Pet insurance

[trousers]

Calling all Saintsweb animal lovers (no, not in that way you filthy minded individuals)...

Any recommendations for pet insurance companies that you've used / are using? Any that you wouldn't recommend?

Looking to insure a couple of young cats. 

😺🐾

[badgerx16]

Have had cats and dogs for over 40 years, ( currently 2 large cats and 3 dogs including a Newfoundland ), and never had insurance because we reckon it costs more over the lifetime of the animal than you are likely to ever have to claim. Bear in mind that once the animal gets beyond a certain age most conditions and ailments are no longer covered.

 

We did, however, insure the kids' ponies.

Edited January 4 by badgerx16

[sadoldgit]

We use LV= and will find out soon if they are ok or not as our young dog was sick over Christmas and we are in for a bill over £7000. Some advice, don’t scrimp. We looked to keep the premium down which led to a maximum claim over a year to be £5000. A basic operation itself cost over £1600 and the admin charges added to everything, even basic painkilling tablets, are eye watering. The last vet we spoke to said that fees have risen enormously over the last 3 years. With luck you will never have to claim, but given the number of people we saw in the vets too over the Christmas period a number do, and will be grateful for their insurance policies.

[revolution saint]

This is useful as find myself in a similar situation.  I've ended up adopting a cat - she started hanging around in 2017 to the point where she was round my house virtually all the time.  Took her to the vet and although she'd been chipped they either couldn't get in touch or the original owners weren't interested.  They wouldn't give me the details for previous owner for GDPR purposes.  Anyway, I've taken her on and she's bloody brilliant - love her to bits.

Trouble is she's just turned 16 so I'm assuming pet insurance might either be too expensive or more likely not cover her in a lot of cases?

[Lord Duckhunter]

It’s a bloody racket. Had dogs for years and never insured them. It gets more and more expensive with less and less cover the older they get. All I do is self insure. Get a quote when they’re young, save that premium amount each month & you’ll have a pot of money for any issues. Unless you’re unlucky you’ll have enough without needing rip off pet insurance. Somebody once told me pet insurance has the largest % of refused claims out of any policies, and that certainly wouldn’t surprise me. 

[trousers]

3 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

Have had cats and dogs for over 40 years, ( currently 2 large cats and 3 dogs including a Newfoundland ), and never had insurance because we reckon it costs more over the lifetime of the animal than you are likely to ever have to claim.

 

 

Yeah, we've had cats for over 30 years now (not the same ones I hasten to add!) and I've never taken out insurance before with that very same logic in mind. However, a couple of years ago I had to fork out over £10k (!) for one of our cats and this has freaked me out somewhat! That said, I did work out that we would have spent around £10k in insurance over that 30+ years so, as you say, it probably evens itself out in the end but I'd rather pay that £10k over 30 years than in one lump sum!

Edited January 4 by trousers

[trousers]

3 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

It’s a bloody racket. Had dogs for years and never insured them. It gets more and more expensive with less and less cover the older they get. All I do is self insure. Get a quote when they’re young, save that premium amount each month & you’ll have a pot of money for any issues. Unless you’re unlucky you’ll have enough without needing rip off pet insurance. Somebody once told me pet insurance has the largest % of refused claims out of any policies, and that certainly wouldn’t surprise me. 

That's a good idea. Food for thought. Cheers 👍

[sadoldgit]

6 hours ago, trousers said:

That's a good idea. Food for thought. Cheers 👍

These things are always a gamble. We pay a premium of £20.30 a month. To pay off this bill through making a monthly allowance we would have had to put away around £250 a month.

We went to the out of hours emergency vets who cover our normal practice at night/Sundays/Bank Holidays. It was £309 just for the initial consultation. Meds extra as were the following visits and more for care whilst staying in (ended up 6 days). She had an exploratory op which cost £1600 (they didn’t find anything 😩).

She had a basic blood test and then they suggested a more comprehensive blood test as they give a better reading (why not suggest that first?) at £140. It is a licence to print money, but who is going to let their pet suffer when in pain, throwing up and pooing blood?

Edited January 4 by sadoldgit
Added text

[badgerx16]

Not sure what is wrong with some of these pets but we have never had a bill approaching even £1000, and that's with ponies and a cat that fractured his spine and later developed a brain tumour.

[tdmickey3]

4 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

We use LV= and will find out soon if they are ok or not as our young dog was sick over Christmas and we are in for a bill over £7000. Some advice, don’t scrimp. We looked to keep the premium down which led to a maximum claim over a year to be £5000. A basic operation itself cost over £1600 and the admin charges added to everything, even basic painkilling tablets, are eye watering. The last vet we spoke to said that fees have risen enormously over the last 3 years. With luck you will never have to claim, but given the number of people we saw in the vets too over the Christmas period a number do, and will be grateful for their insurance policies.

