Is Pet Insurance Worth It? Read Our Story and Find Out
I’ve lived with animals all my life and they’ve always been part of the family. But when I was growing up, no one ever thought about pet insurance. I don’t think it even existed. And once it did, I never really gave it much thought. Like many of us, I have a bit of a jaundiced view of insurance companies. When Sophie came into our lives three and a half years ago, we visited the topic again asking ourselves, is pet insurance worth it? Listen to our story and judge for yourselves. But for us, the answer is a resounding yes.
I did a lot of research into different companies, once we decided it might be a good idea. A lot of them offer similar plans; most don’t cover regular check ups or pre-existing conditions. We decided to go with Trupanion, because we liked that they covered 90% of covered costs for treatment of injuries and illnesses and I got a good feeling about the people I spoke with there while doing my research. So, we enrolled Sophie, who was a puppy at the time, our two cats, Isabel and Lola, both 10 years old then and we even enrolled my daughter Morgan’s dog, Mackey. Morgan had recently graduated from college and was working, but couldn’t afford pet insurance and we didn’t want her to be blind-sided with an enormous bill if anything ever happened to Mackey.
Sophie’s Story
For about a year, things were pretty uneventful. Everyone was healthy, apart from temporary small things here and there. And Trupanion would pay the 90% promised of our bills. All good. Then, when Sophie was almost 2, she had an accident playing in our apartment. She was running after a toy and slid on our wood floors smack into a standing lamp base. She yelped; her little back leg was hurt. When she was still limping the next day, we took her to our vet, who diagnosed her with what’s called a luxating patella. Some of you may know what this is as it’s not that uncommon but it does often go undiagnosed. It’s when a dog’s kneecaps pop in and out of the groove they belong in. It’s usually not very painful for the dog, but it is uncomfortable and they will often take a hop step when they feel it, to help the knee pop back into place. They are rated in severity of how often the kneecap is out of joint by numbers, with 1 being the least amount of time and 4 being the knee is out most of the time. We were told Sophie was about a 3. The major issue with luxating patellas is, over time, they can cause early onset arthritis from all of the rubbing of the bones and cartilage as the kneecap slides in and out of it’s groove. This freaked us out.
About 2 weeks later, when Sophie had already healed from her bruised back leg, she was playing outside running and jumping, and she yelped again. This time it was
Sophie Playing
the other back leg! Again to the vet, again diagnosed as having a luxating patella in the other leg,this one closer to a 4. To make a long story shorter, we found a great orthopedic veterinary specialist out of state called VOSM, Sophie was examined there and had x-rays. It was recommended she undergo physical therapy in water, which we did. She was eventually re-checked, had more X-rays and more physical therapy. It all added up; the PT package of visits alone cost over $1000! When you add on office visits and x-rays, you can just imagine how much that could cost. But, Trupanion was there and paid the 90% of it, no questions asked. Today, thank goodness, Sophie’s knees have improved, she’s had no other incidents and she seems very stable.
That, in itself, was a great relief and having insurance in place so we didn’t have to stress additionally about the money was amazing. But that’s not the major reason we are so grateful to Trupanion and to having good pet insurance. The major reason is Isabel, our orange tabby.
Isabel’s Story
Isabel is a beauty and rare, to boot, because she’s a female orange tabby in a world filled with almost all male orange tabbys. About 9 months ago, she started losing weight. Her appetite was still great; Isabel could eat for her country! But she was starting to look thin, so I took her to our vet just to make sure there was nothing to be concerned about. Apparently, she had gone from 11.7 lbs to 9 lbs, which is a huge jump for an cat! We knew something potentially serious was going on. The several tests the vet performed over the next couple of weeks were inconclusive, but did prompt a recommendation that we go to a 24-hour emergency hospital nearby with an expert oncologist on staff for more in-depth tests. The final and conclusive procedure involved putting Izzy under anesthesia and cutting out a piece of her intestines to determine whether she had Inflammatory Bowel Disease or lymphoma. What we found, unfortunately, was that Isabel had intestinal lymphoma, an incurable cancer where the afflicted cat can live 6 months to 2 years, but not usually longer. Her red blood count was so low, she was one step away from needing a blood transfusion. By this time, she was down to 8 lbs and looking pretty bad. But she was still eating, which was the one positive. We were desperate, looking for ways to help her and prolong her life.
Our oncologist, the amazing Dr. Tim Rocha, put her on a chemotherapy drug they often use with cats, but Isabel didn’t do very well. Chemo is so hard on the body for
Pensive Isabel
both humans and animals. I’d been doing some research and, through a friend, found an experimental drug called Lymphocyte T-Cell Immunomodulator or LTCI, which hadn’t been tested much on cats with lymphoma but they were having great success with it for feline leukemia and, unlike chemo drugs, without any side effects. We thought, what did we have to lose? Maybe it could help. We put Isabel on it about 6 months ago and she’s been doing amazing! She’s gained back weight and is now about 9.5 lbs. Her red blood count shot back up pretty quickly and has been at normal levels for 5 months. Her appetite is still great and, for the first time, we’re hopeful we can prolong her life significantly. We have a lot to be thankful for, just in time for the holidays.
Throughout this very difficult process with Isabel, I had been in regular communication with Trupanion. Everyone I spoke with were always professional, yes; helpful, yes. But they were more; they were compassionate and kind and really tried to go out of their way to help us. They paid out several thousand dollars for Isabel’s care, giving us peace of mind and confidence that we could do our best for her and not have to think about the money. You can imagine what a godsend that is when you’re talking about a family member, especially one who relies so heavily on us to take care of them.
I ended up becoming friendly with one of the woman at the company who, prior to working there was a client. She’d had an experience with one of her dogs who was ill and Trupanion had come through for her. She was so impressed with the company, she made a video about her and her dog and why she wanted to work there, sent it to them and she got the job! She became one of the Trupanion employees who take their pets with them to work every day. Apparently, there are over 80 dogs in the office! I just loved that. Check out this great video of them all doing a fire drill. [youtube id=”jSdV5RuW068″ width=”620″ height=”360″]
In Summary
So as we’re rapidly approaching the holidays, I thought what a great gift to give to your pet, yourselves, your children. It’s peace of mind, really. How great not to have to worry that giving our dog or cat the best care available is beyond our financial reach. We can be there for them in such an important way when they really need us most. I know how much it meant to us and, especially, to Isabel.
Trupanion gives free quotes and a discount on enrollment. If you’re interested, you can find them here.
Would love to hear your stories about your pets and insurance or help with any questions you might have. Please reach out and comment. And, be friendly and share!
Until next time…
(Disclaimer: I am an affiliate of Trupanion and our three animals are Trupanion clients)
