't work with human insurance where it covers part of the bill and you only pay the remaining. With my experience dealing with pet insurance, it requires the owner of the pet to pay the entire bill up front. Then you go home, submit the claim, and once the claim is processed they reimburse you. So you'll still need a means of temporarily footing the full bill until the reimbursement. |
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Yes, this is true. Trupanion did say my vet has partnered with them so they have direct pay.
Epsilon Acres said:
As someone who's worked at a few vet clinics, I do want to say that the most common misunderstanding I've seen people have with pet insurance is that it doesn't work with human insurance where it covers part of the bill and you only pay the remaining. With my experience dealing with pet insurance, it requires the owner of the pet to pay the entire bill up front. Then you go home, submit the claim, and once the claim is processed they reimburse you. So you'll still need a means of temporarily footing the full bill until the reimbursement.
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