Pet Insurance

[kats n greys]

We put away an equivilant amount each month for ours - you have to be strong-willed and not touch it.

[Katie]

Do you mean £20 total for both dogs, if so, may I ask who you insure with I'm paying £22.50 for one dog and £16.50 for another. Thanks

 

Mine are insured with More Than.

[Godin]

Both of mine are insured costing £27 a month for both and our vets also has a pet plan to cover annual vax, flea and worming etc and we pay £18 a month for both for that I have never claimed on the pet insurance but I wouldn't not have it, like others have said it the peace of mind that if the worst should happen they are both covered for pretty much any eventuality

[BillyMalc]

Pet insurance? Yay!

[EAD]

We put away an equivilant amount each month for ours - you have to be strong-willed and not touch it.

 

Do you mean you put an equivalent amount to what you would pay in insurance ?

 

If so I couldnt even start to cover vets bills with that if I didnt have insurance

[Dizzycharm]

Our dogs have always been insured until now. The 2 youngest have never been insured, 2 others we didn't renew, waiting for other 3 to come up for renewal (which we won't). Its one of those 'what do I do' situations, all of ours past dogs have been insured (and with at least 5 dogs at one time, its very expensive) and haven't really called upon the insurance. And yes I know, better safe than sorry. But we kept thinking that if all that money had been put into an account then we would probably be rich now .

 

So we now put the same amount that we would pay to the insurance company, into an ISA (more interest).

 

When Bryn was diagnosed with lymphoma, we weren't in time for chemo, and he had just tests and scans. As he was over 8 years old the excess is really high, and we still had to pay £800.

 

We are also lucky that we still have the money from our caravan in the ISA, incase anything was to happen.

 

I'm sure that our house insurance covers public liability????? And I know this sounds wrong but - if we don't have the money to pay because someone sued us (heavens forbid), then you can't give them any money, or you would pay a very small amount every month.

 

Please don't think its not that we don't care, I would find the money if needed, even if I had to take out a loan. But insurance companies take the p***, and it seems that more and more things are being excluded, and with M & S changing underwriters and placing stupid clauses and changing things, we've had enough.

 

I would do anything for my babies, but you get fed up with companies just trying to get money.

 

Please don't shoot me, its just my opinion .

[Happylittlegreensquirrel]

Please don't shoot me, its just my opinion .

 

 

I doubt any one would shoot you ,

 

 

I no longer insure any of my animals, I stopped when I was made redundant because I could not afford the monthly premiums for 3 dogs and 3 dogs ( £120 a month ) but we could have used savings if needed for treatment ( plus our vet would have let us sort out a payment plan )

 

since they have been uninsured Salem has been treated twice for cancer and Noah has had numerous bumps and scrapes that required stitches and checkups and we personally have spent less than our previous premiums

 

I do think pet insurance is a good thing for many people but I don't think its healthy ( no pun intended ) to rely on it totally to either pay out or pay out promptly

 

My Vet used promote petplan and he would handle the claim totally so you just paid him the excess and he did the rest. They stopped doing it for 2 reasons

 

firstly it was taking them up to 6 months to get money back from the insurance company

 

a lot of claims were rejected or only part paid out

 

 

 

There was a cross posted thread here last year about changes to Marks and Spencers insurance requiring you to get permission to seek out of hours emergancy treatment ,

 

 

http://www.rykat.org/forums/index.php?show...mp;hl=insurance

[kats n greys]

Do you mean you put an equivalent amount to what you would pay in insurance ?

 

If so I couldnt even start to cover vets bills with that if I didnt have insurance

 

 

We have 14 animals.

Five cats are 11+, one is 8 - the others are under 4, but one had a very serious op at 12wks so is not very acceptable to most insurance companies.

 

Dogs - one aged 11 (in May) - has been diagnosed with mammary cancer.

 

4 aged 8, 7, 6 and 5.

 

Lloyd -greyhound (who is now 8) - monthly cost aged 5 was £16.00.

 

Cost up to now (excluding vaccs) was Aswan - £250 (another mammary strip due next week - similar cost).

 

So we save and also have our own savings if required + our vet is good and if required will let us pay in installments.

[lil_me]

Megan was 10 when we got her back, she'll be 11 in May, the only insurers we could find who would cover an old GSD had an exclusions list a mile long, £200+ excess and premiums ( some quotes were over £100 PCM) so instead I put £100 a month away for emergencies. We do have an 'emergency credit card' with a limit of £5300 aswell incase of emergencies that the savings won't cover, some savings also. I pay for vaccs, wormers, flea stuff etc out of a seperate 'budget' so now there is £1000 put away which we haven't needed for vet treatment (she did need one thing which was £40 and wouldn't have been able to reclaim) We also have a great vet who would accept installments, she mentioned this when trying to talk us out of insurance as she knew many who'd tried to claim for older dogs and been refused etc, said she didn't want us wasting our money.

 

We have since been told of one called 'animalfriends' who might cover Megan cheaper, but I am still wondering if it's worth it, depending on the exclusions etc. I've also heard mixed reports on how good this company are.

Edited March 15, 2008 by lil_me

[ranirottie]

mine have always been insured but due to a financial blip I cancelled the insurance a few years ago and Ebbi was promptly ill. She cost over £2000 and it crippled me so they have been insured again ever since. I use the NFU which is good value for money. x

[zico's mum]

Does anyone have experience of Healthy Pets . The Ds renewal has come in and it has skyrocketed by £8.30 for Daisy and £6.20 for Duncan per month This company is cheaper to insure for 2 than just 1 is with Sainsburys. Cover is to £5000 per condition.

[cycas]

I insure the dogs, but not the cats or bunnies. So far (touch wood) we have been very lucky with both cats and buns, and have never had anything major or expensive to pay for with them. By now we have saved so much in premiums that if we do get a major multi-cat disaster, we will probably still come out ahead, even if we have to extend our mortgage to pay for it.

 

I insure the dogs because they are thin-skinned accident prone sighthounds. So far, we are breaking even on Az's insurance, after a nasty out-of-hours leg injury. I am way out of pocket on Mollydog because the only thing wrong with her, her knackered leg, is excluded as a pre-existing condition, and I've spent a fair bit on that.

 

Both of my dogs are slowing down quite a bit now as they get older: it's becoming less likely they will crash into things and do themselves damage, but on the other hand I suppose the chances of lumps and bumps are going up all the time. I have wondered about stopping their insurance next year or the year after though, as I reckon by then the chances of them crashing into things will be minimal.

 

You can get just the liability insurance part of the policy as part of many household contents policies, and it's a lot cheaper that way, but not all of them include this, so if you are relying on that, make sure you explicitly get confirmation from your insurer that you are covered. Cats and buns don't need liability insurance as they are considered Acts of God or something. Or so I have been told.