I'm about to find out. After my daughter's dog was diagnosed with lymphoma last January, she underwent surgery and then chemotherapy. In addition, she had x-rays and MRIs. All this without insurance. Unfortunately, Missy died 2 weeks ago and my daughter added up her expenses- just over $10,000. In March of this past year, my husband and I decided it might be a smart idea to buy pet insurance for our 2 dogs, ages 7 and 12. I did some research and came up with Trupanion, one of those that reimburse you directly. You can select your own deductible, of course, with a resulting decrease in premium the higher the deductible. We chose $1000 for each of ours. None of the local area vets here participate in any of the other insurance programs except for one which gives you a 10% discount on "services." Doing web searches for info about Trupanion yielded some pretty positive reviews. Last Thursday my 12 year old was diagnosed with diabetes and put on an insulin regime. Yesterday she began to have more difficulty walking than she had been and was put on other meds as well. I will be submitting the bills to trupanion and after passing the deductible, I expect to be reimbursed for 90% of the cost of exams, procedures, labs and meds. I'll let you know how that goes. If you're interested in checking out Trupanion, I can post a referral link which will credit me with a $25 charitable donation in my name if you decide to sign up. I will not get anything personally from it and NAYY.... Helene

We have VPI for our two feline boys - and what a great investment is. We started their insurance in 2001 and pay a pretty penny for what can seem like no return (unlike humans who seem to use insurance more) but when disaster strikes it is nice to know that we have a cushion. On the Friday night of Memorial Day weekend (US holiday) one of our boys was sick as all get out and was having litter box problems. He'd had urinary blockage problems as a young cat and we were so afraid that was the problem. We called his regular vet (answering service forwards emergency calls to her) and she didn't call back right away (10 minutes) so I called the ER vet and let them know we were coming. There is no time to waste with a cat in urinary distress. Long story short... he was constipated! To the tune of 500+ Insurance will cover 2/3s... Nice to have since I am out of work. Our other fur-son is diabetic and that gets expensive quickly. We are reimbursed a small amount over the year - but every bit helps. I really like knowing that we have SOME coverage. Most years it is a loss (financially) but it is ALWAYS a gain (peace of mind).

We have Trupanion - but we are Canadian. Trupanion used to be a Cdn. company called Vet Insurance - that was trying to move into the U.S. - but in the end bought a U.S. Company and now is headquartered there. We took out the insurance when our dog was 15 months old - we initally did not take it out because the plan DID NOT (at the time) cover hip dysplasia. Now the plan does BUT NOT for existing clients. Imagine paying premiums for 6 years and your dog develop dysplasia - you are not covered, but someone who signed up 35 days before is. People were very annoyed but with pets who were 6 years old, up the creek. Originally deductibles were not part of the plan. Now of course they are. Our original premiums were $32.00 a month plus our Cdn. taxes. Now they are $75.00 a month - and the increase to $75 happened before we ever had a claim - which did not happen until May of 2011 when our dog developed what was thought to be conjunctivitis but was really an ulcer in the making that in turn became an abscessed cornea. He is a white dog with perfectly clear eyes so we caught the problem day one. We had our most recent appointment with the board certified eye specialist in Nov. of 2012. The "crud" of course is still in his eye. So in addition to our monthly premiums of $75 we have been seeing the eye specialist every 4 months for nearly 1 1/2 years - this after constant treatments with our regular vet. NOTE - RECHECKS ARE NOT COVERED. So if the bill is say $125.00 plus taxes - we receive about $22.00 back (taxes are not returned). I wanted surgery at the beginning - used to have Dachshunds who had full body back surgery - and this happened with my 2 special guys - so I felt cursed. It would have been far cheaper. In retrospect, we would have been far further ahead to have had a bank account for our guy based on his excellent health until the eye problem. Cost wise this has cost us thousands. I called Trupanion after the most recent e-mail regarding adding prescription food, behavior modification etc. to the plan to ask how much this was going to cost us - even though we won't be able to use it. Our dog does cost us a lot of money with check-ups, vaccines etc. - plus dentals. His dentals usually run about $1,200 - and of course are not covered. Many people at the specialist's office have pet insurance and all feel the same. I did call when I heard about the addition of hip dysplasia - our dog does not have it - and asked if it could be added for existing clients whose dogs have never exhibited any signs of the health issue - and who have not submitted any claims. They said they were looking at grandfathering it, but didn't. Also watch the hospitalization issue - although these days you are lucky not be sent home the day after heart surgery. If you are hospitalized for 4 days, the plan will pay for boarding of your dog - EXCEPT my husband and I are both shown as our dog's owners. Since he wouldn't be in the hospital - he could be travelling - at work - visiting me in the hospital etc. - Trupanion would not pay since he would be available to care for our dog - and vice versa. This happened to someone else. So put the insurance in one person's name and hope. Our dog will turn 9 next April - so obviously we are not about to cancel the policy. He will also most likely be our last dog. In the event that the worst should happen and he die prematurely (his breed often lives to be 18) and we did get another dog, it would be a senior dog and we would not take out insurance or go to extreme measures. Each person has to decide what to do. Our breed of dog is known to be healthy if you adopt a standard size as opposed to one that has been mucked about with so that the dog weighs 5 lbs. as opposed to 25 lbs. And this has been the case. Every day I check his eyes - next appointment will be in 6 months, unless something happens. I do believe in pet insurance - BUT - not when they change the plans to attract new customers and leave the existing customers out in the cold. In Canada we do not have the variety of plans offered in the U.S. so I would do some checking. Look at the LIFETIME COVERAGE of a condition (much like kids' braces); the annual MAXIMUM per condition - some plans will pay say $1,000 annually for a broken leg - but a broken leg will cost you a lot more than $1,000 to have fixed - that type of thing - as well as the regular deductible and any breed specific deductibles and general deductibles. Also, exactly what is covered - and if they stop covering certain illnesses whether you will be grandfathered - not necessarily so as my vet found out with her pet. Our dog is more likely to develop Patellar Luxation or tear an ACL - so far so good - and supposedly we would be covered since he does not have a prexisting condition.

