Thank you for sharing your experience with pet insurance. I did quite a bit of research recently on pet insurance as I was carefully considering it, and got many quotes. I then did a cost/benefit analysis with the quotes, age of my pet, deductible/coverage of each offered quote, life expectancy, current age and health conditions, quality of life, assumptions, what I was willing to pay vs. quality of life/life expectancy, what would be covered vs. what's not, and some more variables I'm sure. I concluded that paying out of pocket would be best in my situation. My dog is 7 years old with a few noted pre-existing medical conditions, and typical life expectancy is 8-10 or 10-12 depending on the source. The numbers I ran could go in my favor IF nothing happens to her in the short term, as the older my dog gets (yes, likely it's not a popular shared opinion with many animal lovers) the less likely I am going to choose any invasive procedures.
Now, I've since tossed all those notebook pages I had everything written down on (I think I ran all this back in January or thereabout). But, suffice it to say, I don't think all my numbers and speculations I ran support getting pet insurance in my particular case. I can't put my notes back up verbatim since tossed, but I think it was about $110 a month on the policy I liked best from all the quotes I got. Roughly can say $110x12months, x number of years expected to live equaled "x" that would be what I put out in pet insurance. Then, considered deductibles in each potential medical visit, procedure, and then all the other considerations earlier. It's very precarious, IF nothing large happens in the short term, I think I'll make out better out of pocket. So, in the mean time, knock on wood, continuing to save. Also, I should add that we aren't very cash strapped, but most certainly I don't like large vet bills (who does?).
Now, if I could do it all again and she was a puppy, I'd likely go with the insurance and think the numbers would then be in better favor for pet insurance. That's where my numbers seemed to support best. I do appreciate your take on the insurance though.