Pet Insurance, like health insurance for people, helps pay for medical expenses when your pet is sick or injured. Unlike medical insurance, people consider pet insurance optional. Fortunately, veterinary bills are not quite as expensive as medical bills for humans. But all too often vet bills can run into the thousands unexpectedly. While many people believe that pet insurance is a good idea, they often wait to get it. This is a big mistake. You should get pet insurance as soon as you bring your new family member home. Here’s why.
The warranty isn’t any good. Breeders and pet stores will tell you that they make every attempt to ensure that their puppies are healthy and that they include a guarantee. Of course this is true with most reputable sellers. The problem is that the guarantee is for your money back or a new puppy. What good is that? You’re already in love with this one. Imagine that you bring your puppy home. Two weeks later he’s not doing so well and you discover that he has a terrible disease. Are you going to bring him back for a refund or trade him in for a different puppy? Of course not. You’re going to take him to the vet.
Just like medical insurance for people, pet insurance doesn’t cover pre existing conditions. If you wait until there’s a problem, that problem and any future issues related to it will not be covered. Many purebred dogs are at a higher risk of genetic defect due to inbreeding. You won’t know that until after you’ve had the puppy for a while – probably at least two years. Besides, pet insurance premiums are lower on a young dog, so don’t take the chance.
Puppies are at higher risk for certain diseases and injuries than adult dogs. You can’t get them all of their immunizations until they’ve reached a certain age. Of course you’re going to try to keep them away from other dogs until they’ve had all their shots, but things happen. Puppies are especially susceptible to parvo, which can be deadly if not caught immediately. Puppies, just like little kids, are unpredictable. Will your new baby dart out into the street, break into the cupboard and eat a whole box of chocolate, or dig his way into the neighbor’s yard and eat a poisonous plant? Who knows? You haven’t had time yet to know what he’s going to do, or to train him not to do those dangerous things.
Some people decide to set aside the cost of pet insurance every month so that they can pay vet bills when they arise. After all, pet insurance should cost around the average dog’s veterinary bills, plus the overhead for the insurance company, right? There are two problems with this idea. First, only the best budgeters among us actually set the money aside every month. Second, you never know when a problem will strike. Older dogs are more likely to need medical care for arthritis or cancer. But if your dog develops hip dysplasia at six months, or gets into a fight with a bigger dog at one year, you won’t have enough money set aside yet.
Some pet insurance policies cover the costs of routine care, including spaying or neutering and vaccinations. There are a lot of these type of expenses in the first year of your dog’s life.
You’ve just paid for the dog and then spent a ton of money at the pet store getting all the supplies that your new dog needs. But don’t put off pet insurance. It could be the thing that saves you a lot of money. It might even save your dog s life.
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