Pet Insurance - Beaverton,OR

If you have a local college near (vet school) you they offer lower cost on shots and spay and neuter. You can also call around to your local shelters and they often have reduced cost spay and neuter. Typically a local vet comes in and donates time. I went to school for animal science and focused on animal nutrition. To keep your animal healthy and out of the vets office other than for your basic shots make sure to feed them with the correct food. Never buy food at the grocery store! When you look at the food ingredients verify that corn or corn meal or "by product meal is not in the first couple ingredients. I have always fed my dogs innova. What kind of dog did you get? If you need to change the diet do it slowly. Dog food that you get in the store is not as concentrate as a type like innova so you need to mix the food. such as the first week 25% new food 75% old food. Next week 50% old food and 50 % new food. Then the following week 25% old food and 75 % new food. Then the following week all new food. Make sure to do this because the stress on your pup with a new environment etc is already enough:) Another great place for animal behavior info is through a shelter in Denver. It's an incredible renowned shelter and they have great basic info online free....
www.ddfl.org

Where did you get the dog? A lot of places already do the micro chip? Its good to have it done but you dont have to pay the annual fee. Your dog will be attached to that info forever...

Personally I think health insurance depends on the type of dog you may have. Does the breed require a lot? maintenance? does it have a lot of issues like breathing? hip issues? etc. good luck...

I use Pet's Best Insurance. The insurance is up to you and what you can afford. There are also different types that will cover different things, so you should call and find out. Don't think you have to buy just because you called, you can call back. I got insurance for my cats because my dad's dog has gone through chemo and multiple surgeries, and my last cat had surgeries, and IV treatment at the end. It was just piece of mind more than anything.

We had pet insurance for a long time, but then we dropped it. We hardly ever used it, but the one we had did cover annual checkup, microchipping, shots, etc. We have a pug that is prone to hip problems and that is why we got insurance, but we never used it as we had a $50 copay and the visit was $35. My vet told me that it's better to put the $30 a month away in an account and save it in the event of a pet emergency, than to spend it on insurance. That is what we do. It's been over a year, and we still haven't spent that money.

We did research and decided that basic prevent care, plus good nutrition, are the best route and a better than doing insurance, for us anyway. We have 2 mutts, that are reasonably healthy dogs. (Mutts tend to be healthier due to hybrid vigor).

Paying for a good dog food is worth it, as Megan N said (hers is a really good post!). The first two ingredients should be meat (and not "meat by-products") and the rest of the label should be ingredients you recognize and not strange unpronounceable chemical names. Corn and beet pulp are common fillers, and generally should be avoided.

First we were w/ VPI ... then our dog got really sick and VPI covered practically nothing (out of an $1800 bill, they covered $56 I'm not kidding). Our vet said that they are the worst and he has done tons of research and recommends Pet's Best, which pays 80% of EVERYTHING. We've been w/ them for about 8 months and they've been fantastic and the turnaround for reimbursement is very fast. We also purchased the healthy pet clause, which covers neutering, blood work and initial puppy shots and we've been happy w/ that, too.

We do not have pet insurance. We have 2 dogs, one is 3 and one is 7. While there is some cost involved with vet care, unless your dog gets sick or hurt you are unlikely to use the insurance enough to make it worth it. I would take that money and set it aside each month and that way if something comes up, you have the fund, and if not, you have the money. So far we have had 2 major expenses with our dog, once he needed x-rays and that was around $150 for the visit, and once he got an infection from a plant called Devil's club, and we had to go to emergency hours, with was anther $150 visit, but that is all in 3 years. (the 7 year old is new to our family). We love our vet, but I looked around and found another clinic I do not care as much for, but that runs a shot clinic. That is all I use them for. It is our local VCA, and at the shot clinic you can get the yearly boosters with no visitation fee, so it is about $60 for the shots. With the times we had to use the vet for special care, it was caused by our very outdoors lifestyle as well, which may be a consideration. We are Alaskan, and spend a great deal of time out doors, which is where he got into the Devils club, and he fell off a 4-wheeler which resulted in the x-rays. If you are just walking him at the local dog park or the like, than the need for insurance would go down even more.

I am on a board for dog owners for the breed we have. Most recommend pet insurance for emergency coverage only. MOST dogs by age 6 will have some kind of major medical expense -- swallowing a sock leading to a stomach blockage, getting a chicken bone, a tick causing seizures, etc. I have a 4 month old dog that's already had one emergency room visit -- a UTI and vaginitis and an ear infection. My 14 month old dog has already had a cast on her leg. These types of things WOULD be covered by insurance after co-pay/deductible.

http://www.petinsurancereview.com/

Is a review site for pet insurance that you may find helpful. I haven't purchased it yet but I am looking at PetPlan.

It's usually not financially feasible to get coverage for expected expenses like annual check ups. The added expense for the insurance is usually higher then it would cost you to just budget for your annual check-ups. Spaying and Microchipping aren't usually covered.

I had pet insurane and when I went to use it, they said that the condition was not covered. My mom was watching my cat for a day and the cat got outside. My cat is an indoor cat only. My mom was unable to get her off the fence and back in the house. When my mom went into the house to see if the cat would get down on her own someone in the flood control channel shot her leg with a be be gun. My mom called me and I rushed home. I took my cat to the vet and did $4000 surgery on her leg. The pamphlet for pet insurance stated that it was covered. When I sommited the claim, they say it was not covered because it could be a hereditry condition. Since when is a bee bee shot to the leg pasted down from a mommy cat to her babies. WE never caught the person who did it but I let all the neighbors know and put signs up in the neighborhood. She is now a happy cat with no signs of long term trouble from the incidence.

I was a vet tech for about 11 years and never once did we ever use a claim with pet insurance. Most of the time the service or care was not included in what we provided. Might be more geared towards Emergency care (?).
Best person to ask is a vet. They would be most informed and current on the coverage.
C.