Liz Blake (Pets Plus Us) | The $40,000 Wake-Up Call From a Pet Insurance Insider

We sat down with Liz Blake, Sr. Veterinary Sales Representative at Pets Plus Us, for a conversation that starts light but quickly gets real.

From Halloween costumes to $10,000 emergencies and life-changing decisions, this episode dives into the reality of pet insurance in vet med.

Liz shares her stories from over 25 years in clinic and industry including the moment that changed everything: a six-month-old puppy, two broken legs, and a bill that altered the course of her life.

We explore:

- Why only ~2.8% of pets in Canada are insured and why that’s a problem
- The emotional and financial impact of “economic euthanasia”
- How insurance changes decision-making for both pet owners and veterinary teams
- Common misconceptions (and why “just saving monthly” often fails)
- What clinics and RVTs can do to better educate clients
- The role of insurance in enabling gold-standard care and reducing moral stress

This episode isn’t about selling insurance. It’s about understanding the gap between the care we want to provide and what’s financially possible, and how we start to close it.

About Liz:

"My passion for animals has been a lifelong journey, influenced by my animal-loving parents who encouraged my interest in caring for a diverse array of pets throughout my upbringing.

My professional path in animal care began during high school when I secured a position at a pet store with a zoo license. This role provided me with invaluable experience working with a range of unique species, including primates, big cats, and exotic animals. Upon graduating high school, I embarked on my first role in a veterinary practice and simultaneously initiated a wildlife rescue operation from my parents' home as well as a pet sitting service for reptiles, birds, and pocket pets.

I have dedicated my personal life and career to animal welfare. I’ve worked in a variety of roles in veterinary practices for over 26 years where I specialized in exotics and wildlife. I have been an advocate for pet health insurance after experiencing firsthand how it can help in life-or-death situations when large veterinary bills can affect pet owners’ decisions.

I am deeply committed to education, believing that knowledge is crucial for the conservation and well-being of all species. In addition to my professional endeavours, I actively volunteer as a wildlife educator, hand-raise neonatal kittens and foster a variety of species of animals in my home. I am on the BOD for Kali's Wish Foundation as well as the Veterinary Office Assistant Program at Bow Valley College. My personal passion is volunteering to help people with their pets through end-of-life care & decisions.

I am honoured to be part of the Pets Plus Us team as a Sr. Veterinary Sales Representative for the past 12 years and am dedicated to continuing my work in animal welfare and education.

I am very excited to be on 'Don’t Call Me Catty' Podcast!! Leilani & Jillian are women I highly respect and look up to in an industry I have dedicated my life to. I am so incredibly proud of their accomplishments."

Connect with Liz: 
liz.blake@petsplusus.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

All right. Welcome everyone to the Don't Call Me Caddy podcast. We are live here from the Can West Veterinary Conference, and I'm super happy to welcome Liz Blake, Senior Veterinary Sales Representative at Pets Plus Us. Welcome, Liz. Thank you for having me here. Yeah. Well, it's I I think, you know, you've been at the you've been with Pets Plus Us for how long now? Uh going on 12 years. 12 years. Oh my god. So I've seen you at this trade show forever. And you are actually the one who inspired us to do a Halloween theme. Because we went by your booth and I was like, oh my gosh, this is such a good idea. It's so close to Halloween because Can West is always in October, and you had all these pumpkins done up. And I'm like, next year. Halloween is my gem.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

One year I actually carved our logo into a pumpkin.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Oh yeah. I think I saw that one.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

I think that might have been one of the years.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

I think that was the year.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

So I never really met Liz until last year. And I declined at Can West.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

And what's she wearing?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

What were you? Oh you're shining. Like the creepy creamy.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

She had like a creepy hair.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

I thought it was the shot of one of the shining. She came in second place for the coffee contest.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Do you have a contest for a contest? Wait till wait till tomorrow night. It's a surprise. I saw the moths walk by earlier.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

If I don't win this year, I will be there's no way I'm not winning.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

I'm sure any nights will go up, people.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

That is I won't be able to top this one though. Okay. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

You are typing it. Okay. You know what? We should do like we um instead of posting like I was we usually ask for uh what do you call it, a headshot?

