By Brenna Sakatch, DVM December 27, 2021

Veterinary medicine – like human medicine – is expensive. Note that expensive does not mean overpriced. We all want the best, safest, most effective options for treating our furry family members – which comes at a cost. Gone are the days of veterinary medicine being a broad-stroke treatment for all ailments (think, steroids and antibiotics for everything). Today, veterinary medicine trumps human healthcare in many aspects – quick access to care (no 7 month wait time for a CT or MRI), and wide range of diagnostics and treatments available at your primary care doctor (full bloodwork, x-rays, dentistry, surgery, etc.). I certainly don’t go to my family doctor expecting to get x-rays, bloodwork, a mani/pedi, hysterectomy and a dental cleaning all in the same office – but in veterinary medicine this is the standard.

With all progress and increasing standards of care – costs are of course a factor. That x-ray sitting in “the back” comes with a price tag. The blood analyzers come with a price tag. The convenience comes with a high cost of overhead. Even regarding dentistry – our pets need a full general anesthetic to get the same thorough dental exam, x-rays, cleaning and extractions that you most likely sit awake with your mouth open for at your dentist.

When considering a new pet, or even those you’ve had for years – it is important to consider how you will finance their healthcare. There are many options – but having prepared and made a decision well in advance is paramount. Today we will go through a couple options to consider as you either bring home your new pet, or even contemplate what to do as your furry friend reaches their golden years.

Savings Plan

Many pet parents are keen on savings plans – and this works in many cases. The idea is that you put a certain amount of money aside each month to cover unexpected expenses. The downsides to this is – what happens when you’ve only had your new pet a week or a couple months? A $3000 surgery or hospital bill will likely be a lot more than the monthly amount that has been accumulated. For owners with multiple pets – say a couple cats and a dog – a larger savings plan may actually be a great option – as long as not everyone needs the account at once. It allows for a “larger pot” that is used for whichever pet needs it at the time, and of course replenished as needed.

Care Credit / Pet Card

Care credit is a loan service that pet parents can apply for – it typically requires some work to be done in advance, and of course has limits. This may be a good option even initially while building a savings account for your pet to have in case you need it. Typically, the company will give you a maximum, and they will pay the clinic directly when bills come up. Many pet parents don’t know about this option. A credit card may also work just fine, but the interest rates with these companies are much lower as they are essentially a medical line of credit.

For Information on PetCard (Canada): https://www.petcard.ca/

For more information on Care Credit (USA): https://www.carecredit.com/vetmed/

Pet Medical Insurance

Pet insurance is what I am most likely to recommend, especially when bringing home a pet for the first time – before is has any pre-existing conditions. Pet insurance works similarly to medical insurance in places that still use private healthcare (such as in the United States). The companies will lay out their terms (what is covered vs. not covered) and when a vet bill comes up, either you or your vet submit the invoice for reimbursement or direct payment of the amount they agree to cover. Most insurance companies have a deductible you pay (what you pay of a bill before they will cover anything) and a % coverage (often 70-90% depending on the plan and company). So for example, say your new dog swallows a toy and needs an emergency surgery. Let’s say your deductible is $500 and the % coverage is 80%. Now let’s say that the final bill is $5000 (likely on the low-end for a referral center). You pay $500 + 20% of the remaining bill. The total amount you would pay would be $1400 (500+20% or $900) rather than the $5000. Some companies even allow for the option of a $0 deductible, which of course comes with a more costly monthly plan.

Picking a pet insurance is overwhelming to say the least. What I like to explain to clients is with pet insurance, you have two general categories: “per condition deductible” and “annual deductible”. Per condition deductible means that for every problem your pet has, you have to pay the agreed upon deductible. Annual deductible means that you pay the deductible once per year, regardless of how many unrelated problems occur in that year. Sounds like annual is better? Yes and no – annual deductibles often come with limits or caps of how much they will cover. For example, an annual deductible may be $300/year, but have an annual cap of $5000. This means if you have a couple costly bills that total say, $12,000 in a given year, you will be covering $6500 of that yourself, or be forced to decline optimal care. Per condition deductibles are paid once for the condition, then covered for the lifetime of the pet – which makes them great for life-long conditions like allergies, endocrine diseases such as addision’s, or arthritis. They often don’t come with limits or caps, but are harder to budget for in advance.

