Following on from my cockapoo post yesterday, looks like we may have success and be collecting next week...
Have seen a few threads here in the past about vet bill insurance and looking for recommendations please. The local vet has suggested we get Lifetime cover, and make sure cover for both illness and injury.
Keen for suggestions and advice pleased !
Pet Plan does lifetime cover. It's not cheap. There is always the argument of stick the cash in an account, just in case.
Four of our five cats are with Pet Plan. Whether it's worth it, is questionable, but the old cat had an overnight in 'hospital' two years back and that would have been about a grand - she had a bad chest infection.
The non-insured cat has a 'care plan' instead with the Practice as he has cat flu - he was a rescue and cost us £1k to get him sorted (needed all his teeth out). He's been tip top since and no recurrence of cat flu - although a carrier.
insurance is a gamble.
it paid off spectacularly in our favour with our last dog, he was somewhat accident prone.
tesco value pet insurance, FWIW
paid up no quibbles every time we have needed it
We have our dog (7) and cat(9) insured by a company called 'BOUGHT BY MANY',
Only had one operation (so far) on the dog and this was settled up quickly and all done through emails.
many thanks, having a look at all these now
Our Border Terrier has been insured with MoreThan since a puppy (now 12) - and we've never had to claim so don't know how good they are! 🙂
Horse is insured with NFU - Vets fees this year currently stand at £8500 and still going! 😳
And this probably sounds mercenary, but people have very different attitudes to pets as well. Some will keep pets going at any cost even if it's not good for the animal.
Also my niece has a CavaPoo - it's two years old now and has spent an awful lot of time at the vets with various ailments. A lot of these new 'breeds' just aren't healthy. I'd be getting yours insured asap.
Our Karelian Bear Dog is insured with Petplan - claimed once in the 2 1/2years had him when he needed root canal work due to tooth damage from an accident. Was just over £1300 and they settled up okay. Monthly payments are £35IIRC
We don't insure our dogs - we have money in savings and the premiums were high enough to make me think twice (and that's from someone who sells insurance for a living). That said in the past when we have had it, it has paid out without a problem but we still paid more in premiums then we have ever claimed.
What we do subscribe to is a monthly flea and wormer program that also includes the annual vaccinations. That costs around £10 per dog and is worth it.
Really check the small print with any pet insurance as even lifetime plans can have caps on treatment per illness and they can very nearly always just cancel the policy outright leaving you stuffed. If you see one you like the look of and want me to cast my eye over the wording ping a reply on here or PM me 🙂
100% pet plan lifetime - you might never need it, but if you do you'll be very glad of it like all insurance. If you're of the mindset that you wouldn't bother treating a long term illness and would have them PTS then prob not worth it, but not many pet owners actually think like that when it comes to it!
There are very few insurers that the vet clinics are willing to do direct payments with - petplan is one of the very few. Very handy when you have a £3.5k bill and they don't accept credit cards...
Get insurance (PetPlan as they tend to actually pay!) for the first year at least. It is a young animal which could have all sorts of problems in first year and worse case could even die. Once you are through the first year you will have a better idea of whether you have a healthy animal or one with conditions. The first year is also the cheapest year as insurance goes up with age.
Both of my dogs have conditions which cost over £5,000 in vet fees in first year so the put money away in savings account people may not have been saying that...
Petplan lifetime cover for my two.
the 13 year old Springer x Lab has cost me roughly £6k in premiums over his life. He has however had much more than that in vet bills paid out for various illnesses, injuries and ailments. (Including £4K ish in one go for various scans of his heart and specialist treatment). They have always paid out without quibble, straight to the vet too.
The 3 year old Pomeranian hasn’t had to use it yet but I don’t begrudge paying for it just in case.
Try Waggle. They are pretty new, and seem good so far! We switched from coop to them about a year ago.
There is always the argument of stick the cash in an account, just in case.
So as an example, had my rescue dog for 6 weeks and in mid November she fell ill. £1k with the local vet before a referral to a specialist and £3.6k to treat her there. Without insurance that would have been a LOT harder to deal with and my insurance account wouldn't have reached much if I'd tried to build up some cash instead of taking insurance out.
Doesn't sound like the problem was a consequence of her being a rescue either, it was an autoimmune problem as she was young. So it could happen to any dog.
My vote would be insure now and perhaps start saving for later as the older they get the higher the policy will be I'm sure.
Oh and yes, look for caps on treatment and diagnosis, ours was limited to £5k, so my gold plated dog hasn't come cheaply. I would have paid more to not see her in the pain she was in when it really kicked in though, I didn't cry at my Dad's funeral (long story) but I did cry looking at her on the morning we took her to the specialists and we'd only know her a few weeks then.
Oh, meant to say, we got the Vaccinations for life deal for 3 of the cats. £100 up front and by year 2 you've broken even. One cat not on a plan, but the rescue on a plan, so we only get hit for £50 each year for one cat, not £250.
My sister fell lucky, their lab pub was very poorly for a number of months from getting him - bad stomach issues - they recon breeder at fault. Pet Plan covered it ! Phew, as it all started after they had him just a week or so. He's fine now fortunately.
We stopped paying into pet insurance about 13 years ago and instead put them into premium bonds - we have over £10k set aside and at least there's a chance of winning something.
Many thanks, going with PetPlan. New family member picked tonight and collecting at weekend 😀
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Very very cute. Enjoy puppy life - I used to hate dogs but Mrs D has slowly worked me round and I wouldn't be without one now. Well two at the moment 🙂
We've dogs (and horses) and have never insured any of them.
There's a different pricing 'structure' at a Vets when you're paying yourself IME.
And if you didn't have insurance, would you really spend £5k that you didn't have on keeping a dog alive (longer)? Fine if you can afford it - worse case for us was £500 for an op.
And if you didn’t have insurance, would you really spend £5k that you didn’t have on keeping a dog alive (longer)?
Probably not, but as I have insurance I don't have to worry about whether I can afford the £5,000 and I just have to worry about whether the treatment is the right thing to do which puts me in a far better position.
As for different pricing structure, you must have a dodgy vet.
And if you didn’t have insurance, would you really spend £5k that you didn’t have on keeping a dog alive (longer)?
My wife would. Pet Plan have been good for us. We went to 4k this year and they just paid out the original £900 purchase price 🙁
As for different pricing structure, you must have a dodgy vet.
Seems pretty common based on +25 years of animal ownership and vets near where we've lived. Feel well up in cash terms, as someone else said, probably 10's thousands saved.
As for different pricing structure, you must have a dodgy vet.
Nope, that's how it works. Also compare with the US health care "system".
OP whatever vet you choose check that they accept direct payment from the insurance company. It one less thing to worry about when it comes to treatment but not insurmountable (can be a problem when you're dealing with lots of drugs/treatment monthly, we missed out on some claims with the last dog's heart problems).
Also be aware that PetPlan have a systems problem with internet filled prescriptions from the vet (pay for prescription at vets and then buy drugs much cheaper online). Every 3 months I had to explain why the rear of the claim form was not completed for the drugs purchase.
