What do you guys think?

[awackywabbit]

I found that just paying out of pocket ends up being cheaper then paying monthly premiums. I've been lucky and had relatively healthy dogs. My chocolate lab did have seizures but even his hospital stays and medications were not too outrageous. They happened towards the end of his life and over the his lifetime the medical costs in all were not much.

I would just take the amount you were going to pay towards a premium and tuck it away in a savings account or something so you have it on hand when needed.

[Kain's Mommy]

I'm going through the same thing with Pet Plan too. Every year its more and more. Unfortunately Kain's into deep to switch. My little guy Bronson though, I'm still searching for a better option. We pay close to 160 a month for both boys right now. Vet Care is just to expensive in CA for me not to have it, especially since we live in Orange County. We usually get out money's worth with Kain though once a year so that helps

[Nancy0]

I'm going through the same thing with Pet Plan too. Every year its more and more. Unfortunately Kain's into deep to switch. My little guy Bronson though, I'm still searching for a better option. We pay close to 160 a month for both boys right now. Vet Care is just to expensive in CA for me not to have it, especially since we live in Orange County. We usually get out money's worth with Kain though once a year so that helps

Nice to see you again. I didn't know you got another doggy. Congrats! After all of this I decided to keep Healthy Paws. Niner was at the speciality hospital a few days ago for his laser treatment. I was talking to a man in the waiting area and he said his dog had pancreatitis and spent 10 days at the hospital. It cost $17,000 - OMG

Nancy

[windycanyon]

Nice to see you again. I didn't know you got another doggy. Congrats! After all of this I decided to keep Healthy Paws. Niner was at the speciality hospital a few days ago for his laser treatment. I was talking to a man in the waiting area and he said his dog had pancreatitis and spent 10 days at the hospital. It cost $17,000 - OMG

Nancy

I saw one of my 6mo old pups/ owners today and they too went w/ Healthy Paws. I think they said $39/mo for 90%. Nationwide was the other company I'd heard good things about recently.
Oh, guess the deciding factor for them was another friends' 3yo Dobe had blown a CCL recently. Sigh.

[Tanya]

$17,000 for pancreatis! Eek! One of the pups I run into now and then had that and the owner said it was super expensive (Rex a 10-11 year old golden). I never would have imagined it get nearly that high.

$40/mt for 90% coverage is quite reasonable, rates are much higher here (a few are around there but those cap out at $5000 or cover much less "%")

And yes having paid out for knee surgery and then some overnight critical care has changed my mind on pet insurance - saving works until you get a few bill over $5,000. Or a friend's ability to fight cancer. Or get the investigative MRI (assuming you have a good plan that covers hat stuff).

[JenC]

We've never had insurance. Take what you would spend and put it in a separate savings account. If they get sick, draw from that.

[Nancy0]

california sucks for vet care. Petplan once told me california and new york (my caps button is refusing to work) have the highest vet costs. With Healthy Paws I'm paying $118 for both dogs. charlie is about $55 and Niner is about $62. I could only get 60% coverage with a $750 deductible for charlie because he's 9. Niner has 80% with a $250 deductible which will stay with him for as long as I keep the insurance even when he turns 9.

It stinks, but I can't even imagine paying $17,000 for pancreatitis. Geez when Niner saw the dermatologist (and it was a recheck) it was $115. Gah

Nancy