Pet Insurance

[Dave]

Winston's pet insurance is up for renewal next month and surprise surprise despite not having made any claims in his four years the premium has once again gone up.

The new monthly premium quoted is £44.05 (£528.60 annually) - are they having a laugh?

So I went on PetPlan and for the same cover they want a whopping £93 per month - I can get private medical insurance for my family for less than that

Is it time to say enough is enough and bin the insurance, face the costs as and if they arise?
Or worst case scenario pop him off to the box in the sky (whichever works out the cheapest )

 

[Sportsman]

Or put what it would have cost to one side, to use if needed. In France very few, if any, owners have pet insurance and prices are much lower than in UK, where it is common. Vets will charge what the market will bear, and if insurance is paying the market will bear a lot.

 

[Stewie74]

We’ve recently done the same for our two cats. Total premiums were over £50 a month. Now gets put in an account separate to everything else, to be used if required.

 

[mickthechippy]

The black dogs insurance went sky high after he reached 12 years of age, enough to make me think they no longer wanted to insure him

though the only time we had claimed was about 3 weeks after I got him and he tore a muscle in his rear leg, luckily we had 3 months free petplan from battersea after adopting him, (we stayed with them afterwards)

my fault, instead of easing him into the life of a working dawg, we just went straight into it, and he was still a bit unfit from being in rescue kennels

now if owt untoward happens, its just cash from the stash, last bill was about £85 for pills and a consultation, when he ate summat manky whilst out

 

[Dave]

Sainsbury's pet insurance came in at £10 a month less for the equivalent policy.

 

[160642fishing]

I cancelled ours when the premium went to about £67,as she is over 10 years old they would only pay 80% of any claim with no cover for general dental work plus there was a £100 excess,in the renewal papers they had the cheek to say I might be able to find less expensive insurance elsewhere instead of saying we've had over 10 years of premiums with only a cruciate ligament claim and now she's old we don't really want to insure her.I now put £60 a month into Premium Bonds,why is it the first question vets ask "is the dog insured" I wonder.

 

[Dave]

I've had dogs all my life, in fact I'd say the only time I didn't have a dog was during my college years, not the four-legged type anyway

I remember when vet bills were affordable and if you couldn't afford them then the PDSA offered a free clinic.
Once the industry went down the insurance route the costs rocketed and like you say, the first question is always re insurance.

 

[mickthechippy]

My Vet does one day a week when the charges are subsidised by the RSPCA

 

[Maesknoll]

Was with Petplan for 30 years, can’t fault them, they paid every claim without question, but in the end they put the price right up, when I got Merlot, they wanted some nonsensical amount, so went with Bought by Many, much cheaper.

 

[rudd]

We’ve recently done the same for our two cats. Total premiums were over £50 a month. Now gets put in an account separate to everything else, to be used if required.

Same here

 

[TrickyD]

If you have a labradoodle or other type of 'doodle dog, list it as a mongrel , the insurance should be cheaper.

 

[Dave]

I noticed on all the companies I looked at they had an exception 'does <dog name> go to work with you?' or along similar lines. Not seen that before.

Yes he does but not as a working dog, he's too pigging lazy to do proper work lol

 

[62tucker]

If you have a labradoodle or other type of 'doodle dog, list it as a mongrel , the insurance should be cheaper.

Can pay £2300 for a mongrel.
Our dog insurance is dearer than car insurance but being fair never claimed on car but have on dog probably why.
The way they can price you out of renewing is the existing condition clause.
If you renew you are covered for this.
If you go to new company existing conditions are not covered.

 

[Truly]

I have never insured my dogs. Just paid out £860 for histology and minor surgery on my 9 year old Labrador. Specialist vet hospital surgery/treatements start at around £2K upwards. Whichever route one takes, keeping a dog is getting more and more expensive.

 

[N orm]

Not insurance as such, Ronnie is on a pet plan with my vets £14.50 a month.
2 consultations (health checks) a year, wormer and flea treatment included, and a 20 percent discount on any treatment he may need.
Works for me.

 

[nejohn]

Our 2 are with bought by many and we pay £46 per month for both of them and to be fair it has been worth every penny as one of them got some plastic lodged in her intestine and needed 2 operations and several courses of drugs, total vet bill was £6200 we actually paid £60 as that was the excess

 

[SpenBeck]

Our cat, Ozzy is not insured. If the vets bill is going to be over £100, then just put him to sleep.

 

[Neil ofthe nene]

Looked into insurance for our greyhound. On balance I decided that, as I could afford the vet bills should anything serious happen that I would take the risk. What I would save in premiums over ten years would cover most things. Anything more serious and I'm afraid it would be kinder to put the dog to sleep.

 

[Arry]

Our cat, Ozzy is not insured. If the vets bill is going to be over £100, then just put him to sleep.

Bit bloody harsh fellah

 

[Arry]

Pet insurance has driven the cost of vets bills up for years... if your doc prescribes drugs for your pet, look online.. its often waaaaay cheaper to buy direct.... vets bills are one of the reasons that animals are euthanized before their time... and we have 3 cats and we give them the best care possible which means paying the bills... we put money aside each month in lieu of vet insurance which basically means...

"you pay us a fortune each month and we'll do our best to wriggle out of paying"

Try owning two horses for a taste of vet bills...