Congratulations on your new baby! I tried your link but it says it is unavailable.

I hope you can find a way to post a picture of Emma Belle. I love her name!

We've had Trupanion for several years, since my daughter's dog went through chemo and a bundle of money. Trupanion is a 'catastrophic' type insurance. They do not pay for ordinary vet visits or well check ups or immunizations. You get to select a deductible - there's a sliding scale - we chose $1000.

After your pet racks up bills for an accident/illness passing the deductible you chose, you submit your bills directly to Trupanion and Trupanion reimburses up to 90% of your expenses. They do not cover the office visits, but all of the tests and meds and procedures are part of those covered expenses. The vet only has to fill out a brief form, and usually Trupanion will make the follow up forms to the vet if they need further info.

We used it last year when my big guy, Spencer, suddenly needed his spleen removed. All the ultrasounds, surgery and meds were covered to 90%. THe bills added up to over $6000, and we paid just a little over the $1000 deductible out of pocket.

We had also used it for our late Katie, who developed diabetes in her later years.

My daughter has since used hers for her cat who has ongoing thryoid issues. As long as the illness passes the deductible they will continue to cover it.

There are other types of insurance out there, but I figured that we could take care of the ordinary expenses but wanted to be able to take care of the extraordinary.

these days with all the new tests available to our pets, as well as all the new treatments for cancers, it's not cheap to maintain a pet in the lifestyle to which it has become accustomed ;-).

NAYY....just a happy member.

Helene

Here is a link that might be useful: link to trupanion site

I use Trupanion as well for my 3 cats. I haven't needed to use it yet fortunately but I like knowing I can provide whatever my cats need medically without considering cost. I pay $120 a month with a $250 deductible but in thinking of raising that for a lower monthly cost. The prices do increase every year by a few dollars.

Your link doesn't allow viewing.
If you have a picture saved on your computer just click above the reply box where it says image file to upload, browse to the location on the computer the picture is click it, open, and it will be attached to the reply. You can only add one per reply so to post another one just again open a reply box and do the same thing. If you alter the text of the reply you may have to go back and attach the picture again.

Thank you for rescuing a furbaby! Would love to see a picture...you can upload it from your hard drive right here if it's a small file...."choose File" link....see....?

Because of your privacy settings on your FB page, we can't see a picture of Emma Belle. I would love to see her.

Sorry about that! I thought you had to use something like photobucket to load a photo.

Here she is!

And here is another one.

She's adorable!

OMG, with those eyes and her black nose, she looks like a squeeky toy.

Emma Belle is sooooo cute. Thanks for letting us see her.

I don't know anything about pet insurance and I'm not really a dog lover but that puppy is so cute she could turn me into a dog lover!

She does look like a toy. LOL

Thanks for putting those pictures up. She is cute!

There is a new boss at your house - Emma Belle! I can tell by the look in her eyes - my kind of pup.

We also have Trupanion, although the plan has changed considerably since it started as Vet Insurance - a Cdn. company that bought a U.S. company and is now based in Seattle with a satellite office in Vancouver. We preferred it when it was VetI nsurance - partly because there were no deductibles and also the plan was enhanced - it started offering coverages that were not grandfathered to existing clients - despite no incidence of the particular illness - hip dysplasia was the one that really upset people.

However, since Emma Belle is young, you will want to have her spayed before she is a year old if you want coverage for hormone related illnesses - and that includes diabetes, which was a shock to a few people.

Re the Deductible - note that it is PER CONDITION. Not in total. A few people covered by VetInsurance did not read the fine print and so took the $3,000 deductible to have a lower monthly premium and well you can see how that backfired - a broken leg one week, something else the next.

Also as pointed out the plan does not cover rechecks. And there can be a lot of rechecks - but you still will be paying your monthly premiums. Our premiums started out at $32.00 a month - they have been $75.00 a month for a few years now - plus our taxes - and that was before we had a claim. We signed our dog up at 13 months and he is still covered at the13 month old rate - runs from ages 1 to 3.

Our guy is now 10. His corneal abscess has cost us a fortune over the past 3 years although we caught it on day one since said rechecks are not covered and we had to go every 3 - 4 months at $150 a visit. He is now stable and unless things change our next appointment will be in Jan. 2014 - so a year after his last. Had surgery been the first option, Trupanion would have paid, but surgery is a last resort at least in Canada. He will always have "gunk" in his eye though. In retrospect we would have been better off with a bank account - but that is in hindsight.

At least should he develop Patellar Luxation or an ACL both legs would be covered (generally if one goes, the other will shortly thereafter) because he did not suffer from either pre signing him up.

When looking at the various plans you need to look at the deductibles (cost and how many of them there are) - some plans have admin deductibles, breed deductibles, annual deductibles, etc. - then others put an annual spend limit per year per condition. So say Emma Belle broke her leg and the limit is $1,000 coverage per year. Well in Canada that wouldn't even begin to cover the cost - all in it would be closer to $3,000 (vet care is much cheaper in the U.S.). Same with a blockage etc. Then you will want to check out lifetime limits per condition - much like kids' braces. Some plans will only cover something major up to $2,500 lifetime. I wouldn't go for one of the plans that covers physicals etc. because you will be paying for them through your much higher premiums.

The U.S. has a much bigger pet insurance market so check around but really read the fine print!

I trust Emma Belle has you on your toes.

Emma Belle is really a cutie.

Thank you!! We think she is sorta cute too.

You can believe that she has us on our toes and wrapped around her paw. I forgot how much attention puppies need. Everything chewable has been sprayed with Bitter Apple and my area rugs are rolled up. She is fearless and knows what she want.

We are having fun, even with chewing and potty training.

One good thing is that she was spayed at the shelter, yup, at 8 weeks old. She also has a small tattoo, just a green dot on her belly that tells other shelters that she is spayed.

Our dog loves Bitter Apple. Of course there is nothing he doesn't like....10 years old going on 16 weeks. Great that Emma Belle is already spayed. Just think, you won't have to go through the keeping her calm for 10 days - because who was going to explain that to her? Our guy was neutered at 7 months - back in 2004. One of our vets was raised by a mom who raised Spitz puppies and she told me 7 months - I felt like a pervert looking for something to snip - a lot of furry hair to look through. We used to have short-haired mini Dachshunds and there was absolutely no doubt when they were "ready". But at 7 months he was ready and in he went - too many of the ladies were sniffing around him and we sure didn't want a litter of pups left on our doorstep. When he came home you would never know he had had surgery - of course it is easier on the males, but still - maybe an hour's peace?