Sara Zuelow knew that it was time to take Tisa, her cat, to the vet when her housebroken pet started relieving herself outside her litter box, but Zuelow didn't know just how much it was going to cost.
When the diagnosis of diabetes was returned, however, Zuelow knew that visit to the vet would not be the last.
"Tisa required many visits to the vet for checkups, blood work and insulin. The pet insurance was offered to me to help cover some of the costs and offer discounts on the insulin," Zuelow said. "I was a young parent and this cat meant a lot to me, so to have the insurance help reduce the costs of the medical care and keep her healthy was worth it."
Dozens of companies offer pet insurance policies, but just where do you start when seeking one out?
Brian Iannessa, public relations supervisor of
VPI Pet Insurance, said there are a number of questions to ask when looking for a pet insurance policy.
Like choosing to do business with any company, he said looking into a pet insurer's track record -- how many years in service and how many animals insured -- is a good indication of how secure they are, as well as their insurance rating.
Oftentimes, veterinarians can serve as references for particular insurance companies: Has your vet heard of the company, and do they recommend the insurer's services?
Once those questions are answered satisfactorily, Iannessa said it is important to understand how traditional pet insurance policies differ from human health insurance.
While people with health care coverage enjoy preventive as well as catastrophic benefits, most base pet insurance plans are intended to help with the costs of accidents or illness, rather than wellness care, which can sometimes be purchased as an add-on.
"Pet owners should keep in mind that pet insurance is not so much a financial investment -- you hope you don't have to see a return on your dollar and that your pet remains healthy -- but rather an investment in pet owner peace of mind," Iannessa said.
Budgeting For Prevention
Heather McLaughlin's cat Mac, one in a litter born to a feral cat found in a garage, was days old when he came into her life.
"Because I got him so young, he needed to be on a special diet," McLaughlin said. But she didn't know just what that diet should be made up of until she and her kitten visited the vet.
Her veterinarian also told her that, because Mac's mother was feral, testing for rabies and other diseases that could have been transferred to Mac were necessary, on top of the recommended preventive care for non-feral kittens.
For Mac and McLaughlin, the
Optimum Wellness Plan offered through the Banfield veterinarians located onsite at PetSmart pet care and retailers was the best choice, she said. The Web site boasts that preventive care will likely help pets live 25 percent longer than they otherwise would. Included in the plan were the shots, checkups, neutering and disease testing.
"Budgeting for $20 per month is way easier than budgeting $300 for one procedure," McLaughlin said.
Plus, McLaughlin said, she felt confident that Mac was receiving comprehensive care rather than a hodgepodge of tests and treatments.
Catastophic Better For Some
Carin Mangemeli, who owns Aryel the cat and Anya the dog, carried combination preventive care and catastrophic accident-illness pet insurance, which, she said, came in handy when Aryel went overboard on the Christmas cheer a few years back.
"Aryel swallowed a ribbon Christmas Day a few years ago, and I was forced to go to the Emergency Vet Service with her," Mangemeli said. "It was a sizable bill, but my pet insurance actually covered quite a bit of it, so it was a good decision to have it."
As her pets have aged, however, Mangemeli has chosen to discontinue coverage.
"Anya and Aryel are both older now and the premiums go up, so since both animals are relatively healthy and I don't have to go into the vet every time they need a checkup (Mangemeli's roommate is a veterinarian), I decided it probably wasn't cost-effective," she said, mostly because it doesn't cover preventive care and teeth cleaning.
When To Stop?
So is old age the time to drop pet insurance? Or, as in Zuelow's situation, is that the only time to carry it?
When looking at costs, Iannessa said that while over the course of the pet's life, the total paid out may be higher, the premiums are certainly going to be most affordable when a pet is young and will stay lower if there is no lapse in coverage.
"I think any pet at any age could benefit from medical coverage. The unexpected can occur to a puppy just as it could to a senior dog; an illness could strike an indoor cat just as it could a guinea pig," he said. "Of course, the most advantageous time to insure a pet is when it's young. This way, you reduce the risk of having conditions deemed as pre-existing exclusions."
"I've heard all too many times that pet owners decided to get pet insurance for their four-legged family member after they were stricken with a particular illness. Insure them while they're young; more is apt to be covered as opposed to waiting years before enrollment," he explained.
Zuelow, Mangemeli and McLaughlin all see the usefulness of pet insurance in slightly different ways, and much of that, they said, is reflected in how their pets' needs impacts their budget.
McLaughlin said that because of Mac's fragile condition as kitten, she's glad she has the security the pet insurance brings.
For Zuelow, pet insurance helped her in a crisis to extend Tisa's life. But since Tisa has passed away, Zuelow adopted two new cats.
"The insurance was very helpful to me financially because Tisa needed so many tests and visits," she said. "Unless my pet was really sick and required as much medical attention, I would not get this insurance again."
While Aryel and Anya are not currently covered, Mangemeli said that pet insurance benefited her, and she is thinking about re-enrolling her pets.
"(They qualify for) pretty much catastrophic insurance now, which I will probably get when I'm gainfully employed," she said.
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