Pet Insurance - other people's thoughts?

Do you have insurance for your pets? It can be any or all of them. And what type of insurance is it? Wellness only, injury/illness only, comprehensive, etc? And why/why not do you have it?

I'm sure there's a million topics on this, but as I've not seen any dedicated topics, but rather random posts, figured I'd create one.

Oops, then silly me hits the submit button before completing my post, lol. Updating now now!

This is not a solicitation for what insurances are best, but people are more than welcome to offer what they use. I have insurance for all of my cats. The youngin's have full comprehensive insurance (injury / illness / wellness). My two older girls have wellness only. I may cancel the wellness only since my senior girls won't be taking full advantage of what is offered with it.

As a side note, I also have two dogs, but they are not yet insured as insurance requires you to have the pet seen by a vet while in your care in the last year, or within 14 days of signing up. I want to get an age on the girls since that impacts the price, and we think the one is younger than the rescue thought.

I decided to get pet insurance after dealing with two very sick cats that had very expensive needs. I don't even want to think about how much money I've spent these last two years between Lucky and Sara (mostly Sara). I also didn't want to have money be a deciding factor in their care anymore. I don't want to have to worry about not being able to pay for a vet bill. So yes, I pay money every month knowing that there's a chance I may never use this insurance (outside of wellness). But if just ONE of them comes down with something at some point in their lives that warrants an extra vet visit, to me, it's worth it.

Yes, pet insurance is expensive. I did a lot of research since most didn't cover wellness visits, but still required you to do an annual wellness vet check. That seemed off to me for some reason. Then I found on that had wellness also and well, that was a good deal to me.

I've been considering it but not sure which one is the best

I had to request a LOT of quotes before I decided the best fit for me. It helps to know what you are looking for - which of course I didn't the first time I was searching. I was just looking for quotes at the time. That was back when the boys were just wee ones.

I'm discovering with wellness, you really get the most bang for your buck if you use it with the younger cats, as it generally covers neutering and vaccinations (although if you do annual vaccinations, then it might still be good). I can't have Sara vaccinated, and probably won't bother with Maple since she's 14 also. Don't want to do it with her "just because".

I've also decided I want to start the youngin's NOW since things like upper respiratory infections can be considered "pre-existing conditions". I found that out with Pea-Pea. However, I also discovered there are some pre-existing conditions that can be repealed if they do not have any symptoms of it for a period of time. So I told Pea-Pea she can't get sick until after July. Thankfully, Oliver didn't get it even though he was affected by the virus (only in his eye though) when he was a tiny boy.

In my experience with dogs it only pays off if something very serious goes wrong. For normal vet visits it does not pay off

Arcturus is coming from a shelter where they provide a month's worth of insurance in the adoption fee, so for the time being I do have insurance. I need to do some serious research into what sort of cover would be best for a FIV+ kitty though. 

I don't feel like the wellness coverage is worth it. You end up paying more in premiums than the wellness care would cost. But vet care is fairly cheap in this area; in a more expensive are it may be a better value. You always need to do a little number crunching!

For injury/illness coverage, I think it's probably a good idea for most people. One thing to consider is that, unlike with human medical insurance, you usually have to pay up front and then they reimburse you. So for those who don't have the ability to scrape up the cash, or have enough room on credit cards, it may be of limited use :/. But because illness or injury care can easily reach $1000 without really trying, there's a fair chance you won't be wasting your money.


I don't have insurance on any of my pets currently. I am considering it for any future dogs. An ACL tear can cost several thousand dollars to fix. . .

I have never had pet insurance for any of my previous cats, but it is something I've thought about.  Sweetie was adopted from a shelter about six years ago so I'm not sure of his age, but he might be about 9 1/2 .  So since he is older I'm thinking about pet insurance again and have a couple of questions.  Can you give me a general idea of what the monthly premium would be?  Also wellness visits at my local vet clinic can get really expensive and if anything extra is added like a stool culture and vaccinations the cost is over $100.00.  So pet insurance wouldn't  cover these extra costs because they're part of the wellness visit?

I kept running "what if" scenarios and came to the conclusion that after paying the premiums and co-pay, that it never really made financial sense to me.  Last time I had both cats in for dental procedures, I might have saved $100 or so overall, which honestly isn't enough for me to warrant getting the insurance.  Especially since both are older and the older your pet is when the insurance is purchased the more expensive it gets or, they won't even cover them (especially with pre-existing conditions).

I'm lucky that I can afford their vet visits and emergency situations.  I budget around $1-2K a year for their medical upkeep, which includes bi-annual exams/any necessary vaccinations and care above and beyond. I've not yet gotten to the $2K mark.  Perhaps I'd think differently if that wasn't the case.

