Pet insurance: to get or not to get?
 

In the sad story called my life, a tragedy has occurred.

My best friend's cat (named Coco, I called him "Evil") has been shot by some sick, twisted S.O.B.. This poor critter had to be put down as of the date of this posting because they could not afford the surgery to remove the 9mm bullet in his leg. My friend is emotionally devastated because she believed her family got pet insurance (when in truth, her drunk uncle never bothered).

Coupled with Brian's ordeals with Charlie, I have seriously considering getting pet insurance for my four-legged princess (don't ask for pictures, she's right there in my avatar). I decided consult with you people to see if the pros will outweigh the cons.

R.I.P. Coco. September 22, 2007. Twelve years old.

I suppose it depends on how much it costs, weighed against how much it would save you in vet bills. Vet bills can cost a ton of money as you can see, and if your cat seems prone to getting sick, it might be a good idea. I guess it also depends on whether it's a housecat or if you let her outside, because obviously outdoors cats are going to be more prone to injury.

First of all, I am very sorry for your friend's loss. It's bad enough to lose a cat without having to lose it because some asshat with access to firearms couldn't control himself. I remember having to help my dad perform unlicensed surgery on one of my cats after some jerk shot him with a bb gun. Fortunately, the wound wasn't very deep, and my dad had a lot of experience helping sick and injured animals, so he was okay.

An alternative to pet insurance would be to find out how much you'd have to spend on a pet insurance a month and the amount of the deductible. If the monthly payments seem unreasonable for the coverage given, or if you feel like you're paying too much for a service that your cat may never need, you can always take what you would pay monthly and deposit it into a designated savings account. A savings account just for your cat's healthcare needs would be something like a flexible spending insurance account, except you wouldn't have a lot of money available right away, and there would be no cap on how much money you would be able to save in case your cat gets sick or hurt.

Since my cat is healthy, and it is highly unlikely he'd get outside, much less get shot by some cat-hating psycho, I'd go with the savings account idea. It's something I've been trying to do anyway, but up until a few weeks ago, I didn't have the money to start it.

I'd never heard of pet insurance before this, but if your cat gets sick or injured often it seems like a good idea as long as there's a good plan/coverage to go along with it. Otherwise that savings account seems like a smart move, too.

Sometimes you need something like this, especially if your cats are of the outdoor variety. If they get hit by a car, or get shot by some trigger-happy yahoo, or just really messed up in a fight with other cats, might be good to have something to help with the bills. Not everyone can be lucky enough to have the most awesome emergency vet nearby.

A couple of months ago, one of my sister's cats got hit by a car. He dragged himself home a while after it happened (so she assumed, some of his wounds had the smell of infection), with his jaw hanging very limply and wrongly. Anyway, she rushed him to the vet clinic here, his jaw had been dislocated, and pretty much pulvarized in three places. They had to do cartilage grafts in the places where there wasn't enough useable bone left. He, of course, had to stay in the clinic a few days, too.

However, I think the whole staff took a liking to this cat (named Hellion), because from the moment he came in, he was really affectionate and just loving on everyone there. He's perhaps the freindliest and sweetest cat I've ever seen, he loves hius humans. Anyway, they offered to go ahead and nueter him during the surgery for free, which my sister accepted. And when my sister came to pick him up, they offered to keep him in the clinic for an extra day for no charge, in case she and her husband had to work and couldn't take care of him. These were apparently really nice people who really cared about the animals they took care of.

And what was the final cost to my sister? $800-$900. I have the feeling that a lot of other places sould have easily been twice that. I think we're lucky to have an awesome emergency clinic near us. As for Hellion, he's doing fine. He still has a wire in his jaw, and is still eating only wet food, but he's been robust enough for a while now to push my sister out of bed when he wants to.

But yeah, even that amount is a little steep, so there is an advantage to the rainy day fund Lady Cygnet mentioned (which would probably be better if you had multiple pets).

Yeah, costs at vet clinics aren't as standardized as in human medecine. My uncle runs a small clinic, and they charge far less then some of the other, larger clinics.

I'm really loving about my animals, especially my cats. If anyone EVER hurt my kitties they would be in for a world of pain, especially if they killed one. Anyone who kills a cat just because they are a sick bastard deserves to be killed, because usually people who would kill a cat would kill a person too.

This is not true in any sense of the word.

You are denying that someone who thinks killing pets because its funny isn't twisted? They may not go as far as killing a person, but they are still messed up.

I don't enjoy cats; I hate the hair they get all over you with the incessant rubbing against you, the inability to train them to piss outdoors, their lack of respect for people and their tendency to be in the way of whatever you're doing, drive me mad. I don't find them cute or silly, I plain just don't like them. The only cats I like are standoffish and not very affectionate. I'm not cruel to cats or any other animals, but I find that statement a massive load of junk. You're taking what was said and twisting it to your own purposes and doing it on a subject that is highly emotional for many people.

I agree with DFM, some folks have no conscience when it comes to animals, but killing them puts you in just as much of a twisted role...

That whole thing just bugs me lots and I'll stop now.