Pet Insurance ... yes or no?

Freddie and Flossie's (my little woofers) insurance is due for renewal and the total this year for both is just over £300. I'd have to pay the first £70 + 10% of the rest of the cost of any treatment .... it'll go up to 20% when they're 9 years old. There also seems to be so many exclusions that I'm now beginning to wonder if it's actually worth it.

I suppose what I'm really asking is .... do you have insurance for your pet or do you not bother?

MTIA

I would never presume to tell somebody yay or nay, partly because sods' law says that as soon as you stop insuring your animals, one of the little beggars goes & (god forbid!) breaks a leg/suffers a gastric tortion/gets only saveable by an op colic or whatever.....!

However, I personally stopped forking out for vet costs some years ago & the dogs & horses were insured only for death, theft & third party liability, the latter being an absolute must in this day & age! The exclusions, age restrictions, excess payments & so on made it no longer sensible to continue shelling out hundreds of pounds when I could just as well stick a similar amount away in a bank account to cover the odd accident or even, at a push, a worst case scenario situation!

My last equine (god rest his precious little golden-hearted soul!) cost me a fair bit in his last few years but he was so old by then he wasn't covered for vets' fees anyway, bless him but it was still less than it would have cost me in chucked away policy costs for all the years we owned him!

It's a tricky one and depends on the type of animal I guess, dogs are probably more prone to swallowing alien objects etc!.

I don't insure my non-pedigree cats which are generally healthy animals until they get older. It's a gamble either way, if they get through life barring the odd mishap I doubt vet bills would be more than the cost of the insurance over the period. But, if you're unlucky…

Insurance companies are there to make money and the devil will be in the small print! I agree with KWC that some kind of public liabilty insurance for dogs or larger animals is a must.

I've never had pet insurance. Personally I think it's a complete rip off. You're far better putting aside money every month imo. The time when they're most likely to need expensive treatment is when they're so old they're uninsurable or you have to remortgage do so.

My snow bengal Taz is nearly 6. he has had £5000 of treatment since he got him at 12 weeks old. He had dodgy knees which were operated on when he was 6 months old (£3500) and then had a couple of bouts of pancreatitis.
Fortunately we had him insured with petplan. It will be a long time before our monthly insurance payments cover the vet treatment he has had so far. Our 14 year old cat has just had 3 weeks worth of investigations, xrays, minors ops for an abcess that wouldn't go away. We paid £105 plus 20% of a £900 treatment.

Our old siamese were not insured, Oscar got kidney problems when he was 12 so we had 6 years of daily tabs and monthly injections which cost us about £70 per month - £5040 in total. We learnt our lesson and always have pet insurance now.

We have lifetime cover with petplan, you must have started it before the cat hits 9 or they won't cover lifetime.

Thank you so much for your replies.

The importance of third party liability hadn't crossed my mind so that piece of advice was really appreciated.

I have just cancelled my renewal .... was fully prepared for loads of questions as to my reasons for cancelling and to be offered incentives to continue but the person just said, "That's fine I'll sort it out for you now, you'll get written notification in 5-7 days." Quite took the wind out of my sails lol.

I think becoming a member of Dogs Trust might be the answer. What do you think? Here's the link:
http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/giving/membership/faq/default.aspx#faq269593

:mysmilie_504: xx

My boy is insured with PetPlan and I'm so glad we got him insured as he has heart and liver problems which, if he wasn't insured would cost is around £4,000 a year what with check up/bloods every 3 months plus his medication.

He is 15 now and we have had him insured since we had him at 8 weeks. PetPlan are wonderful and, like you OscarFelixJake, we will never pay premiums that will match what's been paid out.

We simply couldn't afford to have Ainzley treated if we hadn't got insurance cover as my OH is the only one that works and he's had a pay freeze now for 5 years. We have the peace of mind that at least Ainz gets his private health care!!

I thought about it, but it is too late now, Sidney had cystitis when he was an adolescent cat, before we got round to thinking about insurance and so would never be covered in the event he suffered another bout, which he did earlier this year. I think for an indoor cat it may be excessive, but for a pedigree dog or such, I would definitely consider it.

