Pet Insurance Saved Me When My Dog Ate a Tampon
Key takeaways:
Pet insurance saved Jess Wakefield thousands of dollars when her puppy ate something out of her bathroom trash.
The experience taught her how mischievous puppies can be, that it’s important to keep trash cans secure, and that getting pet insurance can be well worth it.
Keep in mind: It’s important to seek veterinary care if your dog eats something that makes them keep vomiting.
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Jess Wakefield and her family have always loved animals. When her son was 11, he begged her for a puppy.
“He was desperate for a dog for a very long time,” Jess says. “He dog-sat other people's dogs all the time, and we tried to kind of fill his cup that way for a while.”
After some convincing, Jess agreed that a puppy was exactly what their family needed, as long as it was a “chill” dog.
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When her sister’s goldendoodle had a litter of puppies, Jess agreed to fly across the country to retrieve one of her own. That is how she ended up bringing Ruby home at 8 weeks old. Ruby quickly became the heart of their household.
Getting pet insurance to plan for the unexpected
Jess says she knew from the start that pet insurance was a must.
“Looking back on my childhood with dogs, there were a couple of nonnegotiables for me, and one was getting pet insurance,” she says.
That’s because she remembers a tough situation when her mom had to decide whether to pay for an expensive surgery for their dog.
“My mom was a single mom,” Jess says. “She was working two jobs, and it was a really difficult decision for her to make — whether to operate.”
In the end, her mom decided to spend the money on the surgery, which was several thousand dollars. That experience stuck with Jess, so she made sure Ruby was covered with pet insurance. The plan, which costs about $30 a month, means Jess only has to pay 10% of any major vet bills after she meets a small deductible.
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Having insurance handy in the case of the mischievous puppy
This foresight proved to be a financial lifesaver for Jess, a 44-year-old interior designer in Annapolis, Maryland.
Less than a month after bringing Ruby home, the puppy got into mischief.
While Jess was bedridden with the flu, Ruby entertained herself by rummaging through the trash. Jess didn’t realize anything was wrong until a couple of days later, when she was feeling better. While Jess had been recovering, Ruby had developed an illness of her own and would not stop vomiting. Concerned, Jess consulted a veterinarian friend who advised her to get Ruby checked out immediately.
At the vet's office, scans revealed an obstruction in Ruby’s abdomen. The vet suggested it might be a piece of string, which Jess thought could be from a cat toy the kids had brought home. A procedure was necessary to remove it, and Jess was relieved to have insurance to cover the significant costs.
The plan was to start with a scoping procedure. If the item could not be retrieved that way, then more invasive surgery would have to be performed. Without pet insurance, the estimated costs for the two procedures were around $10,000. Fortunately, she says, pet insurance meant she was looking at only a fraction of that amount.
A surprise discovery
After waiting anxiously, Jess was relieved to learn that surgery wasn't necessary. But she had one more surprise in store.
“We were still thinking it was a cat toy,” Jess laughs. “We had joked that maybe we would make it into a Christmas ornament.”
When she went to pick up Ruby, the vet offered her the foreign object they retrieved. Expecting a cat toy, Jess was shocked to discover it was a used tampon. She and her family quickly decided against keeping it as a Christmas ornament.
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“My jaw dropped,” Jess says, adding that the encounter left her speechless.
The value of insurance — and secure trash can lids
The cost of Ruby’s procedure ended up being about $4,000. But because of the pet insurance, Jess had to pay only about 10% of that, plus her plan’s deductible.
On the way home from the vet, the first thing Jess and her family did was stop at the store to buy a trash can with a lid. Ruby, however, proved to be a quick learner. “The first thing she did was put her little paw on the lever and open the lid,” Jess says.
Now more than 1.5 years old, Ruby is happy, healthy, and getting into a little less trash. Jess says she will always be grateful for the security that pet insurance provides. Even if she hadn’t had insurance, she says, she would have found a way to pay for the procedure with credit cards. But she encourages pet owners to consider insurance to protect themselves — and their mischievous puppies.
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