Don’t know about insurance, but just wanted to add- had my 6 year old lab’s teeth cleaned professionally(a year ago) and it cost $500.
Nutty.
My youngest will let me use a dental pic on her canines so she at least has the appearance of clean teeth. 
Don’t know about insurance, but just wanted to add- had my 6 year old lab’s teeth cleaned professionally(a year ago) and it cost $500.
Nutty.
Dang! Yeah that’s nutty cheap from what I’ve been seeing.
Must not have needed to knock the dog out. If they did, I would like to know where you brought it please! I’ll pay $500 any day of the week and twice on Sundays…
Maybe they didn’t but I think they did… Can’t believe that’s considered cheap.
Yeah Suzuki I do my best to brush her teeth once in a while. It’s a task… lol
Must not have needed to knock the dog out. If they did, I would like to know where you brought it please! I’ll pay $500 any day of the week and twice on Sundays…
Mine was $510 last time with sedation. Can’t tell you where though, they’re already too busy 
It’s crazy how much prices vary. This was $237 for sedation and stitching him up after hours at a rural vet, couldn’t believe it: https://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/shortest-opener-ever/
Mine was $510 last time with sedation. Can’t tell you where though, they’re already too busy
Reliable and reasonably priced vets are as closely kept secrets as honey holes. We went through 4 vets until we found our current shop and just pray they stay open a old time yet.
It costs a lot to run a veterinary clinic. And to practice quality medicine that the doctors are comfortable with for the pets that are brought in. There are some “older” clinics around that will do things cheaper, but don’t have the same level of monitoring and may use different protocols that have higher risks of complications. On the other side of the equation is a trend of veterinary clinics being purchased by private equity groups, which seems to have a strong correlation with pricing adjustments. They don’t advertise that they’ve been sold to a corporate group, but if a clinic has a “medical director” and not an owner, that’s a telltale sign.
For dentals, they run a lot cheaper if you help take care of your dogs teeth. If it goes a long while without being checked/cleaned and teeth deteriorate and need to be extracted, it will drastically impact the price. I watched my wife take 6 teeth yesterday and remove a lump from the gums on a dog and it is quite the process. Ask for an estimate, generally we try to do ours with a “high” and a “low” depending on how many (if any) extractions are needed. Quantity is hard ahead of time because you can’t know for sure until the pet is sedated and dental rads are completed.
Health insurance for pets really depends on the breed, lifestyle, and how much you personally would put towards a pet. One of our vets has insurance on her Great Dane where she can drop him off at an emergency clinic and not worry about the price. We don’t have insurance and just keep an emergency fund for our crew, if one were to need something then we’d pay from that. If you have a working dog or a breed more prone to certain issues, then insurance with greater coverage might be worth considering. If you only want it for the extreme cases, then one with a higher deductible and lower monthly cost would make more sense.
My lab had a dead tooth (incisor medial to the canine) last spring my vet recommended removing. They quoted 1300-1500 which I thought was nuts. Went to a more rural vet a half hour away and got it done for about 750 (with a cleaning, antibiotics, etc.)
Just got a quote for accident only for my new pup that would be 10,000 annual max and $250 deductible through Pets Best. Looks like it would be $108 per year. Doesn’t seem too bad.
Just got a quote for accident only for my new pup that would be 10,000 annual max and $250 deductible through Pets Best. Looks like it would be $108 per year. Doesn’t seem too bad.
That’s what I have. One surgery for a foxglove seed that infected a salivary gland and it’s paid for itself. I think it’s a must for a hunting dog.
Did a little more digging on the Petsbest and the only hangup I see is that for the “accident only” it would not cover an ACL surgery.
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Well I’m about to test my accident only plan again. Dog has a puss filled abscess that needs lancing and suction. $3k bill. Almost certainly caused by a cut, scrape, or foreign body (foxtail seed maybe) but we’ll see if the insurance company honors it as trauma and not an illness.
good luck!!!
Following up. Had my claim approved for ‘abscess- skin’ under my accident only plan. I’d highly recommend at least a cheap accident only plan for any working/hunting dog. It’s paid for itself and any future dogs for like 20 years at this point (maybe I let me dogs get into too many accidents…)
That’s pretty awesome. For ~$100/yr that seems like something I should look into, although it looks like a lot of things could be denied. I’ve been pretty lucky with owning labs for over 15 years and have only had a couple times where they’ve needed stitches due to barbed wire but I know accidents can get silly expensive in a hurry. Probably jinxed it now 
I’m also looking into pet insurance for my younger dog. I noticed costco sells pet insurance so am going to dig into that one. Seems like you can get a lot of really good deals thru costco for random stuff like that including home/auto insurance and travel.
Disaster dog just had surgery to remove stomach obstruction. It’s pretty dang expensive
Hard to figure out the math exactly but at 6 years old this one would now have definitely come out thousands ahead with insurance. The 10 year old would probably still be break even at best, I think probably under.
I’m getting a puppy from a breeder in Florida and it comes with a one year health insurance policy from MetLife.
Probably will not extend it.
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