Let me tell you about Charlie.
He was our beloved miniature apricot poodle. To friends and family, he was a gentle, beautifully natured dog — so beautiful in fact, he even had his own Instagram account, @charlietheminipoodle, with his own hashtag, #everyonelovescharlie.
To my wife and I, if you can’t already tell, he was essentially our first child.
“Pampered pooch” doesn’t come close to describing the life, love and fancy-pants gifts we showered on him.
Trips out every weekend, two ludicrously expensive beds at either end of the house (in case the walk from the entry hall to the kitchen was just too much to contemplate in one go), daycare once a week, and a special groom every eight weeks.
Every dog owner will tell you theirs is the best. Charlie certainly was. Until he wasn’t, health-wise at least.
Close to his 10th birthday, he burst a disc in his back. Intervertebral disc disease — a problem common in poodles we were told after a mad dash to our local vet, followed by an agonising race-against-time car ride down the freeway to the wonderful specialist team at Rivergum Referral Services in Willeton.
Two surgeries and nearly a month in veterinary care later, we brought home a dog without the use of his back legs (or bladder) and a bill so unbelievably massive that even mentioning it here would make you weep. Hint: The same amount could have bought you a very decent mid-size car.
Camera Icon Charlie at one of his weekly hydrotherapy sessions. Credit: Daniel Newell Camera Icon Charlie’s last walk on the day he was put to sleep. Credit: Daniel Newell Thank God for pet insurance.
Befitting his status in our eyes as King Charlie, he’d had comprehensive cover since he was a pup through Woolworths, and the bulk of the cost was taken care of — as was a small portion of the weekly rehab and hydrotherapy that followed; the wheelchair he ended up in; and the medical gear we needed to catheter his bladder three times a day.
Right up until he developed an incurable infection 10 months later and we had to make the heartbreaking call to put him to sleep, we’d paid out quite a few thousand dollars of our own.
I know I’m not alone among pet owners who say they would spend anything to save their special furry friend, with or without insurance. But such devotion must have its financial limits. A recent Finder survey suggests it’s about $3000. That’s across all generations. Gen Z say they would be willing to pay up to $15,000.
I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when I saw a post on my local community Facebook page complaining about the rising cost of pet insurance. That same Finder survey found WA pet owners had spent about $750 on vet bills in the past 12 months, but average annual premiums were $1233.
Camera Icon The cost of insurance can be a burden, but a Finder survey shows we’re willing to spend thousands to save our pets. Credit: Daniel Newell Unsurprisingly, the general consensus on the post was that pet insurance was too high. One responder suggested people would be better off cancelling their policy and holding out their hand to their social network of neighbours in the event of a big bill. There was plenty of support for that suggestion.
But unless those same people are willing to fork out a hell of a lot more than a fiver at a time — and perhaps more frequently than they might believe — my advice is to keep the cover but shop around for a better deal, making sure you don’t lose any add-on benefits when you switch.
Everyone moans about the price of insurance. It’s a “con”, it’s a “rip-off”, it’s “a waste of money” . . . that is, until you need it, then suddenly it isn’t.
