Being we have a new family member of Rosie, our Border Terrier Jack Russell cross, arriving in just over a week, I need to start looking at an insurance for her. Can anyone give me a help on recommending a company to get a quote. No decent piccies of her at the moment, but will post one when we collect her. Cant wait !!

Tesco been pretty good and don’t cost the earth!

Petplan. Our dog had quite bad colitis which required a stay at the vets which they paid no questions asked. Then when she hurt her back earlier this year, again, they stumped up the cash for the scan without any problems.

Edit: I should add that the scan cost more than we’ve ever paid them.

Petplan + 1

Churchill – ohhh yes

Petplan here as well.

Not the cheapest, but they’ve never not paid out for us.

They deal with claims really fast as well.

Might be some good info on this topic a few weeks ago.

MoreThan for our cat and dog.

Just done a Petplan ‘ for life’ quote at £23 a month. Quite a bit more than others, but will bear that in mind of them being good.
Hi PePPer, long time no ride?
Will look at Churchill and Tescos too, although some dont want to know until she is 8 weeks old, which is a pain, as want to get it sorted and out the way now.

Petplan are amongst the best. Not the cheapest but as with a lot of things you get what you pay for.

Need to go for lifetime cover, essential if your dog develops a long term illness as many companies will only cover for 12 months. At least 4 k cover and more if you live in London means you should be coverd for most eventualities. Pet insurance is expensive as it does get claimed on a lot.

Watch for some companies that collect premiums by lunar month rather than calendar month. V sneaky.
Watch for companies that state you have for example 2k cover but actually limited to £500 per condition.

When you make a claim, one of the first things the insurance company do is ask your vet for a full history. If there are any relevant issues that pre dated the policy being issued they won’t pay. Makes it difficult to swap companies if your dog does have problems and means it is important to get the right policy 1st time round.

Lots won’t start before 8 weeks. Some breeders supply 4 weeks free insurance when you pick the pup up and some vets do the same when they go for the first check.

Read the small print and decide on your level of risk.

Pet plan life just about does what it says

Insurance for what exactly?

Churchill surely! 😆

Pet plan here too – has already paid out more than we’ve paid in.

although some dont want to know until she is 8 weeks old, which is a pain, as want to get it sorted and out the way now.

How old will the pup be when you pick it up?

E&L for us. Again never had an issue getting a claim paid. Nor did we have a problem with Lloyds TSB.

Because vets sign off the bills pretty much confirming the animal was ill there are fewer issues with pet insurers being a PITA than for other types of insurance.

Biggest issue is previous conditions not being covered and the way that the moment you make a claim, that condition will be excluded from all future policies.

Some insurers offer cover for reoccurring conditions. The problem with this is that the holding insurer is likely to put the premiums up the more the condition occurs and then if you move to another insurer that condition will be excluded.

Cheers

Danny B

Or even better is to self insure, put the premiums you would spend into a savings account and let it build up.

My spaniels uninsurable for his legs now due to having had 4 operations on them, I self insure.

Pet plan costs a fortune! But if you don’t stop the insurance they will keep paying out.

Oh and this thread is useless without pictures!

It is a long time no ride, I have just taken over working in the Reading area after 5 years of other projects I may have to drag the bike down with me 🙂

We use argos platinum. Definitely not the cheapest but it’s a life long policy with a yearly refresh rate of 7k. It’s really all down to what level you can afford and what problems you see arising I guess as well. Just been aware in the first few years of life is the only real possibility of switching and changing so pick which is right for you early on. Pet insurances have you over a barrel once you’ve started to make claims as far as premiums go as if you go elsewhere the dogs won’t be covered for any previous claims. Can make them fairly redundant and useless!

Petplan ultimate for us. It’s expensive, maybe £75 a month for the cat & dog, but definitely worth it.

Our dog has just had 2 leg operations at £2000 a time and the cat had to have a tooth out which cost £400. all paid for no problem.

The dog is now on medicine for life which is also paid for, we just collect it from the vets as we need it. Petplan deal direct with the vets.

One of the guys at work is with Tesco, his only covers the first £2000 of a claim, his dog has been ill for 3 years, during which time it’s cost him £5000 of his own money in medicine, all of which is totally avoidable by getting the right insurance.

Whatever you go for, read the small print and however much you think it’s going to cost if your cat or dog get ill, double it and put a zero on the end. It’s worth it in the long run.

Petplan ultimate for us. It’s expensive, maybe £75 a month for the cat & dog, but definitely worth it.

😯

Yep, vets bills are expensive because they are all ripping us off and driving aston martins it costs a lot of money to have modern equipment and provide the level of service people expect. The referal options now available simply were not on the table before, more and more complex surgery and more expensive drugs are out and people pay for them.

Would suggest insurance for peace of mind on larger potential costs – even as a vet my GF had our dog and cat insured. The cost of long term treatment is too high some times. Also carefully read the small print on cost, excess, refunding treatment and lifetime clauses. Once you claim on a lifetime policy you are with them for life for that condition.

One with “Sainsbury” which provides a similar cover but at less cost

The other is self insured due to his age. His premium went through the roof when he hit 10 and excluded all age related illness. He has about £3.5k in his account.

I use Animal Friends and they have been very good.

Thanks for the advice. Yes she will be 8 weeks old when we get her a week Saturday. Just sorted out her cage and a 1000 poop bags 😯 and let the wife deal with the toys and girlie things. Plenty to chew on here now and I will post a piccie when I have a decent one.
PePPeR, sounds great, get that bike out !!

