[Wilhoit]

Do any of you keep an amount in savings for one year of vet costs plus emergencies? If so, what would it be?

I want to make sure I have enough put aside before I eventually get another dog.

When I got Wilhoit (a full grown rescue), I had his hips and spine X-rayed (OFA) so I'd know if I needed to save for hip/elbow surgery, and so I'd know how I should supplement to stave off arthritis, etc. I also did a complete blood count plus bloodwork for thyroid each year. I titered him each year, except when he needed to be innoculated. What else might there be for which I should set aside an amount and what would that amount be?

I doubt the vets here know too much about the ailments/conditions that can affllict GSDs (beyond hips), so your input is appreciated!

Cecilia

 

[Wolfiesmom]

Actually, I never saved money for emergency costs. I would if I could, though.

 

[GSD Fan]

I guess you set aside as much as you can. Really, it varies. Some vets charge less than a $100 for the puppy shots, but others may charge a lot more.

More experienced members will be here to chime in.

 

[Good_Karma]

Well, I spent over $8600 on my two dogs this year. I would say for one dog, a good emergency fund would be $5000. Rosa's hip replacement cost us $4000, although that was not an emergency and I guess we could have put it off for a short while if we had to.

I don't actually have a set aside emergency vet fund. I do have a savings account with a good amount of money in it for any kind of emergency, be it car, home or personal.

 

[paulag1955]

I guess you set aside as much as you can. Really, it varies. Some vets charge less than a $100 for the puppy shots, but others may charge a lot more.

More experienced members will be here to chime in.

Crikey! I guess because Shasta was seeing the vet for other things, it didn't occur to me that the shots were so pricey!

 

[Lucy Dog]

Why not just put that emergency funding towards pet insurance? I pay about $450 for the year and everything (hereditary included) is covered up to $8,000 per year.

This way you're covered for everything and not just big emergencies and you never have to worry about having enough to pay for anything major.

 

[Jax's Mom]

I have an emergency dog/car/house/whatever else fund
I just try to save as much as I can; but also remember that it's completely pointless to save cash if you carry a balance on your credit cards.

 

[Lesley1905]

I agree with the insurance...better safe then sorry. We learned our lesson after our other dog cost us 9 grand in a matter of 10 days!

 

[roxy84]

Why not just put that emergency funding towards pet insurance? I pay about $450 for the year and everything (hereditary included) is covered up to $8,000 per year.
.

this. i spend $24/month (petplan), which gets me $8000 worth of coverage per year

 

[Emoore]

We just have a general emergency fund of 6 months living expenses. It's designed to cover anything that might happen from emergency veterinary procedures to a transmission going out to job loss.

It took a LOT of saving and living on basically nothing, but that feeling of security sure is worth it.

 

[ZAYDA]

Not knowing what it is you might be faced with I would think that $40.00 a month for insurance would be your best bet. If you are thinking of putting money away and asking yourself how much is needed then you should have $40.00 a month to spare.

In a perfect world your dog would need some medical attention after you have saved thousands of dollars but what if your dog needs a $4000.00 surgery only 2-3 years after you get him/her and you only have $1200 saved.

 

[Chicagocanine]

Personally I found it made more sense to put the money aside myself than go with pet insurance. I calculated the cost and it seemed I would be spending a lot of money out of pocket with the insurance and there was a good chance I would not be getting back my investment. If I had a sudden high vet bill and I couldn't pay it immediately, I can also put it on credit card, or ask my vet for a payment plan.

According to the one I was looking at (Embrace, which my vet recommended) the cost would be between $28-80 per month for the insurance premium, plus a deductible between $200-500, plus I'd have to pay at least 20% co-pay. So that would come out to between $830-1160 per year plus I'd have to pay 20% of every vet visit's fees. They have an annual maximum between $5000-10,000 depending which features you choose.

Only their most expensive plan covers dental and routine visits, so unless I went with the plan where I would be paying them $1160 per year, and then I also still would have to pay for office visits, vacc/titers, routine bloodwork, dental illnesses/cleanings, and flea/heartworm preventive myself-- plus the copay and deductible on everything else. If I did go with the most expensive plan it only covers $200 per year of 'wellness' and 'routine' stuff which means I'd still have to pay everything over $200 (which $200 would really only be enough for yearly exam with vacc/titers and maybe a little more.)

 

[codmaster]

Not knowing what it is you might be faced with I would think that $40.00 a month for insurance would be your best bet. If you are thinking of putting money away and asking yourself how much is needed then you should have $40.00 a month to spare.

In a perfect world your dog would need some medical attention after you have saved thousands of dollars but what if your dog needs a $4000.00 surgery only 2-3 years after you get him/her and you only have $1200 saved.

Credit card?

 

[codmaster]

Why not just put that emergency funding towards pet insurance? I pay about $450 for the year and everything (hereditary included) is covered up to $8,000 per year.

This way you're covered for everything and not just big emergencies and you never have to worry about having enough to pay for anything major.

Do they then pay for everything? Do you have any limits other than the total they will pay? Deductible or co-pays?

 

[Wilhoit]

You all are really helpful, thanks!

Codmaster, I was also wondering about the limits on what pet insurance pays. Still wondering, e.g., about a double hip surgery?

codmasterQuote:

Do they then pay for everything? Do you have any limits other than the total they will pay? Deductible or co-pays?

 

[roxy84]

According to the one I was looking at (Embrace, which my vet recommended) more.)

PetPlan likely is going to be more reasonable in cost.

i thought about putting money away. what i dont like about that is that if an emergency comes up, that money is gone. fine so far.....but now the fund is empty and i have to start funding it all over again. for right around $300 per year. i get $8000 coverage per year, with a $200 deductible and 90% coverage after that. this way i know ill never take a hit much bigger than $200.

i have collected an amount from PetPlan in 2 years that equals over 5 years of premiums...so for me it has been easily worth it.

it is true that for some who are lucky and dont ever have many injuries/illnesses/meds with their dogs insurance will be money that they will nbever get back.

 

[Sunstreaked]

We, too, got PetPlan. Chose the highest plan with a $200 deductible (per incident) and 100% coverage after that. It covers up to $20,000 per year. It runs about $35 a month. For us, it makes the most sense.

 

[ZAYDA]

Makes the most sense to me .. PetPlan.

 

[LARHAGE]

Agree, I have Petplan as well.

 

[Shadow's mum]

Get insurance. We have insurance thank goodness (we are in Australia so figures and plans will be different) Our dog Shadow just had emergency surgery and it was such a relief to be able to tell the vet to do what ever needed to be done.
So far the insurance has cost approx $490 (we pay by the month) however in total for this year so far we are looking at getting back $685 so it has more than paid for itself.