Pet insurance

Anybody out there have pet insurance? Is it worth to buy?

I have a miniature schnauzer that turns 9 in a week, and I took her to the vet last week. For a wellness check, blood test and heartworm test, it cost me over $100. The vet said our pooch is in good shape for her age, a little overweight perhaps, but overall in good health. But schnauzers evidently have a higher risk of diabetes. I love our pooch, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna start spending through the roof to keep the little booger alive five more years when her health starts deteriorating.

I also have a daschund/rat terrier mix, but she's barely 2.

 

As a non-spammer, I have pet insurance through 24PetWatch. I don't know where you live, but when I found Winston was allergic to chicken because he was shitting blood and I took him in after hours, it cost me $728 for blood work and an x-ray. So "over $100" is what I pay for like a regular visit.

One thing to know: Almost all insurance is a "pay up front, be reimbursed" type thing. And the paperwork is insane, at least for me, because I live 15 miles from the vet. So I have to print out a claim form, fill it out, drive up to the vet's, have them fill out their portion, then submit it.

 

My experience with pet insurance is that it doesn't cover the things that really happen to pets.

 

Can you expand on that?

 

The policy that we had specifically covered a sickness if, say, a dog ate a foreign object. Ours did. Upon further investigation, the coverage only kicked in if he needed surgery. He didn't. But we still had $1,000 in bills. I did a really good look at the policy after that, which was free for a month from the humane society, and realized there were some really specific qualifications for almost everything it covered.

 

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