SPEAKER_03 1:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

We should do a picture of her, like a headshot in her costume, and that'll be your I'll be I'm gonna be doing two hours of makeup before I go.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Oh my god. Oh, you love them. I'm so looking forward to it. I had so much fun last year.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

What what have you been saying? It's like what the kids are saying nowadays, commit to the bit. Commit to the bit commit to the bit. I don't know if it's no, it's on Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Oh, is it? Okay, that's probably how I heard it. You're getting it. You are here.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Leila's way cooler than me. I'm like, you said what now? Like, there's this other term that I will not say on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

Why not?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Disturbing. See you next Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Oh. I say that sometimes Monday. I say it all the time. Yes. I was like, listen.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

What did you say? We were on a road trip. I'm like, what did you just say? And she said, I'm like, I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Sometimes if I have to actually say it because it's an appointment, then I feel I hope they don't know.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

There you go. Well, well, um, so Liz, we we want to talk about all things pet insurance with you, just from you know, a general perspective here. Absolutely. Um, I mean, you're I mean, you're at the trade fair here because although you guys sell directly to pet owners, you work very closely with the veterinary industry as well. Um, so tell us a little bit about like what that relationship is with the pet owner versus the vet clinic and why why you're at these trade shows.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

So I'm at these trade shows basically to educate the veterinary clinics. Um, we also sell to shelters as well. Like it's not it's not sell directly, but educational purposes. Uh, we just want people to understand the importance of pet health insurance. Um, I think even though it's been around for 35 years in Canada, a lot of people still really aren't aware that it's a lot of people still don't know it's a thing. Um statistically, 1.4% of pets were insured in 2014 when I started. Now we're only at 2.8% in Canada. That's it. And what is it in Europe? Because do you Okay, so the UK is um 25 and Sweden, Sweden knows everything right, 60% and Sweden.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

But those countries actually they're so they're such big believers in insurance. Oh, absolutely in general. Yep, yeah. Like even in uh it's like in Canada in my world, 52% of Canadians do not have a will, and even less percentage own life insurance.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Oh, yeah, and I think the big thing is a lot of people don't realize because in Canada our healthcare is covered, they don't see and they don't see bills like how much costs really are. They get so angry about veterinary costs, if they saw their own costs, they would just be blown away. So I think that's a that's one of the barriers is that people just really don't truly understand how expensive it can be.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

There is a document actually online. You can find it. I went through a rabbit hole to get it, but it has the prices of testing medical uh for humans. Can't imagine. It's unknown.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Can't imagine, and it gets even worse in the states because it's privatized, so they're just being they're just squeezing it all out, right? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Yeah, the stats are pretty wild. Um, I mean, I personally insure all three of my dogs and my horses because if you have horses, yes, you have to need bubble wrap. Yep, they do. I'm a cray cray horse car right here.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

I am that person because I when I work I worked in clinics, so I worked in clinic for 26 years, um, right out of high school in 1994. I don't want to age myself, but as RBT or DVM? Um I was so back then I was in Ontario and we didn't have to be registered to be techs. Oh, we're like I'm old school, like dip tanks, like old school. I didn't know that was a thing. Yeah, so I worked 10 years in Ontario and then when I moved here, I was like, Yeah, I'm a tech. And they're like, no, you have to go back to school. So I just couldn't afford it at the time. So I got to be like just a like VA, whatever. I still got most clinics, let me do what whatever I could let uh do. But I always handed out the brochures, like, yes, the here's the puppy and kitten pack, here's the insurance brochures. I'm like, yeah, I'm doing the right thing, not really having conversations about it. And I got my first puppy, my beautiful. I moved out of home. I got this Chinese crescent that I was dying for. I that was my breed. I wanted my Chinese crescent, his name was Ruben, and he was my life. And I was putting $50 a month into a bank account. So I was like, yeah, I'm good. When he was six months old, even though I was at a vet, worked at a vet clinic, I get a discount. He jumped off of a chair and he broke both of his front legs, like regular size chair, broke both his front legs. I called everyone that I worked with in the middle of the night. They're like, um, no, we don't do orthopedic surgeries. I ran over to the emergency clinic. I lived across the street from the old care center back then. $10,000. For both legs or one leg? Two legs, both front legs. $10,000. I only had um six, five hundred dollars saved up, like six hundred dollars, six hundred dollars, six months old. Yeah. So what did you have to do? Well, luckily, so and this isn't reality for regular people, but luckily, um, a western worked really closely with the clinic that I worked at, so uh they let me do a payment plan, but that's just not reality for people. Yeah, clinics just don't do payment plans anymore because they got everyone.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Well, and they knew you, yeah, and they knew me.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

We worked very closely with them. So I it set me back in life, honestly. It set me back 10 years easily. Like I just from having to pay that off. I just moved here, yeah. So uh ever since then, I've had uh pet insurance for all my pets. Um, and just literally over just COVID alone, I had $40,000 in pet pet during COVID? During COVID, I had my dog work had spinal surgery, um, my dog Rose had gallstones and an E. coli infection, and then she broke her, she had a um uh spiral fracture in her leg while I was on vacation. My sphinx had cancer.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

You have a sphinx.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

He died now. But it's okay, no, it's okay. Bacon, he was bake bacon. He's who's tattooed on my arm. Yeah, that's the yes, bacon, my kid named him. Um he had cancer, testing, like even just testing was like $4,000. But but I would have had to euthanize everybody. I got to buy so much more time with them because all my bills were covered, everything was covered. Yeah, and then like fast forward to now. Um, two years ago, I have my heart dog right now. Her name's Bean. She's a little Chinese crested Chihuahua cross that is exist. Like, I can't even tell you I am in love with this dog in an unhealthy way.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

