Considering Pet Plan Insurance

[Jess & Stewart]

Hi all, 

My mini F1B goldendoodle was born almost 2 weeks ago. Since I know insurance is important, I started looking around. I like Pet Plan, since it will cover pre-existing, hereditary conditions etc and it seems to be pretty affordable. As affordable as $192 a year can be, LOL. Does that seem reasonable?

My question is- should I get the insurance as soon as I can (6 weeks) if I will know what gender I want? I have pick of the litter. I was mostly thinking of getting it ASAP at 6 weeks since there is a 30 day waiting period of conditions to be covered. I will be getting my pup at 9 weeks, so the 30 day period would be almost over. 

My parents think I'm being crazy & treating my soon to be pup like a person, but I want to be safe rather than sorry since I live alone, it's my first time with a pup & who knows what could happen. 

I have a savings that I'm hoping will cover the first vet visits, vaccinations, heartworm, etc. All the start up sort of vet costs. Are the prices for the vaccinations & vet checkups pretty standard? I'm planning on calling vets around my area to see what they are. I get an employee discount at University of Penn's vet school, but I'm thinking it'll be expensive even with the discount!

Any advice is appreciated!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

Camilla- I keep getting hung up on the "per incident" deductible with pet plan. Have you had any issues with this? It seems silly to me to have to pay my deductible each time a new condition pops up...but it may not be that big of a deal after all

[Jess & Stewart]

Stephanie, I was concerned about this too, but wanted a cheaper monthly plan, so I went with Pet Plan. I haven't had to use it yet & hope I never do, but I figure if Stew ever has anything happen, the per incident deductible wouldn't be such a large issue.

I doubt he'd have that many conditions that it would really make a difference, of course I say that now! Stew & Ragley are the same age, I figure we've gotten this far into puppyhood that I can't see tons of conditions popping up! One thing I liked is that if you get an evaluation of hips, knees, elbows before 6 months & the vet certified them as good, then hip dysplasia would not be considered pre-existing. I'm thinking if doing this next month when Stew is neutered!

[Lissa]

Thanks for the tip on early evaluation.  Very helpful!

 

[Julie and Max]

Hi Jess, I also went with Petplan but I'm in Canada and it along with trupanion were the two highest rated. It's only a 14 day wait here and 1 day on accidents though. I think that sounds pretty reasonable and from what I read alot of the other companies are not so good. I felt the same as you that it was pretty important.

I may be wrong but I would think the vet school would actually be cheaper because it's a school and they are training new vets, so I would look into that one for sure.

Good luck with your new puppy, congrats. :)