[zephyr]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has any recommendations about pet insurance options in Canada (we live in Ontario). Oscar is our only dog, and just a puppy right now -- but you never know what could happen!!

Some options I have looked at include:

- "Petsecure" (petsecure.com)
- "PetCare" (petcareinsurance.com)
- President's Choice (pcinsurance.ca)

Many of them seem very similar, but I don't know anyone with personal experience with them (e.g. are you happy with the costs? did they give you any problems with your claims?), so I was hoping for some advice. Thanks!

 

[Hiroko]

How about VetInsurance? This pet insurance covers 90% of the bill and there is no claim or yearly limit (some other pet insurance company limit to $2000/year). I am very happy with what they have provided me when I lived in Canada. Now I am with Trupanion pet insurance since I live in the US.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions. I want your puppy to be happy

 

[esSJay]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has any recommendations about pet insurance options in Canada (we live in Ontario). Oscar is our only dog, and just a puppy right now -- but you never know what could happen!!

Some options I have looked at include:

- "Petsecure" (petsecure.com)
- "PetCare" (petcareinsurance.com)
- President's Choice (pcinsurance.ca)

Many of them seem very similar, but I don't know anyone with personal experience with them (e.g. are you happy with the costs? did they give you any problems with your claims?), so I was hoping for some advice. Thanks!

We don't have pet insurance for Molson or our cat Mindy, but we do set aside money every month to help with vet costs. I'm sure there are some other Canadian members who will jump in on the topic soon. I think that arcane sends her puppies home with petsecure, she may be able to provide you with some advice.

 

[New Golden Mom]

We have Petsecure. Rufus came home with six weeks of insurance and we extended the coverage when the six weeks were up. We have had two claims and he's not quite 11 months old. One was for surgery he needed when he ate a piece of metal at the age of 4 months! The other was for a sprained ACL he got at the dog park about 6 weeks after the surgery. Both claims were dealt with very quickly and efficiently...we had a cheque within 10 days. Hope this helps.

 

[KiwiD]

Another Petsecure member here. Have had it since 2002. There are various levels of coverage, which I'm sure you've discovered in your research, so that you can select the level that works best for you. We did have a exclusion placed on the policy for gastro intestional problems when we first purchased it back when Maddie was a puppy but it was removed after a reasonable amount of time when our vet confirmed there were no further issues. I live in Winnipeg where Petsecure is based so I usually get a cheque within about 5-7 days of faxing in my claim.

The best advice is to get the insurance before any problems arise. We only bought ours way back when after we incurred an $800 vet bill after only having Maddie as a puppy for a few short days. After that incident I made up my mind to buy insurance and we haven't looked back since. We wouldn't really ever be able to change insurance providers now even if we wanted to (not that we do) because of all the pre-existing conditions she has.

 

[zephyr]

We don't have pet insurance for Molson or our cat Mindy, but we do set aside money every month to help with vet costs. I'm sure there are some other Canadian members who will jump in on the topic soon. I think that arcane sends her puppies home with petsecure, she may be able to provide you with some advice.

Thanks for the advice! We do have money set aside and will continue that, but it's those really BIG costs that scare me! Oscar has had multiple "small" costs (coccidia treatment, some other parasite, now he has a bladder infection... poor guy!), which we have been fine to cover so far... though they do add up!

We have had two claims and he's not quite 11 months old. One was for surgery he needed when he ate a piece of metal at the age of 4 months! The other was for a sprained ACL he got at the dog park about 6 weeks after the surgery. Both claims were dealt with very quickly and efficiently...we had a cheque within 10 days. Hope this helps.

Oh no poor guy! Eating metal-- SO scary!!! Oscar tries to eat EVERYTHING so that is very much a fear of mine... (We are working on the "drop it/leave it" buuut it is slow going.) Thank you for your input, that is very helpful to hear. And I'm so glad your guy was okay!

Another Petsecure member here. Have had it since 2002. There are various levels of coverage, which I'm sure you've discovered in your research, so that you can select the level that works best for you. We did have a exclusion placed on the policy for gastro intestional problems when we first purchased it back when Maddie was a puppy but it was removed after a reasonable amount of time when our vet confirmed there were no further issues. I live in Winnipeg where Petsecure is based so I usually get a cheque within about 5-7 days of faxing in my claim.

The best advice is to get the insurance before any problems arise. We only bought ours way back when after we incurred an $800 vet bill after only having Maddie as a puppy for a few short days. After that incident I made up my mind to buy insurance and we haven't looked back since. We wouldn't really ever be able to change insurance providers now even if we wanted to (not that we do) because of all the pre-existing conditions she has.

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I'm glad the insurance is working for you, and getting it early before any big health problems is definitely good advice and something we are hoping to do soon. It sounds like Petsecure is a good option; I am glad I asked the GRF community! We aren't really sure about the coverage level at this point, it feels like such a "gamble" guessing what some future issue might cost, and I hate that -- BUT I don't want to look back later and wish we had paid a bit more over time to get more coverage when we really need it.

