My dog broke a leg and tore its ACL playing at the dog park.

ByPet Insurance Reading Time: 3 minutes

I’ve always really loved dogs but back in 2009 I thought pet insurance kind of looked like a scam. I thought that I was also someone that if faced with vets bills that would be financially a disaster, I’m the guy that puts his dog down no matter how difficult that is. Then it happened. My dog broke a leg and tore its ACL playing at the dog park. Freak accident and the next thing I know I get to the vet and the legitimate real cost of getting my two year old pup back to 100%, is $11,000. Actually I had three options. $11,000. Amputate the leg. Or put my best friend down.

  • I don’t care how strapped someone is, or how strong they think they are. I knew I was going into credit card debt, immediately.
  • I couldn’t afford to and so I had to borrow some from family because I couldn’t put the entire amount just on one credit either.
  • That dog “Nibbs” lived another 12 years and had some additional issues but they cost less than $3,000 in total. Pet insurance in that one instance would have saved me about $10,000.
  • At that point in my life the bigger issue was paying all that back, and it wasn’t easy.

Unfortunately I didn’t learn my lesson. I ended up moving from CA to NY and Nibbs had passed and my wife and I got a cat as she’s partial to them. I didn’t think to sign up for pet insurance and again that proved to be a mistake. Just a couple weeks into getting a kitten, it came down with a mysterious lung infection. Thankfully my wife and I are in a better financial situation and it didn’t crush our budget to have to spend $5,500 on tests and multiple overnight stays over the next couple months. That cat, Bailey – had lots of continual health issues for another year and then ultimately it passed away.

I did sign up for pet insurance after the first issue came up and the original respiratory issue costs didn’t get covered because they were a pre-existing condition. I understand that. For certain we saved money on the costs associated with the rest of its health issues. Had we signed up from the start, the savings would have exceeded $5,000. Honestly I never tallied up the total amount spent on Bailey as it stretched out over 16 months and it was a sad situation both of us tried to not think about.

I’m sharing this story with you because I think people should know, that whatever you’re planning for in your head doesn’t matter. At least for me personally – in 2009 my general optimism or thinking that my dog couldn’t get itself into that kind of a situation where I’d have to choose between credit card debt or doing what my best friend needed, could happen. But it did and I thought even if it did, I’m tough – I’ll just put the dog down despite how hard that will be. You don’t want to be in that situation and the emotional stress and guilt over borrowing money, is hard.

I’m going to get another dog in the next couple years, after my kids are a little older. For certain, I’m signing up for pet insurance as soon as we get the dog. Lesson learned. Pet insurance isn’t like health insurance for people, and I think that’s been part of my issue with it. It’s not perfect, but I’m telling you – as someone that got hit with a freak accident and then an unhealthy kitten from a bad breeder – pet ownership without having pet insurance seems like a giant gamble. It’s one that I’m not going to risk again.

David Hampton – Bronx, NY