Trupanion: Susie’s Story

From one of our clients, Debbie K.:

I got Susie and knew I needed pet insurance because I didn’t have a bunch of extra money just laying around for her care if something happened to her. I got the free trial and converted to a policy at the 30-day mark. 

So thankful that I did!  Approximately 2 or 3 months later, she was playing with my friend’s puppy in her backyard. They were having a great time and we were just letting them play, keeping a casual eye on them (they were both about 10 months old).  About 3 or 4 days later, Susie had some diarrhea, which was intermittent. Then it began to have some blood in it and increased in frequency. We tried medication but it didn’t help.  She also had decreased appetite. Then she had a few bouts of vomiting and stopped eating – that’s when I brought her in for x-rays, because I suspected a foreign body obstruction.  Unfortunately, I was right. 

X-rays showed a large, round object in her stomach, too large to pass through her intestines.  The doctor said it was too large to extract with the endoscope and she would need to have it removed surgically.  Turns out, it was a very sharp, large round bone that she had somehow ingested (maybe dug up in my friend’s yard?) during the few minutes I wasn’t watching her.  It was lodged in her stomach lining!  The surgery was successful, and she recovered nicely.  So grateful to the veterinarian and to Trupanion.  That whole incident ended up costing me about $400 instead of $4000 because once I met my $200 deductible, Trupanion paid the other 90%!! 

Needless to say, I recommend pet insurance to everyone and tell them this little story to show what can happen –  because you can’t watch them every second and stuff happens!  I will never have to make a horribly painful decision about Susie’s medical care based on money and that’s worth everything.

For more information about Trupanion, please visit their website.

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