Pet insurance?

[MinatoandChili]

Hi everyone. Since January, I lost my precious Minato from something we weren’t sure of. After various emergency vet visits, we thought it could’ve been something neurological or a heart problem. After having his symptoms of constant fainting and dizziness, in a series of 3-4 days of hospital visits, we spent around $2,000 trying to save him. It broke my heart that I had to let him go because I only had one year with him after rescuing him (his previous owner neglected him) which is what I think caused the problems he was having or born with it. Honestly, I wanted to give it another try: my husband misses Minato and he wanted to continue his legacy and get a baby chin (this way we can raise him ourselves with proper care). In case of any emergency, I want to be extra prepared in case of anything. So my question is, would anyone recommend pet insurance for a chin? I was thinking about it with Minato after all the vet visits, but it was too late and I regret it. I know chinchilla care is expensive (especially their vet bills) so I wanted to see if anyone has pet insurance and if it’s worth it?

 

[Amethyst]

It depends, in most cases chins are fairly healthy, but as you saw if things do go wrong it can add up quickly. As far as I've heard the only insurance company that accepts chinchillas is https://www.petinsurance.com/exotics/ in the US, but new companies are popping up or adding exotics to their coverage list so it's worth looking into. Take a close look at what they actually cover, and read it over carefully some people have ended up surprised to finding out certain things like malocclusion treatment as well as anything that could be genetic are not covered with the plan they got.

Since there are no pet insurance for chinchillas in Canada so I don't have insurance, so what I do is just have a savings account, as well as a credit card for emergency vet care. If you get a kit from a good breeder as well as keep to a simple diet and proper care the odds of having any health issues for many years is much slimmer, so you could be paying for years into insurance and never need it. If you put the money into a savings account instead (average cost for insurance from what people have said seems to be around $20 a month depending on coverage) you will likely have a good amount saved up before you ever need it. However the risk with a savings account is accidents can still happen, which the insurance would help with, but that is where the credit card comes in handy. There is also the option of looking into vet credit cards, they are credit cards you can apply for that are just for vet care, and some even have no interest if you pay them off within a certain amount of time.

 

[MinatoandChili]

It depends, in most cases chins are fairly healthy, but as you saw if things do go wrong it can add up quickly. As far as I've heard the only insurance company that accepts chinchillas is https://www.petinsurance.com/exotics/ in the US, but new companies are popping up or adding exotics to their coverage list so it's worth looking into. Take a close look at what they actually cover, and read it over carefully some people have ended up surprised to finding out certain things like malocclusion treatment as well as anything that could be genetic are not covered with the plan they got.

Since there are no pet insurance for chinchillas in Canada so I don't have insurance, so what I do is just have a savings account, as well as a credit card for emergency vet care. If you get a kit from a good breeder as well as keep to a simple diet and proper care the odds of having any health issues for many years is much slimmer, so you could be paying for years into insurance and never need it. If you put the money into a savings account instead (average cost for insurance from what people have said seems to be around $20 a month depending on coverage) you will likely have a good amount saved up before you ever need it. However the risk with a savings account is accidents can still happen, which the insurance would help with, but that is where the credit card comes in handy. There is also the option of looking into vet credit cards, they are credit cards you can apply for that are just for vet care, and some even have no interest if you pay them off within a certain amount of time.

Thank you! I’ll go with your idea of just having a savings fund for our new chin!