Self-Insure Your Pets Instead of Buying Insurance

If you've ever been stung by a stiff bill from the vet, pet insurance can seem mighty appealing. But socking away one dollar per day on your own may be just as effective, and unused money doesn't go to waste.

                                                           Image via Average Jane.
Guest writer Sierra Black posits at the Get Rich Slowly personal finance blog that, despite her experiences with a terminally ill cat that she loved dearly, she can't bring herself to fork over the funds for pet insurance. Her logical alternative is to put away the average cost of insurance in a savings account instead:

• Pet insurance costs about $1 a day. That's $365 a year. My cat's medical care typically costs about $300 a year. I can readily save that money myself.
• Routine care isn't covered. While an accident or serious illness could suddenly befall my cat, routine care is the bulk of expenses I have ever paid for a cat. It's true that a sudden illness could escalate those costs dramatically. This just happened to Monster as he was dying. After 15 years of cat tending, though, I have a decent sense of how much it costs on a day-to-day basis, and how common these expensive accidents or illnesses really are.

As West notes, it takes the discipline and willpower to actually do this, rather than spend the savings stream on fancy drinks. But if you can automate the withdrawal, you've basically got your own pet insurance that will cover most every cost.

Send an email to Kevin Purdy, the author of this post, at kevin@lifehacker.com.

Dachshund Owners May Have Dearest Pet Insurance Claims

Those who have Dachshunds will have to make the biggest pet insurance claims, it has been suggested.

This is because research carried out by Sainsbury's Finance has discovered this dog is the most expensive for vets to treat at £543 per claim, which is 61 per cent above the average.

For those wondering what the cheapest dog to have in terms of expense is, the answer is the Whippet, with the typical treatment costing only £175.

The Chow Chow and the Italian Spinione were also in the top three dearest pooches to treat and so owners of these types of canines may want to ensure they have the right level of cover available.

Other findings from the organisation have shown 56 per cent of vets have had to put down animals in the last five years because owners cannot afford to pay for surgery.

Fiona Smith, from the Chestnut Veterinary Group, recently told people not give their animals chocolate this Christmas.

Posted by Penelope Fitzgerald, UIA Insurance News

SPCA Offers Free Pet Insurance With Adoption

By Rebecca Aldous - North Shore Outlook

 

As of last week, any pet adopted from B.C. SPCAs will come with six weeks of complimentary pet insurance.

Petsecure Pet Health Insurance has partnered with the 37 SPCA branches to offer up to $500 of insurance to new pet owners. The company is also donating more than $140,000 to aid the SPCA’s work with homeless, abused, injured and neglected animals.

So far about half of the people who adopted animals from West Vancouver’s SPCA branch took the free insurance, branch employee Ashley Lane said. Insurance is a good idea because animals can become stressed during their transition into a new home, she said. It is also beneficial in case they escape their new surroundings, which could lead to accidents, Lane noted.