April 8, 2019 • 10 mins
When and how to get a second opinion and medical insurance for dogs. When a vet recommends a serious and costly medical procedure, it often makes sense to seek a second opinion. How to ask and whom to ask are issues worthy of discussion, which is what we do on this episode of "Good Dog" with veterinarian Dr. Nancy Kay. We also explore when it's appropriate to purchase medical insurance for dogs and how to determine which policy is best for your needs.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Smarter Podcasts dot Com delivering sound advice. When something is clearly wrong with your
dog, you go to the vet, right, Well, what happens when
your trusted veterinary professional tells you thatyour dog needs, for instance, a
(00:21):
seven thousand dollars surgery that may ormay not solve the problem. Hi,
I'm joe Anne Green, and welcometo Good Dog where today we're talking about
when it's appropriate to get a secondopinion and how best to do that,
and also when it might make senseto get pet insurance so that you can
afford to prolong your dog's life whenthe price attack to do so appears to
be prohibitive. My guest, onceagain is the Good Dog veterinarian doctor Nancy
(00:45):
Kay, author of Speaking for Spot, be the advocate your dog needs to
live a happy, healthy, longerlife. Welcome back, Nancy, Thanks,
joe Anne, good to be here. Excellent. So I'm sure this
happens every day of the week thatpeople walk in and the challenging news that
you have to deliver to them isthat to really help their dog is going
(01:06):
to cost a lot of money,absolutely, and the cost of doing business
with your veterinarian is going to continueto rise, our overhead prices keep on
escalating along with everything else in today'seconomy. The key to this, Joanne,
in my mind, is to planahead. The last thing you want
to be thinking about when you're dealingwith a sick or an injured dog or
(01:26):
cat is how in the world you'regoing to pay for this. So it
pays to do some advance planning andfigure out what type of attitude you're going
to have around healthcare options. Iencourage people when they from the very moment
a puppy or a kitten enters theirlife, to be thinking about should I
get pet insurance for my dog orcat? And if, unless you're independently
(01:49):
wealthy, if you are the typeof person who adopts the I want to
do everything possible approach, pet insuranceis probably going to make a whole lot
of sense. For three dollars ayear, you'll be able to in many
cases lock in a premium price,and then that insurance company will reimburse you
for eighty percent of your costs.So, for example, you told me
(02:09):
about your friend who's docks and neededseven thousand dollars back surgery, wouldn't it
have been a lot easier to justsay absolutely, go for it if you
knew that eighty percent of that costwas going to end up back in your
pocket twenty hindsight, I'm sure sheis thinking that today. Yes, I
met a woman at the dog parkwho just this last week, who has
a different strategy for each of herpets horses, dogs, and cats.
(02:32):
She puts twenty dollars a month awayin a bank account that she never touches.
So she has five animals, soshe puts one hundred dollars away each
month and she doesn't touch that money, and that's her little nest egg for
her animals. Healthcare should the needa rise, So the time to be
thinking about how you're going to financethis sort of care is when you first
(02:53):
get your animal. Well, withfive pets, that really probably does make
more sense than ensuring each of themseparately. But if you just have one
animal, and say, for instance, you're not of the mind that you're
going to do absolutely anything to prolongyour dog's life, but within reason,
how do you make that decision ofwhether it makes sense to get insurance?
(03:15):
Well, what I encourage is reallytalking with your veterinarian about all the different
options some breeds are fairly predictable interms of what issues they may have.
You told me, for example,that you had a dog with Cushing's disease,
and Cushing's disease is certainly more commonin poodles and poodle mixes. Well,
(03:36):
you think, how much is itgoing to cost to treat Cushing's disease
during the cost of this dog's lifetimeand cushing to add it up, And
that's probably a really good idea.And for your listeners, Cushing's disease is
a hormonal imbalance that is really treatedlifelong. But chances are if your dog
became cushion ooid at five or sixyears of age, you probably easily spend
I'm guessing between eight and ten thousanddollars over the course of your dog's life
(04:00):
treating that disease. So be thinkingabout in advance. We're not allowed to
do any racial profiling, but wesure can do a lot of breed profiling.
