Pet Insurance Yes or No?

T

TBIRD19

New member
Researching and debating between accident and illness coverage for my 1 1/2 yr old chocolate lab. Primarily upland hunting and plan on using him for the years to come. We are very active throughout the entire year with offseason training/conditioning and hunt very often during pheasant season here in MN. Have not experienced any problems other than routine vet visits since the day I brought him home at 8 weeks, so he is fairly healthy, but I know there a lot of accidents (breaks, tears, cuts, etc.) and illness that can happen with a bird dog throughout the years. Wondering if others have benefited from this or not?
 
Wished I had it. Looking at a $4k bill for TPLO today. Hunting dogs take a beating from barbed wire, thorns in feet, almost getting impaled by downed trees, scratched and pokes in the eye.. Not sure how much it cost but I'll be looking at it for next dog.
 
The plan I am looking into is through AKC pet insurance. They do not restrict you to a certain network of providers, you are able to utilize any licensed veterinary clinic/hospital. There are different plans to choose from that offer higher/lower feature options (deductible, incident level, annual level). There are also plans that exclude illness and cover accident only (breaks, tears, cuts, etc.) I am going back and forth between the Accident & Illness coverage or Accident only. Accident and Illness is $40/month, where as Accident only is $25/month.
 
Might be a good idea to check with your vet to see if s/he accepts insurance. Insurance payments are often less than what you pay, and some vets may not want to take less.
 
The insurance plan I'm familiar with still requires you to up the 100% to the vet- then they reimburse you. So whether or not the vet participates is a moot issue (at least with VPI/Nationwide). If I recall, the premiums you pay covers a good chunk of regular maintenance stuff. Do you come out ahead? Beats me.
I could have only made real good use of it a couple times, but it sure would have been nice to have then.
 
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