Hi, I’m Dr. Doug Kenney, a veterinarian in Memphis, Tennessee. I’m dedicated to helping pet owners and veterinarians understand how pet insurance works and the strategic role it can play in helping pay for a pet’s healthcare expenses.
You’ll find unbiased coverage of pet insurance from a veterinarian’s perspective with a focus on companies that offer policies that cover pets in the United States. In fact, you’ll likely find information that you won’t find anywhere else.
More than likely, you are trying to decide if you need pet health insurance, and if so, which company and policy is the best one for your pet. A veterinarian’s perspective is critical in making both of these decisions and I'll explain why.
I see things every day that most of you don’t see. I know what is needed to diagnose and treat a seriously ill pet and how much it can cost to have the best possible outcome. I also see pets with chronic conditions like diabetes or allergies that require years of monitoring and treatment to provide them with a good quality of life. It is my experience that most people don’t realize that the cost of treating a seriously ill pet with an acute condition or the cumulative cost of treating chronic conditions can easily cost thousands of dollars.
Listen as Dr. Jason Nicholas, a colleague and friend of mine, describes his experience when working in an emergency hospital setting.
The video below tells the story of a couple with two dogs, one that required years of treatment for chronic conditions and one that required emergency surgery for an acute illness. Fortunately, they had pet insurance to help pay for the expenses. (this video is provided for informational purposes only and not meant to be an endorsement of the company that produced the video):
If you decide you'd like to investigate pet insurance further, a veterinarian’s perspective is also important because we diagnose and treat the conditions for which you’ll be filing claims. Therefore, we can offer advice on the most important things that should be covered when choosing a policy to insure your pet. An excellent resource (recently updated) to help you better understand how pet insurance works is my book, "Pet Health Insurance:A Veterinarian's Perspective". You can download either a PDF version or EPUB version (for non-kindle readers) here. You can also get the print version or kindle version here.
I also host the Pet Insurance Guide Podcast, the first and only podcast dedicated to all things pet insurance. Some episodes include an interview with a representative of one of the pet insurance companies - sometimes the founder and CEO as they explain their vision for the company and gives specific details about their policy. If you are a veterinarian or veterinary staff member, you’ll find these episodes particularly helpful.
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Feel free to email me if you have any questions about pet insurance in general or a specific topic or company and I’ll do my best to help you.
Please consider recommending this website to your friends and family who have pets and even your veterinarian. :-)
