[Closed] Pet Insurance

Lab and Jack Russell costs me about £28 a month with M&S, excess about £80 I think.

i have 'More Than' Insurance' its £ 7.50 a month i think and up to 3,000 quid for vet bills, 3rd party up to a million quid. and £500 if he dies..

Put £65 quid per month into a savings account?

1 bit of advice - if you've had a few claims in the past, be aware that if you change insurance companies the new company won't insure any previously existing conditions. It's depressingly common for owners to think they're insured, only to find out they aren't because it's a condition the animal's been treated for prior to starting the new policy.

Personally, I would also recommend going for a "life long" policy rather than an annual one. The former covers your pet for illnesses for the life of the animal; annual policies are renewed each year and exclusions will be applied for conditions treated in the past 12 months.

You get what you pay for to a degree but most of the big names seem ok. Just dont go anywhere near E&L.

edit: Equally yes, you could put the money in a savings account - if you're lucky (no claims for the first few years) and strong willed you'll have the money there if your pets need treatment, and a little bonus if they dont 🙂

We're with PetPlan and would highly recommend them. We have to pay the first £90 per condition per year, but they cover hydrotherapy, and have been very easy to deal with.

Over the 8 years we've had our dog if we'd had to pay for vet care ourselves, it would have come to over 9k (3 big ops).

MrsT

Vet I share an office with recommended
M7S
waitrose and
petplan

and also echoed advice above about pre-exisiting conditions and also said watch you claim limit (its all too easy to rack up 3k plus bills)

We've never had pet insurance for the dogs, nor do we insure my wifes' horses. We looked at the costs and it seem (like most insurance) that its all about insuring money.

We just pay as and when, and the vet costs are nowhere near the price of insurance. I do though also think that if you have insurance the vet will 'spend it', as opposed to discussing what is needed and 'agreeing' a fee.

I only take insurance that is required, by law (car/motorbike), or where its so cheap compared to the insured-value that it would be daft not to (contents insurance).

What B R said. Seems that everyone wants to sell you "extended warranties" and phone / holiday / pet / breathing insurance these days. Far better to syphon off an amount into another account every month and use it for emergencies. IMHO, etc etc.

Four grand for a vet's bill? I'm an animal lover, but c'mon, four GRAND? Jesus Harold Christ, hard as it would be I'd be saying my goodbyes and heading off the the local animal shelter for a kitten.

Petplan here. Might not be able to get insurance though, if they are above a certain age or something, or won't insure you for previous injuries, and will probably require your dogs to be examined by a vet before insuring them. So don't cancel your insurance until you have set up a new insurance.

In the last year I think we claimed £6K+, due to knee injury and having a ACL reconstruction or something, it was £1K just for the MRI, oh and these costs were reduced as family member is a veterinary nurse. But we did have the best veterinary surgeon in England operatings on her at one of the best vet places. 😉

2nd fbk and Misstricky
Petplan, not the cheapest but always pay out and its a life policy
costs around £30pm for the dog, policy cost hasnt incresased any more than 50p a year over 7 years despite several significant claims nearly every year

br and cougar obviously never had a lab with a snapped cruciate ligament (£2.5k titanium plates and ongoing arthritus) and a heart murmur or a horse with colic (even the cost of putting a horse to sleep and subsequent disposal can be astonomical compared to cost of insurance)
Pet insurance is the only one I have actually ever used, and its been worth its weight in gold (around £2500 paid over 7 years and well over £4k in claims settled no questions)
In my opinion not insuring a horse is somewhat irresponsible, should be insured for 3rd party / public liability costs at very least if you are taking them in public. A bike is debateable, it (largely) only does what the rider dictates, a horse (or a dog for that matter) is somewhat less predictable

Tesco insurance here. Only a moggy, but it's £4.30 a month. Saved our asses 3 weeks before our wedding cos we had a £2k facial reconstruction bill after she headbutted a car. Policy covers up to £2500 per claim/treatment.

Another one for Petplan here.

Not the cheapest, but we've never had a problem getting them to payout and they are really easy to deal with when making a claim.

I've got friends who are insured with Tesco and they've unfortunately just realised that they weren't covered as much as they thought they were, when they found out their dog needs an MRI scan.

donald - Member
Put £65 quid per month into a savings account?

+1

Petplan too. They covered Ali, and now Ted. Both are lurchers, which is a breed choice on the forms. We ticked 'crossbreed' (because they are one and the same thing) and it's much cheaper.

We currently pay about £16 a month for Ted, and with his propensity to knock lumps off himself we've saved a packet.

Plus, it brings peace of mind. If he should become very ill or have a major accident, our only worry is what's right for him, not how much it costs.

Just put the money away into a separate account.When you look at the small print you will find that there is so much, that you wont be able to claim for.
Also some vets charge for filling out all the paperwork, plus you will have excess to pay.

GF's £17 a month for the horse seems good value since he fell over and cut his knee 12 days ago, the bill is currently just under £2,000 and now down to just weekly vet visits, but it's going to take 3 months to heal!!

It's a a bit of a gamble not insuring IMO.

[i]br and cougar obviously never had a lab with a snapped cruciate ligament (£2.5k titanium plates and ongoing arthritus) and a heart murmur
[/i]

No, but my dog was attacked by a German Shepard - I just put it to the vet that we were paying so keep it cheap - so £65 to have him stapled up and for his drugs. He was as right-as-rain within a few days.

If the vet had said hundreds/thousands, I'd have had to just had the dog put down.