Embrace Pet Insurance Blog

Money back guarantee for pet insurance

Also known as "the free look".

Some pet insurance companies proclaim that they give a money back guarantee.

Normally, if you cancel your policy, the company will give you back your premium minus the portion for the time that has already passed minus a small fee for the administration cost of processing the cancellation. So if you pay annually and cancel a quarter of the way though the year, you would get back three quarters of your premium minus an admin fee.

For the money back guarantee, if you don't like the policy you've bought for some reason, you can cancel your policy within a certain number of days of purchasing it and get all your money back, assuming you haven't claimed on the policy by that point.

Well, the truth is that all insurance products (pet, auto, home owners, etc. ) are required by state law to give this guarantee. It varies in length by state but here are what the current companies offer (from their websites or from calling them):

Hartville Grp (Pets Health Plan brand)	30 days
Pet First	none
Pet Partners	30 days
Pet Protect	30 days
Pethealth (PetCare brand)	none
Pets Best	14 days
VPI	10 days

For Pet First and Pethealth, I called the company to ask what the money back guarantee period is and the customer service rep said there was none. Since it's required by law, they must be mistaken but they both assured me they weren't. I also think that VPI's 10 days is too short for some states they do business in.

So, if you have second thoughts about your pet insurance policy, you can get all your money back for a certain number of days, no matter what the customer service rep says. It's your right by law.

Holistic medicine for cats and dogs

There is a growing interest in holistic medicine for our dogs and cats, just as there is in the human world. There are vets who specialize in acupuncture, physiotherapy, chiropractic treatments, homeopathic and herbal medicine that can have a significant impact on your pet's health. For example acupuncture can often be used in place of permanent drug therapy for dogs with limited mobility from arthritis.

What is holistic medicine?

Holistic (or Integrative) Veterinary Medicine is the examination and diagnosis of an animal, considering all aspects of the animal's life and employing all of the practitioner's senses, as well as the combination of conventional and alternative (or complementary) modalities of treatment. When a holistic veterinarian sees a pet, besides giving it a comprehensive physical examination, he/she wants to find out all about its behaviors, distant medical and dietary history, and its environment including diet, emotional stresses, and other factors.

Holistic medicine, by its very nature, is humane to the core. The wholeness of its scope will set up a lifestyle for the animal that is most appropriate. The techniques used in holistic medicine are gentle, minimally invasive, and incorporate patient well-being and stress reduction. Holistic thinking is centered on love, empathy and respect.

Where can I find a holistic vet?

Check out the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, which has a search for a holistic vet near you as well as some descriptions of the different types of treatments.

Dog choking on a ball

I never thought of it before but you really have to watch what size ball you give a bigger dog.

Read this story about Jake, a 4 year old Weimaraner, who was playing ball with his dad and got the ball stuck down his throat. After what seems like hours of mom & dad driving around the countryside trying to find someone who could help and Jake going blue form that lack of air, Susan, our favorite ERGeek vet, managed to pop out the ball and save poor Jake from a 'slash tracheostomy' - phew!

Wow, who would have thought an everyday dog toy could cause such havoc.

Tags: dog choking, dog ball, dog trachea blockage, Weimaraner, slash tracheostomy

remarkable newsletter

I think this will be the most downloaded church newsletter on the web. It has a fascinating dog focus - the death of a beloved dog, the meaning of the word dog, history of dog ears, etc. but yet it's a church newsletter. I particularly like the barking in different languages at the beginning. We could all learn that the ordinary can be extraordinary if we make a bit of an effort.

The Swiss architect Le Corbusier bound his favourite book, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, with the skin of his dead dog (see below). This issue of The Hotspur contains no animal parts but is devoted to dogs because 2006 is their year in China and, from time to time, it’s probably worth celebrating our symbiotic relationship with the beasts. Science, space travel, language, myth, music, art: scratch any subject and you’ll find a wet nose, four legs and doggy breath lurking somewhere beneath. This is just as true under the pews of Healey Church, where Muffy, a small dog of great charm and aroma, notches up the most regular attendance of any of us.

Thanks to Hugh for posting this [please note that Hugh posts his own cartoons on his blog and some of them might be considered offensive - you are warned!]

Tags: church newsletter, dogs

what we all know about vets

This post at Confessions of a Brand Evangelist nicely illustrates the point that veterinarians really do care:

Name one other industry where every single engagement between a customer and a service provider starts and ends with excitement, a smile, a hug and/or a kiss.