When I decided to keep Tyson I looked into pet insurance for both kitties. It was going to be $15 CDN/mo/cat (not sure if that's good or bad). Then I looked at what that would cover and I did the math... it wasn't going to cover many "what if"s and I would be overpaying each year (the annual visits would have cost me less) so I didn't end up doing it. 

I guess I could look back into it especially since I'm living somewhere different now. 

I tend to feel insurance (not just pet) is a scam on many accounts and I'm better off budgeting, which was easier before I was a student. =P

I started it with my two and then let it go after a year.  Of course Patches had his first IBD flare when he was 18 months and I have since paid out a lot of money mainly because it took a long time and several vets to get a good diagnosis and treatment.  I think it is like any insurance if something happens and you use it for large bills and or chronic conditions then it is a good deal.  If you are fortunate to have a very healthy pet that rarely requires more than wellness visits even as they age then it isn't a very good deal.  Of course after a kitty becomes ill then that condition won't be covered anymore by insurance, it's kind of like gambling on the odds.

reversedpolarit said:

Arcturus is coming from a shelter where they provide a month's worth of insurance in the adoption fee, so for the time being I do have insurance. I need to do some serious research into what sort of cover would be best for a FIV+ kitty though. 

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I would start looking into whether his current insurance covers anything FIV related (which, if I understand correctly, could be pretty much anything). If so, and you want insurance, that may be your only option, as pet insurance doesn't cover anything related to pre-existing conditions.


In regards to a lot of the things people have discussed here, these were the things I considered:

- did the insurance cover a flat amount, or a certain percentage?
- is there a deductible, and how high is it?
- is there a cap per type of issue / year / life? (yes, some insurance cap out on certain types of illness or injuries!)
- is there a separate charge for wellness?
- are there any conditions they will not cover at all? (luxating patella is one I often see in this category)

One thing I found across the board, for anything other than wellness, if you start insurance at a later age, the monthly premium increases quite a bit. It increased by maybe a dollar from a kitten to a 14 year old for wellness only, but for the comprehensive, the monthly premium tripled! Take into account most seniors have SOME pre-existing conditions, and it's just not worth it after a certain point. My understanding is the cost does not increase that much though if you start when they are younger.

I think insurances with caps, which they can be helpful if not used much, just aren't worth it in my opinion. However, they are less expensive, so if someone is looking for any insurance they can afford, this may be a good option to look for.

While I obviously wanted the most bang for my buck, I really wanted to ensure coverage. I went with a comprehensive plan, that pays a certain percentage after deductible (which I got to choose). There is no cap on anything, with the exception of wellness only, which pays fixed amounts. I may or may not discontinue the wellness only for the senior girls, haven't decided yet. However, the comprehensive, which includes wellness, lumps the wellness in with everything else under the deductible/percentage stuff.

And yes, as someone else stated, the vast majority of pet insurances require payment up front. I don't think I came across very many (if any) in my search that paid up front. The pet healthcare system as we know it is still a baby, so I don't see something like that being the norm for quite some time. Pet insurance is starting to become more and more popular, and eventually I have a feeling there will be more up front paying insurers out there. But for now, there are not (from what I could tell - if anyone knows otherwise, please do speak up!).

I decided I really wanted to be more proactive with my babies going forward, and a big part of the reason I wasn't was due to the cost (like a lot of people). It's easier to absorb the cost of a monthly premium, even if it costs more over time, than to shell out a lump sum and know I won't get any of it back. I don't even want to think about how much I've spent on Lucky and Sara (and Maple while we're at it). I also want to make sure that if my babies need something like a dental, I can afford to pay it. I have to wonder how much dental issues played a part in my kitties' kidney disease, or anything else for that matter.

Yes, you can put aside so much per month into a bank account. If you are lucky, that will be great to cover wellness and any issues that may arise. But if you need a dental or any other procedure? Or if you have multiple cats that end up having issues? It's amazing how quickly that well will dry up.

It is a gamble.

I have 24PetWatch. The premiums are $15 per month. There is a $100 deductible, and it does not cover wellness exams. With it, you have to pay up front too and get reimbursed. However, I would hate to have some of those huge vet bills come in, so I will continue it.

I have pet insurance for my younger kitty. He is the one who's a talented escape artist so he's the one who's most likely to have an accident or serious injury. His insurance premium is $14.52 per month and only is for catastrophic illness and injury. With my vet only charging $18 for routine check ups and $135 for a dental cleaning under anesthesia, wellness coverage wouldn't be worthwhile.

My 15 year old cat is extremely healthy, but pet insurance premiums would be 3x what I pay for the younger cat due to his age. So I don't have it for him.

I got pet insurance for my cats two years ago. I'm not sure what made me decide to do it but I know that if anything happened to one of my cats, I don't want to worry about cost.