When deciding on pet insurance, you need to decide what makes the most sense for your situation. Are you looking for something that is there just to cover the really big bills (such as a TPLO or knee replacement surgery – which runs ~$4000-8000 per leg) , but smaller visits such as an eye appointment are no big deal? Or are you looking for a plan that will help with the smaller various issues your pet may come across in a year (such as dogs who get into a dog fight one month, then an eye infection next month, then vomiting the next month), but may not cover the really big bills (such as a bilateral hip replacement, ~$20,000)? Some companies also have the option to pay the vet directly, but more companies actually pay you later, once paperwork has been sent in. This may mean putting the visit on your credit card until your payment comes in the mail. Also be sure to make sure any company you choose covers hereditary conditions or breed-specific conditions (for example, hip dysplasia may not be covered in German shepherds, and spinal disease may not be covered in frenchies and dachshunds). Most companies also do not cover routine care – such as dental cleanings (but may cover extractions, root canals, etc.) or parasite prevention and vaccines. Be sure to read the fine print before you commit, and sign your pet up as soon as you bring them home!

I also recommend looking at what it would cost to sign your young pet up now, vs. what it would cost when they are 13 years old. When I did this for Dana – some companies gave a monthly cost of only $30 per month if she was a puppy, and $250 per month if she was 8 years old. I contacted the company to see if she would have that cost go up to that amount if she were a puppy when signed up – and they confirmed, yes – it didn’t matter that I had signed her up young. This means that although you planned for a certain amount each month, it may even double from one age category to the next. When I looked into Trupanion, the cost was the same per month for her breed whether she was 8 weeks old or 10 years old, and other companies do function in a similar way.

I personally use Trupanion – which involves a per-condition deductible (although I am not affiliated with or receive any compensation for saying so – they don’t even offer vet-specific discounts). I purchased this insurance on Dana prior to her passing, which despite her various pre-existing conditions (liver disease, thyroid disease, arthritis) still covered her emergency hip fracture surgery (~$6000). For Buster, who suffers with allergies (to almost everything – grasses, dust, trees, certain foods, etc), Trupanion has already covered thousands in allergy testing, pricey anti-itch medications and immunotherapy, and he’s only 2! While I haven’t used it for smaller visits (chocolate ingestion, abdominal x-rays, routine bloodwork), I am happy to know that going forward, they will pay 90% of Buster’s allergy-related costs for the rest of his life. Coffea also has Trupanion – which I thankfully haven’t needed yet for her (although with her juvenile dental disease, I know tooth extractions will be coming soon). My monthly amount changes each year – sometimes it goes up a little, and some years it goes down a little. I have other veterinarian friends who have had success using other insurance companies including PetsPlusUs and PetSecure.

Special considerations for older pets: If you have an older pet you are wanting insurance for, be sure to check what they will actually cover. Some companies require a full physical exam and geriatric bloodwork within a month of the insurance sign-up date in order to cover anything (this helps them not cover anything that may be pre-existing but not previously noticed). Trupanion allows pet parents to sign their pets up until the age of 14 (they will still cover them after this age, but you cannot newly sign up over this age) without the above requirements. When I signed Dana up for insurance her most recent bloodwork was performed 6 weeks earlier, so I decided to use Trupanion given that I wouldn’t have to spend the money to repeat this in such a short window.

What about waiting periods? All pet insurance companies have waiting periods – that is typically 30 days long in which you are signed up and paying for insurance, but anything that comes up won’t be covered, and may be considered a pre-existing condition if diagnosed in that window. For example, you’ve had insurance for 3 days and then your dog eats a toy and needs surgery – not only will the insurance NOT cover this surgery, but they may consider not covering any foreign body (toy ingestion) treatments for the remainder of the dog’s life. In order to avoid a waiting period, you can bring your dog in for an exam with a vet and request an insurance trial – both Trupanion and PetSecure offers this. That way, your insurance is effective the minute your leave the vet office, and you only need to confirm you would like to continue coverage after the 4 or 6 weeks trial period ends.

What if I want to switch insurance companies? If you have a healthy, young dog who has not been diagnosed with ANY ailments this is an option. Please note that most dogs do develop some degree of dental tartar early on in life, and although not a concern medically, your veterinarian likely has written this down as a part of their legal medical record. This means that if the insurance company reads that there was “slight dental tartar”, they may not cover any dental disease with the exception of accidents such as a tooth fracture. The same goes for things like vomiting – if your dog ever vomited once and your vet did their job and wrote this down in their medical record, the insurance companies may not cover anything related to vomiting and diarrhea. Another example would be skin conditions – if your dog has ever had an ear infection under their current plan, a new insurance company you switch to will likely not cover anything related to skin infections, itch, allergies, etc. I usually don’t recommend switching insurance companies on a pet you have, but you may decide to go with a different company for different pets (for example, my friend Dr. Patricia has Trupanion insurance on her dog, and PetsPlusUs for her cats).

If you are wanting to further compare companies, you can use the following websites:

In Canada: https://www.comparepetinsurance.ca/

In the USA: https://www.pawlicy.com/blog/pet-insurance-comparison/

Thank you so much for reading!