Most pet owners will tell you their furry friends are like family.
If your pet gets sick or hurt, you want them to have the best care possible. But as pet owners also know, trips to the vet can rack up quite the expensive bill.
Pet owner Leah Butler knows it all too well. She said taking her dog Susie in for a checkup isn’t cheap.
“It can be as much as like $300 or $400," she said. "Even for just a routine visit with vaccines and stuff."
Many employer benefits plans now offer pet insurance, but is it worth it? Or are you better off paying out of pocket?
We asked Dr. Larry Keller, who works as a veterinarian at Lewis Animal Hospital in Amberley.
“I think pet insurance is a great idea. I think it's something that every that every pet owner should have,” Keller said.
I asked him why he believes it’s worth the cost.
“I think pet insurance has really helped a lot of animals get better, and there’s been cases that clients of mine still have their animals because of pet insurance," he said. "And if they didn’t have that pet insurance, they wouldn’t have their animals right now.”
Keller said pet insurance is worth the money, but he does have some advice on which type of plan you should choose to avoid wasting your money.
“Typically, there's one that covers everything, including wellness, and there's some that just do catastrophic or illness,” he said. “I really think that the illness one is the is a better bang for your buck ... Typical wellness is going to actually cost you less paying out of pocket than we'll be doing insurance for it.”
He said pet owners should be aware that even if you have insurance, you’ll still have to pay for everything up front.
“With animal insurance, you basically come to us, we see you, we charge you, you pay us, and then you submit your receipt to the pet insurance company and they pay you back," said Keller.
Keller said you should talk with your vet and do your research before choosing the plan that’s best for you.
You may never use your pet insurance if your pet is healthy, but if an emergency does happen, Keller said it’s keeping pets alive.
“It’s preventing animals from having to be put down because they couldn't afford a procedure,” Keller said. “And that is the best thing that pet insurance is there for.”
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