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.

Do you Need Pet Insurance?

By Joan Shin

When David Quilty of Santa Monica, California, took his cat Damon to the vet for a checkup, he didn't expect to spend $1,000 to get two of Damon's teeth pulled because of cavities.
"It was quite a shock," Quilty says. "It's the biggest expense we've ever had on him, and the cat is 13 years old."

Like Quilty, many pet owners are concerned by the rising cost of pet health care, which is partially the result of advances in veterinary medicine. Some are looking to pet health care insurance as one way to cope.

"The medical treatments and technologies being used for humans are now being used for pets," says Laura Bennett, chief executive officer and co-founder of Embrace Pet Insurance. Chemotherapy, heart surgery and MRIs are becoming more common in the pet world. But advanced treatments and surgeries can cost thousands of dollars.

Some pet owners facing an animal's serious illness or injury will choose to euthanize -- put the animal down -- for financial reasons. Or they will decide on a less expensive treatment for an injured animal.
"If they have a fracture that they can't afford to get stabilized -- can't afford to go to the orthopedic surgeon to plate it -- they might choose amputation rather than fix the fracture," says Dr. Lauren Adams of Emory Animal Hospital.

Such tough decisions are more likely in rural areas, Adams says, noting her clients in Decatur, Georgia, usually are able to pay for any specialized treatments that their pets may need.
Statistics show that people are willing to foot the growing medical bills for their beloved pets. U.S. pet owners spent $10.5 billion on vet care in 2005, compared to $7.2 billion in 2000, according to the Pet Industry Strategic Outlook report from Dillon Media LLC, a marketing and research firm.

Statistics vary on the percentage of pet owners in the U.S. who insure their pets. A 2004 survey by the American Animal Hospital Association estimated that three percent of pet owners carried insurance. That's far lower than in Sweden, where nearly 50 percent of pet owners insure their animals, according to market research publisher Packaged Facts.

Pet health insurance may be worth considering as a way to prepare for unexpected medical expenses. What's not always clear is whether it is cost-effective. Regardless, some pet care practitioners say such insurance may simply give owners peace of mind or help them make decisions about their pet's future that are not influenced by financial considerations.


When Pet Insurance Makes Sense
Storm was running along the fence in the yard when the neighbor's dog caught hold of his leg and tried pulling him under the fence. Storm's leg was severely mangled, and he needed three operations and regular X-rays.  Embrace Pet Insurance has reimbursed Kern for most of her bills. She has a 20 percent deductible, and so far the company has paid about $3,000.