Insuring your pet: could it save their life?
Exploring the pros and cons of pet insurance
WRITTEN BY MATTHEW HAYHURST MONDAY, 10 JANUARY 2011
Pet insurance may be expensive, but it could save your pet’s life.
The decision of whether or not to buy pet insurance can be a very tough choice for pet owners to make. Alternatives could end up being quite costly if the family pet fell ill — and nobody wants to have to make a life or death decision for a pet.
Tracie Nielson and Joe Scorgie have decided not to purchase pet insurance for their dogs Niko and Foster. They believe that a well-trained, well-fed, well-exercised dog is an insurance policy of its own.
Many pet owners will never experience any life-threatening problems with their beloved furry friends, but for some pet owners, a sudden catastrophe can appear out of nowhere.
That’s what happened to 27-year-old Jennifer Kaiser while she was on vacation in Vancouver. Her Newfoundland, Moses, got a bloated stomach.
“I got back to the hotel and I could tell that he wasn’t doing very well,” she said. “He looked uncomfortable, he was trying to vomit — but he couldn’t. You could tap his stomach and it felt like a hollow drum.... This can be immediately fatal for dogs....
“(So) emergency vet in Vancouver here we come and $4,500 later our dog is OK, but I sure wish we had insurance at the time so we could be reimbursed the cost of the surgery,” she said.
Pets are now able to undergo very similar medical procedures to humans — and with that comes a higher cost of healthcare.
According to Petsecure, a pet insurance company, the cost to remove a life-threatening tumour from your dog or cat could cost almost $5,000.
The owner is left to pay the vet bill, but much like dental coverage, once you file a claim, many pet insurance companies will reimburse you up to 80 per cent of the cost.
“We even recommend that people who have healthy animals get pet health insurance just in case something happens to them,” said veterinarian Dr. Manpreet Singh. “We’ve had animals come in that have been hit by cars and depending on the surgery, that can cost upwards of $9,000 — if you have pet insurance, you’re only paying a small portion of that.”
It is very common for pet owners to contemplate getting pet insurance, or to just put money aside every month in case of an unforseen circumstance. But sometimes it can be easier and less expensive to just pay the vet bills youself.
“We were wavering for a while about getting pet insurance, but we had a well-trained dog with a healthy diet — which are insurance policies on their own,” Kaiser said. “We were not expecting for him to get hit by a car or anything so we didn’t get the insurance. A (stomach) bloat can happen to any dog at any age, at any time.
“It’s just one of those things that when you have pet insurance, you’re never going to need it, but we didn’t have it when Moses got his stomach bloat, and we needed it,” she said.
Many pet insurance policies start at around $30 per pet, per month, but can get as expensive as $65 per month for a single dog or cat.
As Scorgie explained, in the case of a healthy animal with the cheapest form of pet insurance, pet owners can end up paying more than double the cost of paying the veterinarian bills.
“My oldest dog Foster, who is 13 years old, has had a few surgeries in his life,” Scorgie said. “He has also been neutered and he’s been porcupined.
“A liberal estimate on what we have spent on these procedures is $2,500. With the most basic pet insurance plan, it would have cost $4,860 to this point. So there is a big difference there,” Scorgie said.
If choosing not to opt for pet insurance, there are ways to help prevent unforeseeable sickness.
Tracie Nielson, a professional dog trainer, said that “there are ways to minimize the chances of catastrophic events. For example, feeding your dog an appropriate, healthy, species-appropriate food, and having complete control and trust over your dog can really prevent those catastrophes.
“If my dog has a healthy immune system, then there’s less of a chance that he will get a disease or parasite. If my dog is well trained, and he listens to me, then there’s less of a chance that he will run across a busy street and get hit by a car. These things can be avoided, and people don’t have to pay pet insurance if it’s not necessary,” she said.
It is important for pet owners to understand the purpose of pet insurance.
“Like any other form of insurance, (pet insurance) is selling peace of mind to people,” Scorgie said. “The unfortunate part is, in order to get peace of mind they have to use a little bit of scare tactics on you.
“They often portray the doom and gloom that could happen to your dog, so you must prepare for it,” he added. “You don’t need pet insurance to tell your dog that you love them.”
It is especially important for pet owners to remember that if they choose to apply for pet insurance, they need to know what they are paying for, and why they may be paying more money than others.
“It’s the same thing with our health insurance,” Singh said. “If you apply for pet insurance, and your dog or cat has a health problem, then the insurance premiums will be a lot higher than a perfectly healthy animal.”
There are always options for pet owners, and pet insurance doesn’t have to be one of them. Simply putting aside some money every month just in case something happens could be cheaper in the long run, and if nothing happens, then you get to keep your money.
“Some animals never have expensive conditions arise, and (you) may not need insurance — but what happens if they do get sick?” Singh said, adding that he always recommends that people get insurance, just as a precaution.
“Just because you don’t have insurance though does not make you a bad pet owner. There are a lot of responsible pet owners out there who do not have, or do not need, pet insurance.”
