Adopting a Pet Whose History Is Unknown? Make This Essential Move

It could spare you financial pain and heartbreaking decisions.

Adopting a pet in need of a home is one of the kindest things you can do. But there are risks involved in welcoming a pet whose background is completely unknown. And that's often the case when you adopt a pet through an animal rescue or shelter.

Often, stray animals are pulled from the street with no identification whatsoever. And because of this, it can be difficult, or even impossible, to determine whether they have pre-existing health issues. Furthermore, any pet whose origins can't be traced has a higher risk of having health issues due to neglect.

As such, if you're going to adopt a pet whose history is unknown, it's important to make sure you have plenty of money in your savings account to fall back on. You may need to spend some money on near-term medical care, not to mention try out different foods in case your pet has a hard time eating (a common thing for neglected animals). But an equally important thing to do is put pet insurance in place immediately -- before new health concerns come to light.

The importance of pet insurance

Unlike human health insurance, which covers pre-existing conditions, pet insurance generally will not cover existing issues with an animal. So the sooner you put it in place, the more likely you'll be to get ahead of health issues that pop up over time.

What’s more, if you're adopting an animal whose background and history are unknown, you may not even have a good sense of its age. And unfortunately, as can sometimes be the case with humans, health issues tend to escalate as pets age. Having insurance could make it so you're covered for extraordinarily high vet care bills.

Now, one thing your pet insurance may not cover is the cost of preventive care. Usually, to get that sort of wellness benefit, you're looking at a pretty high pet insurance premium, and that may not be worth paying. But where pet insurance can come to the rescue is situations such as having to pay for a $7,000 surgery, or having to board your pet at an animal hospital for a week at a cost of $500 a night.

Don't take chances

Healthy Paws Pet Insurance says that an emergency vet visit can range from $200 to up to $5,000. And the latter is a sum of money you may not have.

Without pet insurance, you might get stuck in a situation where you have to forgo medical care for your pet because you just can't afford it. Or, you might deplete your personal cash reserves or land in a massive pile of credit card debt in the course of caring for your pet. Neither is ideal.

You will need to factor the cost of pet insurance premiums into your budget when you buy a policy. But your policy might more than pay for itself over time. And when you're adopting a pet whose entire health history is anyone's guess, you really can't afford to not put some coverage in place.