We should actually post a photo of this dog when we do the branding for this episode.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

I I have a heart dog that's a chihuahua too. So I failed a chihuahua. It's funny, I worked in clinic for so many years and I hated chihuahuas till I owned one because what a difference when you own one, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:50

This is being in clinic. I was uh I was the same way. I never thought I would own a chihuahua. I got this one, I'm like, that's it. This is my breed now.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Yep. So um she I got her from like Kijiji, I hate to admit that, but I had I had lost a whole bunch of we lost we lost six dogs and cats like back to back. They were all 16. I recall very old. If you had a post on Facebook, I was like, whatever's happening. They were all very elderly, so it's okay. Yeah. So we got bean to fill the void, even though my husband's like, Can we be dog free for a little bit? I'm like, yeah, totally. And then I came home with a dog. And uh, so we got insurance, and then I went out of town for a work conference and left her with my son, and he's you know, 15, he didn't know really what to watch for. I came back and I can tell she just really wasn't right. So I took her to the emergency clinic. I have insurance, we're good. Um, we did some testing, gave her some blood uh fluids, and she perked up, brought her home. Like six hours later, I'm like, something's not right. And my husband's like, You're overreacting, like you have PTSD from losing. And I'm like, no, something's wrong. I get her in the car, it's a nine-minute drive to the emergency clinic. She, in those nine minutes, became completely non-responsive. I ran into that emergency clinic, through my dog at the receptionist, and said, She has insurance, do everything, which was like the biggest relief. $7,000 at stay. Um, we found out she has Addison's disease, which I is the worst thing to deal with. Um, but we've had several Addisonian crises over the past year. If I did not have insurance at that point in my life, I would have had to surrender her or put her down. There's no way I would have been able to afford the bills that we've we've had. Yeah, yeah. So I am the poster child for insurance. I uh it has saved the lives of my pets, and I cannot recommend it enough.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Well, even my um, well, Leilani and I went on an adventure and got a dog. I came home with a dog. I saw those posts. I did see that. We were humped, we were pooped on. It was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

I I the humping was hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Well, and then one of our one of our vet friends, uh, Dr. Ware, she drove to Washington to pick him up with me. And when we picked him up, she said, You need to get insurance now because he's a great Dane Cross, and you will have to have CT scans over x-rays, I think, and the amount of cost for the drug to do just that type of work. Oh, yeah. Well, just anything.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

The bigger the dog, the bigger the dog, the more medication they're using. I have an Addison's dog, I can't imagine, and she's four pounds. I can't imagine having a hundred-pound Addison, like the medication's. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Well, and oh sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. Well, and while what I what I have to say about, you know, you attested to the insurance side of things that saved your pets. Yep. I kind of want to talk about the opposite side in my um experience. So I had two pets um where I had a an I I adopted an older cat. He was nine years old when I adopted him. I got him insurance right away. He ended up um, you know, going into heart failure, and then you were playing the whole, you know, the the medications that are good for the heart aren't good for their kidneys, and we're trying to hit that balance. And you know, we had made the decision that if he goes into respiratory distress again, this is kind of gonna be the line we don't cross. No heroic skin. Yeah, but but prior to that, we had treated him in hospital multiple times, and because I had the financial ability to do that, I was like, I feel like I've given it my all. And I it was just a much more comfortable um experience for or I guess it was a much more comfortable decision with the euthanasia, right? Even though it wasn't the ending that we all want, where you know, insured saved him, it saved my my heartbreak a little like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

A lot of times, like people don't consider that part of it. Um, and the end of life can be quite an expensive take on. Like, I mean, you have to consider like um like cremation options and even the euthanasia itself, it can be quite expensive. So and the paw print, like another. The paw print, yeah, yeah. And and some there's insurance companies, and yeah, and you know, I always say people have to really um educate themselves on what they need in it from an insurance policy. Uh there truly isn't one uh uh magical insurance company. If there was, there'd be one magical insurance company. Every company has its strength and its weaknesses, and for each consumer, it's a very um personal decision, and there's a lot of variables that they have to take into consideration where they live, again, what the policy offers, um, their financial situation, uh, the breed that they have, their lifestyle. So some companies um for euthanasia creation and burial costs, it's included in their policies, and some companies you have to add it as a writer, which means your premium is gonna be more expensive. So there's so many little things that people have to take into consideration, and and the end of life one is a huge one.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Yeah, and and because for me it was and I had another, I had a kitten as well, brand new kitten. Um, I got him his exam, and then I remembered, I was like, oh wait, there's this. I um I forget what it was. It was something like if you register him for insurance within 24 hours of uh exam, exam, yeah, you know, worry-free exam, then um, or a healthy exam, then you can you know sign on right away. Yep. And so I had to fish it out of the recycling because I forgot about it, and I did it. Yeah, but three weeks later, that cat is then super sick and ended up having FIP. And it was covered.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

What's what's FIP?

