(no subject)

[subluxate]

So we moved recently; we now have a roommate who has two of her own cats. That makes for a five-cat household. Sidney is seven, Ava is almost five, Toby is almost four, and Donna and Ven are almost two.

I've been doing the math on vet bills for this year. Sidney and Donna need both rabies and distemper shots; the other two only need distemper. They all need dentals, exams, and microchipping. Ava and Sidney may need bloodwork pre-dental anesthesia, depending on when we do Ava's and what the vet says. (I definitely want to get bloodwork done for Sidney, given his age.) And even with our vet's low prices, it really adds up, especially on our budget.

So we're talking about pet insurance. With Sidney at seven and Toby's history of a bad UTI (though he hasn't had a recurrence since we switched to raw food), plus Toby's doofusness about trying to eat things he shouldn't, like plastic and bits of thread he manages to find, I'd feel better with it. I know we'd have to pay upfront and then get reimbursed, but with our income, it would be much better to get that money back than to have it out permanently.

What are your experiences with pet insurance? Do you think it's worth it? Is there a provider you prefer? What does or did your insurance cover as far as illnesses and routine things? I don't expect it to cover exams and vaccines, but it'd be nice if it covered at least the dentals.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Comments

[foxfirefey]

I remember this topic coming up on Ask Metafilter, so maybe some answers there will guide you.

I'll say, though, that you can't really expect the pet insurance to save you any money statistically. I mean, it might end up doing that, but overall if it saved everybody money then the insurance company would go out of business. (Human health insurance in the US doesn't work that way so much, but that's because health care is so messed up here; health insurance will argue down the price of treatments for the hospitals, who artificially inflate the costs of their master lists to counter this, so people without health insurance end up getting the shaft. I don't think that's what happens with pet insurance.) It's not going to put much towards care that's expected.

Not to mention that with five cats, you could be paying around $100 a month just for decent insurance for all of them. I feel like you'd be better off taking that money and putting it into a savings account for that purpose instead instead.

[subluxate]

Thanks for the link. It led me to some other pages, and they all say the same thing.

After a bit of looking last night, before I got many comments here or elsewhere, I looked up a plan for the three oldest, and it was way out of our price range, considering what it would cover and what we plan to have done this year. We're talking now about my wife and roommate opening a savings account together and throwing chunks of their paychecks in there each month. It would be financially better, that's for sure.