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TheGreenSheep

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TheGreenSheep

So tell me, is pet insurance worth it?


We never did insurance with our cat. He did require some expensive surgeries at the end. Over the length of his life for the removal of cancers and lumps, emergency vet surgeries and ongoing surgeries and overnight stays, roughly 3K, maybe 3.5K worst case. God that sounds a lot written down, however he was a rescue and 11+yo when PTS. However if I added up the premiums and if it covered most of our surgical costs, it would never ever have been worth it.


Now we have a cavoodle, she’s cute, but is it worth it? She has been to a vet out of hours once, minor thing, but still wouldn’t have been worth the insurance with premium and what the visit cost so far...Everyone seems to have it so I’m overthinking it whether we should get it? Tell me what you think and what your experience has been!

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I think some of this 'depends'. We've got the money for emergency surgery if needs be. I would be concerned that insurance could tempt someone in to expensive treatment with a limited amount of success though.


My first two cats lived to nearly 20, then I had two die from cancer within a couple of years. I don't know if expensive treatment would have saved them (one was in her teens, but the other was only seven) but I'd still have struggled to put them through that, when there are other little lives to be saved from being PTS, especially when it comes to cats.


Choice calls it 'junk' insurance, given the number of exclusions.


Our two cats now are indoors only (outdoors on a lead) so we've removed one of the potential ways emergency treatment is required.

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I've got a new pup, a Golden Retriever and I haven't taken out Pet Insurance. I looked into it, then asked the breeder who she was with and she said she never takes it out and just puts money aside.


I do have savings to manage anything he may need in the future, so I guess it depends on your financial situation, and if you don't have available funds, whether you can manage to put money away for future expenses.

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Chicken Pie

depends on if you happy to have a limit if you put money aside


my one cat cost $17k to save over a couple emergency surgeries (yes i know, madness, but it was my choice and she is living to tell the tale) - i was considering pet insurance but didnt get it on time, my second cat is insured and already had to be sedated to get string out his butt and was paid out minus excess. my first cat no one will insure due to her IBD so that was a big lesson


i cant see how insurance can tempt anyone into pointless expensive treatment, your vet should be making the right recommendations for you to consider

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Okelydokely

Yeah there’s better ways to manage it... we had our poodle who was 6 months old at the time have emergency bowel surgery (thank you, coles, and your stupid Stickeez) and despite having coverage, we weren’t covered for most of it. And now, if she were to have another bowel obstruction, it would be “preexisting condition” on some policies (which is insane, given it was a freak accident and not a chronic condition).


We did have pet insurance for our cats for a while, and literally never used it. Standard Vet visits were too difficult to claim, and mostly not much was paid anyway. The premiums just weren’t worth it.


We found vet pay was useful when the dog needed her surgery, it allowed us to sort her out then pay it off over time. We ended up paying it out within 3 months and didn’t have to pay any interest. Now we have enough savings that we would be able to manage most issues that would crop up.


I don’t rate pet insurance, as others have said, it’s basically junk insurance.

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We have three dogs and tbh I’ve never even considered it. My belief is that it’s designed to appeal to the heart and emotions, not the head and you’ll find yourself more out of pocket because it doesn’t cover enough.


My advice would be to find a good vet and get regular checkups rather then pet insurance

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LemonMyrtle

Choice has a bit to say on it, I think they have one company a shonky award once. I don’t think it’s good value. The problem is, pets are expensive, especially as they age. They can get really expensive. And there is no Medicare to fall back on. You just have to prepare for that expense, or be prepared to have them put to sleep if you can’t afford it.


https://www.choice.com.au/money/insurance/pet/articles/six-things-you-need-to-know-about-pet-insurance

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human insurance is more junk then pet insurance these days

 

I disagree. It's quite the opposite. At least they don't put an age limit on it, and you can choose to cover the most expensive types of treatment if you wish.


With pets, you can't actually start insuring them after a certain age.

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depends on if you happy to have a limit if you put money aside


my one cat cost $17k to save over a couple emergency surgeries (yes i know, madness, but it was my choice and she is living to tell the tale) - i was considering pet insurance but didnt get it on time, my second cat is insured and already had to be sedated to get string out his butt and was paid out minus excess. my first cat no one will insure due to her IBD so that was a big lesson


i cant see how insurance can tempt anyone into pointless expensive treatment, your vet should be making the right recommendations for you to consider

 

Some treatment isn't 'pointless' though, it's just very expensive, and the cost vs benefit to the animal can be debatable.


They're the anecdotal situations I've known of, where people with insurance have gone ahead with treatments because of the chance of it being successful.


I agree about the relationship with the vet, though. Ours dismissed any suggestion our cat (about ten, twelve) last year, with a neurological condition, should be put through any treatment. Online, you'll find vociferous arguments in favour of going ahead with brain surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, so clearly there are places and people prepared to spend that money.

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nom_de_plume

I've never had it and don't think it's worth it. In my experience most vets will offer payment plans, and many of them offer afterpay/zip pay etc now as well. As with most bills, I put aside for it over the year. I allocate $600 per animal for vaccinations, grooming, parasite treatment. In a normal year i'd spend $250 on that so the remainder sits in the account in case of emergency.


I had a cat who was hit by a car in the 90's and was quoted $6k for surgery by the animal hospital. We were able to negotiate with our regular vet to pay $3k on a payment plan. Cat lived until 21 years old. Only other cost over lifetime was annual vaccinations that were less than $100 a year.