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Uh so it's a feline infectious peritonitis. Um up until recently, it was basically a death sentence. Yes. Um, unfortunately, this was before the miracle drug came out on me. Yeah, but the problem with FIP is it's a diagnosis of exclusion.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

And so the testing to get to that diagnosis is very expensive. And but I was able to do it, right? And so um it was $10,000. I had this cat for one month, and it was $10,000. He was in there for a week. Ended up being FIP. Um, but we got drugs on emergency drug release from the states. We did everything we possibly could. Um, the veterinary team was amazing, and it also puts a lot less pressure on them, too. Right, it does.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

And that's the thing, it and it allows them to follow through with gold standard care because they're allowed to do the testing that they want to do instead of oh, well, it's the cheapest option. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, they owners can say yes to everything instead of watching their wallet. Yeah. Um, and then talking about having a younger animal and the trials that that most insurance companies offer, um, it's easier for the vet clinic to let owners experience like the free trial, because it's within examination, it off it often in most cases will decrease your waiting periods. Yes. Because if you rule emergency policy, and we want people to sign pets up as young as possible because you're gonna avoid those pre-existing conditions, which is so huge.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yeah, that's what it was. It was the waiting period that got waived within the if I uh have to sign them up within 24 hours. So then, so for that particular cat, it was like, okay, um, I've got this diagnosis. Unfortunately, I have to euthanize, but again, I I couldn't have done $10,000 as an RBT. Like, there's no way I could even us working in industry. Even working in industry, yeah. That's the thing. But I could sleep that night because I was like, I did everything I could and the team did everything they possibly could for that cat.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Well, and I think that I mean, I work in finance and it doesn't matter if you're an RBT or not. Like Canadians in general, yeah, don't even insure themselves. No, they don't very few understand what an emergency savings account is. Oh god, yeah. So when people say, Oh, just put monthly amount in.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

And when they do that, so a lot of people I hear that like literally every day. But what happens is if the furnace goes, where's the first place you're gonna go? And in my situation, I only had six hundred dollars saved up and I had a ten thousand dollar bill, and that's gone. And then there is follow-up that not none of it was covered, where insurance, you know, you're paying your monthly premium and you know, and then you're good, and then you're keep good being good year over year over year.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

So well, and I mean, as someone who sells, I mean, I don't sell this type of insurance, but I sell life insurance and disability and all of that, and educating people on what the riders are, what the contracts say, right? Yep. I have three policies on three dogs. I have no idea what the contract said, except for Yogi has a $15,000 a year budget with a 90% reimbursement, right? Boo-boo is unlimited. No, he's I mean, he might be my favorite, but that was all that was available.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

And then Ranger has a $15,000 limit because of his breed and I can't stress enough to for people to read their summary of coverage so that they because people like even when working in clinic when people have insurance, they literally don't understand their policies. I don't know. I that's all I know. I thought I knew everything about pet insurance working in clinic until I started working for an insurance company. I knew nothing.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

And what's interesting is the company we have our our insurance policies through just added a wellness feature. And I was like, Well, I want to get reimbursed for the good work I do with my pets, right? Like going into the clinic and whatever. And then one of my friends was like, You realize that you would have to do every single line item on this wellness portion for the premium to make sense. And I'm like, I don't care, it means my dogs are well, your dogs are well, right? And there's like a mental game about just being well. Yep, absolutely, not going into the vet because it's an emergency. It's like I don't know, there's something about that.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

And you talked about education, and like honestly, uh my belief is education is the key to the survival of literally everything. Like, education is so important, and I'm huge for that, and that's that's my job. I educate people about the importance of health and pet health insurance, and I just think it's so great. I have so many clinics that are pro-conversations, but we still have you know, there's still clinics out there that actually, when I go in, they tell me they don't believe in it, and it's that's crazy to me in this day and age. Like the veterinary profession. Literally, there's still clinics, it's yeah. I mean, we're we we're seeing a big jump. We're gonna that jump, the doubling of you know, 2.8% of pets insured in Canada, that happened mostly over COVID. We had an influx of animals, but people also weren't working, so they had time to just educate, like research, right? So that's when that happened. But we're seeing a really, really big uh trend up. When I started in in practice in the 90s, like you just got thrown in. Where now I'm I go out and I do talks to the boa programs, I talk to RBTs, I talk to vets, so they're graduating with a knowledge, and we do a generic like a conversation to veterinary staff and and all the students to understand the importance of pet health insurance. And I think we're gonna see this trend continue to grow. I really hope we get there.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Well, and I think too, my sister-in-law actually uh talked to me about this the other day because she asked if Ranger was insured, and I'm like, Yeah, she's like, You are so smart. I'm like, Well, I believe in insurance, but then she's like, um, they have their dogs are insured too, they have hunting Labradors, and one of them got really sick, yep, but they were able to do some like almost like something that most people wouldn't be able to do because of insurance. So they did like a fecal transplant. Oh wow, and I was like, I'm sorry, what is that? And she like explains it to me, and I'm like, that's disgusting. She's like, they do conduct and stuff. They do, they actually, oh my god. But like she, I honestly like that kind of stuff you wouldn't know to do if you couldn't afford to do it. And she said my dog was perfect after that.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Well, and I wonder how like how much do you think that pet insurance is gonna help with innovation in the veterinary space just because people will be able to afford more care?

