The author goes on to say:

Luckily for McKenzie, she has two things going for her. The disease was caught in the very early stages, during her twice-yearly wellness exam, and Gina had pet health insurance that covered the diagnostics and chemotherapy for McKenzie’s disease–$3,000 and counting.

While not a big proponent of pet insurance in general, the author (and close friend to McKenzie’s owner Gina), said pet insurance would absolutely be a priority purchase for her for certain breeds she knows were prone to major health conditions. But she felt that it wasn’t a priority purchase for her now because:

My dogs don’t live in an environment where they might be prone to accidents, such as being hit by a car or finding something poisonous, and the costs of managing their old-age problems and mitral valve disease have been within reach so far. For myself, I’m more a fan of setting aside the amount I would spend in premiums to cover any unexpected veterinary bills or of getting an interest-free Care Credit loan if necessary.

While we absolutely agree that pet insurance is beneficial for dogs like McKenzie that are prone to severe health conditions, we also believe that all pets are good candidates for pet insurance because the health of a pet is such an unknown. Even though a Chihuahua isn’t necessarily prone to cancer, for example, it doesn’t mean that Chihuahuas never develop cancer. And wouldn’t you like to be prepared for the unknown so you have that support when needed, like Gina did?

Setting aside money in a pet-specific savings account also sounds like a great idea until you realize how long it would take to save the $3,000+ it costs to treat severe health conditions. And credit cards? We all know how those can get out of control.

Pet insurance offers peace of mind so you can use your savings on other unexpected expenses (like car trouble or fixing a roof) without guilt and never have to worry about how that credit card you may (or may not) be able to pay will affect your credit.

What do you think? Is pet insurance only beneficial for dogs prone to cancer and other major health issues?

Read the full article here.

Me with my dog Sophie, who I lost to a liver condition in 2006.

In a recent Washington Post article, journalist Joe Yonan discusses the heart-wrenching experience of losing his beloved Doberman Pinscher Red and how the grieving process was eerily similar (even worse) to when he lost his father and beloved sister. He asks the question – “How could the death of a canine possibly hurt as much as that of a family member?”

Yonan cites several journal articles written and studies conducted on the human-animal bond that basically legitimize his claim above. One of Yonan’s sources offers a simple answer: Pets give us constant companionship and are totally dependent on us for their entire life, so it is understandable that the grief a pet owner feels toward a lost pet would be incredibly intense.

Yonan realized that the void his pet left in his life was so significant because it was not only a void in body, but a total transformation of the traditional rituals he had in life. His day always started with his dog licking his face as he put on his shoes and ended, I assume with the dog by his side. And then you have the contant walks, feedings, play time, and simple companionship taking up the middle. Without all that to guide his day, he felt lost.

As someone who has lost a pet, I can absolutely sympathize with Yonan and his loss of Red. When my dog Sophie passed away, it was months before I stopped hearing her walking around the house. I swear I would hear her tags click as she walked around or her toenails tap on the hardwood floor. I would turn, expecting her to be there, and she wasn’t. It was a really odd feeling.

I believe the loss of a pet can be as intense as the loss of a family member – especially depending on how close you were to that specific family member. What are your thoughts – do you feel these two losses should be considered equal?

Read Yonan’s full story here. It’s definitely worth the read.

The woman fell unconscious onto the train tracks late at night. The train’s engineer said he spotted the woman and the dog on the tracks just after midnight. While he was trying to stop the train, Lilly was saving her owner’s life by pulling her off the tracks.

Fearing that he had hit them both, the engineer quickly got out to survey the situation. He found that the woman was unharmed while Lilly the dog was not so lucky. Lilly experienced bad trauma to her right front leg.

Lilly survived the ordeal and after two surgeries and the loss of her leg, she will learnt o adjust living as a tri-pawed.

This just goes to emphasize how strong the bond between a human and their beloved furry friend can be. Has your pet ever been a hero?

Read the full story on abc news.

Watson made an emergency trip to the vet clinic where his X-rays revealed the squeak toy within his belly. He received surgery to remove the toy and regular fluids and monitoring. After being given some medication to settle his stomach, Watson was allowed to go home and recover.

Fortunately he is insured so most of the bill was covered!

We consider this squeak toy insurance.

To add a little giggle into your special day, check out these fun photos you can relate to as a mom.

And finally, the video that inspired ‘awwwwww’s all around the world – the ultimate mom move – snuggling your baby when they are having a bad dream.

Happy Mother’s Day!

All photos and video courtesy of http://icanhascheezburger.com.

Winston, Charlotte S.

Roxy, Rayna P.

Mitz, Jennifer L.

Rufio, Megan C.

Jordan, Susan H.