Had two doggos who lived to 13 years old each. One had an emergency visit to the animal hospital because he ate something that made him sick and that visit cost about $500. The other had cancer and had an operation to remove tumors that was $1,5k on payment plan. Only other costs were annual vaccinations.


Current cat is 7 years old and has had two visits to the vet (less than $300 each time) other than annual vaccinations. Once to be desexed/microchipped and once because she had allergies.

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As has been said above, Vets know most people don't insure and they also know they cost alot. Almost every Vet I know of has payments plans, afterpay, zippay, vetpay. If they didn't I imagine most would be out of business quickly. We set aside money, but our beautiful pets can find the most ridiculous ways to hurt themselves.

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I've never bothered, and i've always had a fair few pets (currently 2 cats that are 16 and 3; 2 dogs who are both 14).

I would rather put the money away in a savings account of my own than pay a premium. Most vets offer payment plans anyway.


It was three dogs up until a year or so ago.


In the last 16 years having owned these pets, my expenses would have been under $2k (and that includes removal of an eye surgery, some teeth removal and some diagnostic tests for cancer).

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human insurance is more junk then pet insurance these days

 

Yes but if you end up paying the equivalent amount in tax levies for the human insurance, you might as well get it. No one will tax you extra for not having pet insurance :)

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nom_de_plume

human insurance is more junk then pet insurance these days

 

Yes but if you end up paying the equivalent amount in tax levies for the human insurance, you might as well get it. No one will tax you extra for not having pet insurance :)

 

Not really. We pay just over $3k in the Medicare Levy Surcharge. We can't even get Bronze hospital cover (with a $750 excess that covers SFA, so is really just junk insurance) for that price. I'd rather my $3k goes back into the public health system than to boost the profits of private health funds.

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human insurance is more junk then pet insurance these days

 

Yes but if you end up paying the equivalent amount in tax levies for the human insurance, you might as well get it. No one will tax you extra for not having pet insurance :)

 

Not really. We pay just over $3k in the Medicare Levy Surcharge. We can't even get Bronze hospital cover (with a $750 excess that covers SFA, so is really just junk insurance) for that price. I'd rather my $3k goes back into the public health system than to boost the profits of private health funds.

 

Yes of course, it income dependent. For a lot it is worth it. Not everyone of course, I just meant in cases where it's same same.

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Nope. I worked at a vet clinic for many years. The owners only recommend it occasionally. The super expensive stuff, like chemo, I don't know if I would put my animals through.

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If you're rich enough to pay the Medicare surcharge then you're hardly being taxed "extra".


I wouldn't bother with pet insurance - I trust Choice and I also just have lots of anecdata from friends about what it didn't cover and how expensive it was. I also don't believe in putting an animal through something painful or dangerous for my own sake, as in, more because I couldn't bear to lose them than because they would be helped by it. A human knows why it's worth it to be sick or in pain to prolong our life, but an animal doesn't. I do know some people feel very differently about that to what I do though.

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If you're rich enough to pay the Medicare surcharge then you're hardly being taxed "extra".

 

:roll: clearly not what i meant, i just meant if you are paying that $ figure anyway you might as well get the insurance and use some of the benefits of it.


Pet insurance is a completely different kettle of fish. You wouldn't be paying it regardless so I'd rather just put the money aside instead.

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Nope. I worked at a vet clinic for many years. The owners only recommend it occasionally. The super expensive stuff, like chemo, I don't know if I would put my animals through.

 

That's my feeling. The one I mentioned above, the cat with the neurological condition, deteriorated very quickly. Originally thought to be a lower back injury affecting his back legs, it was obvious it was much more when he just kept falling over, and not able to get up the steps. His last 24 - 36 hours he happily spent snoozing on someone's lap (we took shifts, as he was unsettled otherwise), but even at the vet the next morning I couldn't help but ask 'ignoring the cost, is there any treatment that might help?'. The vet just said 'you wouldn't be doing it for him'.


I looked online later (perhaps still needing to convince myself we hadn't given up too easily) and the treatment for what he probably had was torturous - and yet there were people saying it was worth it 'to save their life'.

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Chicken Pie

depends on if you happy to have a limit if you put money aside


my one cat cost $17k to save over a couple emergency surgeries (yes i know, madness, but it was my choice and she is living to tell the tale) - i was considering pet insurance but didnt get it on time, my second cat is insured and already had to be sedated to get string out his butt and was paid out minus excess. my first cat no one will insure due to her IBD so that was a big lesson


i cant see how insurance can tempt anyone into pointless expensive treatment, your vet should be making the right recommendations for you to consider

 

Some treatment isn't 'pointless' though, it's just very expensive, and the cost vs benefit to the animal can be debatable.


They're the anecdotal situations I've known of, where people with insurance have gone ahead with treatments because of the chance of it being successful.


I agree about the relationship with the vet, though. Ours dismissed any suggestion our cat (about ten, twelve) last year, with a neurological condition, should be put through any treatment. Online, you'll find vociferous arguments in favour of going ahead with brain surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, so clearly there are places and people prepared to spend that money.

 

completely agree and what i basically was saying using myself as an example where it was costly, i made the choice based on vet info versus as you say is it REALLY for the animal or not

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