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Yeah, I absolutely, and that's the thing, we're constantly evolving because new products come out, new treatments come out, so we are constantly evaluating and going over case studies um to ensure that we're covering things that should be eligible for coverage.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

It's it's it's forever growing. So is there something on a contract, and there's I mean, I know insurance contracts, but is there like three main things people should look at? Like reading like the fine print about their insurance?

SPEAKER_01 19:29

They should know what their they should know what they should know their annual, like their coverage, their co their copay. What they're doing. They should know about their deductible. Yeah. Um, and they should know the biggest thing for me is read your summary of coverage. You wouldn't believe how many people get a policy and then get a summary of coverage and they have pre-existing conditions and they're literally haven't read anything, they don't know that they have pre-existing conditions. That is so they like they submit a claim and it's denied because it's pre-existing because they signed up after it was already symptomatic and now they're mad, but it was right there. They they they don't read they don't read that part.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Do you do you think there's enough information out there for different types of learners or people who don't know legalese and that type of thing? Like I've always wondered, like I hear you hear that all the time, right? In any across any industry, not just insurance, that like, oh, you didn't read the fine print. And it's like, even if I had, I don't know if I understand it.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Insurance is very difficult. Like, I'm gonna admit it, I I thought I knew about insurance until I worked for insurance, and then and it's been a it's it's been a learning curve. And of course, I'm gonna say absolutely from a client perspective, it can be very intimidating. Um, and there's probably a lot of verbiage there that I wouldn't get, and that's partly why I do the student talks, is I actually have slides in my in my deck where we go over terminology so that I teach them and they understand that it's harder from a client perspective. Um in a and if and we can't really expect vets to like go deep in the dive deep in the reads to like uh explain it to their clients. That's not their job. We just want them to recommend insurance and say that they believe in it. Um so a little bit of it is on the shoulders of the clients, and you hope that you have the clients that are gonna do it, but the real reality is that not everybody does. Can they can they call in and talk about it? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Anytime, like every insurance company has a 1-800 number, absolutely, they can call in. Any call center that works for an insurance company should be there and happy to help you explain anything to you. Go over your policy. If you have any questions, literally that's what we're there for.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Okay. What are what are some of the misconceptions? So, like in my world, one of the biggest things is that life insurance doesn't pay for suicide.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

And when it does, oh I actually didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Yeah, see? Yeah, really? Yeah, so there's I had no idea. There's a suicide clause on every life insurance contract in Canada. I didn't know. But for two years, so if the suicide uh happens after two years, then the policy is an active claim. So, but that's a misconception. It is a misconception.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

So is there misconceptions in pet insurance? I I think the number one is one that we've already discussed. So people People don't look at pet health insurance like either with automobile insurance, because you have to have automobile insurance. People for some reason want to know, like, I'm gonna get my money back. I want to get money the one I like you don't get your money back from your car insurance unless you get into an accident, and then that's not the point of it. The point of it is it's there for the unexpected. Um, and then also the the main one being putting money into the bank account. Because that's that was gonna be my number one thing. People are like, oh, I just put a money into a bank account.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Again, self-insure people.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

