Timely subject. I don't have any animals right now but I am the dog father of this guy:
He is a Dachshund mix. A few weeks ago, he's playing in the yard and suddenly drops to the ground, screaming in pain. Slipped a disc somehow, I guess it's common for the breed. It had a longer name but the bottom line was that he needed emergency surgery from a specialist or it was put him down.
My lady friend who owns the dog scooped him up and took him to one of those emergency vets, (there are at least a couple in town). I have previous experience w the place, they see you coming and ask for a credit card up front before they will even look at the animal, you need to authorize a couple grand or something on it. This is even if you scoop a dog or cat off the road that someone else hit, etc.
Anyhow, they knew exactly what had happened to the dog after an exam and they referred her to a vet neurologist who specializes in the surgery the dog needed. This specialist wanted
$10k upfront to do the surgery. I tried gently explaining how sometimes putting an animal down is the right thing to do and she wasn't having it. I was absolutely sure that I was going to be paying for this highway robbery and then the strangest thing happened...she started a GoFundMe for the mutt and something like $6k flooded in immediately from Dachshund lovers around the world and some other friend of hers had a $4500 credit on some type of vet policy, it all came together and paid for the surgery and my bank account was unscathed. Couldn't fking believe it.
So yeah, pet insurance might not be a bad idea.
