Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

flossie217

I have a 2 year old Border Terrier who has just undergone 2 ops for a grass seed injury which resulted in an extremely nasty abcess.
It made me realise how quickly the vet bills mount up these days and am seriously considering taking out insurance.
Ollie is not up to date with his annual vaccinations. Most company policy terms state that not being up to date with vaccs could affect a claim.
Has anyone ever had a claim rejected because their pet, cat or dog, had not had their jabs even though the claim was for something totally unrelated and could not have been vaccinated against?

Any opinions as to whether it is better to go for a policy of £7000 each year/unlimited claims or a £7000 each condition over a lifetime?

hethmar

Definitely not a policy limited to a pot per condition.

We have discussed the genuine lifetime policies above - basically the most popular seem to be Petplan, M and S, Halifax, AXA, NFU and a few others, scroll up to find them.

Why isnt your dog innoculated?? Parvo has made a big comeback in the last few years and a dog can die in days from it.

I think insurers will expect a responsible owner to have taken steps to prevent their pet becoming ill from preventable conditions and this would affect your premium if they accept you as a risk at all.

Whatever policy you choose, any previous conditions will probably be excluded from claims.

I do hope you get Ollie innoculated soon.

I have a border terrier who we rescued from death row in a stray pound, it costs me about £12 a month to cover him with Halifax. I also have a parson terrier who was disabled at birth, his policy with M and S is about £15 a month and excludes the limbs which are disabled. Either way its a small price to pay. Dont forget there is an excess of £50 or above usually for each illness or condition.

Axa, Petplan, Petguard, Halifax, HSBC, and NFU.

You can use the defaqto comparison tool to help compare policies.

http://www.defaqto.com/consumer/insu...mpare-dog.aspx

Dont forget Quidco offer cashback on some of those insurers mentioned.

flossie217

hethmar wrote: »

Why isnt your dog innoculated?? Parvo has made a big comeback in the last few years and a dog can die in days from it.

I think insurers will expect a responsible owner to have taken steps to prevent their pet becoming ill from preventable conditions and this would affect your premium if they accept you as a risk at all.

I do hope you get Ollie innoculated soon.

Thanks for replying.
I'm still trying to get my head round all the terminology the different companies use in their policy summaries.

Why is Ollie not up to date with his vaccs? Having already lived with and watched 2 dogs live with the distress of having CECS I have decided not to take the chance with Ollie until it is known for certain that vaccination is not a factor in its cause. Being a BT owner I have been supporting the campaign for research into the condition and believe me, not to have Ollie continue with his jabs is not a decision I have taken lightly. It is now starting to appear that CECS may be a genetic condition. If so then I will be happy to take Ol for his vaccs. Either way I can't win. If I don't vaccinate and he gets ill it's my fault. If I do and he developes Spikes it's my fault!
I am well aware of how quickly parvo can take a dogs life. 2 dogs died from it at the vets surgery the night before Ollie went for his puppy booster.
I am a responsible owner but responsibilty comes in different ways to different people. We all do what we consider to be the best for our own pets.
I am sure we will agree that Borders are great little dogs. As one BT owner to another can I suggest you google CECS or Spikes disease. My 2 dogs were not BTs but I know of several people who have Spikes Borders. It's not nice.

Thanks for the help again. I'll phone AXA on Monday I think. They gave me a reasonable online quote.

hethmar

I hope you get a good quote - they gave a friend an excellent one for 2 rescue Bull Mastiffs - I was very impressed.

The point being re innoculations/insurers - you asked if it would affect a claim - the point I was making was that they would want to see that an owner was doing all the things expected in responsible ownership and that would include preventive action. Hence the reason they would possibly refuse a claim should one arise.

I did read up on spikes some time back and it sounds awful. But every breed sadly has its genetic probs and its something we have to take on board and do our best for each one of our wonderful companions. I love our BT to bits - I dont know how old he is, I cant imagine what terrors he went through abandoned with mange and a congenital prob re his dangly bits - but he is now the happiest little boy you could wish for and a wonderful friend for my disabled dog.

