Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

hethmar

Rachaelw8 wrote: »

I got my cat insured with sainsburys.
They were cheaper than pet plan, and covered more. Go for the more expensive option though as it will cover them for each seperate condition, and foir life (not 12 months like cheaper ones do)

I'd definatly recommend them!

Sorry Rachael but Sainsburys dont do "for life" policies. They do either the 12 month limit one or the "until the money runs out" one. A real for life policy tops up the pot of money that can be claimed every year for a condition. Sainsburys dont do that.

From the sainsburys site:
Option 2: Cover for up to £7,500 per condition without time limit providing premiums are paid and up to date.


The "without time limit" may mislead people as the amount that can be claimed per condition is the limited amount you can claim in total, not per year.

Ziggy_Stardust

hethmar wrote: »

A real for life policy tops up the pot of money that can be claimed every year for a condition.

Thanks for clearing this up for me, I e-mailed petplan about this yesterday as I getting very confused. So am I right in thinking that if I got the £4k cover for my dog and she developed a chronic condition like arthritis which needs long term treatment that £4k pot would be topped up each renewal for this condition? Also if she needed an operation for a completely different matter whilst being treated for the arthritis would this come out of the £4k or would it be a separate £4k and is the £4k per condition?.. I'm confused, its too early, I need more coffee .

hethmar

Well, Ive had a quick look at petplan, which I have always considered top notch and to be honest I cant see that it says PER condition. It appears to say that all conditions and illnesses during a year comes out of the same pot of £4k. This is the wording for the for life plans


Ive only read the first few lines of the policy, so you may want to download it and read through in a bit of depth.

What we will not pay
1. More than the maximum benefit for the combined
treatment costs of all illnesses and injuries in the policy
year.

Does anyone know different please?


Id ring them and check that out. Is the £4k or £7k pot to cover all conditions and illnesses in one year or per condition per year. I see you think its per condition. Having said that, its unlikely for most people that even combined condiitons would be over the max per year ............

sleepystar1975

What kind of things do you look for in pet insurance?

We have recently taken on a two-year-old "papered" male dalmatian.

Our friend has approached us to breed from him with her female Dalmatian. So we don't plan on de-flowering him just yet. (I've been told that neutered/spayed dogs cost less to insure)
He's the more unusual colouring of liver coloured spots, so perhaps a thief target, but our house is secure, and we have CCTV, and the two dogs are so loud, anyine would be plain stupid to try to break in. The garden is also secure, with high padlocked gates. The gardens are no longer used "shared access" so you'd have to cross 3 other gardens to get to us one side, and 5 gardens the other way. However, no-one has used their right across our garden for 6 or 7 years.
He is madder than a bag of badgers, so I can see clumsy injuries likely to occur, just down to his sheer lunacy!
We don't go abroad, so overseas cover is not necessary. But we do plan on taking him on UK holidays, travelling in our car, either in a dog cage, or with the dog seatbelt thingy, whichever he tolerates best.
In all the literature I have read, Dalmatians are prone to kidney problems, so although we will do all we can to prevent this via right foods etc, this may be part of his future.
We do kennel our other dog on some of our holidays, so will also send this new boy to the same kennel when needed.
We are a family of three humans, myself, the Husbag and our 5-year-old daughter, so if one of us were in hospital, then there is still another of us about, so emergency kenneling won't required unless something major happens to us.

Should I be looking for other things in pet insurance? We haven't got BoyDog #1 insured, as he has always been fighting fit, now at 12 years old, I don't think anywhere would take him on (and he's still fitter than any pet I've ever known!)

hethmar

Well, I think you need to read through some of the posts on here. You are basically looking for a policy which covers the dog for life, that is, the pot of money is replenished each year. See above.

Dalmatians arent an exceptionally popular breed currently (if another 101 dalmatian film comes out that could change of course ) - see the dalmatian rescue - overflowing with them so I dont think you should worry overly about theft, just take normal precautions such as chipping him. Id also think twice about breeding him, for the same reason. We had two dalmatians years ago when we first married, we took them from a puppy farm - the girl was deaf (another common problem with dallis) and likely to be pts. The biggest problem we had with them was the boy who before being neutered would escape and roam literally for miles and he was determined - jumped from an upstairs window on one occasion onto grass, but gawd knows how he didnt injure himself badly- We had 3 police forces informed about his loss at one time as he travelled 10 miles over county borders. I think the best thing you could do for his safety is neuter asap - less likely to roam and of no use to a thief who are usually low lifes looking for studs. He died of cancer at the age of 14 and the girl died of bloat at the age of 13. Mad as hatters, but much loved. They are a real handful and difficult to train - I think thats one reason they often get passed on when the owners realise they are just too much for them. You need an active family with plenty of space.

If anyone wants to adopt a dalli, here is just a couple of links

http://www.dalmatianwelfare.co.uk/index.php?page=0000000049
http://www.deafdal.co.uk/Rescue.htm
http://www.dogsblog.com/category/dalmatian/

cathodetube

Agree with Hethmar's posting both where he says to read the posts and the breeding comments. Why would you want to breed a dalmatian - just because he has papers? They aren't an endangered breed and they do have health problems. What would be your reason for breeding? To make money? So your friend could make money? Have both dogs had the relevant health screenings? If it is true that there are a lot of dalmatians in rescue centres why would you want to add to the problem?

Ziggy_Stardust

Oh my goodness I want all them dogs, me and DD have just been cooing over them .

I have decided to go with Petplan, I rang then up today and they were able to give me a better quote on the phone than the on-line one. I did feel more confident in them than I am with Axa. When I rang Axa to cancel the guy on the phone was practically begging me to stay with them but sorry they lost my confidence with the price hikes. Plus isn't it typical Molly has earmites now so I'll have to take her to the vets but I doubt the cost will go above the excess anyhow and I'm looking at my insurance in case any serious conditions should turn up or Molly eats more rubbish and needs an op (she pooed a crisp bag the other day). Thanks for all your help everyone

hethmar

ziggy, re Mollys ear mites, you wont cancel your old insurance until thats sorted will you - as the new insurer will exclude the condition.

Ziggy_Stardust

hethmar wrote: »

ziggy, re Mollys ear mites, you wont cancel your old insurance until thats sorted will you - as the new insurer will exclude the condition.

I'm guessing that the new insurance wouldn't cover it anyhow as its a pre-exsisting condition. The excess on my old insurance is £75 so I'm guessing it won't cost more than that for some lotion/drops?

ernie-money

Ziggy_Stardust wrote: »

I'm guessing that the new insurance wouldn't cover it anyhow as its a pre-exsisting condition. The excess on my old insurance is £75 so I'm guessing it won't cost more than that for some lotion/drops?

Just a note about the excess - it's £75 per condition per year isn't it, so if she did get earmites again in the same insurance year they wouldn't start from scratch with the excess again would they - at least that's how I've read my policy?