I'm considering putting my puppy on pet insurance. I've done a lot of reading online about different companies that provide it: Banfield (Petsmart), VPI, ASPCA, etc. From my understanding, Banfield is the best of wellness plans that cover routine shots and things like that but they aren't an "insurance" coverage per se. They won't cover more serious conditions and injuries. Lana, my puppy, doesn't have any vaccinations and I would like her to be spayed when she is old enough. I think it would be a good idea to put her on insurance at least until I get the basic puppy shots done since they're expensive anyways. She's only 13 weeks old right now. What kind of pet insurance do you have? How much do you pay? What kind of coverages would you recommend? What experiences do you have with pet insurance? Also, what vets in the area do you recommend?

1/13/2008 5:51:27 AM

fucking nuts

1/13/2008 5:54:13 AM

Uhhhh, I don't have pet insurance, in fact I don't know anyone who does. Most of your routine shots are not that expensive and your initial battery of shots should have been done before you bought your puppy if you got it from a reputable breeder, shelter, or store.

Additionally, you can frequently get vaccinations done cheaply by places like the ASPCA (I think they have a monthly thing where you can go for cheap pet stuff like microchipping, rabies vaccine, etc.

Unless your dog is of a breed that will likely require an unusually high amount of medical care (do to digestive problems, joint issues, or the like I wouldn't bother.

1/13/2008 8:20:22 AM

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/AssessYourNeeds/ShouldYouBuyPetInsurance.aspx

1/13/2008 8:23:50 AM

maybe if youre the type of person whod put your dog through chemo for 4 years if it ever got cancer.

1/13/2008 10:58:03 AM

HAHAHA

1/13/2008 11:35:19 AM

i don't know much about banfield's insurance plan, but i don't advise going to them. right before christmas my dog wasn't eating much and was obviously not feeling well, so we took her to banfield to find out what was wrong. they said she wasn't eating because of tooth decay and advised us to buy soft food and schedule a tooth cleaning. because of the holidays and us going out of town, the earliest tooth cleaning appointment we could get was jan 2. they assured us she would be fine, and that it would be okay to go out of town and leave her with a pet sitter. she died three days after that appointment. i realize there probably wasn't anything they could have done for her at that time, but to say it was just her teeth is bullshit. someone dropped the ball big time at banfield. is that what's taught in veterinarian school?


tl;dr

/my sob story

1/13/2008 12:11:03 PM

i would also reconsider going to Banfield if i were you. No horror stories like the one mentioned above but more so the fact that the rotate Vets in and out of there quite often so your pet will never see the same vet twice. I would go with a local vet and most of them have care programs you can pay for I am sure rather than insurance.

1/13/2008 12:17:07 PM

i have pet insurance. it was really useful when she was a puppy and was covered in mites. the treatment all together was about $200, i paid $50. after she was 2 yrs old, i switched coverage since she was done being puppy, and now i have basic coverage. it doesn't cover regular shots and checkups. only have it for severe accidents--foreign object ingestion, hit by car, blah blah blah. i pay $10 per month and a $10 annual fee. PetCare Insurance is what I use. I've had it for 4 years now, and I've never missed that $130.

When she turns 5, this plan ends and I'll need to put her on a different one...I haven't decided yet if I'm going to keep it.

1/13/2008 12:25:36 PM

It's like health insurance, only no one is in network. You get stuff done, file the paperwork, then they say it should have cost half what it did and with the deductible you get $30 back on a $200 visit. At least that's how it seemed to work when I looked into it.

Better to put the money in a savings account.

When my dog was alive she went to Hidden Valley animal hospital. Dr. Todd is gone but Dr. Lapham also uses integrative medicine.

If you are THAT poor find a few other people with puppies and order a tray of shots. The feed store ones are useless, order the same brand the vets use (proguard is my preference).

1/13/2008 12:53:13 PM

^actually my friend was talking about giving our dogs shots ourselves. She says she's done it before. How safe is it and what if I need proof of shots for whatever reason?

1/13/2008 3:07:04 PM

Do not order vaccines online... ever. My wife is a vet so she gives our dog and cat their shots and it is easy but she gets the meds from the Vet school pharmacy. Good luck getting a vet to right you a prescription for the meds without offering the service. They need the day-to-day business to stay in business (just like your primary care physician).

1/13/2008 5:04:33 PM

Rabies you have to get a vet to do or take them to a clinic, animal has to be at least 16 weeks old.

Distemper combo, buy the same brand as the vets use, keep them refridgerated, and buy it without lepto (most common cause of vaccine reactions) or corona (doesn't cause any problems except in severely immunocompromised dogs).