That’s for dog & cat combined. Both are rescue and both have been significantly ill during the time we’ve had them. It might not be that much, the other half sorts it out but it’s definitely been well used and worth it for us. My other half also has horses, if you think dogs & cats are expensive, everything pales into insignificance compared to them.

I know our vet very well and they will always recommend PetPlan, they’ve never had any problems with them. Our two Spaniels have had major problems and can easily be in excess of £6k per year. 😯

If you have pet insurance the vet will through the book at it, getting all the tests done so they find out the problem very quickly.. If you are paying they tend to do one test wait for results, then do another, which can lead to a much longer diagnoses time. This is purely because the owners are money concious, lets face it not everyone has £1k to just find out what the problem is.

A caution regarding E&L, two of the clinics around here will not accept E&L insurance as they do not pay the vet despite taking money from the clients, they have lost thousands to them with all the claims still outstanding.

If you have pet insurance the vet will through the book at it, getting all the tests done so they find out the problem very quickly.. If you are paying they tend to do one test wait for results, then do another, which can lead to a much longer diagnoses time. This is purely because the owners are money concious, lets face it not everyone has £1k to just find out what the problem is.

A caution regarding E&L, two of the clinics around here will not accept E&L insurance as they do not pay the vet despite taking money from the clients, they have lost thousands to them with all the claims still outstanding.

A good vet will offer both options and explain the cost of both ways, a lot of insurance companies will pay back rather than pay the vets so you still might need to cover the initial cost.

Another vote for Petplan here.

They have always paid out for Basement Cat, plus they will deal directly with the vet if you authorise it, which can save you an awful lot of hassle.

Pet plan were recommended to me by a couple of veto nary nurses I met. They recon they are the only ones that pay out. So much so that our vet will bill them direct. Also most other insurers don’t insure long term stuff like diabetes or other life long illnesses, after the first year it’s not covered.

So, Petplan, don’t even think about it.

Well, here she is home with us today. Big day for her , which involved mostly sleeping.

She has come with 3 months Petplan insurance, which is great , as I nearly hit the button to buy last night. So, will get Petplan to follow on after the freebie.
She has met the cats. Both seem to know shes a baby and one has bopped her on the nose to show who’s boss, but seems very complacent with the whole stressfull day she has had.
I hope she has a healthy and long life of fun and games ahead of her.

Well, what can I say, other than thank everyone for the headsup on Petplan insurance. Currently she is still covered under her freebie, but she had the most terrible accident last night while running in the garden and badly damaged her front leg. This basically snapped a chunk of her front leg socket off. We wisked her off the the vets, who immediately referred her to an Orthapediac Vets about 60 miles away. Today she has had surgery to bolt her leg together. Its been a very traumatic time for us and the dog and we are all devasted with it happening to her. We know she has had the op and has come round from the anaestetic. We just want to get her home now. I have had to stump the £2600 up front for now, but the vets are dealing with Petplan in the morning. We will also be taking out a policy with them when we call to advise them in the morning, to start when the freebie runs out.
Just want her home now to be with us and recover to be a happy dog and family again !!

Healing vibes. Glad to hear you we’re able to head straight to the orthopaedic surgeon and hope she makes a full recovery. Let her rest up in the hospital and then follow the discharge instructions carefully. Dogs are daft and think they can run before they can walk after any injury. Good luck.

Ps it is definitely best to stick to the same insurance company now as well.

Sainsbury’s or Petplan (you get double nectar points with Sainsbury’s)

I’m glad you got her fixed up, was it her elbow that gave way?

As a way of saying she’ll be better, my Spaniel has snapped both his elbows and at 5 years old is now still able to run rings round me on a bike ride and works all the shooting season.

My other half also has horses, if you think dogs & cats are expensive, everything pales into insignificance compared to them.

So does my wife, and tbh large-animal Vets seem reasonable. Maybe we’ve been lucky.

And I’d definitely look at self-insured especially if you’ve a cross/mongrel/strong breed. We’ve two spaniels, 7 and 3 y/o. Never had insurance and never even paid for any Vets above the usual yearly jabs. Horse-wise too, it was going to be +£1k pa, so we’ve saved at least £10k in the time she’s had her current one.

We were new dog owners (only had him a month), when he broke a leg running round the garden. First question from vets was who we were insured by, basically if it wasn’t PetPlan we would have to pay for it ourselves and claim back from insurance unless we could get pre-approval (in writing) from the insurer. They had a lot of issues with ‘supermarket’ insurance schemes. If we had a PetPlan policy or pre-approval then the vets would admin the whole thing without us having to pay anything.
We were with Direct Line, who were brilliant throughout, provided pre-approval within a day and we’d only had the policy a week.

Pepp, yes, her elbow joint gave way. Apparently quite common in puppies as not fully formed. We have been given a freebie with petplan on her innoculations and microchipping, so means we are covered up to £4k for this. Ironically after everyone said about petplan, I was about to hit the button, when the wife came home after the dogs microchipping to say we had another 4 weeks free, so was going to do it this week for the annual policy.
We have just had the call, that we can collect her tonight, she is up and awake and moving on her leg.

Finally given up this year. New option put premium into separate account and hope that this covers cost of treatment (takin excess into account). Hopefully, there is a surplus built up that can be used for expensive treatments when/if necessary. If not, we keep the money not the insurance company. Considering the same with personal health as well.