Pet P*an - thank god i stayed!

xnatalie81x

Was going to downgrade to a cheaper pet insurance co. but so glad i didn't - dog has to have op total cost £1,400!!!!!!!!! and if i had changed would have had to pay that then claim back as is have to pay £56 excess and they claim it off pet plan

PHEW that was close - ps dog will be fine he just ate a bloody twig (well chewed it up) and suspect some is lodged in his tum silly staff but he is gorgeous lol

Tixy

Hi natalie

Hope his op goes well, fingers crossed for you. I too use petplan and like you I know there are companies with cheaper payments but I wasn't prepared to take the risk of having to finance any big costs and then claim it back. Also a lot of them don't cover an ongoing illness as well as petplan.

purplepardalis

I have to add something to this conversation. If you have a pet then make sure you keep up the insurance no matter how hard up you are. Unless you are prepared to give him/her up.

My cat had an illness that cost more than 3k in all to sort out. Thankfully I was insured and the excess of £50 was worth it. My premiums have gone up - but by only £2.50 per month. I pay abut £8 for a cat with a dodgy medical history but as it's been over a year since he needed treatment if he gets ill again it will all be covered. I''m with Lloyd's/TSB pet insurance.

And my cat is only 5 years old - first treatment he was only 3

My biggest and best saving :-) :-)

SingleSue

I can certainly relate to this.

I took out a more expensive cover for my youngest cat than I did for my elder one, don't ask me why but maybe I had a sub conscious idea of what was going to happen in the future.

So glad I did as it was discovered in December that he has severe hip dysplasia and requires two operations.

He had the first operation at the beginning of January and to date, treatment costs are already on their way to being 2k and there is still the other hip to do! So glad I took out the life of illness cover upto £6k a year option rather than the cheaper option which would only have given £2k.

So far in premiums I have paid £120 but claimed back nearly £2k...and I get a voucher for free vaccinations too!

determinedtodothis

Wow Everyone thought i was mad getting the Pet plan life cover insurance as my kitten is a house cat - but reading this i'm so glad I did - Hip dysplasia is not something they get because they go out side.

Gosh thats put my mind at rest I was wondering whether I was throwing money away

edinburgher

I'm really glad that your dog was still covered and I think that I would always keep insurance in place for a dog.

For house cats, however, I'm not so sure. I had pet insurance for a middle aged house cat and my ex and I claimed on it once, to the tune of ~£55. I paid it for another two years after we split up and have paid in the region of £600 since taking out the policy, which seems a bit of a waste now. I don't mean because I no longer care for the animal, more that animals who don't leave the house (cats essentially) face less risk on a daily basis

jayII

I hope your cat's op goes well, I too have pet plan for the cat and have claimed hundreds over the years, not so with the dog--she's still with very expensive kennel club, due to problems when she was a pup. A 'history' of illness makes it impossible to change, and of course we haven't claimed since she was 7 months old, but such is life. At least we know we're OK if she develops arthritis or something else long-term, which is the main thing.

Naarwich

Definitely worth the extra pounds in my opinion. Our car was clipped by a car three weeks after we had got her. We hadn't even paid a premium to Pet Plan however they shelled out around £1500 if memory serves me correct to pay for her op. The continuing care element is also very good with them and I'd highly recommend them.

SingleSue

edinburgher wrote: »

I'm really glad that your dog was still covered and I think that I would always keep insurance in place for a dog.

For house cats, however, I'm not so sure. I had pet insurance for a middle aged house cat and my ex and I claimed on it once, to the tune of ~£55. I paid it for another two years after we split up and have paid in the region of £600 since taking out the policy, which seems a bit of a waste now. I don't mean because I no longer care for the animal, more that animals who don't leave the house (cats essentially) face less risk on a daily basis

Both my cats are more house cats than outside cats....the elder cat will only venture outside if it is warm, no breeze and no hint of rain, that means virtually never in this country then! The younger cat was only just starting to go outside but had only been out about 3 times for very short periods of time...now he is a forced house cat as he is not allowed out until he has had his second operation and recovered which should make it around September this year!

Youngest cat's hip dysplasia was a genetic thing and nothing to do with going outside or not, even though I met his mum and my brother has his sister, none show signs of it...it is also extremely rare in cats, my vet had only heard of it in passing and had never actually seen it in all his years of practice.