This post is brought to you by Pets Best. As always, we only publish posts that we believe you’ll enjoy, and all thoughts and opinions are strictly our own.
The holidays are a time of looking back and of new beginnings and, for many pet lovers, that means adding a new furry family member. While pets are never a good surprise gift or a choice for households that are especially bustling over the holidays, for those families who are enjoying a quiet holiday at home and off work, the season can be a good time to make the decision together to adopt a new pet. Whether you’re bringing in a kitten or adult cat into your lives, though, we want to take a minute to talk with you about the importance of getting pet health insurance for your new family member.
This has been a year of heartbreak and of learning for us. While we have pet insurance on our dogs, we didn’t on our cats. Our cats are indoors-only, unlike our dogs who travel with us and romp around in our yard (where we found four rattlesnakes this year). The cats, however, enjoy a life of leisure in the house with a screened catio to experience the outdoors safely. They never come into contact with other cats or wildlife.
We thought, as we know that many of you have, that we could set aside money every month for unforeseen veterinary expenses and we’d be covered.
We were wrong.
As you know, this year we lost our Coco to pancreatic cancer. As with many feline illnesses, it was a difficult diagnosis. She was first treated for pancreatitis, a treatment that involved a stay at a specialty hospital, two stays at our veterinary hospital, ultrasounds, x-rays, a special diet, and medication. Her illness stretched from May until the end of August. The veterinary bill was close to $5,000.
The final decision was made after our vet’s diagnosis of cancer and the rapidly diminished quality of life Coco was experiencing, and the explanation from our vet that Coco was not a good candidate for advanced treatments. In the end, we didn’t have to make the decision based on which treatments we could afford.
But that was a worry–on top of all the other health worries we had for Coco–that we were afraid we would have to make. We asked ourselves how far could we afford to go, a question that we never, ever want to have to ask ourselves again. We’re both self-employed and, as the costs began to mount up, we couldn’t stop worrying.
Thankfully we didn’t have to make that decision based on money–but we never want to find ourselves in that situation again. So when we adopted Ochi, we insured her–and all our other cats–immediately.
It’s easy to get an online insurance quote for your cat. Even if you don’t choose to get the insurance, we’re asking you–please take a minute to find out just how much it would cost per month to insure your cat. Find out just what the policy will and won’t cover then decide if you can afford the monthly premium.
I know that it’s easy to think that our cats lead safe lives in our homes and that we can set aside money for their care when they get older. Coco was only nine years old when we lost her. Even if she had been 15, we wouldn’t have had time to set aside enough veterinary savings to cover advanced treatments, if she’d been a candidate. And if you, like us, have multiple pets, you don’t want to run the risk of using up your veterinary savings on one illness should another pet then become ill before you can replenish the savings.
Please take just a moment to check out Pets Best and see if pet health insurance would be a possibility for your pets.
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