The Year Started With a Skin Thing
Last spring, Mochi started scratching. Not the casual occasional scratch dogs do. Real, focused, ear-grabbing scratching that left bald patches behind her left ear and along her flank.
Caleb thought it was fleas at first. He treated her, checked her, treated her again. No fleas. The scratching kept getting worse. By the time he took her in, she had broken her skin in two spots and was licking them raw at night.
The vet's first guess was allergies. Mochi got steroids, an anti-itch medication, and a recommendation to switch food. The whole visit ran $340. The food switch added another $80 a month to Caleb's grocery bill.
Two weeks later, she was worse. Back to the vet. This time the vet did skin scrapes and bloodwork, which ran $480. Diagnosis: atopic dermatitis, basically chronic environmental allergies. Common in Shibas. Often lifelong. The vet recommended a daily medication called Apoquel that runs about $90 a month for Mochi's weight.
What the Insurance Did Here
Caleb's policy reimbursed 80 percent after his $250 annual deductible. So of the $820 in vet bills for the skin workup, he got back about $456. Not amazing, but not nothing. The ongoing Apoquel is covered as a prescription, which gets him another $72 back per month.
Worth noting: if he had signed up for insurance AFTER the skin issues started, none of this would have been covered. Atopic dermatitis is a textbook chronic condition that gets permanently excluded as pre-existing for any policy started after diagnosis. He bought the policy when Mochi was a puppy, which is why it covered.
Then Came the Knee
About three months after the skin diagnosis, Mochi was zooming around the dog park doing her signature Shiba thing where she runs in tight figure-eights at top speed. Caleb said she stopped suddenly, looked confused, and started limping on her back left leg.
She walked it off in about ten minutes and seemed fine the rest of the day. But the next morning she would not put weight on it.
Vet visit. X-rays. Diagnosis: partial cruciate ligament tear, plus moderate luxating patella on the same leg. Both common in Shibas. The vet's recommendation was surgical repair, specifically a TPLO procedure to stabilize the knee. Estimated cost: $4,800 at a Portland specialty surgical center.
I will never forget Caleb texting me from the parking lot of the vet clinic. Just a screenshot of the estimate and a text that said "so this is happening I guess."
The Surgery and Recovery
The TPLO went well. Mochi spent one night in the hospital, came home with a cone, a fentanyl patch, and a detailed eight-week recovery plan involving zero off-leash activity, controlled walks only, and a long list of medications.
Caleb took two weeks off work to be with her during the worst part of recovery. Mochi was not allowed on couches or beds. She had to be carried up and down stairs. There were follow-up appointments at weeks two, six, and twelve.
Total surgery and follow-up costs came to $5,640. Caleb's insurance reimbursed 80 percent of the eligible amount after deductible. He got back about $4,150. His out-of-pocket on the knee alone was around $1,490, plus the time off work.
What the Specialty Vet Told Him
The surgeon, a woman named Dr. Patel at the specialty practice, told Caleb something that stuck with both of us. She said in her experience, Shibas tear cruciate ligaments at a higher rate than people expect because of the way they move. Those sharp directional changes and the high-speed zoomies that Shiba owners think are cute and adorable are also hard on the same knee structures.
She mentioned that the other knee will likely need the same procedure within three to five years. About 50 to 60 percent of dogs who tear one CCL will tear the other one eventually. Mochi is on the list. Caleb is mentally preparing.
And Then the Stomach Thing in November
I thought we were done with Mochi's bad year. Then November happened.
Mochi got into something at a friend's Thanksgiving dinner. Caleb is still not sure what. Maybe turkey skin, maybe a piece of bone, maybe some of the cheese plate. By midnight she was vomiting. By 3 a.m. she was bleeding. Emergency vet visit at the 24-hour clinic in northeast Portland.
The emergency exam alone was $220. Bloodwork another $280. Abdominal ultrasound $420. Diagnosis: hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, possibly triggered by something she ate. She needed to stay for IV fluids, anti-nausea medication, and monitoring.
Two nights in the hospital. Total bill: $2,180.
The Insurance Came Through Again
The annual deductible was already met from the knee surgery, so the emergency situation was covered at the full 80 percent reimbursement. Caleb got back about $1,744. His out-of-pocket on the emergency: $436.
Mochi was fine within a week. Caleb was a wreck for about three weeks. He kept second-guessing every meal he gave her after that. He still does, honestly.
The Total Damage for the Year
Adding it all up, Mochi's year ran about $7,200 in vet costs across the three events plus ongoing medications. Caleb's insurance reimbursements totaled approximately $5,600. His out-of-pocket including the deductible and his 20 percent share landed around $1,600 for the year, not counting premiums of about $480.
For comparison, if he had not had insurance, that $7,200 would have hit his savings directly. He told me at one point that he probably would have considered not doing the TPLO surgery without coverage. Mochi would have lived, but with chronic pain and reduced mobility. Insurance is what made the decision financially possible.
What I Took From Watching All This
Shibas look healthy and tough and like they would be cheap to insure. They are healthy compared to many breeds, but they have a few specific risk areas worth knowing about. Atopic dermatitis is common and chronic. Knee issues, particularly cruciate tears and luxating patellas, show up at higher rates than the general dog population. GI sensitivity is real. The American Kennel Club's breed information at akc.org mentions some of these tendencies in its breed health section.
If you are getting a Shiba puppy, the time to buy insurance is now. Before any skin issues show up, before any limping happens, before any of the chronic stuff has been written down in a vet record. Once those records exist, those conditions are excluded from any new policy you start.
If you already have an adult Shiba with no major medical history yet, insurance is still worth pricing out. Compare a few companies. Read the exclusions for hereditary conditions and chronic conditions specifically. Caleb was on his third quote when he finally found a policy that explicitly covered cruciate ligament injuries without breed-specific exclusions.
The premium he pays now is about $40 a month. After this year, that math feels obvious.