My Husband and I Made This Move After Our Old Dog Passed Away

When my old dog, Casey, passed away at 12 1/2 years old, it was both a terrible thing and a good thing. It was awful in the sense that our beloved dog was gone, but it was a good thing in that he actually passed peacefully in his own bed and didn't have to be euthanized. He also didn't suffer at the end of his life for weeks or months.

In fact, while Casey's death came as a shock to us, it shouldn't have. His health had been declining for a long time, and despite our vigilance in treating his diabetes, we still struggled to regulate him. Between that, other health problems, and old age, it seemed like his body had decided he was just ready to go.

Now, I can admit that I was a mess in the weeks following Casey's passing. My husband was no doubt a wreck, too, though he perhaps managed to hold it together better than I did.

Once we were in a slightly better place, we made a plan for getting a new dog. We decided we'd wait a year or two until our kids, who were toddlers at the time, were a little older. We also decided to build an emergency fund for our future pet knowing what Casey's various health issues had cost us.

A move that really paid off

My husband and I made a mistake in the course of owning Casey -- we didn't sign him up for pet insurance. Our logic was that he was a fairly healthy dog (until he wasn't), and we figured that instead of paying a pet insurance premium every month, we'd instead take that money and put it into our savings account so we'd have cash reserves to tap in the event of healthcare bills.

Of course, when Casey developed a host of issues that included not just diabetes, but kidney stones, too, we regretted that decision. But thankfully, we'd been vigilant about contributing to a pet emergency fund all those years we weren't paying for pet insurance, so we had enough money in savings to cover his medical costs without having to worry about landing in debt.

After he passed away, we decided to build an emergency fund for a future dog of ours. Just as money didn't have to influence our decisions when it came to Casey's care because we had it, so too did we want to be able to pay for whatever care our future dog would need.

Meanwhile, we did adopt another dog named Champ a little more than 2.5 years ago, and lo and behold, he had some health issues right away -- before we'd had a chance to put pet insurance in place. But thankfully, we had our pet emergency fund to dip into to cover our costs. And we've since gotten pet insurance for Champ.

Our policy won't cover the pre-existing condition we now know he has. But we have coverage for other issues we hope won't arise but could.

An essential move for any pet owner

Even if you plan to buy pet insurance or have a policy already, it's important to have money in savings to cover medical care for your pet. Remember, even with insurance, you often need to pay for your pet's care upfront and wait to get reimbursed. So it's important to have some cash reserves to fall back on so you don't rack up debt.

To this day, I still miss Casey and his stubborn, quirky ways. But I'm happy we had many good years with him before his health deteriorated. And I'm also happy that my husband and I took the right financial steps to prepare to welcome a new dog into our family.