[Closed] Dog insurance, big increase.

Petplan, Springer x Lab (they call it their 'budget mongrel' policy!)
Just gone up to £35 per month as he's turned 8.
Whole of life cover, £120 excess. Not sure if there's an upper claim limit but with chronic back, hip & knee pain plus aortic stenosis and some lung issues all having made themselves known in the last few years plus a couple of surgeries for stupid stuff (eating a wad of baby wipes = emergency surgery for obstructed bowel...) we've had approaching 10k out of them. All paid without a quibble.

I pay £28pcm with Petprotect for lifetime cover.
I can't remember the excess or cover figures but they were decent.
She's 11 so not easy to get lifetime cover.
Might be worth a shot.

PetPlan Max lifetime cover. She's covered up to £12k I think
Old English Sheepdog currently 18 months old, first year we paid £42 now we're at £48 after claiming in the first year for elbow displacia, excess is £75

My wife theory is that although they say "lifecover" almost know one will be able to meet the premiums for an older dog

we've had approaching 10k out of them. All paid without a quibble.

Dog insurance, big increase.

I find it sad that people are expecting to have to pay over £5000 in vets' bills, ( over and above routine worming, vacs, etc )throughout their pet's life and see insurance as a cheaper option.
Pet insurance encourages breeders to churn out shonky dogs, but at least the financial side is covered, eh?

Pet insurance encourages breeders to churn out shonky dogs, but at least the financial side is covered, eh?

@suburbanreuben Just like content insurance encourages theft, and car insurance encourages smashing up your car or crashing it. I want my dog insured just in case shit happens. Insurance is there for that exact reason. It is not sad at all to want a safety net in place.

Ziva is with petplan lifetime cover 4k a year and I pay £46 a month. Shes just had to have blood test as is allergic to trees..... yes trees. The insurance will be paying out 1k and have done so without quibble. I'll now be trapped into staying with them forever more as if I swap any new insurer wont cover us and this will now be a lifelong task to keep her allergy free. Its fairly steep per month but I know from googling petplan are rated amongst the top and are known for not putting premiums up after each year.

At 3yrs old the Pet Plan premium for our Standard Poodle was upped to £54 a month.

My wife theory is that although they say "lifecover" almost know one will be able to meet the premiums for an older dog

That was also my thoughts. Rather than pay over £600 a year, increasing every year, I'd save up. I took out a cheapo annual policy for £45ish which provides only accident cover. For anything else I'm paying £80 per month into a savings a/c. All going well I'll have about £3000 in there in 3 yrs at which point I'll stop.

Our cats aren't insured and have had nothing other than routine vet fees, jags etc. Previous dogs were never insured and only had small bills, less than £1000 over their life apart from routine things. So I'm well ahead of where I'd have been if any of my other pets had been insured.

PetPlan Max lifetime cover. She's covered up to £12k I think
Old English Sheepdog currently 18 months old, first year we paid £42 now we're at £48 after claiming in the first year for elbow displacia, excess is £75

Poor doggy!

Let's hope you don't need any more safety nets...

Thanks, cant tell if your last point was sarcastic or not.

We had the same idea as irc, saving up a specific amount each month and having basic cover for accident purposes. Glad we didn't as we wouldn't have been able to afford the treatment at the time, think she was only 6 months old when diagnosed.

about £3000 in there in 3 yrs at which point I'll stop.

Hmmm popping one of mine in the body scanner didn't leave much change out of a grand TBH might be worth just carrying on.

Thanks, cant tell if your last point was sarcastic or not.

[i]I find it sad that people are expecting to have to pay over £5000 in vets' bills, ( over and above routine worming, vacs, etc )throughout their pet's life and see insurance as a cheaper option.[/i]

+1

Our Working Cocker has cost nothing in his 8-9 years and the Working Springer stands us at a couple of hundred quid for 3 years.

Never taken pet insurance, and never will.

Whereas we've paid less than 3.5k in insurance premiums in 8.5 years yet (excess payment notwithstanding) had over 3 times that back to cover illness/injury. It's a gamble, one I'm not prepared to take if it means having to have my dog put to sleep if I can't afford a treatment he needs.
Not saying your way is wrong, or that mine is right for everyone (fwiw the beagle I grew up with for 16 years wasn't insured & needed no vet treatment apart from the usual jabs & checkups for her entire life) but I'm happy that over the years it's been worth having the insurance.
Whether the costs of treatments is driven by the fact more & more people have insurance, that's a different argument.

I think the premium for our Collie X has just gone up to about £95 a month... I know!

He is 14 years old and we've been claiming for the last couple of years for liver and pancreas problems, plus atheritus meds, along with all the testing and everything that goes with it.

I reckon we are just about still up on the deal, even with these premiums, but it certainly is painful to be paying out that amount every month. The thing is, he's a member of the family and so want to do the best for him...

When our retriever was 8 and the premiums got to £650+ a year ( because of the two abdominal ops etc she had at 2 and 5) we stopped insuring her. She is now nearly 17 and is moderately expensive in terms of drugs and special food. However having saved 9x £650 at least.......

I'm glad it doesn't work like car insurance, assessing how likely your dog is to have an accident as I definitely wouldn't be able to afford the insurance.

My pup tries to get into some major incident of some kind at least once a week.