Just Say No to Pet Insurance

When people start buying insurance to cover something, the cost of it goes up. So, the answer to

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8307307/do_you_need_pet_injury_coverage_with.html?cat=27

is "No, no, a thousand times NO!"

Want financial coverage? Go to a bank, e.g. Greenbank if you have an address or mail drop in Tennessee, that welcomes small savings accounts. Open a small savings account. Promise yourself that you'll put in as much money each month, quarter, or year as the insurance plan that tempts you would have charged. You won't build up enough insurance to cover much during the first ten years or so, but as your savings account grows you will be offered credit, which will cover any reasonable cost incurred by a pet's injury.

More savings will equal more credit, and if the cost of the pet's injury exceeds what most of us can reasonably expect ourselves to save over a year or two, it may be time to consider euthanizing the pet.

Sad but true pet story: once a Cat Sanctuary cat--one of Magic's foster kittens--was hit by a truck and suffered broken ribs and internal injuries. Somehow the kitten dragged herself home and, although she'd never been friendly with humans before, apparently recognized that she needed more than grooming and a mouse to play with, and attached herself to me. I stayed close to the kitten for three days and nights before a veterinary clinic that did X-rays on cats was open. The vet was willing to try to operate, for $350. I paid...and the kitten died with the first whiff of anesthetic. Magic grieved, and I wasn't happy. But I would have been much more unhappy if pet insurance scams had been around, back then, to encourage the vet to charge $3500.