Totally agree, Vet fees are expensive and will undoubtedly increase so insurance is very sensible. 

If your pet is unluckily enough to have the need for medical intervention then insurance will save you hundreds and potentially thousands of pounds. 

Insure when they are young and keep it going as when they get older it is more and more difficult to get insurance and then it will mean expensive premiums.

Our cat (sadly no longer with us) needed several expensive treatments and operations and the insurance covered it all except a modest excess fee.

 

[Weston Super Saint]

14 hours ago, trousers said:

Calling all Saintsweb animal lovers (no, not in that way you filthy minded individuals)...

Any recommendations for pet insurance companies that you've used / are using? Any that you wouldn't recommend?

Looking to insure a couple of young cats. 

😺🐾

Save up for two black bin bags and two bricks.

Once the cats have outlived their useful lives - should be by about Easter if they are currently 'young' - use the above  

[Behind Enemy Lines]

We use ManyPets. Online 24hr access to vets. Lifetime cover for conditions starting while under cover. Can’t remember the exact figure, but a very high amount per year for cover. Voted the best cover. 

[gandalf]

We have always used Pet plan.  Insured for life cover. Never had a claim rejected. It's easy to say put money aside but will you have the spare £9000 to pay a bill like when our then young springer spaniel ruptured both his cruciates. Another dog was on meds for life, about £100 a month.

[Matty's Caddy]

We found over the years that if your dog was insured for 5k, it would cost around that, or 15k it would cost that!! 
we’ve used pet plan, Sainsbury’s and one other I can’t remember over the years. 
the main difference being some will front all the money and some will expect you to pay then claim back. 
depending on your financial circumstances, you can end up making a decision on things purely from a financial side, nightmare. 
If I was having dogs again, I would either use petplan or just put the money away each month into a saving account. 
2 of my dogs had big surgery with lots of follow up and we still only broke even over the lifetime of the dogs. 
cats however, I can’t imagine they cost as much as dogs to ‘mend’ so I’d probably go down the savings route. 
sorry that’s a bit of a ramble but hope it helps

👍

[Turkish]

On 04/01/2024 at 15:37, Weston Super Saint said:

Save up for two black bin bags and two bricks.

Once the cats have outlived their useful lives - should be by about Easter if they are currently 'young' - use the above  

they dont really have a useful life. Shit pointless pets, arrogant, sleep all day and all they do is eat and scratch the carpet, occasionally the boy ones will spray everywhere if they think another cat is trying to stroll around unchallenged on their manor. We've had cats for as long as Mrs Turkish and I have been together and i cant think of any reason why people would want one as a pet.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

35 minutes ago, Turkish said:

they dont really have a useful life. Shit pointless pets, arrogant, sleep all day and all they do is eat and scratch the carpet, occasionally the boy ones will spray everywhere if they think another cat is trying to stroll around unchallenged on their manor. We've had cats for as long as Mrs Turkish and I have been together and i cant think of any reason why people would want one as a pet.

I don't recall the cats giving me any choice on the matter. 🙂

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

........ i cant think of any reason why people would want one as a pet.

 

Meeeooow !!!

[Lighthouse]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

they dont really have a useful life. Shit pointless pets, arrogant, sleep all day and all they do is eat and scratch the carpet, occasionally the boy ones will spray everywhere if they think another cat is trying to stroll around unchallenged on their manor. We've had cats for as long as Mrs Turkish and I have been together and i cant think of any reason why people would want one as a pet.

We had a couple when I was a kid. We lived in the countryside and never had a problem with vermin until we bought those little buggers. One would go out into the field across the road, catch mice, bring them home, then get bored with them and let them go. Usually they were badly chewed up and would scuttle under some furniture and die. The flies and the smell were normally the give away that it’d happened again. The occasional sparrows flying around the living room where somewhat more obvious.

[Turkish]

8 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

We had a couple when I was a kid. We lived in the countryside and never had a problem with vermin until we bought those little buggers. One would go out into the field across the road, catch mice, bring them home, then get bored with them and let them go. Usually they were badly chewed up and would scuttle under some furniture and die. The flies and the smell were normally the give away that it’d happened again. The occasional sparrows flying around the living room where somewhat more obvious.

Yes we've always had that problem and now we've moved to a village surrounded by fields its worse. They bring in mice and other small rodents, frogs & birds alive and leave them in the house, the mice round and hide and you find them dead somewhere, we found a bird hiding in our indoor lemon tree in the summer, still alive FFS. Even worse they bring in large dead rats and leave them on just inside the front or back door, usually to be found first thing in the morning which is particularly vile.