Pet insurance?

[Ms. Ferret]

So we've got these two ferrets. They are, as most ferrets are, insanely curious and distinctly lacking in self-preservation. One of them has cost us several thousand dollars in vet bills over the last 5 years (adrenal disease treatment, tumor removal, and one memorable instance where he had to have emergency surgery after eating a "foamy-thing" that got lodged in his digestive tract, stupid ferret).

Does anyone have any experience, good or bad, with pet insurance? I looked into this years ago but IIRC it didn't cover adrenal disease (and didn't have specific info regarding "foamy-things"). I've been just keeping more money in savings to cover vet bills but am wondering if insurance might be a better strategy for future issues.

[AlmostFrugal]

Hi Ms Ferret,

Your post made me laugh! ''foamy things'' indeed. I don't have ferrets, but cats, and they are certainly capable of eating and regurgitating their own fair share of icky stuff.

I've never gotten pet insurance, but looked into it several times. My understanding of it is that it is cheapest for young/in good health beasties, and gets prohibitively more expensive the older they get. And like with humans, if there is a past history of medical issues, it gets really, really expensive. You could always check with your vet for a first idea. otherwise I'd keep tucking money aside!

Kelly

[hermione]

We've had pets all our lives - dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, mice, guinea pigs, and more - but have never had pet insurance. We have 2 dogs now who are our only family and we're therefore very protective of them. I've considered pet insurance, but have come to the conclusion that it's cheaper to just save the money for when you need it - and do everything possible to keep them healthy and out of trouble.

Of course, this depends on the breed. Our dogs are Border Collies and don't have any hereditary issues, so our only vet expenses are shots, checkups and heart worm tests. For pets that get ill frequently, though, pet insurance might save you in the long run.

In your case, it sounds like maybe your ferrets run loose in your house and hence the ingestion of "foamy-things". If that's the case, you could decrease the chances of such incidents by confining your ferrets when they're not supervised - if you're out or too busy to keep an eye on them (even when cooking or cleaning).

If they do get ill a lot, then insurance might be a good way to go. I don't know how much ferret insurance is, but have done some research on dog insurance which seems to start around $20 per month. That would be $240 per year, which wouldn't be bad if it could potentially save you thousands. But as you mentioned, you should talk to the insurance companies and see if they cover surgeries for removal of accidentally ingested objects.

[lucille]

Look closely at any of these policies. They tend to exclude just the right things that you could run into and they exclude old age related disease even if you have the policy from back when the animal was young. These policies seem to only cover a few accident type situations.

[SouthShoreGirl]

I had this and recently cancelled it, as it seemed to be raised each year. Like a PP mentioned, it doesn't cover a lot of things. My pets don't go to the vet that much, it was getting to the point where I felt like I was throwing $$$ away each month, instead of "saving" towards something which was my thinking when I first got it. Now I just pad my savings with the extra $$$ and that will go to things like vet bills when the time arises.

[Ms. Ferret]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I think I'm going to just keep setting money aside for the little dudes; in the long run it sounds like it's cheaper. We've gotten better at ferret-proofing over the years, and they do live in a cage when we're not supervising them, so hopefully the "Foamy-Thing Incident" of 2005 will never be repeated.

[GeeZee]

How much is it to keep ferrets vrs. ginnie pigs?

[canadamom]

I did the pet insurance and research IN DEPTH before just to make sure...
And claims was denied.... vet said my cat COULD have have a pre existing condition...
COULD.... he had never sen cat before. And this was a totally new issue to my cat.
SO I promptly canceled insurance after insurance said no pre existing. Anything could possibly be pre existing!

[the weakonomist]

My dog (the one pictured) broke his leg as a puppy and in the surgery to fix his leg it almost killed him. The total vet bill was over $2,000. Pet insurance would have covered 90% of this, as well as any problems he develops later in life as a result of this awful experience.

He'll be two this November though, and has made a full recovery! I love this guy.

Having said all that I still don't think I would get pet insurance. Just have a good emergency fund, pretend each pet is a kid.

[hermione]

Based on some of the responses, it would seem that pet insurance is, for the most part, not very helpful. So, I just thought I'd share something I have heard favorable of pet insurance from someone who has it.

I once met a woman at the drugstore who told me she has 6 dogs (small dogs, Chihuahuas, I think). She said that just in the month current/previous to our conversation, 5 of her dogs had had problems - some had eye infections (must have been contagious), some had injured themselves. Lucky for her, she had pet insurance and hardly had to pay anything for all those ailments. She said the $16 per month per dog was totally worth it.

So if your pets are accident, injury and/or infection-prone, then it may be worth it. (Again, I don't have pet insurance.)