Thanks everyone for your advice!!

 

[ILoveMyGolden]

Oh I was doing a search and wanted to bump this back up rather than start a new thread.

I am looking between:

PC
PetCare
PetSecure
TruPanion

I also googled VetInsurance as mentioned above, that is parented by TruPanion, so that's out!

So many options, all have pros/cons and varying fine print.

I would love to hear what other Canadians are paying and if they're happy.

I was all for the doggy savings account and was saving $65 into that. When you get a puppy in June...

$65 x 7 (June>Dec) = $455

Vet Bills for Nov/Dec "incident" was $948, I start at scratch again and there was for a short while a chance (and a good chance) we were going to need surgery (I don't need to guestimate that for you all). I have parents with a Golden who's been just over $20K in vet bills and I know I would go that far and pay (heaven forbid), but know how much of a burden that would be on me and my Fiance.

I have a $12000 Line of Credit I keep at $0. It was my emergency "fund" when I had my horse and I will use it as such for personal or Finlay emergencies -the money is there if I need it. However, that isn't "my" money, it's just a safety net that will still leave me owing.

One of my bajillion New Years resolutions is to get insurance for Fin. He went home with PetSecure Insurance which we did not renew. Both PetSecure and TruPanion have offered to waive enrollment fees.

I will be calling a few vet offices tomorrow to ask who they prefer to deal with/what insurers are best to their customers.

Looking to hear any and all from a Canadian Perspective.

Editing as I go.... I won't go into the full blah blah and edit pros/cons to each as I go!

PC -$44.81/Month, $100 Deductible, $5000 Per Accident/Illness
Bilateral condition limitations
Age Based Deductible Adjustments

PetSecure -Secure 3 $65.59/Month, $100 Deductible, $5000 Per Accident/Illesss
80% Coverage
Yes Hip Dysplasia
One annual deductible

TruPanion -$58.44/Month, $100 Deductible (I know I can make it less, but trying to keep it easier to compare!).
Deductible will not go up with age
$20 000 lifetime coverage limit (I want to call and ask about this, I can't find it in writing on their site, just in other forums!)
Deductible is "per condition"

PetCare- Pain in the butt to figure out what plan I should choose, I don't know if I could be bothered!!!
Bilateral condition limitations

 

[jackie_hubert]

We recently did a lot of investigation into pet insurance. Seems the frontrunners in Canadian pet insurance are Trupanion and PetSecure. Reviews can also be found here (Pet Insurance Review - comparison of VPI, ASPCA, etc.) but the website makes little sense in how it's broken down into Canada and US...

We got Trupanion for Cosmo in September. We pay 52.38/month with a $0 deductible and 90% coverage, which is a steal in Canadian terms. Does not go up with the age of the pet. Does not cover routine and preventative care like neutering/vaccines. The same plan now seems to be more like $65 - I guess they increased their prices. Policy states that premiums also depend on local cost of vet care so I think the plan should be cheaper for you.

Policy (https://www.trupanionpetinsurance.com/Content/files/policydocs_510/TrupanionPolicy.pdf) states no maximums, lifetime or otherwise. I know that US and Canadian Trupanion coverage is NOT the same so maybe the lifetime coverage max is a US thing.

Trupanion's plans are simple in that it doesn't matter what condition, there is no maximum, so from my understanding if your dog eats a nylabone and you need $10000 surgery or if you need to have $6000 worth of teeth extracted despite regular routine dental care they will cover that 90%. Most congenital issues like cancer are covered with the exception of hipdysplasia which you can get for an additional $10-13 a month. You have to have your dog neutered by 1 year of age.

The closest equivalent with PetSecure is their level 3 plan ($71/month) which has 80% payout, annual maximums of $5000 for illness and injury, and a $100 deductible, but you also get $350 worth of behavioural modification and alternative therapy and, as far as I can tell hip dysplasia coverage. Looks like you also get $400 worth of dental (not sure if preventative or accident/disease related). Their level 4 insurance also has some preventative coverage including neuter but the deductibles are very high and so is the premium.

Based on the prices now I'm not sure who'd I'd go with. I get a promotional price with PetSecure since they sponsor the BCSPCA where I work but I think I remember seeing that the promo was only on their lower level insurance.

We've submitted 2 claims now for Cosmo (both in the $100-200 range), both for diarrhea, both were covered 90%, minus vet fee within a couple of days. If we didn't have $0 deductible, however, it would probably not have been worth submitting.

If you can find better coverage with another company let me know! If you go with Trupanion let me know, I think I get something if I formally refer you.

