Dog with Arthritis but is my insurance worth it?

dbs

medders2604 wrote: »

I have lifetime insurance for my dog and have claimed on it over the years for a number of things including her arthritis but nothing in last year or 2.
However she is getting old now (nearly 13 and quite a big dog) and I have just had her insurance renewal through. The new premium is £32 per month with an excess of £150 per condition per year and then I also have to pay 30% towards the cost of the claim as well.
As I mentioned she does have arthritis and takes painkillers every day to keep her moving (is very happy as long as she takes them) the monthly check-up and medication comes to a total of about £40 per month which means I can only claim £231 from insurance but bearing in mind my premiums are £384 is it worth keeping her insured?
I know other things could happen but not sure if I am better just putting the £32 per month on one side just in case or keeping the insurance.
Any suggestions please?? I can't go to another insurer as she is too old to be accepted and they would also exclude the arthritis.

Our insurance went up to £30 with Petplan but we looked at the policy made a list of things in the policy we did not need like doing searches, adverts in local press etc in case our dog ran away not likely because he was old with arthritis phoned them up for a quote got it reduced to £22 with no hassle.

When we claimed for conditions with Petplan they paid out promptly with no problems they was very good to us.

Sadly we had our dog put to sleep he had skin cancer,losing his fur,got arthritis could no longer go for walks kept falling down due to his back legs giving way he could just manage to get around the house and garden with the medication he was on but then his bowels gave way and was messing in the house and his bed.

Even though I am sure we made the right decision it was still awful having a dog put to sleep and thinking did we make the right decision? I hope we did.

tankgirl1

Aww dbs - sorry to hear about your pooch

I know its heartbreaking but I am sure you made the right decision *hugs*

mrcow

Hi Medders,

Just checking that you've shopped around? Moneysupermarket has plans from £11 per month for dogs aged 8+?

And Quidco also offers cash-back for some plans.

Just an idea?

suki1964

If you can still afford the premiums then keep them up - Im sure thats the advice martin would give.

Saying that my last lad was on meds for his arthritis and I had cancelled his insurance. he was on metacm which was/is expensive but it was easy enough to regulate the dose so that he was pain free but the bottle lasted as long as possible. During the summer he could mostly do without it. His medical costs did rocket in his last year - heart tumour - but we had the money for the treatments offered ( he never suffered through lack of funds), so for us not insuring was ok

tankgirl1

mrcow wrote: »

Hi Medders,

Just checking that you've shopped around? Moneysupermarket has plans from £11 per month for dogs aged 8+?

And Quidco also offers cash-back for some plans.

Just an idea?

but the arthritis would be excluded on any new plan because its a pre-existing condition

pink_piggy17

My dog also has arthritis, the vet gave me NSAIDS (anti inflammatory painkillers) but long term use of these can cause side effects, is that what your dog is on? If so, you should consider switching to natural remedies. At the moment my dog is on powdered glucosamine mixed in with her water, Stride Plus liquid and she also wears a magnetic collar. She has gone from not being able to get up most of the time/squealing if you touched her legs etc. to being fairly active and so much livelier and happy. I'm also planning on ordering an Australian medicine called Sasha's Blend the next time I'm at the vets, it's only about £15 and lasts quite a while.

medders2604

Thanks everyone,
Yes I have looked around every year MrCow but as tankgirl1 says they will exclude pre existing conditions so can't really change.
I am back at vets tomorrow so she can have a check up and I need more metacam however after a good shop around I have now found it for £19.99 for a 100ml bottle from a vet suppliers with free postage so will be getting a copy of prescription and ordering from them. Even though the vets will charge me £15 for prescription it still works out cheaper as vets charge £41.49 per 100ml bottle. (such a rip off and can't believe they are now allowed to charge £15 for writing a prescription that takes seconds to do). I am working on reducing meds to a minimum but the cold snap and snow we have had seem to be conspiring against me at the moment.
Thanks to DBS (sorry to here abt your dog they are like children so I know how hard that must have been hard I dread the day I have to do it) I will be calling and seeing id there is anything that I can remove, I don't need cover for advertising etc, she is too old to climb the fence so can't see her running off anymore. I know I can't remove 3rd party cover but after cleaning her teeth today did notice that even if she bit someone (not that that would ever happen she is far to placid) it wouldn't hurt them anyway as her teeth are so worn down they are virtually flat! She may however lick them to death!!! hehehe

medders2604

We have tried the glucosamine pink_piggy17 but for some strange reason they made Bella eat like a horse throwing her bowl around if she was still hungry and crying constantly for more food. Let me know how your pooch goes with the Sasha's blend that may be worth a try also had a PM with another suggestiuon of herbal meds but will wait and see if vet says its safe before I post what it is. (thanks for the suggestion though but sorry I can't remember who it was from)
I will try the stride plus liquid tho where do you get that from?

Waterfalls

did u know that u can get metacam in 180ml bottles! and this does usually work out cheaper in the longrun. if they dont have it in stock, most vets can order it in for the next day

medders2604

Been to vets today for a check up and vet is pleaesed with progress so far, I was very pleased when he didn't charge me for the check-up although not so pleased with a £12.07 bill for him to write a 4 line prescription so I can buy the metacam online.
Thanks Waterfalls, I asked about a 180ml bottle but vet doesn't want to write up for that much so has written up a prescription for a 100ml bottle but I can get one repeat precrition via the online supplier without having to go back and get another script.