You can, it does not work. We know statistically, that does not work. You're gonna unless you're a millionaire. Yep. It doesn't work. Even then you have the star as a billionaire. It just doesn't work. If something happens again in that first few months that you you don't have enough, and then what do you follow up with? And then again, if that furnace drops, if your furnace breaks, what's the first account you're going into? Yeah, the pet account.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Well, and do you know, I'm I'm curious what the statistics are on cat versus dog.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Like oh, cat dogs are way more insured than cats. And it's frustrating to me, cats are cats are so affordable, and like you know, economic euthanasia is something that we talk about. I cannot tell you how many cats we've euthanized in practice that are blocked. Cat insurance literally is between $30 and $50 a month on average, can go up to 60 or 70 depending on the the breed and what you're like, what limits you're going to. But that's a few Starbucks drinks a month, and your cat can live. But I think unfortunately, sometimes from the client perspective, cats are kind of still seen as disposable compared to dogs. Yeah, I hate that because my cats are up there with my dogs, but you know, free kittens off Khajiji kind of thing. Yeah. So cats are definitely not insured anywhere near as much as dogs are. You'll see a lot more purebred cats than you see will see in the dog side. It's because you know, people are investing into purebred animals, so they're gonna get the insurance. Those are the clientele that we get.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Yeah, it's wild. I like I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Insurance, I I I I am such an insurance believer, but there's I know in this world there's just I I think unfortunately, and I've seen it a lot, is it takes something like the story in order to understand.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Absolutely. I always say once somebody uses insurance and needs it, they never go without it ever again. Once somebody realizes it, um, and that's sometimes too when we have the the free trials in vet clinics that all the insurance companies have. Um I have clinics that are like trying to, you know, get go on this free trial, and people are like, Oh, I don't want to sign up for something. And they're like, Well, something could happen to your dog. And I have one of my really, really good practices. This is a perfect example. They were trying to sign this lady up on a free trial, you know, we're trying to have a healthy conversation about insurance. They're like, Oh, your dog could like fall out of a truck and like break its leg. And she's like, Fine, I'll sign up for it. Two weeks later, the dog fell out of the truck and broke his leg. They they gave the client my phone number and she called me crying, thank you so much. Oh my god, did she think you like put a spell on her? No, no, no, no. But she said she would have had to put her dog down because she wouldn't have been able to afford it. So it's I cannot speak enough.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

It's it's hard. I think Canadians in general feel super financially stressed. Right, especially now.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

And like I I'm the insurance world is hurting right now because well, our industry is hurting right now. Yeah, I mean, the influx of COVID animals that the shelters are overrun, they're they're dropping like flies. People uh don't have like disposable income so much right now. The state of the world is even scarier, so people are holding off on things. So we're at this ugly point in the world. I hope that we get over this hump and all the mega stuff goes away.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

I well, I think the other complicating factor too is that and I hope it it makes it so that that trajectory actually happens where we keep getting more pets insured, is that the pet culture itself has changed rapidly in such a short period of time. So from when my mom was a kid and the dog is outside and eating whatever, yeah, and the cats are mousing and that's how they live. They don't come inside to now it's like your baby.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Our demographics have changed, and I think that the majority of our people who have insurance are actually um the generation like precursor to children. Yeah. And then you're people who whose children have aged out. So those are our two big demographics because those pets are their children.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Yeah, but yeah, but it was such a huge pet culture shift within like a 50-year period.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Such a tiny short period.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

But then what's happened on top of that is that people are now expecting this super high level of care for their animals. Oh, absolutely. Which is amazing. It's great, right? Like I've I've practiced at the top of my license very proudly for a long time where I've worked in facilities with you know top-tier medicine is being practiced and that sort of thing. And it's it's fantastic, but there's I feel like there's still this gap there. Yep. Oh, there is like we want, yeah, we see them as our babies, we want this great quality of care, but we're not saving the money.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

We're not we're not understanding to have that care. Yeah, there's a cost attached to it. And I think that a lot of people don't understand, even just in the veterinary industry, the amount of overhead that there is. Yes, people we have the misconception that like vet the vet industry is greedy, and people don't really like, we're all driving beater cars. Like, yeah, like we do this because we love it.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

I drove it last night, and there are flashing lights on the dashboard. And my truck that was 24 years old has just died. Like, let's just be but all my pets have insurance.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Yeah, but that's the thing. We love our animals, and like we like we get it, and and you know, in as a whole, costs are just astronomical now. So yeah, it uh I hope that people really start to to understand that side of it. But again, it's hard in Canada because people just don't understand costs.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Well, they don't understand the like you said, the privatized health care side of our vet medicine. And uh Dr. Muir Holloway check uh did an interview a couple months ago or a month ago, and she says, like, here are the cost of getting a brand new puppy or a brand new kitten and insurance.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

We have cost of care brochures that might like that we give to vet clinics to have in their wedding room list, not to do with insurance, and it literally on one side it's dog cat, the other side's puppy kitten, and it shows an annual cost that can incur. People get a free dog, they think, oh, whatever. It's it's a lot of money.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

There's a cost. There's a cost. My dog food bringing a third dog into the house that is that big. Dog food. We went from having a bag every five weeks to now we go through almost three bags in costs in five weeks. The costs are insane. Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Well, and I mean the other nice thing too about insurance that I've noticed over the years is it started to cover some um food. Yep, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Yep, most insurance companies do have a coverage of food. Yep, yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Well, if it's for diagnosed illness, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

So for like kidney disease, allergies, yeah, well, that type of thing. I mean, I have Labradors, they're allergic to everything. Of course they are. That's what I think your policy. Well, but true, I know that's what I mean. Is like, what should we know? I had no idea.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

