Thursday Pet Spotlight: Is Pet Insurance Cost-Effective?

If you've ever had to take your pet to the vet for emergency surgery (like the time my lovable black lab jumped up on the Thanksgiving table while everyone was watching football and wolfed down almost the entirety of a giant apple streusel), you know that things can go from manageable to completely, utterly expensive in a matter of hours.

Which is why the debate over pet insurance rages on. Recently, an article from TODAY.com dove into the issue, exploring the cost-effectiveness of buying pet insurance instead of, say, putting money into a cookie jar every month for pet related emergencies.

According to the article, after conducting a hypothetical study on a healthy dog that went in for only one big emergency vet appoint during its current lifespan, Consumer Reports reported that pet insurance just wasn't cost effective. "In every case, the total premiums that would have been paid to those insurance companies were higher than [the dog's] medical bills," the magazine and website claimed.

However, when the researchers gave the dog a few more hypothetical issues (and a $12,685 total vet bill), they found that a few of the most common pet insurance companies did pay off.

The general consensus seems to be that if you have a pretty healthy pet, buying insurance for them isn't cost effective. But the huge issue is: how do you know if you'll have a pretty healthy pet? Before my family's black lab ate that apple streusel, she was a pretty healthy dog – after the vet bill came, you'd think she had had some awful ailment. And let's not even talk about the time she got into some Oreos, or the time when she ate so many rocks (yup. My dog ate rocks) she couldn't digest anything for days.

Or how about the time I adopted a cat that slowly developed massive anxiety and an intense attachment issue? It took a year for her symptoms to show, and when I adopted her, the shelter claimed she had no prior health issues.

Personally, I think pet insurance is an individual choice. If you love your animal and can afford $50 - $70 a month, then maybe it makes sense. But if you want to do the occasional cookie jar stash, that would probably work just as well. Weigh your options, shop around, and do your best to keep the Thanksgiving streusel above dog jumping level.