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Saving your money - and your pal - with pet insurance

It’s always a good idea to have insurance, right? Home and auto. Life insurance. Dental. Personal items. Well, how about pet insurance?

TOLEDO, Ohio — It’s always a good idea to have insurance, right? Home and auto. Life insurance. Dental. Personal items. 

Well, how about pet insurance?

I can recall a few years ago, my wife and I were watching the granddog on a holiday weekend. He had a wheezing attack. We took him to the animal hospital. The tab? More than $200! So what if your pet is REALLY SICK?

Sandy Mullins' dog had a serious illness. “You never know what’s gonna happen to your pets. They’re not pets anymore. They’re family members."

Sandy got Pedro to comfort her husband in his final days. The dog meant so much to the couple. So when Pedro had a shattered disc last year and was paralyzed with internal bleeding, Sandy would have paid anything to save her him. Trips to a specialist out of town. Surgery. Price tag? $6,500. She didn’t have the cash. It had to go on a credit card.

Sandy’s daughter Natasha is an insurance agent. Not too many of her clients have pet insurance, but it is getting more popular as our pets are family. Premiums for catastrophic illness or injuries are about $60 a month.

“So if you add the math up it sounds like a lot but if you’re talking a $10,000 medical bill, you divide that by 10,000, you will take hundreds of years to have paid that back," explained Natasha Reinhart. "I think it’s worth it now that I’ve seen it play out in real life, I can see the value in it.”

Veterinarians see dogs and cats for a lot of reasons. And for a lot of families, money is no object when it comes to the health of a beloved pet. Accidents happen and pets get ill, especially in the summertime.

"I think the big things you’re going to see or vomit and diarrhea issues. These dogs are outside and getting into things they shouldn’t and just like people in the summer months, they are subject to allergies issues. We see a lot of skin issues in dogs," said veterinarian Dr. Joe Spoo.

And Pedro? 

He’s had acupuncture treatments, hydrotherapy and is making some progress. Bottom line, Sandy still has her beloved Pedro.

"My husband said it best when we first got him. He said, 'my darling this is our grand puppy' so that’s what he means to me."

Sandy wanted to make sure I mentioned Bandit’s Bandaid, an organization that raises money and helps people pay their vet bills. Sandy says she could never had afforded Pedro’s physical therapy without it. 

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