Who insures their animals?

Hintza

I know we are very lucky with our vet's charges and am horrified by some of the charges I see on this forum for vets treatement and I can understand that down south especially the fees charged are very high and will reflect such things as property values but even so they seem very scary :eek:

But, i would be more horrified by the cost of insurance for two dogs and two ponies and as such we self insure. Now, I have had big bills but I find they smooth themselves out over time and I am pretty sure we are a lot better off not insuring.

Is this a country bumkin attitude or a tight Scots attitude or a naive attitude we have?

mrcol1000

Its the same with all insurance though isn't it? Its not until you have a huge bill to pay that you suddenly need it?
I know some people put their premuims that they would pay into a bank account which they dip into for vet fees. But I prefer to pay the money and just hope I never have to claim on it. Also if you have to pay direct from your pocket for treatment then a lot of people I guess will scrimp and save or just not have the money while happy for the insurance company to pay for everything.
Its just one of the costs of having animals. If you can afford two dogs and two ponies then you can afford to have the insurance. Its no different to people who have sports cars having to folk out huge sums for car insurance.

Misty_Blue

I insure with the best level of cover I can find. I know some people do prefer to put money aside each month, and that's all very well if your animal remains healthy until you have enough money built up. If it doesn't, and a four figure vet bill suddenly lands on your doormat....

Also, good pet insurance includes third party cover (my policy goes up to £2 million, for example), which the average person won't be able to cover through money set aside each month.

hethmar

As said, all insurance seems a waste of money til you need it doesnt it? One of our friends had bills for £7,500 last year for his dogs hip and back operations. If you have £7,500 spare at the time thats fine, but if not then you would have to let the dog be pts.

elsien

My current mutt and the last one have both been absolute liabilities in terms of health costs. Pooch costs £36 per month in insurance, plus £105 excess and 20% of each bill per condition and I'm getting more from them than I pay out.
I took her to the specialist and it cost £1000 just for the day, would have been more for any operations and specialists treatments.
My friend isn't insured and her dog is rarely ill, so it's the luck of the draw.

I pay for the peace of mind and because of my uncanny knack of only choosing unhealthy dogs!

thedoghouse

I insure both my dogs (greyhounds) & my cat. With 2 of my animals I have made negligible claims on this, but with one of my dogs I have drawn on it numerous times for large vet bills (totaling £1000+), which I would have had trouble affording without insurance.

I think it depends on your financial situation - if you have enough money saved away that you can cope with out-of-the-blue large vet bills then I wouldn't bother with insurance. But, for someone like me (who can't) insurance is a life saver.

UKTigerlily

I have 1 Dog + 1 Cat, both Insured. I've had the Dog for just three months + she needs an Op that has been estimated to come to £390.93, if i'd just saved up each month I wouldn't even have £100 put by yet. The Cat is having a Dental tomorrow & needs at least 1 tooth out, estimated at £231 something, so i'm glad both are Insured x

LeeSouthEast

Our story shows just how important pet insurance is. We adopted a kitten who would otherwise have been put down (previous owner request.. don't ask). Had him 4 months before he got run over. Total cost of pet insurance during that period: £27. Total cost of having his entire back end rebuilt to Bionic standards, including 7 days in-patient care at the European specialist in cat back end rebuilding, £5,281.

Bargain, in my view.

TrickyNiki

I have 2 kittens both with petplan life cover! I thought it best as they are covered for diabieties and such and it is a great piece of mind.

Knowing I can go to the vets and having them treated if things go wrong rather than attempting to find a bank and withdraw funds is worth it.

Buttonmoons

I don't have insurance for my cat though I've been looking at getting some, she has never had injections though, as she is an indoor cat so never saw the need, but I notice on the quotes they ask for that info first. So should I get her yearly injections, THEN get insurance?

JemJam

I insured my cat (who just decided to fart on the sofa next to me and then leave the room!!) the same day I got her just cos I want to cover my (and her) @ss if anything happens to her, shes had all her jabs even though she only spends about 4hours a day outside no matter what the weather's like. I think in some cases you cant be too careful - in the past we've not had pet inurance and at some point for a few of our long since gone pets and its cost a pretty penny to fix their ailments so i'm jsut making sure that we're covered if something does happen. And it's only £5.85 a month for i think its silver premium which is fine to me!