Tags: veterinarian, caring

Google's dog policy

While searching in Google, I happened to stumble on Google's dog policy. When we set up our office, I might just have to borrow this policy for Embrace. Here's an excerpt (I put the line breaks in to make it easier to read):

Dogs must be properly licensed and vaccinated.

All dogs must be supervised and cannot be left in Google facilities overnight or while the owner is not present. Dogs must stay with their owner or designated watcher at all times and should be kept in an employee's office when the employee is working there. Dogs are not allowed in bathrooms, break areas, the cafe, in meetings, or on the sand volleyball court.

Any behavior, which interferes with another employee's ability to work, will be cause for a pet to be taken home (interference is in the eye of the beholder). Aggressive behavior, such as growling, barking, chasing, or biting, is unacceptable and the pet will have to be taken home on the first complaint.

Employees with allergic reactions to dogs may ask the owner to refrain from bringing the dog to the workplace if the presence of the dogs makes it difficult for the allergic employee to work. Pets with evidence of fleas will be asked to go home until the problem has been alleviated.

Owners are responsible for cleaning up after pets at all times. If a pet has more than one indoor "accident" they will be asked to go home. Employees are financially responsible for any damage or cleaning to Google facilities, this includes damage from accidents, excessive pet hair and odor removal.

Owners must maintain adequate liability insurance against dog mishaps.

Google assumes no responsibility for any pet.

Are you allowed to take your dog to work and do you?

Tags: google, dog policy, dogs at work

New AAHA Vaccine Guidelines for Dogs

The American Animal Hospital Association has put out its long-awaited vaccine guidelines for dogs and the latest DVM magazine has a good summary of the guidelines:

The new categories are an attempt to segregate the vital vaccines from the more discretionary, according to the taskforce. The core vaccines, of which there are four, are to be administered triennially. These are vaccines to prevent against high-risk, highly contagious and potentially fatal diseases. Noncore vaccines, to be administered under the discretion of the veterinarian, would follow an annual schedule.

The core vaccines are: rabies; canine parvovirus vaccine; canine adenovirus-2 (hepatitis vaccine); and distemper vaccines and are to be administered every three years. See the table top right for more details - click on the picture to enlarge if you don't have a microscope to read it!

The guidelines are slightly controversial in that the guidelines suggest vaccinating less frequently for the core vaccines since they last longer than was once thought but there may be some resistance to the new timeframe since vets won't be getting the revenue stream from the vaccines they used to have. Having said that, dogs and cats still need regular check ups so it's not like the pet won't be coming into the clinic at all.

Bird Flu - cause for concern for our cats and dogs?

In Germany, a cat died of the H5N1 virus (aka the bird flu that everyone is so worried about) after it ate an infected bird (so the authorities suspect). The World Health Organization has issued a statement about cats and bird flu to try to keep people calm about their pets.

There is no present evidence that domestic cats play a role in the transmission cycle of H5N1 viruses. To date, no human case has been linked to exposure to a diseased cat. No outbreaks in domestic cats have been reported.

Unlike the case in domestic and wild birds, there is no evidence that domestic cats are a reservoir of the virus. All available evidence indicates that cat infections occur in association with H5N1 outbreaks in domestic or wild birds.

The press release goes on to recite a number of cases where large cats in Asia have died from association with birds with bird flu - mainly eating chickens in captivity.

This is definitely a topic that will get much more discussion over the future months. It is only a matter of time before the bird flu hits North America (perhaps when the birds migrate back from further afield) and we'll see a lot of discussion about keeping cats and dogs indoors in areas where the flu hits.

It's my birthday

I wouldn't normally bring it up but a) it's the big four-oh (as in oh no!), and b) I got a very funny card I thought you would appreciate (to the right - caption says "Have a virtual birthday").

Life is good and I have a lot to celebrate - it's going to take me all day to think about the good things I have in life. Happy March 2nd to you all!

How much is too much to pay for your dog or cat?

When I read this article, I felt like I might as well have written it. Kim Eisler, the author, could not have said what I have been saying all along any more clearly - what would you pay to keep your pet alive? Could you afford it?

Sometimes I look at Lilly and think, do you know how much it cost to keep you alive? Of course she doesn’t. We did what we had to do to save a member of our family. After all, it was our own fault she had the accident. She has made her last unleashed visit to the front yard.

I am thankful we never had to come to a decision that weighed money versus the life of our dog. I know many people do get to that point. The question haunts me.

I am glad Lilly will never know that I was even thinking these things.