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Pet Insurance


GretchSS
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My partner and I are looking at buying a puppy soon. I have been researching pet insurance, and reading about people's experience with it. Some people have mentioned that the vet requires to be paid cash upfront, and then you make a claim to the insurer. The reason we're looking at insurance is because we know we couldn't come up with more than $2000 cash for an emergency vet intervention. It's actually not the smaller costs of hundreds of dollars we're worried about as we could pay out of pocket if need be and it wouldn't cause too many problems. With that being the case, if our dog got hit by a car and we were informed it would cost $5000 to perform lifesaving surgery, what could we do? Even if we were on friendly terms with out vet and they agreed to let us pay $2000 now, and the rest when the claim goes through, there's always the risk that the claim gets denied (even if the PDS seems to indicate it won't). So, it seems to me a vet actually wouldn't take that risk. I'm sure we're not the only ones in the position of needing the insurance specifically for the big costs we couldn't possibly cover in cash, so, how does one get around this situation if it should come up?

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Some vets have a payment plan type system, so you can pay off your bill slowly even if you don't have pet insurance...?

In terms of reducing the likelihood that insurance wont cover it, I would insure as soon as you get your puppy so it has no "pre-existing conditions" and go with a very comprehensive cover like PetPlan :)

But its always a good idea to have a puppy savings account for emergencies!

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Credit card

Yes, I guess this is how we'll have to do it. We'll need to extend our credit limits though which is something we'd always avoided to ensure we couldn't unthinkingly get ourselves into debt problems.

Some vets have a payment plan type system, so you can pay off your bill slowly even if you don't have pet insurance...?

In terms of reducing the likelihood that insurance wont cover it, I would insure as soon as you get your puppy so it has no "pre-existing conditions" and go with a very comprehensive cover like PetPlan :)

But its always a good idea to have a puppy savings account for emergencies!

We can always have a little money aside for the puppy but probably not enough for worst-case-scenario. I know, ideally, every dog owner would have a spare $10,000 in the bank put aside just for their dog but in the real world many of us could never own a dog if we waited for the ideal scenario. Having read about people ending up with exclusions on their policy for pre-existing conditions I think you're right - insure immediately, then off to the vet for first health check up.

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You could make a puppy only bank account and add however much you can each week/fortnight/month for a while to save up a few thousand to keep away just in case.

(Say add $50 a week for a few years and don't spend any of it on other things.) Then you don't have to pay an insurance fee/bill if you end up not needing it. We were contemplating pet insurance because both our dogs have had several issues, but obviously they won't cover existing issues. (Corgi tore ACLs and is likely to get arthritis, which they wouldn't cover so it's useless for us)

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  • 2 weeks later...

If the unthinkable happens, and you find yourself in that situation... Credit cards, a personal loan if necessary, loans from friends. All of that is much easier to ask for/manage when you know you'll probably be getting about 80% of your bill back through insurance.

When I didnt have insurance, no one I knew would lend me money as I couldn't tell them when they would get it back, but when you have insurance, people are much more likely to help you out.

I'm glad you're thinking about the big bills, and not just the small ones! I hear so many people say 'pet insurance isn't cost effective', well, no of course it isn't if you're betting your pet will only need the annual visit to the vet for a check-up. But let me tell you, after two years working in an Emergency clinic Vet bills can add up to thousands of dollars very, very quickly. I think I topped our clinics record with my own dog where I spent $6000 in 40 minutes :eek:

Edited by Ruffles
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I've been to the Carrara After Hours emergency vet twice now. Its $150 for the consultation and they tell you that before they even look at your animal.

Extra fees are dependent on the work done afterward.

Their website also states: Payment is expected at the time of consultation, and if your pet requires admission to hospital the vet will ask you for an initial deposit with payment in full to be made at the time of discharge. We have two payment plans (Vetpay, and GEM Visa) available for approved applicants if necessary.

I don't know if they delay operating until a 3rd party loan gets approval? It might pay to look in to whats required before hand and keep paperwork handy in case you have to go in a hurry one day? Maybe even sus out if you can get pre-approval as a just in case?