See the full slideshow:

We ran a similar giveaway last year and I think that this year’s photos are definitely much better! Thank you to everyone who shared your wonderful sunny, flowery, outdoorsy pictures!

Thank you Trupanion. All of our dogs are covered and thanks to you, and our amazing group of vets, our Standard Poodle Hoyt is still alive! (the pudgy one in the back – but we’re tapering the steroids…yay!) -Amanda W.

I signed up my 3 pets today. I had given up on finding good, fair, reasonable insurance until learning about you from.a friend, who is thrilled with your coverage and claims reimbursement. Thank you for creating a good business model that health insurers everywhere would do well to follow – including in regard to humanimals! -Rebecca M.

Excellent Insurance -Thomas D.

I cannot tell you how happy I am with Trupanion Insurance. I have had several other well known companies in the past and found lots of loop holes. Trupanion customer service is the best! They also pay what they say they will pay. There are no hidden exclusions.
As hard as it is to believe in this day and age, they actually just lowered my premiums! Very reputable company. Thank you Trupanion! -Lorna B.

I have been paying Trupanion their premimums for two years and boy had it paid off. One of my puppies had all four of her baby canine did not fall out. As it happens her permenant canines came in and she had all eight. We had to have four pulled, they paid their 90%. Now is a dealing with the other puppy and she has to have surgery which will cost up to $6000.00. At first they denied my claim, but once I appealed they reversed their decision and now Roxy can have her surgery.

I HIGHLY RECOMEND THAT ANYONE WITH A NEW ANIMAL CHECK OUT THIS INSURANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Felicia B.

My dog Kane loves Trupanion and so do I! Thank you for being such a wonderful company to deal with. You keep your promises, you honor your commitments and all your employees are a pleasure to interact with! I never thought I would say I love an insurance company, but I do love Trupanion! -Kim G.

I cannot say enough good things about Trupanion. The most amazing thing yet is that this morning I received an email telling me that my premium had been REDUCED! Keep in mind that this is an insurance company we are talking about.

Even more important, they process claims promptly and efficiently; the staff is friendly and highly competent, and they really care about our pets. You will be glad if you support this company with your business. -Eleanor D.

Screen shot of MatchPuppy

It seems like the world is becoming more and more pet-centric each day, as evidenced by a recent article on msnbc about online dating for dogs.

While the article isn’t truly talking about finding a life partner for your dog, it does mention some pretty innovative ideas about how you and your dog can meet new people.

One mentioned site is MatchPuppy, based out of New York. The website, currently in Beta, hopes to help you and your dog meet new friends in the neighborhood. The site goes beyond geographical location and actually matches up dogs based on size, age, and energy level.

The other site is called Spotwag and it’s a service to help find pet sitters in your area. The company is based in San Francisco and it uses your Facebook network to find potential pet sitters among people you may already know. The service is not exclusive to dogs and suggests that it is a better alternative to leaving beloved pets at a kennel.

Because online social networking is becoming more integrated into our lives, it only makes sense to use it to assist our “offline” lives as well. Would you and your pet use any of these types of services?

From left to right: Rossi, Chance, Streak

Good Day,

I just wanted to send out an email to everyone at Trupanion for the excellent service and help I have received from everyone I have dealt with. I have three Labrador Retrievers that I have dog insurance on and had hoped to never have to use it as we just signed on for all our pets last year when we got our new pup.

We were not so lucky it has been a hard road for our poor year old pup Rossi who has been one sick little guy. It started when he was about 8 months old and we went to get pre-panel tests for his neutering. Our vet called us and said they did not want to do the neutering at this time as his creatin levels were so high that he might be in renal failure. Our hearts sank, then started the testing where the test were then negative, then positive, ultrasound showed nothing but he was losing weight and failing to thrive.

Then about a month ago we thought everything was okay because he had consistently had negative tests. Then he crashed and he wouldn’t stop vomiting and had diarrhea the vet did not think he would make it through the night and then the next day he was fine we rushed him to a vet hospital.

As a result we have figured out he probably has “atypical addisons” We never would have been able to afford to help our little guy without the help of insurance he is doing okay now but, has a hard road ahead for him but he has an aw. Now as luck would have it we took our other two dogs in for shots and the vet found a cancerous lump on our eight year old male and he just had surgery today.

I must say we have struggled with our pups but all of you at Trupanion have been caring, compassionate, and timely about helping us out and I just needed for you to know how thankful and grateful my husband and I are to all of you, as our pups are our life as we have no children and everything about dealing with Trupanion has been easy.  We thank you for that, as I am sure you don’t hear that enough. Please pass this along to all to read even your website!!

Sincerely,

Brent, Angela, Rossi, Streak, and Chance Miller