If you have a large breed dog, they're going to potentially have a
twisted stomach, which is a bigexpensive surgical procedure to the tune of five
or six thousand dollars. There's noway out of that one that's the only
option is surgery. Your dog mayend up with a torn cruciate ligament like
(04:24):
the football player injury that they getto their knees. That's for surgery anywhere
between two and five thousand dollars torepair. So be thinking ahead of what
types of problems my animal might developor what kind of trouble might he or
she get into, and that cankind of help you figure out whether or
not insurance is going to be theright right thing for you. Some people
(04:46):
can't sleep at night thinking about howam I ever going to pay for this
should it occur. Other people mightnot be able to sleep at night thinking
they're throwing away yet more money fora needless insurance policy. Yet another in
exactly when it does come time.If you if your animal is sick and
your veterinarian says, we need seventhousand dollars to do this surgery, that's
(05:09):
where I encourage you to lay yourfinancial cards on the table, because if
seven thousand dollars really is not affordableor philosophically doesn't feel right for you,
then you need to explain to yourveterinarian that you want to hear about other
options. Those other options might looklike a trial for with medical therapy rather
than surgery. Same as if youor I have a back problem, we
(05:30):
might try medical therapy before going intothe operating room. Or you might be
able to be referred to a universityteaching hospital where the cost is going to
be less than it would be outin in a privately owned practice. Interesting
financial cards on the table tell yourveterinarian where you're at with things financially,
(05:50):
and you should in all but rarecases, there should be other options to
consider. Is it wise in asituation where you're told that recommended or the
first line therapy or treatment is goingto be very expensive? Is it wise
to seek a second opinion at thatpoint? Yes, And typically if there's
a high price tag with a procedure, then that must mean it's a pretty
(06:13):
high tech procedure and you might wantto get an opinion from another doctor.
Anyway, before going that route,you might want to consider seeing a specialist
with your animal. For example,if your dog needs back surgery, you're
probably going to want to go tosomeone who's board certified in either veterinary neurology
or veterinary surgery, rather than askingyour general practitioner to do the surgery.
(06:35):
It would be like if you goto a family practitioner, you wouldn't expect
that doctor to be performing back surgeryon you. You'd be going to a
specialist. So in general, though, wouldn't your regular VET be consulting someone
else? Anyway? In general,they should be, but they're busy,
(06:55):
it may slip their mind, theymay not be thinking about it. So
we've had narians are not infallible,so we need some nudging here and there.
So be sure to talk with yourveterinarian and find out if they are
consulting with a specialist or should yoube going to see a specialist or getting
a second opinion. And in thebook, I have a lot of ways
to broach that conversation. Conversation starters, if you will. That was my
(07:18):
next question, And I think thisis true for people in dealing with their
own health care and that of humanfamily members. You don't want to hurt
the doctor's feeling by somehow suggesting orindicating that you don't fully trust their opinion
and recommendation. So how do youbroach the subject of a second Yeah,
(07:38):
And I say, isn't it nicethat you're worried about your veterinarians feelings,
But shouldn't you be more worried aboutyour dog or cat's health than your veterinarians
feelings. The way I encourage peopleto broach the subject is to be very
complimentary to the veterinarian and gracious andgrateful and say, I really appreciate what
you've done for Lulu. I'm veryinterested in what you've recommended. It sounds
(08:03):
like a great idea. I'm goingto have so much more peace of mind
before subjecting Lulu to surgery, orbefore spending all that money to just hear
from another person that they concur andthat that would be their first and foremost
recommendation as well. So do youask your vet to recommend someone to give
that second opinion? Or do yougo elsewhere? I would say, go
where where your gut feeling is.Is if you have a great relationship with
(08:26):
your veterinarian, by all means,ask him or her who they might recommend.
Most family practitioners have good relationships establishedwith specialists who do great jobs,
and you might even say who wouldyou what specialists would you be taking your
dog too? So what is therea rule of thumb? As to when
you should seek a second opinion andwhen you don't need to. There's a
(08:48):
number of guidelines about to get asecond opinion. If your sixth sense is
nagging you and tickling you and saying, maybe we ought to get a second
opinion, pay attention to that sixthsense. If a significant procedure has been
recommended, one that involves some riskfor your animal, I think it's worthy
of getting a second opinion. Ifyou've lost faith in your veterinarian, if
(09:09):
you've been if you've taken your dogto the same veterinarian five times and the
problem isn't getting better or is gettingworse, it's time to get a second
opinion. Excellent. And you havea chapter about this in your book or
information, Yes, and the chapteris called a second opinion? Is always
okay? Excellent? You have formsthat are in the book or on the
(09:31):
website. I guess that people candownload. Tell us about those. Those
are health forms that you can downloadto use on your dog or cat at
home. They're not included in thebook, but they're available at the website,
which is www. Dot speaking forspotdot com and click on the little
icon that says advocacy AIDS, andit'll take you to a bunch of health
(09:52):
forms that can be useful for useat home. For example, if you
have a number of medications that you'regiving to your dog on a crazy kind
of schedule, there's forms there tohelp keep track of the medications. There's
an emergency health form to keep trackof emergency clinic numbers, your pets microchip
number, the microchip company's telephone number, health history form, all kinds of
(10:18):
useful forms excellence. So that isat speaking for spot dot com. Correct,
Doctor Nancy Kay, thanks so muchfor joining us today. Thanks Joanne,
it's been a pleasure.
