Dog Insurance: To Insure or Not To Insure?

For those who bought their dogs from the pet stores (which I strongly detest) probably had been pitched by sales staff into buying dog insurance.

Many novice dog owners I came across are sold on the idea that dog insurance is the best way of curbing medical bills. Then there are others who think that they are being prudent since their dogs are going to visit the vet several times a year.

Pleeeeeeeeease! Are these people for real? Do you really want to bring your dog to the vet several times a year? Do you think you are doing your dog a great favor by bringing him to the vet whenever he’s off his food or letting out foul gas or sneeze for a few days? Come on, let’s be honest here. Do you visit your doctor for common flu or headaches? I’m not saying that you should completely ignore your dog’s welfare, but what I’m advocating is to be sensible enough to grudge the urgency and severity before acquiring veterinary assistance. Many of the minor dog ailments I’ve seen in veterinary clinic can be easily treated at home. Having said that, I do realize this knowledge does come with years of experience. However, it’s not impossible to acquire this knowledge if you’d spend a bit more time in reading good books on dog health and related.

As always, read my Disclaimer for your benefit.

I probably will be stoned by pet insurance agents for telling you this. Yes, you guess it, I don’t recommend any dog owner to get pet insurance for the sake of getting one, thinking they will be saving huge sum of money.

In reality, no dog insurance carrier on earth will pay your entire veterinary bill. Think about this for a second, what would be in it for them if they do cover every single veterinary bill?

Chances you won’t be saving any instead you might end up paying more than you want to. The deductible and between-the-line restrictions (usually in microscopic print) of certain policies could wind up costing you more money, and not to mention some heated irritation, than if you didn’t have insurance to begin with.

What I would recommend is to keep a reserve fund of about one to two thousand dollars for emergency cases. This amount may be a bit hefty sum for some considering for a pet dog but this cannot be simply ignored as you wouldn’t do for your own emergency issues. Whoever says owning a dog is cheap and easy, certainly have to rethink his or her perception and reevaluate their financial and commitment levels.

Usually the monthly or yearly dog insurance premium aren’t outrageously pricey, ranging from few dollars to tens of dollars per month depending on breed and age, but over a period of ten over years this amount can really chalk up big. As said earlier, no policies cover every single veterinary bills. So in long run, you actually forking unnecessary bill.

Whether you bought your pup from a pet store or breeder, your dog’s first year medical cost would be his third vaccination (the first two are already done by them) and maybe a couple causal veterinary visits for minor ailments. And throughout your dog’s life, you have provided a non hazard environment for him to live in then those occasional veterinary visits won’t dampen your pocket much, costly indeed but you’ll survive.

God forbid, should your adult or senior dog been diagnosed with a catastrophic illness like cancer, the deductible will be eaten up by just one session of chemotherapy. So are you not going to bring your dog for his second chemotherapy treatment just because the dog insurance coverage has been exhausted?

I’ll be very frank with you; most of my dogs I had for the last 4 decades have never been to the veterinary clinic for more than three times in their entire life. All my pups got their vaccinations done at home through house call. Whelping and dental scaling were done at home too with the help from my late dentist dad. Currently I only bring my dogs to the vet for their dental scaling which occurs every 18 months and on their last day – cremation.

Personal note: I’m very thankful that all my dogs never posed many major health problems that require intensive care, and if they did, they were very brief lasted a day or two and left peacefully. I’m one lucky and blessed dog owner.

Just like personal health insurance, we don’t get one to four policies in hope to fully utilize them just to offset our prepaid premium. Dog insurance is no difference either. If that’s the notion you have, then I highly recommend you spend your money on good dog food, supplements and herbs, and occasional visit to doggy spas. And that my friend, you are being very prudent and will be richly rewarded – your dog’s longevity and happiness.