So our new puppy's free insurance has just ran out. Just wondering if any of you petty people know who to avoid n who are good? Thinking of going with pet plan, one of my pals uses them and reckons their pretty good. Cheers
When we decided to take out pet insurance for the cats, I used one of the price comparison websites, and then read the small print for companies with reasonable quotes. Policies vary a lot, in terms of whether they cover treatment for a condition for life, annual and/or lifetime limits on payouts for a particular condition, excesses, whether they pay 100% of the treatment costs above the excess or only a proportion. Not all insurers cover older animals (our cats were about 12 when we took the policy - some insurers only cover pets up to e.g. 8 or 10 years old). We ended up with Animal Friends - for what we wanted they were quite competitive, and I must say that when we've made claims, they've been handled pretty quickly and smoothly. There is an excess (about £99 per claim) and above that they pay 35% of the vet costs. That suited us as we can manage reasonably routine vet bills, but when it comes to emergency out of hours care, or a chronic condition, the bills can start mounting up horrendously rapidly. (We only decided to go for vet insurance after one of the cats ran up £1,500 in vet bills in a week!)
We've been with Direct line for years & never had a problem with a claim, but as the boy is getting on a bit we were getting worried about the cover, cost increasing but cover decreasing. Mums dog had a seizure on new yrs day this year & needed specialist care, pretty serious but she's virtually back to normal now, made us think (she's with pet plan) Moved to pet plan & have full lifetime cover, alternative therapy included all for less than the old premiums. So far no problems. All our our dogs were always insured by pet plan & we've never had a problem with any of them, they are a little more expensive than some others but when you need to claim they are excellent. Hope you find the right one for you.
Pet plan here, I know people who have gone for cheap options and been left high , dry and facing a large bill when their insurer pulled out of the market but It's Petplans bread and butter. I've heard people speak highly of PDSA as well.
Pet insurance has been a source of comfort for my mother in law. She is an 82 year old widow. Her dog is her friend, companion and her life. She no longer worries about "what if" stuff. That alone is a price worth paying. The insurance also paid out recently when her dog needed some unexpected treatment. Do your research, evaluate your financial and quality of life issues, take your choice and pay your money (or not).
We've got platinum lifetime cover for our dog with Argos Pet Insurance. Reasonable price for the level of cover and no hassle (we've tested it a couple of times).
I used to have two cats, which lived to being 18 each. For about the first ten years, I used to have outrageous vet bills each time my missus took the bloody things to the vets, what a total racket..... So then I took the cat in to the vet next time it was "ill". I said "Now let's be clear. I bought this cat for 20 quid. If this bill is going to be north of ₤50 you can put the bloody thing down, and then I will go back home and get the other one and you can do the same with that. I have had enough". Oddly enough, that time the bill was only ₤45. Strange that. And I never had a big bill again. My partner at work has a 22 year old cat, that the doctor has just diagnosed as having alzheimer's FFS!!! It's 22!!! They just gave his wife a prescription for ₤60 a week medication! I laughed so hard......
Had it not been for Pet Plan, my neighbour would've had to find more than £6,500 over the last couple of years for different operations on his sickly dog - not bad for about £15/month and no quibbles from the insurer.
Vets inflate their bills for treatment under insurance. How much would I pay to have my avatar treated ? I don't know but what I wouldn't do is enter into a long and costly treatment to prolong his life in the event of serious injury or illness.
So the financially ruthless among you would do nothing, or simply have your pets put down at the first sign of discomfort, distress or disease, without any diagnostic tests or treatment? I find that hard to believe. It's one thing to say you wouldn't pay for expensive long term medication or treatment to prolong the life of an animal where a chronic condition has been diagnosed. However, it is sometimes the diagnostic stage where the bills start running up rapidly - blood tests, X rays etc - particularly if an animal falls sick at the weekend or in the holidays, or needs to be kept in for a night or two e.g. on a drip. At that stage you might not know if it's e.g. a minor infection that will clear up itself, something which will be easily treated with e.g. 3 days antibiotics, or something very serious. I'm not sufficiently hard hearted just to let my pet suffer for several days (lethargic, not eating or drinking, labouring to breathe) until the regular vet is open. It was these circumstances in which we ran up £1,500 bills in a week. For the first 12 years we had the cats we didn't have vet insurance, but that was a wake-up call, and we've more than recouped the premiums with claims paid out since then. We lost one of our cats to kidney disease last year (from rapid weight loss in June while I was at WDW, to the final trip to the vets on 1 November to put her out of her misery, with a few months of pills, jabs, special diet and repeat blood tests in between). We're both agreed that we wouldn't put the other cat through that, if her kidneys started to fail - we wouldn't want our last months' interactions with her to just be chasing a nervous animal round the house to give her yet another pill, which probably wouldn't prolong her life much anyway.
Pet insurance, nightmare. I am with petplan @ £40 a month, no claims whatsoever in the 5 years I have had the policy but it still rises year on year. I think my excess is £110 if I were to claim. I had a Rottweiler previous to timber who lived to 10 and I did start to earn some money back in his later years. I do agree that bills are inflated if you are insured. The vet gets richer, the insurer gets robbed and my premium goes up, only one winner.
Don't go for MCE Pet Insurance. You invalidate your policy any time you groom your pet or put a collar and lead on it, etc.
What about if you fit a race exhaust too it? I need to get my head around pet insurance! We got our pup last week and have 4 weeks free then we need some!
cheaper to replace the pet imho not a great believer in keeping pets alive if sickly - people I used to work with spent ten's of thousands keeping old animals going, I just wanted them to be allowed to die this 'line' varies greatly I respect that - your pet your decision I love my cat and dog but would not spend stupid amounts of money keeping them alive
Stick 40 quid a month into the building society in an instant access ISA. Chances are you'll only need this when aforementioned pet gets older, so you'll have plenty in the bank. As a bonus when fluffy pops its clogs you may have enough for a replacement or just have a party!! FYI, a high proportion of cats are likely to suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension) once they get over 8. You'll find out when they either go blind, or their kidneys fail. Vets are now screening cats for high blood pressure as a routine diagnostic to help prevent this. The down side is that your pet cat will be on medication for the rest of their natural. Kerching!!!
I had to choose a policy recently when my wife's puppy ran out of "free" cover. We setted for Tesco, on the basis that it was cheap, and reasonably easy to select a policy with what seemed a sensible level if cover - as with other areas, pet insurance can be so limited that it would never be any use, or so comprehensive that it costs a fortune.
Vets have ramped the prices up in recent years knowing that most people have pet insurance. Ours went from £12 for out 8 year old boarder terrier/Jack Russell to £224 with animal friends because they classed him as a senior dog!! WTF he's a cross bread terrier that will live at least the same again! not unless the daft crunt gets run over Anyway I managed to get all singing all dancing for £13 with More Than. He had to have a blood test earlier in the year and the vets did it in house and charged £125 robbing twats. Mrs C had the vet out to her horse for an emergency scan on a Sunday before a bank holiday Monday £90! and that vet did a good 30 mile round trip.
I love my cat and dog but would not spend stupid amounts of money keeping them alive[/QUOTE] Exactly what I always said until faced with loosing my 10 year old best mate Rottweiler who had been with me through thick and thin since being 8 weeks old. He was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer by my local vet. A friend of the family checked him over and offered an operation at the Liverpool veterinary university as she felt they could save him. We were due to go there on the Monday, he died Sunday morning with his head in my lap. I lost a big piece of myself that day.
