Hi all, I have a ragdoll cat who just recently turned 1. We’ve had no health issues thus far. I start seeing this subreddit pop up and saw horror stories of HP. A couple questions: 1. I know a big part of if reimbursement is diligence. Our breeder did a health check on our kitten and gave us the paper work when she handed him over, but we still haven’t submitted it into HP (I know that’s on us). We started HP about 15 days after the exam. Will that paperwork be okay to submit now? 2. We are currently paying $30/month. Are we better off switching now instead of dealing with HP long term? Thanks!

My dog is currently 4 years and his Petsbest policy is due for renewal in 2 months. He is turning 5 in 2 weeks. The premium will be increased by 70% at renewal (from $340 increased to $599 per year). I checked with a new email address and I think if I get a rewrite before his birthday the premium will be about the same price as I am paying now (i.e. $340, and that's about $250/year savings). If I do the rewrite after he turns 5 the new premium would be $426, still cheaper than the offered renewal rate of $599. My dog is healthy and there has been no claims since 2021 other than wellness claims so I suppose there is no preexisting conditions. I am only a bit worried about the 6 months waiting period for ligament injury if I were to request for a rewrite. I am thinking about also getting an accident-only insurance from Spot during the waiting period to cover that risk. Has anyone done a rewrite before? If this is workable, is it a good idea to get a rewrite or consider switching every year before his birthday if the premium increases insanely, so long as my dog has not developed any preexisting conditions then?

Hi, I just wanted to share my experience with Lemonade after having gone through cancer with my recently passed kitty, Tortilla, who was 6 years old both when we bought her plan and at the time of her passing. She had large cell GI lymphoma that suddenly appeared in early May. I got her plan (premium preventative care package, 100k spending limit, 90% reimbursement with $250 deductible, end of life coverage, dental disease coverage, vet visit fees). We had over 7K in vet bills, but lemonade actually covered around at least 6K I believe. I actually only got her a plan because one I somehow had a horrible feeling something terrible would happen to her (I hate and am grateful that I planned for that but I wish I had for no reason) and two because we had adopted a dog (her name is Lexie) who we bought insurance for too late and she had a million pre-existing conditions that basically rendered nothing covered for her. We wound up going the palliative care route, and unfortunately we didnt get much time I believe not even a month passed before she left us after her diagnosis. But, the bright side of this horrible experience was we were not saddled with thousands in debt since my family and I are not doing so well financially this year. They covered 6K of the treatment and diagnosis bills, and completely covered end of life fees and memorial items. I am so grateful I decided to buy her plan. Now, the negatives. Tortilla worked out great since she didn’t have a history of illness till the cancer and only had preventative vet visits in that history with no illnesses popping up. I will say, though, the approval waiting period was insanely long. Took like more than 2 weeks for reimbursement, but they did approve us for a crazy amount (at least to me). So if that’s important to anyone, keep in mind the bigger value claims take a longer time to get approved. With my dog Lexie, however, this did not work out as well… As a first time dog owner, I did not realize how many health issues a dog could have. My cat Tortilla came first, I’d had her for nearly 4 years (adopted her in Sept. 2020) at the time of getting my dog (April 2024). Tortilla was always healthy and vibrant, and while I wish I would have been more proactive with vet visits, I can’t change anything now. So, my mom and I decided to hold off on getting pet insurance for the first few months. Horrible mistake. My dog happened to have basically a weak weak stomach and everlasting GI issues causing behavioral issues (from pain) that are still unresolved to this day. She’s been in and out of 6 vets with over 13 visits since last year. I was only 19 during this and had no idea what to do and neither the idea to get pet insurance since I was so overwhelmed, and most of it fell on me since my family wanted to keep Lexie and I also didn’t have the heart to give her back to her rescue. So, I fought hard to get her diagnosed and treated, which I’m still fighting to today. But, now my mom and I have spent probably over 5K on her vet bills too (on top of Tortilla’s). I might as well have lit the money on fire that’s how helpful everything has been. So finally we got her insurance in early September, only after having her behavioral issues diagnosed. This was a horrible mistake on my end because now nothing was covered. So, long story short Lexie saw a million different vets (including a vet behaviorist) and absolutely everything I filed for was pre-existing and none of that 5K is covered. I don’t think this is all Lemonade’s fault or anything of the sort, it’s just an unfortunate situation because I was misguided and overwhelmed back then by both Lexie being a young puppy with behavioral issues and GI issues. Overall, I honestly would recommend Lemonade for anyone signing up a new, young pet or even an older pet with no pre-existing conditions. I’m not sure if I would recommend it over others, like PetsBest or Trupanion (although I have been seeing some pretty insane price spikes for others from Trupanion). I’m still weary but since they were so helpful with Tortilla (even if it took a bit) I decided to stick with them and signed up my two new kittens we adopted before she passed and made sure to sign them up early (3 weeks after adoption). I also would say a positive was how easy it was to file claims and speak with your claim rep. I don’t really like talking over the phone, so it was nice just talking via email, text, and the support center. It was also a very smooth process to file the claims, since everything is just in the app and you can customize the types of procedures and costs you’re inputting (there’s options to put general diseases already in their database while filing a claim but you can add custom text which I found helpful). So yeah. I honestly don’t know if the grass is greener for other companies, but I feel like most insurance companies are not exactly looking out for the pet or even human as their priority, and I feel Lemonade isn’t too too much like that. Hope this was helpful for anyone that read through all of it, thank you!! TLDR: Lemonade was very helpful for my cat with no illness history that contracted sudden cancer (reimbursed over 5K-6K). Not so helpful for my dog as she had pre-existing conditions so nothing was covered, but if anything new pops up it should be OK (she’s still a young dog). App is very navigable and easy to use, claim support staff is helpful and friendly, larger bill claims can take awhile to process though (took 2-3 weeks for Tortilla’s bills). Can’t really do phone calls, but I did prefer the email and text system (personally).