Oh and though it seems a lot of money to be paying out every month - last year we claimed £600 back for the parson russell for allergy testing and meds. Thank goodness we seem to have his yeast allergy under control now through feeding and supplements but what if we hadnt! A yearly cost of meds would have been huge.

guineverestar

Is it worth insuring an indoor cat?
She's a kind of rescued cat - I found her collarless etc, and the owner then said I could keep her. I know she's been neutered, and had her basic vaccines etc about 8 years ago, but nothing since due to the owner having 3 other cats and not being able to afford them.
She is about 10 years old, and is healthy as far as a basic check from my vet-nurse friend can tell. She's an indoor cat.
Is it worth getting her insured?

Also: should i get her vaccines all up to date etc, if shes indoors and hasn't got contact with other cats?

lowis

i had two siamese - indoor only.

i just claimed almost £12,000 insurance for one of them over an 18 month period because she had cancer. i could not have afforded to treat her without pet insurance, and would have had to put her down when she was first diagnosed.

on a less drastic example, my other cat had to have some teeth removed and that particular episode cost us almost £500 - luckily our insurance paid out and covered it.

the reason i have insurance is because i could not afford most of the treatments available these days - and i do not want to *ever* be in the position of having to say no to life-saving treatment just because i can not afford it. also, with older cats they can develop ongoing conditions which may need expensive treatment for the rest of their life.

are you absolutely sure she is 10, and not 9 years and some months old? alot of companies won't insure cats that are ten years or older...and the ones that do will charge higher premiums or have a high excess on them.

i also vaccinate my cats - they do go to the vet regularly (might pick something up) and it is condition of my insurance that they are vaccinated.

guineverestar

are you absolutely sure she is 10, and not 9 years and some months old? alot of companies won't insure cats that are ten years or older...and the ones that do will charge higher premiums or have a high excess on them.

This is where it becomes difficult - we don't know! Her last owner said shes 9/10 but doesn't know exactly. Do you know if there's anyway to find out? I know a vet can tell you an approximate by their teeth, but don't know how accurate you can get!

Sounds like getting her insured is a good plan, is it worth contacting the insurance companies directly as shes an indoor cat, so doesn't have some of the risks connected to an outdoor cat?

I'm really sorry about your cat(s) - how are they doing now?

lowis

there is no way of telling their age, a vet can only make an educated guess. i would suggest you say she is 'around 9', so long as a vet can confirm that for you, can't see a problem...if she was 'done' 8 years ago by the current owner, can her vet state an approximate age based on the records from 8 years ago? if she was 'done' at the correct age (6 months), then there is a good chance that she might actually only by 9 anyway.

unfortunately my cat eventually passed away from cancer, after 18 months in remission it returned in April this year, she went in to remission again, but it was just too much for her little body to cope with a second time around, and i had her put to sleep in mid-June. my other cat is fine, he is currently gettin used to a new companion - he was very lonely after his sister died.

petplan is a leading provider for pet insurance, i have always used them and they have always paid up, in a timely manner. i have just taken out a policy with AXA for the new cat - he is an old boy (14) and not many companies insure old cats, but AXA do, and the policy seems good - it is true 'for life' cover (as is petplan).

i don't think a cat being indoor or outdoor affects the premium unfortunately, i may be wrong, but I have never been asked whether my cats are, so therefore assume it doesn't matter.

good luck! remember, cheapest isn't always the best when it comes to pet insurance!

mrcol1000

We went with More Than via their website (although their website did seem to be down a lot when we looked into it). Anyway 2 year old Staff in perfect health. Pet Plan said £160 for Bronze. Tesco said £110 (but with only £3000 per illness).
More Than deal:
£106 for a year. £6000 limit per illness. £75 excess. Plus we get free access to a phone line (national phone rate applies) where you can speak to a Vet 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. They are very friendly and as new pet owners we worry a lot and they are very reassuring and give good advice.

More Than were by far the cheapest but gives the best benefits. Although obviously our dog is young and healthy. The phoneline is worth the money on its own. Plus they phone you a few days after you take it out just to make sure everything is okay and your happy with it.

hethmar

mrcol, morethan doesnt have genuine lifetime cover Im afraid. Once the amount of money is used up say on a chronic illness or an accident injury that condition is excluded. If you havent signed up or havent claimed, look at some of the insurers mentioned above. Petplan is for lifetime cover thats why it cost more than Tesco which isnt.

As you can see above "£6k limit PER ILLNESS" - you need a policy that renews the pot of money every year.