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I would insure as soon as you get your puppy so it has no "pre-existing conditions" and go with a very comprehensive cover like PetPlan

this is all provided puppy is sourced from a reliable and ethical breeder who can prove that most likely genetic conditions are not present in parents ..and has taken good note of how pup has grown /what health protocol has been in place .

Not sure of pet insurance ..but if a pup was to be food intolerant, or have HD , or lose sight due to something hereditary ... what happens here?

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I would insure as soon as you get your puppy so it has no "pre-existing conditions" and go with a very comprehensive cover like PetPlan

this is all provided puppy is sourced from a reliable and ethical breeder who can prove that most likely genetic conditions are not present in parents ..and has taken good note of how pup has grown /what health protocol has been in place .

Not sure of pet insurance ..but if a pup was to be food intolerant, or have HD , or lose sight due to something hereditary ... what happens here?

I also definitely recommend going through a reliable and ethical breeder as well who health tests :)

Hereditary conditions are covered by PetPlan provided no symptoms in the first few weeks of insurance/whatever the waiting period is...so medications for those would be covered/including surgery for HD...

Dont think there are treatments for loss of eye sight/food intolerance though ?

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I would insure as soon as you get your puppy so it has no "pre-existing conditions" and go with a very comprehensive cover like PetPlan

this is all provided puppy is sourced from a reliable and ethical breeder who can prove that most likely genetic conditions are not present in parents ..and has taken good note of how pup has grown /what health protocol has been in place .

Not sure of pet insurance ..but if a pup was to be food intolerant, or have HD , or lose sight due to something hereditary ... what happens here?

I also definitely recommend going through a reliable and ethical breeder as well who health tests :)

Hereditary conditions are covered by PetPlan provided no symptoms in the first few weeks of insurance/whatever the waiting period is...so medications for those would be covered/including surgery for HD...

Dont think there are treatments for loss of eye sight/food intolerance though ?

cataracts , entropion/ectropion .. all are genetic,can cause early eye damage, and all can be helped with surgery .

re food: guess I should have maybe added that to allergic responses ;) Any of which require much homework and treatment ...

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Good on you for looking in to pet insurance! It's honestly the best thing I've ever done. When my dog really seriously injured herself earlier in the year we racked up a $3.5k bill in a couple of days that could have easily been $5-6k if she ended up needing a blood transfusion and further surgery at the emergency vet.

I was so unbelievably stressed out of my mind and I can't tell you what a relief it is to say 'do anything she needs - I've got pet insurance and cost is not a barrier'. I can't imagine how sick I would have been if I had to start worrying about cost amongst everything else.

Couple of weeks later I got a cheque for everythingbar $150 (my excess).

Credit card is definitely the answer for paying up front.

Credit card

Yes, I guess this is how we'll have to do it. We'll need to extend our credit limits though which is something we'd always avoided to ensure we couldn't unthinkingly get ourselves into debt problems.

Some vets have a payment plan type system, so you can pay off your bill slowly even if you don't have pet insurance...?

In terms of reducing the likelihood that insurance wont cover it, I would insure as soon as you get your puppy so it has no "pre-existing conditions" and go with a very comprehensive cover like PetPlan :)

But its always a good idea to have a puppy savings account for emergencies!

We can always have a little money aside for the puppy but probably not enough for worst-case-scenario. I know, ideally, every dog owner would have a spare $10,000 in the bank put aside just for their dog but in the real world many of us could never own a dog if we waited for the ideal scenario. Having read about people ending up with exclusions on their policy for pre-existing conditions I think you're right - insure immediately, then off to the vet for first health check up.

Open a completely separate credit card that's only to be used in case of vet bills - and put it away in a drawer so it isn't in your wallet. You only touch it if the dog ends up in the vet.

Companies like Vetpay (external veterinary financing) offer interest free terms for 30 days to get your insurance return. Great for these type of problems!

Yep VetPay is a good option too.

Edited by melzawelza
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