The expense of veterinary care can pop out of the blue and hit you straight in your bank account, so should Dog Insurance be compulsory?
Or should it be left to the owners to choose to;
set aside money
selling anything to cover the cost
take out insurance
or any other method?
This could be a solution how to prevent bastard "owners" from getting away with murder when it comes to health of their dogs.
Interesting idea!!!!!!!!
Late Entry : Honeys, this is just my opinion and I don’t care for your filthy stupid thumbs down 
I know where they’ve been
#1 by Sui on May 3, 2010 - 3:48 am
I think insurance should always be a choice, not something forced on someone!
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#2 by Marky on May 3, 2010 - 4:07 am
No insurance should be compulsary other than car insurance as you are liable to damage OTHER people’s property. Even then, full comp isn;t compulsary.
People who have a dog should take full responsibility for it, and if they are too naive not to take out insurnce, they should be grown up to take the consequences.
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#3 by Tony Chickididlidoo on May 3, 2010 - 4:15 am
This could be a solution how to prevent bastard "owners" from getting away with murder when it comes to health of their dogs.
I know where they’ve been 
Interesting idea!!!!!!!!
Late Entry : Honeys, this is just my opinion and I don’t care for your filthy stupid thumbs down
References :
#4 by *1st Time Mummy 2 be* on May 3, 2010 - 4:36 am
No it should be compulsory. I also think that you should have to have a licence to own a dog and that the licence should be reviewed every year. So many animals get abused. Every person who ows a dog should have to:
apply for a licence and then be vetted before they get it
must have dog microchipped
must have pet passport & vet registered
must have insurance
must take a basic care course as part of the vetting with refresher every year
Anyone who doesnt stick to rules should have dog taken off them
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#5 by Loki Wolfchild (Account Back!) on May 3, 2010 - 5:25 am
As soon as every child in the country has health coverage, I’ll be first in line to support "compulsory" dog insurance.
Pity the poor cats, though.
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#6 by Erica The Red 75 on May 3, 2010 - 5:48 am
It’s certainly an interesting question. Lots of good arguments, I can see both sides.
My thought is how many people are going to go along with this? What’s the figure, about 25% of the drivers on the road don’t have car insurance? It seems to me that the irresponsible people who skirt the system and don’t get insurance are probably the most dangerous on the roads. Could the same be assumed for dog owners?
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#7 by animal_artwork on May 3, 2010 - 6:07 am
I don’t believe it should be compulsory. As a responsible owner I make sure that I give my dogs the very best care– which means I set aside money just in case of a medical emergency. I also maintain a good relationship with my vet which means he will work with me as far as any catastrophic expense.
The reality is that most types of dog insurance are not going to cover the things my dogs might be prone to — bone cancer, breeding issues.
It is LESS expensive for me, with multiple dogs, to simply have money set aside. The last time I looked into pet insurance they –
wouldn’t cover my 17 year old cat- because he’s old – (He’s 2 years older now and still hasn’t seen the vet as the vet says "don’t stress him").
wouldn’t cover bone cancer or a few other types of sarcoma my breed is prone to
So I simply decided it would be better to set aside $50 every paycheck for my dogs. Its a great savings plan… and when I have enough built up.. I get to SPEND it .. rather than putting it in the insurance company’s pocket.
Insurance companies make money by taking in more money than they put out. Because I know the level of preventive maintenence I do with my dogs.. I can bet that I’ll always be on the side of sticking more money into insurance than I get. Insurance is a form of gambling– I prefer to be more in control of my money than that.
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#8 by anwen55 on May 3, 2010 - 6:22 am
No, it should not. I ‘m not the only person to believe that most insurance is a con & prefer to set aside my own money for emergencies. I have car insurance & house insurance and that’s it!
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#9 by jujukitty (aka neesie) on May 3, 2010 - 6:50 am
In a perfect world, people wouldn’t get pets when they have no money to care for them. I see the unfortunate results time and again. It sounds good to try and legislate people into being responsible, but in reality I don’t believe it works well.
As for the person who mentioned children not having insurance, there are government programs that can help there. Animals get no such support.
I wouldn’t oppose compulsory pet insurance, but in all honesty I’m not sure how you’d get people to comply.
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vet assistant
#10 by Lacie & Loki ~mystery mutt~ on May 3, 2010 - 7:10 am
I don’t think it should be required. It’s just as easy to put money aside or use care credit’s no interest payment plan. Out of curiosity, I just went to VPI and got an online quote for my current pets. They won’t insure my cat because she’s 11 and they don’t insure anything older than 10 years old, and for my two dogs (who are 1 and 3) it is a yearly cost of $653.31. Seems pretty high to me. I guess if I had had the insurance when my dog tore her ACL…they would have covered the $3000 surgery, but it was just as easy to use care credit and pay for it myself…in the long run…I don’t think the insurance would be saving me any money; not at a $650/year annual fee.
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#11 by Karen M on May 3, 2010 - 7:51 am
I have 3 Irish Setters and over the years I have paid a lot of money out to pet insurance companies. About 2 years ago I made a decision to cancel my pet insurance and decided invest it in Premium Bonds instead. My pet insurance back then was just over £40 for my 3 dogs with a £65 excess on each dog. I also made the "mistake" of letting them know that my youngest dog was the result of a mating with my eldest dog. They then only valued him as worth £75! I now invest £50 a month on the premium bonds and there is a nice little nest egg building. I don’t think insurance should be compulsory – I think it is up to the individuals to work out how they would cope with a large bill. I think that most dog lovers would find a way of sorting something out if this was to happen – I know my husband & I would.
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#12 by shanook_queen_of_alaska on May 3, 2010 - 8:08 am
No, reason being if this happens then vets are free to over charge more than they do already and then it would be the rescue centres who have to pick up after idiot owners who get hit hardest.
Also there are very good owners who don’t get insurance because the dog is too old, the dog has a condition that is not covered etc that will get hit hard too. This would make adoption of older or dogs with certain illnesses damn near impossible and these dogs will be put to sleep. I agree that people should not shirk the responsibilities of pet ownership but I am not sure this is the way, Plus insurance isn’t the save all for animals, even though I have it and it covers emergency care there is a lot of times I have to pay for treatment, for my old dog, for things that are under the excess and for things which are not covered. I think dog Licencing and compulsory training would be better where people can get better educated about the realities of pet ownership.
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#13 by gill c on May 3, 2010 - 8:38 am
it should be compulsory and dogs should be licenced. A hefty licence fee would make casual owners think twice. Every owner should have the means to give medical care to their dog and insurance would provide this.
I too am ready for the thumbs down but then I am responsible owner
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