I’d like to preface this with the fact that I know firsthand pet insurance is NOT CHEAP. It is absolutely something that not everyone has the luxury to afford. However, I experienced some major close calls with both of my boys in addition to a major life/death situation with Huntington when he was just a puppy. Since then, I've been a huge advocate of getting pet insurance when they're at a young age because 1) that's when plans are the cheapest and 2) you NEVER have to worry about not being covered for "pre-existing conditions." More about pre-existing conditions later...
I’ll start from the very beginning. Boss, who was only about 1 years young at the time was my second dog, but my first in terms of getting one as an adult. Seemingly healthy and young, I didn’t think he needed insurance until he decided to swallow a small rope toy when I turned my head away for 2 minutes in the middle of a play sesh to see what was on the television. This quickly turned into a trip to the emergency room and before I knew it, I was asked if I’d be "okay" with $3,000 worth of X-rays, stomach scope procedure, anesthesia, bloodwork, an overnight stay, etc. Many people get upset at these emergency clinics for overcharging, but the truth is, these vets are trained to save your pet’s life and since your pet can’t vocalize how they’re feeling, they have no choice but to run a ton of tests to identify the issue. Fortunately, they also presented me with a much cheaper option 2 at about $200, which was to give him medication that would induce vomiting to see if he would throw it up since it had JUST happened and he was on an empty stomach. So I went with that as the first action step. Low risk, possible high reward. Luckily, he DID throw it up. 5 minutes later, the vet reappeared with Boss’ red and green rope toy covered in spit. This super close encounter with a hefty vet bill, prompted me to research pet insurance solutions. To be continued...
