Who insures their animals?

lostinrates

stevetodd wrote: »

M&S have just put my dog's premiums up to £33/month that's with a £70 excess and also introduced a new clause that in 18 months time when he is 9 I also have to pay 20% of the bill. I am serioulsy considering stopping the cover and just taking on the risk, if I did does anyone know what the premiums would be just for 3rd party liability and would it be worth having cover for this?

Hello...outside the ghetto...:) but not leaving it behind. What about your BTL fund as your own insurance fund?

We have none of ours insured ATM because we can, in the worst case scenario dip into savings. We've also started setting aside some of what we would be paying in premiums into a 'pet account'. When we buy we'll reinsure the pets, and we're used to the discipline of setting some aside for that, but we'll keep the pet account and add to it in the aim of having a sizable fund and not insuring any more. We do have one horse still covered as it would be hard to reinsure her later (pre existings and age) but the house pets are all commanded to not get ill.

UKTigerlily

I think most Insurers don't insist on the animal being Vaccinated, what do they care after all, most state if it isn't & gets an illness it should've been vaccinated for they won't pay up on it. I can't see any reason they'd care either way if an animal is vaccinated or not. I don't for a second think Vets are trying to make as much money as they can from the Insurers, for one thing, they don't get unnecessary things paid for, it has to also come within normal pricing ranges afaik, I know my Insurance form today has a section where the Vet has to sign & it mentions it must come within reasonable prices or something, if not they get the animal to see their choice of Vet.

Is the Vets you go to a Tier 1, 2, 3? Here we have a small, 1 Vet & 1 Receptionist practice with no fancy stuff & it's dirt cheap, the huge Vet Hospital is about 2x as much, which you'd expect, they have much more overheads. There's at least 2 Vets on here who post on this board & i'm sure they'll tell you they don't make tons of money. I for one wouldn't care if they did, they do 5+ years of training & deserve every penny.

It's all very well not vaccinating or insuring until something happens, in which case if you can afford the treatment fine, if a Pet is dispensible to you fine, whatever, but £12,000 or so of treatment? Well, if you're that rich then you're really lucky. It's not at all uncommon for animals to need thousands of pounds in treatment, even the cheapest Vets can hit thousands, tho might have to send you to a Hospital as they won't necessarily have the facilities.

I don't think many Vets would think more about getting loads of money than what's best for the animal, after all if the client can't afford it, Insurance or not they won't be ablet o have the treatment as mostly you pay the Vet first. It seems to me you don't really have much of an idea of the costs involved in running a practice, or are jealous as hell?

I'm glad at least your Dog is Vax'd & Insured, but it's a shame the Cats aren't (At least Vax'd) i've had over 20 Cats in 26yrs & Vax'd all of them bar one, only one had a reaction (A tiny lump appeared & went away just as fast) & i'm glad because it's people not doing it that puts all Cats at risk (Except if you have indoor Cats, but even then what if they need to ever stay in the Vets with Cats who may not be vax'd either & may have Flu?)

It's everyone's own decision but thinking Vets are only bothered about making money & not the animal is wrong in most cases.

MrsTinks

Unfortunately vet costs can vary hugely depending on where in the country you go... When I lived in North Wales briefly it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cheap! Now I live on the Oxon/Bucks/Northants border and it AIN'T cheap. But then I guess livign costs round here aren't cheap either, nor are costs of renting a place to have the surgery in the first place... So running costs are much higher here than in say N. Wales. (I know house rental costs are about 4 times more for houses of the same size as what I rented in Connahs Quay )
I know I'm incredibly lucky having a friend who's a vet - any treatment she doesn't provide I ask her if not only it's the appropriate treatment but also if the charges are fair and in her view they usually are. When my cat had his run in with a car he had 3 seperate operations to mend a crushed paw, broken leg and dislocated hip - not to mention several weeks of stay in the vets - he became so popular there that when I had to go abroad for work for a few months and he still had his leg in a cast one of the vet nurses fostered both my cats for me so I could still go And when I phone every 2 days to get updates etc they never knew who I was until I said "Hugin's mum" and suddenly it was "oooooooooooooooooo hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! how's Sweden/Norway? You'll never believe what he did!" no matter who I spoke to
He even features in a couple of the staff photo's (they have pictures of all their staff and usually one of their pets on the wall - a couple didn't have pets themselves at the time so he got to pose for pictures with 2 or 3 of them - people must have thought half the surgery owned black cats!)

poppycracker

My last dog Floss was the first dog we as a family insured. Healthy as a horse for 11 years then developed major septicaemia as a result of a uterine infection...we were glad of the insurance then, as she had to have an operation which she didn't survive so the insurance paid for the operation and for the vet to cremate her. I grew up on Skye and the vet bills seemed fairly cheap, also pet insurance didn't have the same importance as it does now.