Smarter Podcasts dot Com delivering sound advice. When something is clearly wrong with your
dog, you go to the vet, right, Well, what happens when
your trusted veterinary professional tells you thatyour dog needs, for instance, a
(00:21):
seven thousand dollars surgery that may ormay not solve the problem. Hi,
I'm joe Anne Green, and welcometo Good Dog where today we're talking about
when it's appropriate to get a secondopinion and how best to do that,
and also when it might make senseto get pet insurance so that you can
afford to prolong your dog's life whenthe price attack to do so appears to
be prohibitive. My guest, onceagain is the Good Dog veterinarian doctor Nancy
(00:45):
Kay, author of Speaking for Spot, be the advocate your dog needs to
live a happy, healthy, longerlife. Welcome back, Nancy, Thanks,
joe Anne, good to be here. Excellent. So I'm sure this
happens every day of the week thatpeople walk in and the challenging news that
you have to deliver to them isthat to really help their dog is going
(01:06):
to cost a lot of money,absolutely, and the cost of doing business
with your veterinarian is going to continueto rise, our overhead prices keep on
escalating along with everything else in today'seconomy. The key to this, Joanne,
in my mind, is to planahead. The last thing you want
to be thinking about when you're dealingwith a sick or an injured dog or
(01:26):
cat is how in the world you'regoing to pay for this. So it
pays to do some advance planning andfigure out what type of attitude you're going
to have around healthcare options. Iencourage people when they from the very moment
a puppy or a kitten enters theirlife, to be thinking about should I
get pet insurance for my dog orcat? And if, unless you're independently
(01:49):
wealthy, if you are the typeof person who adopts the I want to
do everything possible approach, pet insuranceis probably going to make a whole lot
of sense. For three dollars ayear, you'll be able to in many
cases lock in a premium price,and then that insurance company will reimburse you
for eighty percent of your costs.So, for example, you told me
(02:09):
about your friend who's docks and neededseven thousand dollars back surgery, wouldn't it
have been a lot easier to justsay absolutely, go for it if you
knew that eighty percent of that costwas going to end up back in your
pocket twenty hindsight, I'm sure sheis thinking that today. Yes, I
met a woman at the dog parkwho just this last week, who has
a different strategy for each of herpets horses, dogs, and cats.
(02:32):
She puts twenty dollars a month awayin a bank account that she never touches.
So she has five animals, soshe puts one hundred dollars away each
month and she doesn't touch that money, and that's her little nest egg for
her animals. Healthcare should the needa rise, So the time to be
thinking about how you're going to financethis sort of care is when you first
(02:53):
get your animal. Well, withfive pets, that really probably does make
more sense than ensuring each of themseparately. But if you just have one
animal, and say, for instance, you're not of the mind that you're
going to do absolutely anything to prolongyour dog's life, but within reason,
how do you make that decision ofwhether it makes sense to get insurance?
(03:15):
Well, what I encourage is reallytalking with your veterinarian about all the different
options some breeds are fairly predictable interms of what issues they may have.
You told me, for example,that you had a dog with Cushing's disease,
and Cushing's disease is certainly more commonin poodles and poodle mixes. Well,
(03:36):
you think, how much is itgoing to cost to treat Cushing's disease
during the cost of this dog's lifetimeand cushing to add it up, And
that's probably a really good idea.And for your listeners, Cushing's disease is
a hormonal imbalance that is really treatedlifelong. But chances are if your dog
became cushion ooid at five or sixyears of age, you probably easily spend
I'm guessing between eight and ten thousanddollars over the course of your dog's life
(04:00):
treating that disease. So be thinkingabout in advance. We're not allowed to
do any racial profiling, but wesure can do a lot of breed profiling.
