Pet Insurance... I know we have talked about this many times ....but

[Tammy and Violet]

A vet tech said Trupanion was the best ..they seem higher.. but ... my poor Violet is sick and I had to take her to the emergency vet today at 4am......I hope she gets better soon ..I feel so bad for her....love her so much.......hug your babies everyone ...

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

I so sorry to hear Violet is not feeling well.  Hope it is nothing too too serious and keep us posted!

[Lauren and Kona]

So sorry to hear that Violet is sick. I hope it is nothing serious and she's feeling better soon!!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

So sorry to hear that Violet is ill, please keep us updated.  I hope that she is better very soon.  Main thing is to get insurance though you will find that there may be exclusions since she has been unwell.  I find PetPlan excellent.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Oh, poor baby... I hope she's okay. What was the emergency? 

I think Trupanion was the company my vet's office recommended too, but I'd already made my mind up to go with Embrace Insurance. We look at pet insurance as just that, insurance against catastrophic illnesses and accidents. So with our particular coverage options we don't have well pet, dental, vaccinations or vet prescribed meds covered, and have a $200 per dog, per year, deductible. All that helps to keep the monthly premiums low. Still, we've needed to tap into the coverage many times with both dogs, and its come through for us, paying out quickly and fully, with no exclusions based on condition. Good luck deciding, and I hope Violet recovers quickly! 

[Tammy and Violet]

Thanks guys...today Violet seem better.,she had expolsive stool since Sunday! ,,,,,,the 1st poop today will tell....they did an xray and gave fluids under the skin and other meds tosend home.......dang ...after this bill I wish I would have taken all you advice earlier and had pet insurance !!!!! I must decide ,,,, now ! .........

[Tammy and Violet]

I think I am going with Petplan...they all seem the same only this one is a lower monthly on it... and good or bad comments ??

[Jordan & Daisy]

My vet also recommended Trupanion but I wonder if they get a kickback for promoting it, I thought it was too expensive and hoped that we would never need the "unlimited" payouts so we decided to go with Petplan too (after LOTS of research). My vet recommended against VPI saying they've had problems with claims being denied, etc. Have you considered Healthy Paws?

Hope your Violet feels better soon. :(

[Tina McNerthney]

We are getting our puppy in 5.5 weeks and I had a trainer come to our house last Sunday to give me some tips for setting up the house and working to properly crate train, potty train and socialize our puppy.

The trainer said insurance is a must and her top recommendation is Healthy Paws and first runner up is Trupanion. I think I am going with Healthy Paws because they offer plans with 70%, 80% and 90% coverage and a $100, $250 or $500 annual deductible vs. a per incident deductible, which I think applies to Trupanion. I believe Both plans offer unlimited lifetime benefits with no annual caps. Trupanion does offer optional alternative care benefits, which costs more and Healthy Paws says that alternative care is included in its base plan. Trupanion does offer a pet owner assistance package to cover things like auto accidents, boarding for your pet if you are hospitalized, but it is at least $10-$15 more per month than all other plans I looked at, including Embrace, which appears to be another good and affordable plan.

Our vet offers its own health insurance plan that you can purchase for any pet, regardless of the pet's age or pre-existing conditions. It is about $200 for the first year and $180 after that and covers all routine vaccines and office visits and offers discounts of 25-50% on all other services, including 50% off surgeries and spay/neuter, which makes it worth it for us to purchase. I am going to combine this vet plan with an insurance plan and I'm going to call our Farmers agent to see if pets are covered under our car insurance plan. If not, I am going to call Health Paws to ask them if pets harmed in an auto accident are covered. I think, for me, the ability to purchase the pet owner assistance package is the only thing that makes Trupanion stand out.

So in summary, Healthy Paws is the only plan that offers an annual deductible (vs. per incident) and unlimited lifetime deductible. The monthly premium is lower than Trupanion and fairly similar to Embrace silver, if I recall correctly. Trupanion offers the third party liability insurance, cremation and boarding fees if you are ever hospitalized. So, if you are a very risk averse person (or perhaps if you live alone) and can afford to pay $45 a month for insurance, Trupanion might be the plan for you. For around $31/month for a labradoodle puppy, you can get a Healthy Paws plan that offers 90% coverage with a $250 annual deductible.

Finally, I found this article very useful, too. I think it is part four of an interesting series of article on a guy searching for pet health insurance:

http://seattletimes.com/html/tailsofseattle/2019720254_part_4_shopp...

I hope this info. helps. Glad to hear that Violet is doing better!