Swiss Lick Swissies

Insurance

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 | Dogs

Before Indy became a member of our family in 2008, we had toyed with the idea of getting insurance for Alex, Beowulf & Gryffin. When I looked into it further, I found it was really only a viable option for Gryffin, as the other two were old, and premiums would be high while the plans would not offer much of anything.

We decided to get coverage for Indy. I researched for about a month or so, looking at the various companies and policies that were out there. Some companies considered Epilepsy and Bloat to be hereditary, and they are rather common issues with Swissies. I found a couple that would cover those, plus others that we were concerned about, and we eventually went with Embrace. I have not needed to use it once, but I’ll bet we would if we didn’t get a policy.

We’re currently at the point where we are reconsidering the policy. It doesn’t cover preventative and annual visits. It also doesn’t cover spay and tacking, which we will likely do in the not-too-distant future. (At least the spay.)

We’re considering starting a “dog fund” bank account. We’d take the money we send to Embrace every month plus a little extra and deposit it into a new account. We’d use it for dog health, show or other event fees, or the purchase of a new animal. Really, whatever comes up that is dog related. I like this idea, because of something were to happen to Dan or me, we could have this account as a “trust fund” of sorts that would be used after we are gone to continue to care for our animals.

The other option is emergency-only insurance. The ASPCA offers emergency only, as do other providers. The ASPCA’s covers injuries from accidents, and any most things associated with them. (Diagnostic procedures, medicine, lab tests, surgery, dental services, x-rays, and hospitalization.) It will not cover anything with an illness.

So the question is do we take the gamble and cancel the Embrace policy? I feel like Murphy’s Law would take over and she’d get ill.

More on the decision as it’s made.

Tags: Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Swissy

2 Comments to Insurance

Elizabeth
August 5, 2009

I hear ya, it’s a gamble either way you go. We’ve been pondering getting pet insurance for a while, it’s a tough call.

Jennifer & Louie
August 10, 2009

OK, you know I pondered this question and dropped Louie’s pet insurance. Then started rambling about it elsewhere. After reading all the responses over at greaterswissdotcom.com, I have to say that I’m more confused than ever. There is a lot of support for having pet insurance, and I understand why. The possibility that really bad things can happen is why I got insurance to begin with. But then, almost 3 years into a (fortunately) very healthy dog life, I started wondering how beneficial insurance really was given all the things we spent bucks on that didn’t end up covered. Today I’m all for the savings account. If my dog bloats tomorrow, though, I will likely regret that decision. Argh.

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