 

[Neigesdad]

Hello,

We have had PetSecure for Neige for quite some time. They have been very difficult to get things covered with regards to her gasto issues. (she did have issues before her coverage started) but they have not taken the exclusion off since we've been with them (5 years). Any issue that she has that causes stomach issues is not covered...after 5 years. Also, she had an enlarged liver, and that was not covered due to the fact that she had an upset stomach at the time. Lastly, they were nice enough to put an exclusion on her policy and verbatim, it read "Illness of unknown origin"?? I'm still not even sure what that means?? After questioning them repeatedly, they were nice enough to remove the policy that gave them the right to deny any of Neiges medical issues that they were not sure of?? I would not renew with them...

 

[wenryder]

Canadian here.

Obie is 4 1/2 months old. He had a uti when we got him, and we had it cleared up pretty quick with antibiotics. We then took out insurance with Petcare.

Here we are two months later, and he has come down with another uti. Long story with the vet, but she insisted we do an xray ($600 in total with culture and urinalysis) and so we tried submitting it as a claim. It's been a few weeks and we still haven't heard from them (I haven't bothered to call them either, though... with the holidays and all) which tells me they probably aren't going to cover it.

My advice? Others seem to be having good luck with other companies, I would go with those ones.

 

[goldenboy2010]

We have Petsecure and are paying $45 a month but with a $300 deductible. I figured the only time I would make a claim is if something major happened to the dog so I went with the high deductible.

I have never heard of Trupanion until I read these posts. Now I am thinking of switching to Trupanion as our puppy keeps having minor issues and at least we could get back the medication costs. It would be around $54 a month with a $0 deductible. We don't plan on neutering our dog - they won't cover anything that could have been prevented if we had neutered the dog.

When you add it up over the year, pet insurance costs so much...

 

[Laurie]

We have President's Choice insurance for Austin and Lincoln. We did not insure Reno because of his age. Whatever care he needs, we just pay for.

I did the research between PC and the other companies available in Canada and felt the PC was the better one for us. We pay $54.00 for both dogs and have a $100.00 deductible. I just recently submitted a claim for Austin's ear infection and Lincoln's abscess. I received my money in 7 days. The only thing I don't like about it is the co-insurance provision but I believe the others also have it.

 

[GoldenSummer]

Petsecure here too, I've had great experiences with them. I have Tyson on the secure 4 (which is the top plan) and it covers everything from teeth care to regular vet apointments his fixing, microchipping, flea and heart worm prevention and etc. The faster you get a puppy on a plan the better because anything that happens before the insurance kicks in won't be covered. they have different plans with different coverages and costs so they'd probably have a plan that could work for you

 

[jackie_hubert]

We have President's Choice insurance for Austin and Lincoln. We did not insure Reno because of his age. Whatever care he needs, we just pay for.

I did the research between PC and the other companies available in Canada and felt the PC was the better one for us. We pay $54.00 for both dogs and have a $100.00 deductible. I just recently submitted a claim for Austin's ear infection and Lincoln's abscess. I received my money in 7 days. The only thing I don't like about it is the co-insurance provision but I believe the others also have it.

Do you pay $54 dollars for each of the dogs or both combined?

Do you have 80 or 90% payout?

 

[Goldilocks]

I used to have Purinacare pet insurance for Pippa. It was great and covered everything including spay, teeth cleaning, annual vaccinations. heart worm testing, heartworm meds, annual exam and annual wellness bloodwork as well as any illness or accidents. I never had an issue with claims. Also, after a year of no instances of ear or skin infections, they removed these preexisting conditions from her record. This insurance was great for us for the first couple of years. However, they slowly began to increase the monthly premium, increase the deductible and lower our coverage from 80% to 70%. I crunched some numbers and decided I was better off to set up an account for emergencies and cancel the insurance. I would have been paying way more in premiums than my annual vet bills.

 

[Laurie]

Do you pay $54 dollars for each of the dogs or both combined?

Do you have 80 or 90% payout?

It is $54.00 per month for both dogs combined.

We have an 80% payout.

We are under what is called the Choice Plan.

 

[ILoveMyGolden]

This is great everyone, thanks for posting, love to hear more!

 

[Kwk]

We are using Trupanion and pay about $39 per month with a $300 deductible and a 90% payout. We also went with the higher deductible as we really only wanted the coverage for any major incidents. We filed one claim a couple of months ago for a visit we had to the emergency vet clinic and it was processed and paid in about one week.

 

[ILoveMyGolden]

I am thinking Trupanion. $200 Deductible, $53.10/month.

I don't see the value in having everything/regular costs covered through pet insurance as when I got a dog, those were "givens" to me. I really want this for security in an emergency situation, and I think Trupanion offers the best fit for price, unlimited payout/no limits per incident and what I am looking for from pet insurance.

I have an email with a load of questions from them, we'll see what I get back and go from there.

 

[Jessie'sGirl]

Guess I'm the odd one here. I have petcare and am very happy with it. They have covered two obstructions , one that required surgery and three days of vet care, in a relatively short time. My only complaint is that it takes a couple of weeks for the $$ to come. So far I've been lucky and the money has always arrived before my credit card payment is due.