Why you should insure your pet...

MrsE_2

Soubrette wrote: »

I think everyone agrees that if someone can't cover emergency vet bills of potentially a few thousand - get insurance. It's part of owning a pet.

I do wonder sometimes though, whether vet insurance actually causes some animals unnecessary suffering - for example if your dog has a 20% recovery chance through an invasive procedure, which may take months of recuperation - is it always worth it? When money is no object, I sometimes think people forget there is more than money at stake when making a decision for treatment.

I'm hoping I never have to make that decision

Sou

Totally see your point Sou, but my cat Ted is not like any other pet I've ever had, hes different, special & insurance or not, I think I would want to try everything that was reasonably possible.
But I do realise that a lot of it would be down to my selfishness:o

Soubrette

MrsE wrote: »

Totally see your point Sou, but my cat Ted is not like any other pet I've ever had, hes different, special & insurance or not, I think I would want to try everything that was reasonably possible.
But I do realise that a lot of it would be down to my selfishness:o

I've got a sinking feeling that I would be the same

I just hate the idea that my dog might someday look like those poor pets whose time came some time ago but the owner loves them so much that they now look like something out of pet cemetary

Of course I would hate to go the other way and take even a few weeks of good quality life from them

Such is owning pets I suppose:o

Sou

MrsTinks

Hmmmm I'm almost sure I'd be able to let go if that was the kindest thing... When my boy cat got run over some years ago and we were at the vets at 5am in the morning I asked her straight out if it would be kinder to put him down. She replied we shoudl wait and see what the morning brought...
As it was his injuries were serious but not life threatening and he has a great life terrorising the local sheep (!) and flirting with next doors sexy little long haired kitty... :rotfl:
But seriously - I hope I can still make that call if I needed to again...

suki1964

MrsTine wrote: »

Hmmmm I'm almost sure I'd be able to let go if that was the kindest thing... When my boy cat got run over some years ago and we were at the vets at 5am in the morning I asked her straight out if it would be kinder to put him down. She replied we shoudl wait and see what the morning brought...
As it was his injuries were serious but not life threatening and he has a great life terrorising the local sheep (!) and flirting with next doors sexy little long haired kitty... :rotfl:
But seriously - I hope I can still make that call if I needed to again...

If you love them that much - you will.

I had to let my last boy go. In a way I was selfish to ask the vet to let him come home after she rang whilst he was under anaesthetic having an ultrasound to say there was no chance and it was kinder to let him go. He came home and we had one last night together, by lunch time it was obvious the end was close so I rang hubby to come home to say goodbye and then made the call to the vet. He was put to sleep whilst in my lap being fed his favourite malteezers.

(even now, 4 years on I have tears running down my face at the memory)

But if the vet had rung and said yes his heart was about to give up but if I wanted at the cost of thousands I could get him a heart transplant - I would have taken it - IF it meant he would have had a full and active life after.

Loopy_Girl

I just got a baby rabbit for my daughter and had it at the vet for it's myxa jab (it's an outside raabit with a pen that it gets to roam about) and booked in for it's second jab and then I will be booking him in to get snipped once his boy bits have dropped.;)

Vet nurse asking if I was after insurance and I looked at her incredulously and said that he only cost me £30.00 from breeder and would be cheaper to replace!! Don't get me wrong I love him and all that and have spent a fortune on him so far with jabs and hutch and getting a pet friendly part of the garden fenced off but I think insuring a bunny is going a bit far!! Am on the list for a rescue dog (want a certain breed) and will certainly get that insured but am afraid bunny is going to have to take his chances!!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Edit...have just read through the entire thread and see that someone else has said they have their 4 bunnies insured. This is just my personal opinion and if I had more than 1 bunny then I may think about getting insurance. It's just the cheapest quote I could get was just over £10.00 - which is more than my house insurance!

orlao

Loopy_Girl wrote: »

said that he only cost me £30.00 from breeder and would be cheaper to replace!!!

I'll put my hands up here and admit I self insure but to me the whole point of vet bills versus the original cash price of the pet has no relevance.
I've had a few animals given to me but does that mean that they aren't worth a trip to the vets? cos they cost nothing to buy? I'm not having a go:o but the bills for the cheapest to buy pet are the same as the animal that cost thousands.....so if you can't raise the cash to pay a big bill insurance is worth it for peace of mind.

TBH most pets are priceless and it would be very easy to carry on treatment, particularly if you didn't have to worry about finding the money but sometimes the kindest thing to do is to let them go.....it's also the hardest but IME you do know when they've had enough. A friend of mine always said that "better they go 6 months too early than a day too late" and that seems right to me.

Loopy_Girl

Perhaps I wasn't coming across well. I just think that insurance for a rabbit is going a bit far. There is more chance (and FAR more expense) of something going wrong with a dog rather than a domestic rabbit. I am getting all his jabs and also getting him done and also whilst he is under, he is getting the metal ring that the breeder put on his back paw taken off as to pre-empt any problems with that.

I paid £30.00 for the rabbit. I am not about to pay over £120.00 per year on the off chance that he needs treatment. I would rather dip into my savings (self insuring in a round about way I suppose!!)

For the record I once spent £120.00 on a budgie to be kept in the pet hospital for tests only to be told he had diabetes and had to be put down anyway. Who could have forsee that? But I still wouldn't get insurance for a small pet like that either.

MrsE_2

Loopy_Girl wrote: »

Perhaps I wasn't coming across well. I just think that insurance for a rabbit is going a bit far. There is more chance (and FAR more expense) of something going wrong with a dog rather than a domestic rabbit. I am getting all his jabs and also getting him done and also whilst he is under, he is getting the metal ring that the breeder put on his back paw taken off as to pre-empt any problems with that.

TBH, when someone told me they were taking their rat to the vet for an op, I did think that too:o
That it would be cheaper to replace:o

Joyful

For those that enquired if it shows up on an Xray I found this site http://vetsurgerycentral.com/tplo.htm It shows everything my VET showed me and also what is inside my Dog now. Hope this helps. This is more expensive than the traditional repair but my Vet advised it is better for an energetic dog.

f1re_cr4cker

suki1964 wrote: »

If you love them that much - you will.

I had to let my last boy go. In a way I was selfish to ask the vet to let him come home after she rang whilst he was under anaesthetic having an ultrasound to say there was no chance and it was kinder to let him go. He came home and we had one last night together, by lunch time it was obvious the end was close so I rang hubby to come home to say goodbye and then made the call to the vet. He was put to sleep whilst in my lap being fed his favourite malteezers.

(even now, 4 years on I have tears running down my face at the memory)

But if the vet had rung and said yes his heart was about to give up but if I wanted at the cost of thousands I could get him a heart transplant - I would have taken it - IF it meant he would have had a full and active life after.

aww that really made me well up!!