Banfield pet hospital vs. pet insurance vs. nothing?

[Hunter mike]

I have a 7 year old lab mix and now it looks like a beautiful little 9 mo. old black lab coming soon!  Our 7 y/o has been on the Banfield plan for about a year.  She has been healthy and it appears that Banfield does very thorough checkups a couple times a year for the price (around $30 a month).  She also gets teeth cleanings (expensive when you pay on your own due to anesthesia) included in the price.  I've been happy with the service and staff so far.  My only complaint is that the vets I have met there don't always speak english the best... not trying to be offensive, but it's an issue with me when I have a hard time understanding someone while discussing important matters.  Otherwise everything has been great.

My question is does anybody have any other types of pet insurance?  The Banfield covers mostly checkups but doesn't really provide any coverage if something is really needed.  I have heard of plans that will give a multi-pet discount in the past.  Do you think the pet insurance is worth it at all?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[follow maggie]

I don't think it's necessary.  That works out to $360 a year.  My vet bills for a year are about $110 so I just pay out of pocket when it's time to visit them.  And, I don't tolerate non English speakers, especially for something important like my dog's wells being.

[Chessie_Guy]

Most of my finances are on an "envelope" system so, I have a "dog" envelope.  The wife and I figured out how much we spend on our dogs, plus some cushion, and we put that in every month.  When something comes up, we've got cash for it.  If it doesn't, it just adds up. 

[NWBREW]

I don't think it's necessary.  That works out to $360 a year.  My vet bills for a year are about $110 so I just pay out of pocket when it's time to visit them.  And, I don't tolerate non English speakers, especially for something important like my dog's wells being.

Same here.

[Shootmoore]

I don't think it's necessary.  That works out to $360 a year.  My vet bills for a year are about $110 so I just pay out of pocket when it's time to visit them.  And, I don't tolerate non English speakers, especially for something important like my dog's wells being.

I wish I had of gotten Dog insurance.  I should have called my lab Lucky instead of Oso.  I think he is right around 5k in vet bills now.  The biggies, cheet between the toes that got infected, scratched cornia, staff infection, ACL surgery, ear infection both ears, etc etc etc.  The ACL surgery was the biggie at $1300.  Some would have just put him down, but he gave me 6 years of quality hunting and companionship.  He is now just a really expensive house pet do to that injury, but I think I would have been money ahead if I had insurance for him.

Shootmoore

[jackelope]

I had the banfield insurance for a while, but it wasn't $30 a month...i think it was either $8 or $12 a month. it was worth it to me at the time...but i would not use them for anything serious like a big surgery or something like that. it always seemed to me like their vets were "interns" or newbies or something like that.  i have since quit paying for it because i would have to drive 30 miles to get there and that had made it not handy anymore.

Shootmoore-
I was quoted $3k for the CCL surgery.