So, like, if because Boo Boo got attacked by spiders on his nose, it was a whole thing. It looks like spiders multiple. I don't know, it was gross. If my vet was here, she is here somewhere, we could ask her, but it was uh they like had to do three different biopsies on his face, and then he was on steroids, so like predators, and then he wouldn't eat. So then they prescribed him like a very tasty diet so he would eat. And it was covered, they covered his whole nose. So his nose, this is like his nose, because we moved out to an acreage, he just got into something. It was $1,700 for them to like do his biopsy and then send it away and whatever. And we got like $1,500. Awesome, fantastic. Like that fantastic covers his premiums for that year.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

But and then that's what I like say that in itself, there it just paid for itself, you're having it. Yeah, absolutely. I'm a huge believer in insurance. And he even I tell people like you hope that you never need it to pay for itself. You don't want something bad to happen to them. It's there for the unexpected. Yeah, you have it and hope to God you don't need it.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Well, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

I I know that you can't speak for you know, some of the well, you may or may not be able to speak for some of the other pet insurance companies, but I'm wondering for pets plus us, is it just dogs and cats? Are we seeing any sort of exotics?

SPEAKER_01 29:56

So we just do dogs and cats. We did hor a stint of horses for a while. Um that's a whole thing, you know, it's a whole other thing. So we're not doing that anymore. No, no, no. Exotics gets really challenging. Um, I know there is a company in the states that do exotics, no one in Canada does at this point in time. Um, but just the cost that it costs to cover exotics because their fees are like and they their life short span is so much shorter. Right. Um, what I hear, I hear a lot of negative things from the one in the US. We don't have any plans at this point to cover exotics. In the UK, it's a little different. They have they actually cover ferrets and rabbits as well because they're working animals and they're a little it's a little different over there. But yeah, we're just gonna be strictly most most insurance companies in Canada, I think all that I can think of right now are just dogs and cats.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

Okay, because I want a tortoise so badly that it's not a short lifespan. No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

So did you did you see the one that I had that no? Oh god. I had a I had like a 60-pound tortoise as look at us in my living room. Oh yeah, I was fostering. You don't have oh you're fostering.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Do you have pictures? I do have pictures. Okay, so the watering crested chihuahua and the turtle.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

Chinese crested chihuahua.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

Oh, Chinese, what did I call it?

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Water. Water further.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

Like you're thinking of her chestnut, maybe?

SPEAKER_02 31:01

I don't know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

The dog of 10 things I hate about you that's on the pool table.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Um princess. No, that's what she did. No, that's his penis. That's his penis.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

Um God, and I've seen the movie a million times. Kaylee, what's the name of the Chinese crested in um? Ten Things I Hate About You.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Oh, this dog. Oh, yeah. No, how to lose a guy in 10 days.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Yeah, how to lose a guy in 10 days. We'll we'll find it out.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

I can't believe that I don't know that. I should know that. I've seen it a million times. Yeah. Oh, it's like, oh, it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

But we gotta put the photo up of you in the whatever classroom you have today. Yes. With a Chinese crested and a tortoise.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

And a tortoise. The tortoises of me. And like walking around my house with my bull terriers. If I opened my fridge for treats for the dogs, the tortoise would come out and they'd be waiting for. The dog's name was Krull. Krullin.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

So so I'm yeah, I I realize how much of a time commitment a uh tortoise. Oh yeah. So I'm just I'm I'm waiting until maybe.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Are you looking for a little one?

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Uh yeah, you know what? I'm I'm open to I have a box turtle who needs a home.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

Oh, really? He's 32 years old.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

How long do they live today?

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Uh, he would be about maybe 60.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

Okay, so another 30 years.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yeah, he uh with he came with a really bad situation, and I rescued him and I got him back to health, and I was that was my goal to get him back to health and then find him a new home, and he's amazing. His name is Funky Brewster.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Okay, we'll talk after him really bad.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

A little deformed because they he was like literally in a little Auschwitz cage in someone's basement with no heat or proper food, so his foot his shell is deformed, but he's got so much personality.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

So, what I learned is that's called husbandry. That's and uh because my vet tried to get me a turtle and a uh fat-tailed gecko. Oh, yeah. And I learned about husbandry, and I was like, so they need a partner? And she's like, no, chilling in. They're where they live. They need care for the country. And I'm like, so I can't just like put a rabbit pen with no.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Um oh I haven't gotten one yet because I'm like, I need I it's a big commitment.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Mine comes with a mixed setup, even in outdoor enclosure.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Okay, okay, we're gonna talk about that has to go in your will. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

