Choosing a new vet and pet insurance

[ladytimedramon]

April marks 1 year with her royal highness. When I adopted her, I didn't know any vets other than my cousin (who doesn't see family) and I didn't know much about pet insurance. I got roped into a 1 year plan through a pet store chain. To be honest I was never comfortable with the vet, so I switched to another store where one of the vets was listed on the "cat friendly" registries. I'm still not that impressed, so I was planning on finding a new vet, as well as an independent insurance plan. Delilah and I went through a LOT medically in the first 3 months that wasn't supported by her vet plan, let alone understood by her vets (ovarian remnant syndrome).

There are 2 "cat only" vets in my area. 1 is very expensive and has mixed reviews online. 1 isn't answering their phones, at least every time I call.

Most of my family has dogs. The only cat person (upstairs neighbor) I know isn't thrilled with her vet either.

So how do I pick a new vet? And once I've picked a vet, do I see what insurance they take? Or do I go the other way around (choose insurance, find a vet on the insurance)?

And how do I know the pet insurance is good, and not just another trap like my current plan?

 

[Willowy]

In general, vets don't "take" pet insurance. You use any vet, pay the bill, them submit the paperwork and the insurance company reimburses you. This does mean that you need to have either a savings account or a credit card with open credit in order to pay up front. A few vets may be willing to "float" the balance until you get reimbursed, but not very many. Any kind of plan that's offered by the vet's office is intended to lock you into using that vet only, so that's probably not the kind you want.

Healthy Paws, Pet's Best, and Trupanion all get pretty high marks. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few companies though.

As for finding a good vet, ask every pet owner you know, call cat rescue groups in the area, read online reviews, etc. And once you think one sounds good, see if you can schedule a short meeting with the vet so you can see how they handle your questions.

 

[artiemom]

I had an issue with the T one. I had good results with them, until they got a new 'reviewer'. I will not go into details on it.

This time, I have PetPlan. I have only had one claim with them, and have been very happy with their service.

Remember the premiums increase every year.. excuse, animal's age... and it also depends on how many claims in the prior's year.

 

[Katdog]

I have pumpkin. And my friend has pet assured. I didn’t go with pet assured bc they require participating vet and my vet doesn’t participate, and i like my vet so didn’t want to switch. (My friend says otherwise but pet assured website had a participating vet list, maybe more vets in certain states than others...) When I was looking at insurance I considered nationwide and pumpkin as the two finalists. I haven’t had any claim with pumpkin yet so can’t say how good they truly are but when reviewing plans I liked that they had an option where if you had pre existing condition it could be null if no symptoms where shown for 6 months. They cover dental illnesses which I recall being something not offered by most insurers. I didn’t get the additional plan for preventative routine care bc it added $10 more per month for me which ultimately I could pay for the routine care out of pocket after 12 months anyways at that increase.

I also got a quote for each separate age at 3 years, 6 years and 10 years from both pumpkin and nationwide and a third finalist who I can’t remember and pumpkins premium for years 6 and 10 was less than the other two so when I did a lifetime total cost in just premium, pumpkin ended up being less by a couple/few thousand (can’t remember exact number but do recall it Being a substantial difference) so I went with it largely bc of that increase in premium due to age wasn’t an arm and a leg each year. bc let’s be for real, unless it’s an accident, cats don’t really get sick till like 5 years of age anyways.

hope That helps!