Healthy Paws | Pet Insurance Review

In September of 2014, we adopted a Puppy Mill Rescue from M.A.R.S. (Mini Aussie Rescue Support). Little Ollie came to us from a Puppy Mill bust down in Tyler, TX. Initially Ollie was fine but shortly thereafter, we began frequenting the veterinary office every 2 weeks. Our monthly average by February of 2015 was $750 per month. Poor Ollie was treated symptomatically instead of establishing a diagnosis and beginning treatment. At one point, we were on our second veterinarian and I had asked if there was a way to diagnose Ollie, we were told it would be too costly. By this point, we had already spent a significant amount of money. However, the best thing we did was sign up for pet insurance with Healthy Paws.We researched pet insurances for a month. We made a spreadsheet, studied customer reviews trying to filter out the unrealistic reviews and we decided to settle on Healthy Paws Pet Insurance. Little Ollie coasted by each day until a Sunday in July of 2015 when he ended up in the emergency afterhours animal hospital again for four days but this time it was the worst. His platelet count had dropped to zero our hearts were breaking at the prospect of Ollie not ever coming home. We were told by the veterinarians at the after-hours emergency animal hospital that they were taking it hour by hour and that they could lose him at any moment.” The initial diagnosis was Immune Mediated thrombocytopenia. Now our new veterinarian Dr. Tremblay (She is our third and final veterinarian – she is unequivocally the best veterinarian) had a sneaking suspicion that Ollie’s diagnosis was incorrect. Dr. Tremblay stabilized Ollie and then began reading Ollie’s entire file. She stated that a dog of his age should not have such a thick medical file. She consulted colleagues, internists and specialists and stated that she thought he was misdiagnosed. She felt it was important to diagnose him (we whole-heartedly agreed) and we started doing tests but not many because she is brilliant and had a suspicion that his chronic state of illness was parasite related. We found out quickly that Ollie had Ehrlichiosis from the Brown Tick AKA the Lone Star Tick. Our little Ollie has been such a trooper this past year, with four emergency room visits, two hospitalizations (one for HGE and the other for the misdiagnosed Immune Mediated thrombocytopenia) and countless visits to 3 different veterinarians, along with a 6 months therapy treatment for Ehrlichia. Moreover, through

Courteous, knowledgeble, staff. I wasn't sure if the procedure was covered so I called to inquire. My representative, Nikki, was very helpful in getting my questions answered in a timely fashion. If it wasn't for the insurance, we wouldn't be able to afford the procedure!

We've been with Healthy Paws for a couple of years now. We have 2 chocolate labs, who are always getting into trouble! Last year we had an issue where our youngest pup ate a sock, which resulted in a very expensive surgery. More recently, we had to go through a series of diagnostic tests to figure out why our other pup was having reoccurring UTIs, which turned out to be a bladder stone. Thanks to Healthy Paws, we were able to get the needed services for our pets. They have been a life-saver with covering all claims we've submitted within a very timely manner. Their personalized emails following up after a surgery or other procedure has also shown their dedication to my family. I highly recommend Healthy Paws to anyone looking for a pet insurance company that offers a nice range of plans and deductibles, and who really care about the health and wellness of your fur-babies.

Last Fall we got a Mini-Schnauzer puppy. Shortly after we signed up with Healthy Paws. Last month our boy became seriously ill. He required extensive hospitalization and major surgery. In addition to the mental trauma this caused us - there was also financial concern as the treatment was extremely expensive. No need to worry- Healthy Paws delivered exactly as promised! And they did it quickly. I urge other pet owners to sign up with them. They are by far the best insurance company I've ever dealt with.

My wife and I recently lost our 9 month kitten to feline infectious peritonitis. We had recently purchased Healthy Paws insurance from a recommendation and took our kitten in to the vet during the Healthy Paws 15 day grace period because she had an eye infection. Silly us for trying to take care of our cat. After the grace period had passed, our kitten began to show very worrying symptoms unrelated to her eye. Over the course of the next few days, we took her back to the vet, and then escalated to emergency hospitals, etc. But FIP is incurable, and we were unfortunately not able to save her. After many tears, we started filing claims with Healthy Paws. Despite the pain of losing the kitten, my wife and I were glad that we had recently bought insurance. But it turned out that didn't matter. Even though the vet had not initially linked the eye infection to FIP, Healthy Paws decided that it was evidence of a pre-existing condition and denied every single one of our claims related to our kitten's illness and death. They said they were very sympathetic to our loss, but still denied the claims. No doubt Healthy Paws will respond to this review with all kinds of excuses. But the fact is that as responsible pet-parents we took our kitten to the vet for a minor eye infection during the Healthy Paws grace period and Healthy Paws decided that was enough to deny all claims. We would have been in a much better situation if we were irresponsible and just let our kitten suffer the eye infection until the grace period was over. Then Healthy Paws couldn't have claims a pre-existing condition. My take-home is that Healthy Paws is a great idea if your pet gets physically injured and they can't find a shred of evidence that the injury has any historical basis. God help you if your pet gets a disease of some kind, even one that's fatal.