Oh no, okay. Like you, my son is 17, he's like, Mom, I don't want to inherit the turtle.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Okay. Yeah. There you go. Well, that's the other thing, too. Like, I wish insurance, like pet insurance companies would have a clause for grief. Like when the pet goes through euthanasia.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Can I actually just say something about that? Um not that I'm I'm trying to keep this a generic conversation, but pets plus us, um, we actually include in our policies, um, we have three three what we call blue ribbon benefits. And one of them, if any of our clients have a pet that's diagnosed with a terminal illness or has a pet that passes away, we offer free counseling to them. Come on! I just got chills from that. I know amazing. We also have um free access, unlimited access to the pet poison helpline, and a uh pet help phone, such as like a triage, similar to what you guys do if they have they can call and find out if they should go to the emergency or see the vet the next day. That is unbelievable. Yeah, three of our best things that we offer. Amazing and included as well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

I was just looking at like uh uh you need to. I mean, there's no timeline on grief, and pet grief is a real thing.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

And and like we work in this industry, and our families are like lit I lost so many animals, and they're like, It's just a dog, what's wrong with you? And I suffered. Like I just I needed I needed that extra. It is my it is I was more upset. This is awful. I'm gonna say this out loud. I was more upset about most of my dogs dying than my grandparents because I was close, they were a part of my daily routine. Yeah, yeah, and then they weren't there. Yeah, yeah. I grieved.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Oh, my my heart dog right now.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

I'm gonna be um my husband said, I literally hope I die before the dog because I cannot deal with this. Like when you lose this dog, I don't want to be here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Well, I bought boo-boo when my dad died. He is like my grief dog, he was like my emotional support animal.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Yeah, that's why we got bean because six animals died, and then we had a bunch of relatives die, and we were just not in a good place, and then I'm like, I need a dog. So she was our grief dog. And did she ever get me out of that?

SPEAKER_00 35:02

I know, it's unreal. But that's where we don't like there are some employers now that will give you time off, like bereavement or a pet yes passing.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

I'm lucky because I'm one of my like my companies died I have I've taken it off. Yep, yeah, and I think that's so valuable. It is absolutely because it's literally your your life is up in upheaval. Like it's that is you grieve so hard like a child, and I I don't want to say like they're not, but yes, for people that is a child. So that's all they have. That's all they have.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Yeah, I and I think the other thing too that people can start because we've seen this um on our end as well through Animal Health Link is um EAPs, like the employee assistance programs that um uh employers have from any industry now, they're getting more pressure from their staff to say, well, hey, I don't have kids, yep, but I want to need like something for my pets. And so I could see pet insurance falling under that.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

We actually do a lot of employee benefits. We are so we're partnered with quite a few companies. So we actually offer employee benefits for through a lot of companies and we actually have discounts and stuff through that. So there's a lot out there, yeah. And you're right, there's a lot of people that want that. They look for a company that offers things like that. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Even just like even the perk of I can bring my dog to work with me.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Like there's such when I say there's a pet culture shift, like there truly is. Like we have a pet from the office, everyone brings their dog to work, it's amazing. Yeah, say my dog comes to the office with me. We have a lot of vet clinics now that will actually, as part of the perks, they pay for their their staff employees' pet insurance. Yeah, we we have quite a few clinics that do that, and it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Oh my gosh. Well, we've got our question that we ask every guest. This is the question. Okay, are you ready?

SPEAKER_00 36:39

I'm ready. Okay, so what we want to know is what is your win song? The song that you're like, yeah. Uh Sia Unstoppable.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Love Sia. Yeah. Oh, that's so good.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Yeah, and then your um walk-in song.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

If you open the door, it's gonna be the same, it's gonna be Sia Unstoppable as well, because like that's that's my jam. That's your pump. That is like, yeah, try to stop me. Should we play that when she walks into the bowling tomorrow night? We should. We should. I'm the person if you tell me that I can't do something, I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna do it better than you. Yeah. Oh don't look out the moth.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

I always say a chip on the shoulder is like be the best weapon you can ever have. Yeah, it's the best drive. Uh, and then your funeral song.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Um, just because I want everyone to cry really hard at my funeral, um, somewhere over the rainbow by uh uh Israel. Israel coming up. Yes, that would I yeah, please cry at my funeral, but also celebrate. I want there to be music and I want there to be a party. But please cry. Also, I want people to cry.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

I that song, like my cousin has a set of twins, and that song was what Rito, when he was a baby, would like fall asleep to. He loved out cry every time. That time has such a beautiful play for him now, and he's like, What is this? Yeah, and he wants like head, like he's like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Well, thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you guys so much for having me. Great to talk to you about this. Super important, you know, um sector in our industry. Um, where can people get a hold of you if they want to know more about pets plus um www.petsplus.com.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

And they can call and like ask questions.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Yeah, especially like in the vet industry. So I really encourage um my vet like vet staff. Call me. I'm your point of contact. If you have a question, if you need hand holding, you want to know about someone's policy, just call me. If you call the 1-800 number, they're just trying to sell a policy. I'm literally your connection. Just call me. Literally. So basically, I'll call Liz. Call Liz. Call Liz Blake. Yeah, love her. Thanks, Liz. Thank you guys so much.