Just read a great article by a dog columnist for a New England newspaper.

This woman is a columnist on pets (specializing in dogs) for the Sun Chronicle up in Massachsetts. She comments that she typically wouldn't "give a second smell" to such a "preposterous" idea as pet insurance.

Then she heard about a dog lover who was spending $500 per month in cancer medication for her 17 year old pit bull.

Taking a closer look at her own new puppy and aging (11-year-old) dog, she realized how much she was spending on vet bills, and the ways she could better spend that money on her pets.

The piece covers some of the gotchas and limitations of pet insurance policies -- it always pays to do your homework -- and at the end, she opted for a new policy covering both pooches.

Good for her!