When we got our puppy our friends recommended getting pet insurance. We thought it would be strange to insure our pet and expensive. You never know they said. They were right. Our dog got into something in the yard, pulled a muscle messing around on wet leaves and just this past summer decided to play with a groundhog who didn't want any of it. Without that insurance we would have found ourselves with several ridiculously high vet bills. Love our VPI.