If I had a dog I'd use progard 5.

I've ordered from KV Vet many times with good results.
Also check Revival animal health and Valley vet to see who has the best prices.

If you know what you are doing it's good. I'd suggest giving the vaccs when the vet will be open for the next couple of hours in case one of the dogs has an allergic reaction.

[Edited on January 13, 2008 at 5:08 PM. Reason : ]

1/13/2008 5:06:42 PM

Quote :

"Do not order vaccines online... ever. My wife is a vet so she gives our dog and cat their shots and it is easy but she gets the meds from the Vet school pharmacy. Good luck getting a vet to right you a prescription for the meds without offering the service. They need the day-to-day business to stay in business (just like your primary care physician)."

BS, I know dozens of breeders that have never had a problem, just don't go to the feed store and order from a reputable company like the ones I mentioned. Since it's cold this is the best time of year to order vaccines, since they won't be sitting in a delivery truck in 100 degree heat.

In fact, I know vets that order from revival. I heard about them from a vet!

Most vets don't know shit about vaccines anyway. They want you to pay 900% markup on them every year, when the AAHA only suggests them every 3.

1/13/2008 5:14:19 PM

Pet Insurance isn't worth it unless you have a breed that is prone to having problems.

You're better off putting the money into a savings account. Keep $500 -$1000 in a savings account and earning interest on it.

The majority of insurance plans do not cover routine check ups and vaccines and they won't cover pre-existing conditions.

If you decide to vaccinate your dog yourself - get someone who'd given vaccines before to show you how and advise you.

I vaccinate my own dogs and fosters but i worked at a vet for years and teach Animal Science.

You should take your puppy in for a physical, fecal float, etc...

1/14/2008 10:08:05 AM

Jinzo is on Pet Insurance at Banfield and I pay about 20 a month and it covers everything up to teeth cleanings. I honestly don't have time to think about doing his shots myself. And its just nice to have a vet make sure his heart and other internal shit is doing well. Call me anal, but I just want to make sure he's always up to date on Everything!

If he were to get hit or seriously needed a vet ASAP, I would take him to one of the vets I use to work with. So to some extend I don't trust Banfield. I just use them for routine bullshit that pretty hard to fuck up.

Ugh and hopefully by the summer I will have a job and I can get a new puppy

1/14/2008 11:42:26 AM

My pet insurance pretty much banks on there being plenty of animals out there that are not spayed or neutered.

1/14/2008 11:58:57 AM

^^you need to remember to water your rabbits

oh and how do you housetrain a dog? i'm going to have a dog soon and the thing always shits on the carpet and wont shit outside

[Edited on January 14, 2008 at 7:15 PM. Reason : housetrain]

1/14/2008 7:12:58 PM

Not sure how good it is or whatever, but Progressive is advertising that when you insure your car with them, you get your pet insured for free. Haven't looked into the details or anything, but thats what they say on their TV commercials.

1/14/2008 7:51:29 PM

http://consumerist.com/345480/owner-still-has-to-pay-for-dead-cats-banfield-health-plan

1/16/2008 4:23:10 PM

I thought that Progressive thing was that the pet would be insured if it was injured in an accident in a car that was insured by Progressive...

1/16/2008 5:10:24 PM

I've just been putting whatever I would have spent on a monthly premium into a high-yield savings acct and letting that just grow interest, a little pet emergency fund-- they are indoor cats so I dont really expect any big cost med care.

1/16/2008 6:06:08 PM

tutularoo - I'm really sorry to hear about that, losing a pet is always hard. But the tooth decay and her not eating may have been a secondary symptom. My cat stopped eating and we took her into the vet (this was some years ago), they said she had tooth decay, but we asked them to do more testing. We found out she had leukemia and it had spread really far, which was one reason for the tooth decay and lack of appetite.
Since she passed away so quickly, I'm not sure the tooth problem was your pup's main problem, so please don't be so quick to judge the veterinarians at Banfield. They could have done more testing, but sometimes it's hard to tell with animals, since they can't voice their problems.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents on this topic.

1/16/2008 6:30:40 PM

i got my last dog when it was about 4-5 weeks old & it still had a good number of shots left to get

got insurance for him at banfield (sp?) which is located in petsmart & only had to pay like $16/month for the shots & routine appts


i suggest it

[Edited on January 16, 2008 at 7:23 PM. Reason : $16 not $12]

1/16/2008 7:23:30 PM

^^periodontal disease can cause heart, liver, and kidney malfunctions

*the more you know*

A lot of our clients use VPI and most like it.

1/16/2008 8:44:11 PM