My husband and I have had an unexpected medical expense for my cat. In May, she had a severe UTI that we caught early and were able to get her treated by our regular vet. While the visit was costly, we had money set aside for emergencies. Three weeks later, we came home from vacation to a very, very sick cat. Her UTI had returned with a vengeance. This time, we had to take her and leave her at the vet to be supervised. She was so sick that she couldn't tolerate the first medication, and we had to pay for another. Then, after a week, we had to take her back for a follow-up visit. Fortunately, we have CareCredit, which we can use at her vet if the minimum spent is $250. With all the visits, tests, and medications combined, we met the minimum. While this card is now accepted for other purposes than vets, we use it just for our cat's expenses. She is 8 years old, and we will probably be experiencing more emergencies like the last, and we don't want to be caught unprepared.

when my cat was hit by a car when i was in high school, my family decided it would be our christmas present to each other to get her all the surgeries that she needed. she was with us for many happy years after that and though expensive, it was some of the best money i've ever spent!

One morning a few months ago, I noticed my pup favoring her right front paw while we were out on a walk. I cut the walk short and took her home and went out for a bit. When I got back, her paw was swollen up like a baseball! She couldn't walk so I picked her up and carried her to the car (no easy feat since she weighs more than 50 pounds and I'm teeny) and rushed her to the vet where they did x-rays and a laser procedure to help with the pain and reduce the swelling. Turns out it wasn't broken, but the bill still came to almost $800 for what was essentially just a stubbed toe! Although I think it was worth it, it did give me the kick in the pants I needed to finally spring for pet insurance.

I have always wondered about pet insurance. We have two dogs and three cats and I'm always worried that something will happen and we won't be able to cover them. Did anyone who has it, find that it is worth it and a company that you like?

We had a cat develop diabetes and go into ketoacidosis several times requiring critical care visits and all kinds of medications. We spent many thousands of dollars trying to save her to no avail. It took us several years to recover from it financially but most of it went on CareCredit and was paid off within the 0% interest timeframes. We certainly wouldn't have done anything differently no matter what. When we got our two new furry girls, I insured both of them through VPI. One had a bladder stone that was not covered so the insurance certainly hasn't paid off yet but it gives us some peace of mind. I'd be curious to hear from others with GOOD (or BAD) insurance stories though. We pay $17/month per cat.

I have worked at a veterinary hospital for over 10 years. Medical insurance is a wise choice. I have seen far too many very loving pet owner have to say a premature good-bye not because they didn't love their pet, but because financially, it wasn't an option to treat them when an unexpected emergency occurs. Many large hospitals do not accept payments, such as ours, not because we don't care, but because it's simply a business policy. Carecredit, as mentioned above, is a great option, but its hard to get approved and incredibly high interest rates. Pet insurance is amazing, but premiums can be high for general coverage - so get it while your pet is young and before pre-existing health conditions kick in such as urinary conditions as mentioned above (highly likely in male cats...), diabetes, tumors, etc, or before they get too old. You can get coverage to cover simply annual exams and vaccines, or accident coverage as well. Many options are available to fit your budget but something is better than nothing...trust me. I've seen it all, and it isn't pretty when money is the deciding factor of a life.

I just went through this, or at least the first stages, and I'm still working with it. I adopted an older, healthy cat about a year and a half ago. Before I adopted him I built up a pet budget and a little extra in my emergency fund so I thought I was in great shape. I also committed to regular vet checkups and the first regular exam went really well.
This winter I noticed he was losing a lot of weight and after a few weeks decided to take him in. He had dropped from 15 lbs to 11 lbs and after a blood test we learned he was diabetic. I live in Juneau, AK where almost everything is more expensive, so these numbers are necessarily standard but since his diagnosis about 3 months ago I've spent over $900 in vet expenses, insulin, needles, and prescription food.

When the cat was diagnosed I was in my last semester of undergraduate studies and my financial options were slim. I don't even have health care for me, let alone to buy insulin at $140 per vial for a cat. I contacted the vet office and they recommended CareCredit, I spoke to the manager and explained this wasn't a good option for me since I opened my first two credit cards in the last two years and am working really hard to build my credit - a new credit line at this time would have dropped my credit score for a long time. After talking with me for a few minutes he worked out a payment plan, giving me smaller payments over a longer amount of time than their normal policy. I will pay $50 a month until the diagnosis vet expenses are paid off late this summer, meanwhile I pay for insulin, needles, and any new vet expenses out of pocket. It is still a big expense but it is now manageable. I was surprised how far the clinic manager was willing to work with me so that an older cat could get the care he needed with an owner, me, who really cares about him.

I have a friend whose dog was recently hit by a car and required leg surgery. She's also in her early 20s but not in school and has little to no credit. The CareCredit was an excellent option for her and has actually opened up discussions between us about credit building and credit cards. I recommend CareCredit as long as one considers how it fits their current goals and financial standing. I also recommend talking with your vet. Pet health care assistance is really lacking - you can't deduct for it in your taxes and most agencies that once helped pet owners afford it have closed down due to a lack of funds - so you must find your own avenue of assistance or pay for pet insurance early on.

I have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi with my boyfriend. He's only 7 months old right now, so too young for any major age-related health problems yet, but I wish we knew to budget out the extra money that it would cost up front between pet supplies (we planned for that), and the vet bills. When you get a puppy, you've gotta bring him/her in nearly every 2 weeks for another set of shots, then pay for a spay/neuter at around 6 months (some people wait longer, the puppy day camp we bring him to mandates it at 6 months so there are no aggression issues). That, on top of feeding him high quality food (I refuse to feed him garbage that will give him possible health problems later), and providing him with beginner puppy behavior classes cost a huge chunk of money that totally threw off my budget and dragged my credit card debt back up to where it was before I made leeway paying it off. We love our puppy, don't get me wrong, but I really wish I had waited and asked more questions about the costs aside from just the initial amount I saved up to pay for him.