I've never really had the option to take up pet insurance as my brood are always waifs and strays, therefore I never know exactly how old they are or what ailments they may have had in the past.

hi guys - finally found my way to the drop.

this is striking home with me right at this moment. as frazzled said, the essence is in the small print. i've always had my beloved louis (moggy) insured. i've claimed twice - once when he got lost and once when he needed surgery on a lump on his head. like all insurance, i shop around when it's due for renewal. i made a huge mistake this time. i thought i had him insured for £3000/year only to find, now i need it, that's for 6 TOTALLY UNRELATED ailments per year. good gawd, even louis' not that accident prone. i am going to be out of pocket by hundreds if not thousands by my own stupidity. but that is the least of my worries. lou has been vomiting for 6 days and an in patient since monday lunchtime. he's had blood tests, x ray, endoscopy and finally a feeding tube inserted through the side of his neck. he managed to keep the first 10 mls down yesterday but the next he brought up just before i arrived to visit today. to see him suffering so much, just about broke my heart. i've cried all week. i love him so much but can't see him suffer like he was today. severe nausea is unbearable for 5 minutes, louis' had it for 6 days despite anti-sickness injections. i haven't had 'the talk' with the vet yet. the vet is wonderful, i have complete trust in him. my heart is breaking ((

Oh poor Louis. I hope he improves soon Janie. It sounds awful.

From mobile, please excuse any silly errors!!

Oh Janie, you must be going through hell not being able to do anything to help him. I'm keeping everything crossed for some good news and thinking of you and poor little Louis.

(((((((Big hugs from me))))))))
xxxxx

thanks min and capirossi

min - he's a rescued stray so not sure but it's thought maybe about 8. the vet has just phoned and said he hasn't been sick since 11am yesterday and looks better than he did this time yesterday. he's following them with his eyes whereas yesterday he was staring into space. they've had to remove his drip because it blocked and he wouldn't let them resite it so they are now depending on him keeping the glucose solution down for hydration. the plus side to that is he's happier with his foot back. he doesn't like 'human' food but as he doesn't have to taste it, they're going to start gradually introducing fresh fish into the solution as it's easier on the tummy than cat food.
i've had him 5 and a half years and he was found straying on the main road near the mountbatten estate, hence the name. he hadn't been neutered, was fairly wild and probably had been ill-treated, so was in the shelter a long time waiting to be homed. when i met him it was love at first sight. he's a difficult cat, always getting into scrapes - the vet calls him a chancer - but he's my boy and i promised him he would have the best life i could possibly provide

thanks (((mam)))

Keeping everything crossed for Louis. Please let us know how he gets on, Janie. I'm really hoping he's turned the corner and he'll be back home with you very soon.

Awww poor little Louis. I hope he continues to make good progress and is back home with you very soon, janie.


Re my insurance for Fr & Fl ... as I said earlier I did cancel my existing policy but after thinking about it I put my sensible head on and took out a new one with John Lewis instead. I think/hope I've read all the small print properly because I've got a much better deal for less .... just hope I never have to use it.

Since reading this my Casey has become ill. She has been vomitting off and on for a week.or so, early in the morning. It's either been bile or dried food. I haven't been overly concerned as she loves her food and gobbles it down like there's no tomorrow! She had her annual booster last week and a health check. I mentioned it to the vet and he didn't seem concerned.

Today she has been sick approximately 6 times. The last twice it has been very red, although not bright red like blood, but red all the same. She has generally been ok. She's been quite clingy, trying to get on my lap no matter what I was doing. She escaped earlier and went on a.little adventure over the road - somewhere she normally doesn't go. She hadn't eaten until about 4, but then she brought it back up. I put fresh food down about half an hour ago and she tried again. Fingers crossed she hasn't brought it back yet. She is sitting on the chair under the.kitchen table cwtched up on a blanket and purring. Do I use the emergency vet number? I'm planning.on taking her after work tomorrow, although I would rather take her first thing. New job, not sure how well that would.go down.

I'm not sure what to do. Excuse inappropriately placed full stops. I hate typing.on this.****** phone!!

From mobile, please excuse any silly errors!!