My neighbor came outside with his dog. The skinny white pooch was trembly, weak in his legs, struggling to sniff.
"He just had surgery."
That explained the weakness. It also explained the Elizabethan collar around his neck to keep him from licking his stiches.
"We almost had to put him down."
"Really? Was it that bad?"
"It was bad, and way too expensive."
The surgery was going to cost thousands. A badly infected bladder had spread through the dog's body, causing other troubles. That big bill would be coming after they'd just paid off back taxes, after paying car registration, rent, credit cards.
All that had left them nearly broke until pay day. And now the surgery was thrown at them with a ticking clock. They had little time to decide, because the infection was taking a toll each hour that went by.
"It was either pay up or put the poor thing to sleep."
"But you didn't. What happened?"
"We realized we'd saved some money for a rainy day—and that account could be our safety net for a future crisis...or it could save Ranger right then."
Luckily, they had saved a safety net and decided to make it a Pet Net, a safety net for their dog, Ranger.
So many creatures in rescues are there because owners have no insurance, no plan for emergencies, no money tucked away.
Pet Insurance serves the purpose of preparing for future health troubles. Healthy, young animals are easy and cheap to insure, and the values are good. If your creatures are not young, you should be tucking away something each month to allow for surgery or radiation or hip dysplasia.
You should start saving to create a Pet Net before the emergency comes along. Even setting aside $20 or $30 a month adds up to more than a thousand in five years. My neighbors had done that for themselves and then applied it to Ranger.
"We are sure grateful Ranger is alive and healing. I can't believe we were contemplating putting him down just because of money."
Money can be a huge problem. It puts a lot of loving, trusting animals at risk. Nobody makes you pay insurance for your animal, but these pets are living things who depend on us, trust us, need us to care for them. If you skipped insurance when it was cheap, I recommend a small savings plan for that rainy day for your Ranger. Because when it rains, it may pour.
