Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

mirrorimage0

same problem here tj, stay well away from E&L they are useless

karena

I have been looking around for renewal of my cat insurance. Sainsburys are giving 10% off until next week.

tjagain

mirrorimage0,
did you ever get paid mine is now verging on 3 months ?

weimaranermerlin

Our dog (which was stupidly insured with E & L) has been diagnosed with cancer. A mast vcell tumor has been found on his leg and after numerous tests and the decision to go ahead and remove the lump he has now been spending the last week with his leg in a plaster cast. We have spend a small fortune (about 2 k so far) with no doubt much more to come.
I was wondering if it would make sense to insure him with anotrher insurance company in case he gets something else? I understand that nobody will obviously insure me against his cancer coming back but would it make sense to insure him in case he gets something completely unrelated?
I have 3 other pets and have learned my lesson about pet insurance the "expensive" way - the cheapest is certainly NOT the Best!

Zingara

Who are E & L? Have they not paid out for him and if not why not? I have just insured my cats through Marks and Spencer, who weren't the cheapest but cover up to £7000 per year rather than per condition. As you say, he wouldn't be covered for his cancer but they would cover for anything unrelated. I checked with other people and M+S seem to pay out promptly.

Funny thing is, insurance for my pets was never something I had ever thought about until recently. My cover is £12 p/m for two cats and even if I saved that amount I would have to save for years to cover them if anything major happened.

Give some insurance companies a ring and see what they say. Hope your dog is okay.

Karen

pingua

Not sure if this is much help but I know when friends had their pets 'done','dressed' (whatever the right word is)and the jabs done, they got help from some animal charity. May be worth a try if insurance is a no go???
Sorry if this is way off.
Hope you get something sorted.

pboae

E&L are insurers and underwriters. They have a dreadful reputation for not paying out claims. :-(

I'd have thought any of the big insurers would insure your dog, but exclude cancer. As long as he's not an old dog. Your best bet would be to phone some of them up (try M&S, Petplan, and NFU, all have had good reports on here). Ask them *exactly* what they will exclude and what they will cover. There is often a big difference in how insurers define an existing illness.

Bueller

mizmir wrote:

There are no guarantees on anything (temperament, health etc.) where living creatures are concerned as there can always be an exception to the "family" type but you can improve your chances considerably by buying either from a responsible breeder (where you can see at the least the mother - NEVER buy a puppy without meeting its mother - ideally other family members, get recommendations from previous puppy owners etc) or from a responsible rescue where a dog/puppy has been assessed by experienced people, often fostered in a home for some time. My personal choice would be the rescue - you actually know far more what you are getting especially if it is a dog that has been fostered in a similar situation to your own because you will have information on what that particular dog is like. With an 8 week old puppy an awful lot is down to rearing and early training and socialisation both of which need a lot of care to get right.

Go to one of the smaller rescues (the web sites pboae mentioned have lists of these) where they will take a lot of care to match you with the right dog for you - and where they often know how their dogs behave in homes. Larger rescue centres (e.g. Dogs Trust, RSPCA) with the best will in the world have dogs all in kennels and so many coming through that they may not have such information. In your situation as a first time dog owner with a young child I think you would be wise to look for a dog who has been fostered in a home.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying, but I have to disagree with the generalisation of your statement regarding Dogs Trust. I happen to know for a fact that the most common reason that dogs arrive at Dogs Trust is from handovers, so the history of the dog, likes ,dislikes, behavioural issues, past training etc etc is often known very very well.

The Dogs Trust rehoming questionaire (which you can download on their website) is extremely thorough. If you are looking to rehome a dog, you have to fill this out BEFORE you look at the dogs available for rehoming, so that you don't 'cheat' to get the dog you saw and fell in love with! Dogs Trust also offer free advice for the life of the dog, and always guarantee to take the dog back if for whatever reason you cannot keep it for any longer. Basically, it's a dating service, it's about matching the right dog with the right owner/family/housing situation, and the right owner/family/hosing situation with the right dog. It simply isn't of any benefit for a rehoming centre to rehome a dog to the wrong person, because the dog simply will come back, and may have suffered as a result. There is no benefit to having a 'nett' rehome, the dog will simply come back, and it's not beneficial to anyone - owner, rehoming centre, the charity as a whole, and most importantly the dog.

Dogs Trust even go as far as to have rooms with 2-way mirrors in them so they can put the dog in it the room, and watch how it reacts when the phone rings, or a doorbell is rung, or the TV is on, etc etc. It's a little thing, but it shows it is not a conveyor belt, they really do try to asses the dog in every way possible,

Also, whilst it's easy to knock the 'bigger' rehoming organisations (such as Dogs Trust), the fact is, because they are larger, they have qualified behaviourists on site at the rehoming centres, something you will not get at many 'smaller' centres. Not to mention the fact that the facilities will probably be better (i.e. glass fronted kennels, under-floor heating etc), which means that you are much more likely to get a true representation of the dogs behaviour, as it is likely to be less stressed etc. Not something to be sniffed at when you are looking for a new member of the family!

Anyway, good luck with it, and if you want any advice, feel free to email me directly...

relay

I would have thought in these unfortunate circumstances it may be better to avoid vets altogether and take your dog to one of the RSPCA Bluecross centres for treatment, they will not turn you away or charge you thousands to treat a sick animal, you can give a generous donation as payment. Try the Dogs trust as well, they may be able to help, but i really don't know if an insurance company would take on such a high rist catagory as cancer.

relay

Note: I meant they may exclude cancer!