If you have a large breed dog, they're going to potentially have a
twisted stomach, which is a bigexpensive surgical procedure to the tune of five
or six thousand dollars. There's noway out of that one that's the only
option is surgery. Your dog mayend up with a torn cruciate ligament like
(04:24):
the football player injury that they getto their knees. That's for surgery anywhere
between two and five thousand dollars torepair. So be thinking ahead of what
types of problems my animal might developor what kind of trouble might he or
she get into, and that cankind of help you figure out whether or
not insurance is going to be theright right thing for you. Some people
(04:46):
can't sleep at night thinking about howam I ever going to pay for this
should it occur. Other people mightnot be able to sleep at night thinking
they're throwing away yet more money fora needless insurance policy. Yet another in
exactly when it does come time.If you if your animal is sick and
your veterinarian says, we need seventhousand dollars to do this surgery, that's
(05:09):
where I encourage you to lay yourfinancial cards on the table, because if
seven thousand dollars really is not affordableor philosophically doesn't feel right for you,
then you need to explain to yourveterinarian that you want to hear about other
options. Those other options might looklike a trial for with medical therapy rather
than surgery. Same as if youor I have a back problem, we
(05:30):
might try medical therapy before going intothe operating room. Or you might be
able to be referred to a universityteaching hospital where the cost is going to
be less than it would be outin in a privately owned practice. Interesting
financial cards on the table tell yourveterinarian where you're at with things financially,
(05:50):
and you should in all but rarecases, there should be other options to
consider. Is it wise in asituation where you're told that recommended or the
first line therapy or treatment is goingto be very expensive? Is it wise
to seek a second opinion at thatpoint? Yes, And typically if there's
a high price tag with a procedure, then that must mean it's a pretty
(06:13):
high tech procedure and you might wantto get an opinion from another doctor.
Anyway, before going that route,you might want to consider seeing a specialist
with your animal. For example,if your dog needs back surgery, you're
probably going to want to go tosomeone who's board certified in either veterinary neurology
or veterinary surgery, rather than askingyour general practitioner to do the surgery.
(06:35):
It would be like if you goto a family practitioner, you wouldn't expect
that doctor to be performing back surgeryon you. You'd be going to a
specialist. So in general, though, wouldn't your regular VET be consulting someone
else? Anyway? In general,they should be, but they're busy,
(06:55):
it may slip their mind, theymay not be thinking about it. So
we've had narians are not infallible,so we need some nudging here and there.
So be sure to talk with yourveterinarian and find out if they are
consulting with a specialist or should yoube going to see a specialist or getting
a second opinion. And in thebook, I have a lot of ways
to broach that conversation. Conversation starters, if you will. That was my
(07:18):
next question, And I think thisis true for people in dealing with their
own health care and that of humanfamily members. You don't want to hurt
the doctor's feeling by somehow suggesting orindicating that you don't fully trust their opinion
and recommendation. So how do youbroach the subject of a second Yeah,
(07:38):
And I say, isn't it nicethat you're worried about your veterinarians feelings,
But shouldn't you be more worried aboutyour dog or cat's health than your veterinarians
feelings. The way I encourage peopleto broach the subject is to be very
complimentary to the veterinarian and gracious andgrateful and say, I really appreciate what
you've done for Lulu. I'm veryinterested in what you've recommended. It sounds
(08:03):
like a great idea. I'm goingto have so much more peace of mind
before subjecting Lulu to surgery, orbefore spending all that money to just hear
from another person that they concur andthat that would be their first and foremost
recommendation as well. So do youask your vet to recommend someone to give
that second opinion? Or do yougo elsewhere? I would say, go
where where your gut feeling is.Is if you have a great relationship with
(08:26):
your veterinarian, by all means,ask him or her who they might recommend.
Most family practitioners have good relationships establishedwith specialists who do great jobs,
and you might even say who wouldyou what specialists would you be taking your
dog too? So what is therea rule of thumb? As to when
you should seek a second opinion andwhen you don't need to. There's a
(08:48):
number of guidelines about to get asecond opinion. If your sixth sense is
nagging you and tickling you and saying, maybe we ought to get a second
opinion, pay attention to that sixthsense. If a significant procedure has been
recommended, one that involves some riskfor your animal, I think it's worthy
of getting a second opinion. Ifyou've lost faith in your veterinarian, if
(09:09):
you've been if you've taken your dogto the same veterinarian five times and the
problem isn't getting better or is gettingworse, it's time to get a second
opinion. Excellent. And you havea chapter about this in your book or
information, Yes, and the chapteris called a second opinion? Is always
okay? Excellent? You have formsthat are in the book or on the
(09:31):
website. I guess that people candownload. Tell us about those. Those
are health forms that you can downloadto use on your dog or cat at
home. They're not included in thebook, but they're available at the website,
which is www. Dot speaking forspotdot com and click on the little
icon that says advocacy AIDS, andit'll take you to a bunch of health
(09:52):
forms that can be useful for useat home. For example, if you
have a number of medications that you'regiving to your dog on a crazy kind
of schedule, there's forms there tohelp keep track of the medications. There's
an emergency health form to keep trackof emergency clinic numbers, your pets microchip
number, the microchip company's telephone number, health history form, all kinds of
(10:18):
useful forms excellence. So that isat speaking for spot dot com. Correct,
Doctor Nancy Kay, thanks so muchfor joining us today. Thanks Joanne,
it's been a pleasure.
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