It’s that time of year again to renew the pet insurance and our Sainsburys plan has gone up by £5 a month. They’ve confirmed that’s the best price they can do so it’s time to look around and see what else is on offer.

Can anyone recommend insurers to look at for quotes? Not so bothered about being the cheapest, but looking for decent value for money.

I’d be putting the premium into a jar each month rather than paying for insurance. Easier to claim and you’re not giving someone free money if you don’t have to.

Speaking as a big softie when it comes to animals, if I was in the territory of spending thousands at a vet I’d be asking myself who I was doing it for exactly.

You haven’t claimed for anything while with your existing insurers have you? Be very wary about changing insurance companies if you have – the new one will treat anything remotely to do with that as an existing condition and not pay out a penny towards it.
I’ve always gone with a ‘lifetime’ policy for our dog – certainly not the cheapest option, but in terms of peace of mind (and actually payouts for operations and conditions over his lifetime) it’s been invaluable.
Lifetime policy comparison
I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve seen at the vets who’ve looked pained when they’ve come to pay the bill because their dog has reached the limit for their condition.

We’re with MoreThan for ours – Marks & Spencer became prohibitively expensive and as he’s now nearly 14 many other insurance companies wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole. I have only just put in a couple of claims so I can’t yet vouch for how good they are when it comes to coughing up though!

We’re with Direct Line and they recently coughed up £2000 for an eye op for our cat after she got a nasty deep scratch on her cornea from another cat. I’m so glad we’re insured!

I’d be putting the premium into a jar each month rather than paying for insurance.

I’d be £6640 worse off if I’d done that last year ! 😕

Animal Friends for my 4 cats. Been pretty good when required. As for sticking 6 quid a month (per cat) in the pot in the hope that it’d cover any possible fees if one of then got sick, that shows the author has no comprehension of the vets fees a sick animal can acrue!

I’d be £6640 worse off if I’d done that last year !

Which was my second point; if I had to spend seven grand on a pet, I’d be concerned that it was poorly enough that I’d just be prolonging the agony.

As a tree-hugging vegetarian who had a cat for 18 years and still gets teary about it if I think too closely about it, I find it a bit weird that most people will eat animals daily but spend thousands keeping one specific one going when it’s buggered. There comes a point where it’s not fair to the pet.

Which was my second point; if I had to spend seven grand on a pet, I’d be concerned that it was poorly enough that I’d just be prolonging the agony.

That really depends on the issue.
Ours needed a new hip and she’s a hell of a lot better for it so it’s £7k well spent. It wouldn’t have been fair, at such a young age, to not have gone ahead with the op IMO.

That really depends on the issue.
Ours needed a new hip and she’s a hell of a lot better for it so it’s £7k well spent. It wouldn’t have been fair, at such a young age, to not have gone ahead with the op IMO.

What Breed?

Lab

I find it a bit weird that most people will eat animals daily but spend thousands keeping one specific one going when it’s buggered

Let’s extend that to humans too. I’ll bet the tories would have a bit of that…

I’d be putting the premium into a jar each month rather than paying for insurance. Easier to claim and you’re not giving someone free money if you don’t have to.

We’d also be £2925 worse off if we did that too, after our puppy broke her front elbow after just 2 weeks with us. Luckily Petplan paid all except the £75 excess.
At 10 weeks old, I didn’t think she was ‘too buggered’ to put her to sleep……….

Lab

There’s a surprise…

Let’s extend that to humans too.

Gladly. Sign me up.

I switched from John Lewis, which had crept up to £60 a month for 2 middle aged dogs, to Tesco’s mid-spec one for £18 a month for both dogs. The cover isn’t as good, but it’ll do. They (Tesco) do an A&E type cover as well for even less.

The best Pet Insurance?

We renewed ours with Sainsbury’s on the condition that we continued to receive the double nectar points – they agreed

I’ve had issues with animal friends not paying the full cost and doing anything they can to get out of paying despite being on the premium cover. I couldn’t change once I had claimed because existing conditions aren’t covered on new policies.
I am with pet protect now with my new dog but haven’t had to claim yet.