Hello!! So I was listening to the Art of Racing in the Rain... I'm not sure if I like it to be honest. Some of the parts were so sad for me to listen too!! I love sad books/movies of humans but when its animals.... oh its too much! I'll keep going however! How crazy is this coronavirus stuff. Geez, I keep refreshing the John Hopkins live stats and it just keeps going.. especially Italy. Over 10,000 infected now. Death toll rising as well. I really hope they cancel your flight to Italy. It's just not safe there. I mean entire country lock down? Wow. The other countries, including US - I know it's only lower because they aren't testing enough. I've been feeling a little bit under the weather because we've had some hot and cold days (well for California standards anyway!). I visit my parents very frequently so even I'm a little concerned about going out in public to shop etc. I'm finding myself pouring sanitizer on my hands after each store LOL. I've even had to give out some of my toilet paper stash to my neighbors bc they can't find toilet paper! haha!! As for the Houzz issue, you might want to try to clear your cache and cookies on your web browser? It could help maybe? Costco - "just ask the snowbirds" - oh gee what does that mean? lol. I don't know anyone that doesn't have Costco membership here in the US. I guess unlike where you are, it helps that location wise, they are very close by. We kind of cheat the system because your allowed to have 2 in a member. So my mom has one and I have one but we are on the same account. Shhhhhh. Membership isn't cheap. Since I pay for the membership fee, I get the money back rewards. Galliprant - we are going in to week 3. Hopefully we will see improvement. I did start her on VetCBC because some nights I can tell she is in a lot of pain where her back hips droop down like a german shepherd. Poor baby. When its really bad I've been giving her Herbaprin which is a natural herbal version of aspirin. I pretty much knocks her out at night and she sleeps soundly - by morning she is better. I'm curious to find out what your vet says about Galliprant. Please let me know. I think the pill is still only a few years on the market so it's really hard to find a lot of reviews. I'm hopeful. I do want to get her blood work done again in the next month or two to make sure there is no effect on her liver/kidney. Somedays I feel like she is drinking too much water which makes me worry. I have to remind myself that weather has bee been hot and dry too. I think it's great when dogs want to eat. It's worrisome when they don't. I have a friend who's dog is possibly dealing with some kind of cancer. loss of appetite. It wasn't until she tried Prednisone and now the dog is back to eating really well and gained back his weight. Still not a cure of course - more of a bandaid. Now on to FIGO - not the dog but insurance. LOL. So yes I finally got some more answers from them and it turns out that I have 30 days after renewal to make any changes to the plan. So I guess I am renewing instead of canceling. I'm ok with that. I'm still trying to figure out what plan to choose. They did make it easier to reach the deductible quicker by changing the way it calculates the deductible. So as much as I hate having to go up to $1000 deductible, I think it will be ok. I probably won't be utilizing much of the insurance but thats okay too... just means that my dog was healthy and didn't require too much vet care right? Oh and it turns out that she does have "pre-existing" on the front legs. So I'm still not sure why they covered her x rays when she hurt her front leg. Maybe it was just a mistake on their part. The thing that sucks all four of her legs are pre-existing including her spine/back etc. So what does that leave? Not much right? (insert eye roll). All the more reason to increase the deductible and pay less on the premium is my thinking. It also includes Physical Therapy. I doubt with all the pre-existing, I doubt I'll even be able to use PT at all. If I remove it its only like $60/year anyway so not much change. If you were curious, here is the premium below: I might have already asked this but have you heard of PEMF mats? Its electromagnetic pulsing bla bla bla. I found a company that rent to own. I'm thinking of giving it a try. They use it on horses. Its therapy I can do at home. I could probably use it too or even on my mom who recently broke her wrist! I've been doing a lot of research on it and it sounds promising... or it can be bogus too. LOL. For $250 for 3 months rental - it might be worth trying. Even the vet I go to was excited about it bc I was able to find it for such a low cost and they have always wanted to offer it to their patients but was too expensive. Hope you are all doing well. I feel like this thread has turned into a pen pal exchange between u and me. For those coming across this post, my apologies! I wonder if I can private msg you my contact info. I'm enjoying your responses. Stay safe!