After my cat got cancer, I had to re-assess how I feel about pet insurance
The offers and details on this page may have updated or changed since the time of publication. See our article on Business Insider for current information.
Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate pet insurance products to write unbiased product reviews.
Chris Boutté
- My girlfriend and I never talked about pet insurance — that changed when our cat got cancer.
- We spent over $3,500 trying to save him, and I don't know if I would spend that much again.
- I haven't decided whether pet insurance is right for my needs, but I know I'm willing to take on debt for my pets.
Last year was one of the most difficult years of my life, and I've been through a lot in my time on this planet. In the summer of 2023, my girlfriend's cat, Wyatt, started to get really sick. I never owned pets before meeting Wyatt, so I didn't know I could love an animal that much. However, after seven years of knowing him, when we found out he had cancer and wasn't going to make it, it destroyed me.
During this difficult time, we had enough occupying our thoughts and emotions, and the last thing we wanted to worry about was the cost. But without pet insurance, we had to make tough decisions as we tried to save his life.
We didn't think about pet insurance until we needed it
I adopted my cat, Maya, around the time my girlfriend and I started dating, and we moved in together about a year and a half into our relationship. We never really talked about pet insurance because our cats never really got sick. That's what's tricky about insurance; by the time you need it, it's too late.
Wyatt was always pretty chunky, and in 2022, we found out he had diabetes after noticing he was limping a little. The tests to diagnose him cost us hundreds, and then they wanted him to come back weekly to check his blood sugar. This would have cost $40 a week, so we bought an iPet PRO for blood glucose monitoring and tested him regularly.
My girlfriend wasn't a fan of having to poke Wyatt to check his blood and give him daily insulin injections, so I took on that task. I gave him his injections daily and checked his glucose throughout the week. Doing it at home saved us quite a bit of money, and we used an app to track his progress. Luckily, we had an awesome vet who let us email the results, and she'd let us know if we needed to adjust his dose.
Wyatt's health took a turn for the worse
Finally, almost a year later, his blood sugar was under control, and he barely needed any insulin. Then, out of nowhere, he took a turn for the worse. We noticed he was hiding and super lethargic and decided to bring him in.
My work-from-home schedule gives me a lot of flexibility, so I took him to all of his vet appointments, and it was rough. On the first visit, we were there for hours as they did various tests. At first, they thought it was just a normal sickness, but when he didn't get better, we had to bring him back.
They proceeded to give him X-rays to check for cancer, but it was difficult to tell for sure. By this time, we had spent a little over $1,000 on all of the tests. The vet was optimistic it wasn't cancer because he'd start feeling better, but then he'd get worse out of nowhere. Our vet said we could do a biopsy to be certain, and it was about $1,200, so she said we didn't really need to unless it seemed like he got really bad.
One day, that's exactly what happened, and I rushed him to an ER. They said they thought it might be cancer, so we decided to get the biopsy.
Wyatt was suffering a lot, and if we had to put him to sleep, we just wanted to know sooner rather than later, so we paid a couple extra hundred dollars to rush the results. After a few days, we sadly found out he had a form of cancer that wasn't really treatable, even if we had caught it earlier.
Within the week, we had to say goodbye to Wyatt.
We haven't gotten pet insurance yet, but we're taking steps to be prepared
Right before we got Wyatt, we adopted our cat, Dolly, an adorable flat-faced exotic short hair. Wyatt was extremely cuddly, and girl cats don't cuddle as much, so once my girlfriend was ready, we adopted our third cat, Chester. Now, we have three cats we have to worry about getting sick.
During that whole scenario with Wyatt, I kept asking, "How much money should you spend to save your animal's life?" It's a difficult philosophical question, and we ended up spending over $3,500 trying to save Wyatt. After years of trying to fix my financial situation, I have to ask myself — am I willing to do that with each of our cats, or should we get pet insurance?
We should probably get pet insurance, but we haven't yet. The primary reason is that pet insurance is worse than pre-Obamacare human insurance, and it doesn't cover pre-existing conditions. Maya is already 9 years old, and Dolly's breed is prone to health issues. Chester might be covered, but it seems like an investment that may not make sense.
Something we did do is sign up for Dutch.com, an affordable online vet. We paid about $130 for a yearlong membership, and we have unlimited visits for all three of our cats. I'm an anxious and paranoid cat dad, so now I can bug an online vet whenever I'm concerned, and it's definitely cheaper than our in-person vet. We still go to our local vet, but only for visits that require it, which is rare.
I'm a father, and having these animals I love so much feels harder because they can't talk to us. They can't tell us how they're feeling or what they want, and we just want to keep them safe and happy for as long as we can. I'm still not sure if pet insurance is the right decision, but I do know I'm willing to go into some debt to take care of our kitties.