I'm young(ish) , single, make a decent income and have a nice cushion of savings but if one of my cats fell ill, I would hate to see $5,000 or $10,000 or however much disappear that quickly from my bank account. When I was doing research, I picked the top 3 companies (to me) and read each of their contracts (fine print) to determine exactly what would be covered, what (if anything) I would have to do to ensure I stay in good standing, etc. 

I chose Embrace because that's the one that works the best for me. Their list of exclusions are small and reasonable and the contract was very easy to read and understand. I chose the highest deductible ($1,000) to keep my monthly premiums as low as possible. This means that I would not file a claim for anything small or simple. I would only file claims for emergencies or something that would cost me over $1,000. I can afford anything that is less than $1,000. I got the insurance for catastrophic events like an expensive chronic illness or costly emergency.

My 2 cats are 10 & 5 years old and this year my annual premium was $189.22. That is less than $16 a month = Less than $8 per cat, per month. To me, that is SO WORTH IT.

Of course, premiums WILL increase every year. The 2 years that I've been with Embrace, my premium increased about 8%. Every insurance company increases premiums yearly due to rising costs of veterinary care (inflation) and the aging of your pet. No premium will stay the same forever.

I recommend pet insurance (ANY pet insurance) to all friends and family who have pets. No one that I know has taken my advice.

Crazy4Strays said:

I have pet insurance for my younger kitty. He is the one who's a talented escape artist so he's the one who's most likely to have an accident or serious injury. His insurance premium is $14.52 per month and only is for catastrophic illness and injury. With my vet only charging $18 for routine check ups and $135 for a dental cleaning under anesthesia, wellness coverage wouldn't be worthwhile.

My 15 year old cat is extremely healthy, but pet insurance premiums would be 3x what I pay for the younger cat due to his age. So I don't have it for him.

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you may end up paying a lot less for the older one than the younger one.  The older one is much more likely to need expensive care sooner, and the younger one's premiums will not only go up over time, but you'll be paying them a lot longer than the older one.  

In any case, anyone contemplating insurance should look at www.petinsurancereview.com

All my cats get insured but i hedge my my bets and wait about 7-8 years and save all those years in premiums in the hope (and so far successful expectation) that all those years of saved premiums are greater than the cots incurred in covered care.  Remember all plans make you pay up front (there may be a new exception to that...) so if you don't have the $$$ to pay upfront, the insurance won't help.

@Donutte  The insurance supplied by the shelter is the standard PetPlan one we have here in the UK, and because he was diagnosed before it started he won't be covered for much at all. So I doubt I'll renew it, seeing as he's an indoor cat and the risk of anything non-FIV happening is so small.

Pretty sure the dog was the only animal my parents have had insured, and that did prove worthwhile because she needed quite a bit of treatment later on. 

I carry a basic plan that doesn't cover routine care. It's customized for the needs of two healthy young cats. I may up it as they age.

StephenQ said:

you may end up paying a lot less for the older one than the younger one.  The older one is much more likely to need expensive care sooner, and the younger one's premiums will not only go up over time, but you'll be paying them a lot longer than the older one.  

In any case, anyone contemplating insurance should look at www.petinsurancereview.com

All my cats get insured but i hedge my my bets and wait about 7-8 years and save all those years in premiums in the hope (and so far successful expectation) that all those years of saved premiums are greater than the cots incurred in covered care.  Remember all plans make you pay up front (there may be a new exception to that...) so if you don't have the $$$ to pay upfront, the insurance won't help.

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Have you ever had a feeling about any of your young cats that they're gonna have issues later in life that you have trouble explaining? I feel that way about Oliver. Little guy is the one that got the herpes virus from his mom and had an eye infection when I got him. He has an occasional cough that worries me for the future. It doesn't happen THAT often, but still, just have a feeling about this one.

I could be just paranoid too. Actually, I'd bet on it.

Abby2932 said:

I chose Embrace because that's the one that works the best for me. Their list of exclusions are small and reasonable and the contract was very easy to read and understand. I chose the highest deductible ($1,000) to keep my monthly premiums as low as possible. This means that I would not file a claim for anything small or simple. I would only file claims for emergencies or something that would cost me over $1,000. I can afford anything that is less than $1,000. I got the insurance for catastrophic events like an expensive chronic illness or costly emergency.

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I actually WOULD submit all the little claims, as they still go against your deductible. Granted, it would take a lot to get to $1,000, but god forbid your baby needs a bit more care than you expected, at least the smaller claims help chip away at the deductible.

Mook had her dental today. All good ! Clean and polish and sealed.

I took the time there to make sure a paper copy of their Embrace claim forms were in their files.