I’ve had Pets Best for about a year now for my mixed breed pup (healthy overall, just minor stuff like an ear infection and some stomach issues). I’m paying around $60/month, and every claim I’ve submitted either got denied or barely paid anything. They called one thing a pre-existing condition when it wasn’t even diagnosed until after I signed up. Starting to feel like I’m wasting my money and might be better off just saving that monthly premium myself. Has anyone here actually had a dog insurance plan that helped when you needed it? Open to switching if there’s a better option but I’m kinda losing hope tbh.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND this pet insurance company if you hope and expect your dog to live a full life. My dog is now 11 and had a cancer issue that was successfully taken care of 2.5 years ago. And I am 69. I just received a rate increase from $83/month to $216/month. That’s a $133 month increase. Triple my monthly rate. Healthy paws suggested I lower my rate by increasing my deductible. Or lower my reimbursement rate. Any way I calculate it, it basically comes out to cost me the same. And the cost would be prohibitive to go somewhere else at this point. I WOULD NEVER HAVE CHOSEN THIS COMPANY IF I KNEW THEY WEREN’T IN IT WITH ME FOR THE LONG HAUL. They were hoping my dog would die before they took a hit on their profits with my dog. The rep told me there’s nothing they could do for me. I told her it was easy to triple my rate. It should be equally easy to lower it back down. She said no.

I have 2 rescues. Dog 1 we got at birth and found out she has auto immune hepatitis and will need medication for life. We had to pay $4,000 to find this out. Dog 2 is of unknown age and he was a stray so we had no knowledge of his health. We since found out he has IVDD and degenerative valve disease. So he will need ultrasounds 2 x year plus medication eventually. ASPCA has not paid a cent after a year. They chalk everything up to pre-existing conditions. I feel like I’m not understanding the AKC clause that says they pay for pre-existing conditions after 365 days. I’m not happy at all with ASPCA’s customer service and the rates were comparable at the time I signed them up last year. I’m sure if I get a new quote before my ASPCA plan renew, AKC will ask about pre-existing conditions and quote premiums accordingly. I tried looking for the info on their website but it seems so vague and I don’t know where else to get further clarification.

Their advertising is downright misleading. Your premium does not go up as your dog ages. Sure, it does not, they find other mumbo jumbo to achieve the same thing. My premium has gone up 40% over the first two years (our boy was signed up as soon as we brought him home). Before deciding on Trupanion I did fairly extensive modeling based on real time quotes from them and their competitors. Trupanion came marginally ahead IN THE LONG TERM despite having substantially higher upfront premiums. The price increases I have experienced make the previous analysis null and void. I am looking for an alternative. Could people. With long term experience (ideally senior dogs) comment on possible alternatives? Thanks

For those of you with Pets Best, how long does it usually take for them to finish reviewing a claim? I feel like they are taking forever lately.

I’ve been thinking about getting Lemonade Pet Insurance for my dog, but I’m not really sure if it’s a good deal or just another scam. I’ve read some reviews that say Lemonade Pet Insurance is affordable and quick to process claims, but others mention hidden fees and terrible customer service. Honestly, I don’t want to end up paying all this money and then having Lemonade Pet Insurance deny my claim when my dog gets sick. Has anyone here actually used Lemonade Pet Insurance long-term? How’s the coverage, especially for things like emergencies or hereditary conditions? Would love to hear real experiences before I make a decision.

Hi all, I have two 4-year old cats on Healthy Paws pet insurance. I've seen the recent posts here regarding horrendous premium increases with HP, and am wondering if I should try to switch companies before my cats get older. My cats are healthy and I've never made any claims. My premium is currently about $80 for both cats (and yes, it did go up a good bit this year). I live in California (yikes). My major concern is that one of my cats has a history of struvite crystals in the urine. He's never had a blockage, a UTI, or any urinary problems - it was an incidental finding on pre-op labs before a dental cleaning. He's been on prescription food since then and the crystals have cleared up. But I know this would be considered a pre-existing condition if I tried to change pet insurance companies. My question is, how broad might this exclusion be? Would I potentially never get covered for anything urine or kidney-related if the insurance company tried to blame it on the history of crystals? And if there's a risk of that happening should I stick it out with HP (maybe the premium increases won't be as bad for cats?), or still try to switch? I do not have access to an employer-sponsored MetLife plan covering pre-existing conditions. I've read some companies might cover certain pre-existing conditions if they have been treated and symptom-free for over 12 months, would that potentially include my cat's history of crystals? Appreciate any opinions or advice. Thanks!