Pet Insurance Can Come In Handy For Older Pets

The title and content of this article reminded me of something that I often tell clients when discussing a diagnostic or treatment plan for their older pet. Pet owners of older pets tend to think that because their pet is older and has a serious condition that it isn't worth pursuing treatment. What they don't understand is that every pet as they get older will eventually develop a chronic disease (just as humans do). This chronic disease can often be treated alleviating the symptoms and giving the pet several more years of a relatively good quality of life.

But, it will usually be necessary to give some sort of medication long-term with periodic rechecks and monitoring which can over time be expensive. This is where pet insurance can help. Even if you don't use your pet insurance much when your pet is younger, eventually you will as your pet ages. You must get the insurance before these problems show up so that they won't be pre-existing and not covered.

There are several insurance companies that will write policies on older pets. Simply go to each pet insurance company's website and obtain a quote to see if your pet is eligible for coverage.

What is that advice that I often give pet owners?

"Old age is not a disease."

Comments

[Merrick Wolfe]

Dr. Doug,

Thanks for this and your other informative posts.

Indeed, in the 2010s, unlike the last decade, the options are now numerous for pet health insurance -- and, unlike before, there are options for NEWLY-ENROLLED seniors, too!

My dog had been enrolled in one popular plan since she was 6, although what they offered in benefits, against what I paid in premiums, made it practically not worth it. And when this company finally did come up with a (slightly) better plan, they wouldn't let me upgrade her to that, even as a current member, because she was over 10 -- and so they certainly won't accept new members over 10.

But then last year I found Dr. Doug's website and a few other sites that opened up a whole new world for me & my dog: new (or at least new to the US) pet health insurance companies that accept newly-enrolled seniors as old as 13 and 14! And it just so happens that the company of question whose story Dr. Doug has linked to in this post is the one we're actually signed up with: Petplan. And we're very happy with it.

Although there are about a dozen pet health insurance companies out there now, I have narrowed them down to 3, including Petplan, that are reasonable and gladly accept senior pets -- although you have to weigh out the benefits & exclusions of each of them against the others -- they are definitely NOT all the same! And none is perfect, including Petplan.

But when you factor in your pet's needs, and sometimes you have to do some extra research on what happens during senior years in your pet's breed, especially dogs, and you also, after spending a bit of time on it, will need to make an educated prediction of what could occur in terms of health issues, you'll eventually find the best one suited for your dog or cat's needs.

No more is your choice limited to just ONE pet insurance company, as was the case for many years.

Dr. Kenney's information within these web pages and within his publications, and his excellent worksheets, will help you navigate through this sometimes complicated business to not only make the best decision on which insurance company to go with, but also which exact plan to go with for your senior pet -- it helped me choose mine for my 10yo Lab mix!