Pet Insurance

[Utachiyo]

Maybe this is a bit weird topic, but does anyone have any experience with pet health insurance? I'm looking into getting a dog, which will be a first for me in Japan, so I was wondering if anyone has any advice or recommendations. Thank you.

[captainspoke]

We have a dog, kind of a mid-size dachs, long hair. She's been a wonderful part of the family for 15 years now, and I wouldn't want to trade her for anything.

**

But with a long hair, we've opted to pay to have her bathed and trimmed (also her nails trimmed). That's about ¥5k every five weeks, partly that much since we opt for the better, 'micro-bubble' version of the bath. Other things like food, treats, pet sheets, etc., do add up, and then there's the occasional vet run. She got spayed early on, then not much apart from normal stuff--vaccinations, filaria. A while back she had some surgery for what turned out to be a benign growth (lucky). She had fleas once, and that was a huge amount of work getting rid of them (baking soda and salt all over the house, left a while, then vacuumed, plus laundering everything possible), let alone some costs for that. ((Double the cost would have been okay with me if we could have skipped all the labor!))

A good month and she'll cost ¥15k (likely just food/bath/pet sheets), more often it's over ¥20k for some reason, with some treatments up to 30k. Actually, I think she costs more than my car...! (much more satisfying tho)

We've never had insurance, but for her, the true medical stuff that hasn't been routine has been infrequent enough that I doubt that it would have been cost-effective. If you're get insurance that covers the routine things then I'd guess you'll just be paying for it one way or the other anyway.

[RetireJapan]

We have cats, and my wife/daughters are overly sentimental, so we've had lots of very expensive veterinary procedures. I think the cats cost more than our car did.

Looked into insurance a few times, but it didn't seem to cover anything so my impression of it was that you were kind of paying in advance to get a fraction of your vet fees paid, ie not particularly worth it. Things might have changed though, or I may have missed something back then.

[Beaglehound]

We had it for our dog when we lived in the U.K. and overall I wouldn’t recommend it. The premiums start small but don’t stay that way as the pet ages. Lots of annual policies will refuse to cover ongoing conditions if you renew, a big deal with something like diabetes. And for an older pet the excess tends to rise and you become liable for a percentage of the costs. Routine checkups and vaccinations don’t tend to be covered, nor neutering and often dental costs.

That said, it is a way to cover yourself against massive expense for, say a road accident or major surgery. But beware, many policies have an annual limit per condition, which is often low. I believe the pet insurance market in Japan works in a similar way; there will be a range of policies with different conditions attached. I found it hard enough to navigate the market in English so would find it even tougher here no doubt. We are planning on getting a dog soonish and have decided to self insure, putting money aside for unexpected vet bills and hoping it doesn’t have to be used. We are fortunate enough to be able to pay an early one-off big bill though, so if that would cause difficulty then it may influence your thinking.

[lkkubono]

Hi,
We've had a dog and ... several cats here. I never had pet insurance as I am a skeptic, especially concerning insurance companies

When we first got our dog, we budgeted 1.5 man per month for food and shot upkeep (basics). Then we realized we really needed professional trimming every few months (prices vary but say 1 man a trim) and when we went away, pet hotels and that all added up. Then she got older and ill, she was part of the family, and we would have spent anything the vet asked. And did *)

My question about Insurance would be, what does it cover?
Does it cover initial shots and spaying/neutering, then yearly shots and filaria, and monthly (seasonal) flea meds?

If not, then it must be for unexpected costs like accidents or health problems?

Over the 13 year lifetime of our small, short-hair dog, the bulk of the unexpected costs happened in her last few years due to aging problems and ovarian cancer (sadly common in female dogs if you don't get them neutered).

I spent about 40 man in the last few years on our dog. (our cat was double that ....) I'll be happy if my old age incidentals only cost that much. Don't know if this helps, but good luck with your pet. We love ours.

[Utachiyo]

Thanks for the answers everyone. I guess the consensus is NO... This is my first dog so I don't have any idea of how much vet procedures cost. Maybe I can find something that just covers big emergencies. I'm getting a bulldog.

Beaglehound - That's also a problem for me. I'm not confident I can handle all the "small print" in Japanese. I don't have a Japanese partner to help.

[Roger Van Zant]

I have insurance for my cat through iPet. I pay 710 yen per month.
The insurance pays for 90% of any costs exceeding 30,000 yen, up to a 1,000,000 yen limit in any one year.
I pay 100% for anything up to 30,000 yen.
https://www.ipet-ins.com/products/uchin ... ducts_tab/
I pay it because it is cheap, and I have peace of mind should she need expensive surgery in the future. Cats often get kidney problems as they age.