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Insurance

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 3:24 pm
by Nadine
Hello,
Just curious. How many of you have/maintain insurance on your dogs?

Re: Insurance

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 4:01 pm
by Sharon
I did once but I wasn't happy so now I just save for emergencies. There is a limit on what the company will pay out of course and I found I was paying more for insurance than I ever got back for a serious dog injury.

Re: Insurance

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:13 pm
by Mosby
My nephew recently got a pup and talked to his vet. His vet recommended putting money away every month into a "dog account". Instead of paying premiums put the money into the account and use it as needed. I thought it was pretty good advice. With most young dogs, by the time you need it, you have a pretty decent amount of money saved up.

Re: Insurance

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 7:57 am
by birddogger2
I also do not have insurance. I currently have three dogs and have had as many as six, so the costs of insuring them in a meaningful way would be prohibitive.

I believe that if you give your dogs their shots and do all of the recurring health related tasks you can, that can seriously reduce your annual canine health expenditures. Having an open and honest relationship with your veterinarian about expectations regarding your animal's care is also crucial.

If you do indeed budget and squirrel away the premium amount for a full featured insurance plan, I believe you will be in a very good place financially if something happens. With field dogs...stuff happens. That is the reality of it.

Unfortunately, no amount of insurance coverage, or money can relieve us of the ultimate responsibility for our dog's welfare or change the fact that since dogs live short lives, relative to us, we will have to make hard choices regarding our dogs' quality of life somewhere down the line.

RayG

Re: Insurance

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 9:15 am
by shags
No insurance here either. We've had between 3 and 5 dogs at any one time and the premiums would have been way to expensive. Back in the day when our budget was tighter, we squirreled away a small emergency fund and also left room on a credit card to cover unexpected vet expenses. Now that we have more financial flexibility, our dog account is larger and should cover most anything that comes up.

We are open with our vets and they are honest with us about cost and probable results. For instance, they explain things like treatment for catastrophic disease, the cost involved, and the expected longevity and quality of life. This helps in making those hard decisions.

I don't mind having my vet do annual checkups and vaccinations. More than once my vets found something that would have escaped my notice until the situation became more serious. I like that my vets know what my dogs' "normal" looks like, which comes in handy when something's a little off. I think it helps when I call for some advice; I don't have to run the dog in all the time.

Re: Insurance

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 12:14 pm
by Sharon
ACL tears can be common and calls for big bucks to fix. That is one thing I wish I had saved for.

Re: Insurance

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 5:51 am
by cjhills
The insurance policies I have looked at were expensive and the return was not great. So I have basically took my chances. I also decided when I started breeding that I would not mortgage my house to save my dog. If you buy a puppy you will very likely have to make some tough decisions at some point.
You can help yourself a lot when you buy a puppy by picking health tested parents and avoiding breeds and breeders with genetic issues.
Over the years I have usually kept around ten dogs at a time and raised hundreds of puppies. The highest vet bill I had was for a puppy I bought that got Parvo. $800.That was a sad day. Would be much more now.
I have had a couple females that had to get sewed up from making bad choices about how tough they were and one male that managed to tear himself up on every old fence he could find. But no genetic health issues.
Cj

Re: Insurance

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 5:58 pm
by Mosby
I recently lost one of my Vizsla's to cancer. She went down hill quickly. We took her to the University clinic to confirm what the local vet thought. Surgery, intensive care and chemo were going to cost over $10,000. They didn't think she would make it through surgery and her cancer was aggressive and had spread. The outcome was certain. We talked with the Vet, opted against treatment thinking we would spend a night with her and put her down the next day. She passed on her own the next morning in bed with my son. That said, I was shocked at the estimated cost.

It is hard to know where to draw the line. We are getting some new pups over the next year. Based on our recent experience, we are going to put away funds to help cover quality health care expenses going forward.

The way costs are going though, I hope I don't see the day that we can't have dogs because we can't afford the health care or the cost of insurance.

Re: Insurance

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 5:08 am
by shags
It's important to have clear communication with your veterinary professionals about treatments, costs, and probable outcomes. For example, recently my daughter's little dog was diagnosed with lymphoma. She was referred ro a veterinary oncologist who explained the treatment in detail. Bottom line, not a good quality of life for the duration, cost would be upwards towards 5 figures, and an expected outcome of extending his life for maybe 3-6 months.

The oncologist was fine with their decision to not treat the dog and to go for a probably shorter time with better QOL. Other people might opt for taking a chance for a miracle and spend the money.

There's no right or wrong IMO, we do what we judge is best for our dogs with the resources we have.

Re: Insurance

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 7:20 am
by Mosby
shags wrote:
Thu Aug 20, 2020 5:08 am
It's important to have clear communication with your veterinary professionals about treatments, costs, and probable outcomes. For example, recently my daughter's little dog was diagnosed with lymphoma. She was referred ro a veterinary oncologist who explained the treatment in detail. Bottom line, not a good quality of life for the duration, cost would be upwards towards 5 figures, and an expected outcome of extending his life for maybe 3-6 months.

The oncologist was fine with their decision to not treat the dog and to go for a probably shorter time with better QOL. Other people might opt for taking a chance for a miracle and spend the money.

There's no right or wrong IMO, we do what we judge is best for our dogs with the resources we have.
Shags,

I agree. I am sure there are a lot of people where cost simply isn't a concern. I think a lot depends on the dog, age, diagnosis and stage not unlike people; at least for me it did. I also valued the Oncologists opinion. Dog oncology isn't close to human, in terms of success or treatment options either. My wife went through aggressive chemo last year and based on her experience, she has told me that she would never want to put a dog through it.

In my dogs case, the oncologist thought putting our dog down was the right decision for her and I am thankful my kids got to spend a night with her and let her pass on her own.

Like you said, there isn't a right or wrong. People have to do what is best for them and their dogs and I think most people try very hard to do the right thing, whatever that is.

Re: Insurance

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 8:51 am
by shags
I don't know where's the better place to put this, here or on the clinical trials thread, but here goes.

Some vet schools are researching a canine anti-cancer vaccine, which if successful in dogs might go on to develop one for humans. It's called VACCS. They're using it for cancers other than osteosarcoma and hemangiosarcoma.

I'd enroll my guys in that study in a heartbeat if it was available here.

Re: Insurance

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2020 5:21 am
by Mosby
Here is a link to the VACCS Trials that Shags mentioned. The program is being run by three vet programs nationally, with specific requirements for participation.

https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/uc- ... cine-study