Still thinking about insuring my two babies, Hannah has been spayed but I dont know if she had her jags because I got her not long ago and she's about 10 months old. Lucy is 2 months old and we've booked her in for her jags so will ask about Hannah. I did get a quote from direct line the other week which was just over £10 for both cats which I thought was good.

UKTigerlily

poppycracker wrote: »

My last dog Floss was the first dog we as a family insured. Healthy as a horse for 11 years then developed major septicaemia as a result of a uterine infection...we were glad of the insurance then, as she had to have an operation which she didn't survive so the insurance paid for the operation and for the vet to cremate her. I grew up on Skye and the vet bills seemed fairly cheap, also pet insurance didn't have the same importance as it does now.

Still thinking about insuring my two babies, Hannah has been spayed but I dont know if she had her jags because I got her not long ago and she's about 10 months old. Lucy is 2 months old and we've booked her in for her jags so will ask about Hannah. I did get a quote from direct line the other week which was just over £10 for both cats which I thought was good.

I've got to ask, what does jags stand for? I realise it's the vaccinations but have never known why people say jags & thought maybe it was an American thing? Then I just thought about it & thought I don't know where jabs came from either!

I think Direct Line are per condition not per year? So if the Pet gets Diabetes/Arthritis etc it covers up to the policy amount but then that's it? Or when I looked for my Dog it did?

poppycracker

jags = jabs. Never thought about it actually, I moved from London to Skye when I was 11 and have spent half my life saying jabs (english slag 'to poke or pr1ck') and half saying jags (actual scots slang 'to jab sharply or to pr1ck').

As to the direct line policy, I'm pretty sure it was a per year thing, but I could be wrong. I've never insured a pet myself before, Floss was Mum's dog and she insured her even when we took her.

clutterydrawer

I insure now. One of my rabbits has cost me hundreds and i can't insure her for the pre existing condition that is causing all the bills.

Rabbits are notorious for getting ill at the drop of a hat so I've insured my other one....I can no longer afford to put enough away in a separate account to cover potential costs so insurance is the cheaper option.

Notsosharp

I didn't have insurance for my cats but I do now, its just to have peace of mind more than anything else. I don't think what I pay (£14 for two) saved up for months and years would prolly cover a lot of the expensive stuff like cancer etc but I would question whether it was necessary to treat an animal for cancer. I think you do have to separate humans and animals and I think its prolly reasonable to treat a human for cancer but not an animal. It goes through a lot of pain and things and doesn't really know why and may not pull through in the end so sometimes I think its kinder just to let the animal go.

If it was an accident then it would probably be different and my two getting hurt in an accident is what concerns me more.

I used to work for an insurance broker and when people used to ask (when they weren't covered for something) "well whats the point of me having insurance then!". It used to make me angry, insurance isn't there for the piddling little things like a lost mobile its for the big things, things you don't expect and can't possibly allow for, never mind find the money! I used to be so tempted to say "you canx your insurance today, I'll come tomorrow and burn your house down and then tell me what the point of insurance is!" I never did but sometimes!!! So I think pet insurance is prolly for the same thing - its the big things you can't plan for no matter how much money is saved!

stevetodd

lostinrates wrote: »

Hello...outside the ghetto...:) but not leaving it behind. What about your BTL fund as your own insurance fund?

We have none of ours insured ATM because we can, in the worst case scenario dip into savings. We've also started setting aside some of what we would be paying in premiums into a 'pet account'. When we buy we'll reinsure the pets, and we're used to the discipline of setting some aside for that, but we'll keep the pet account and add to it in the aim of having a sizable fund and not insuring any more. We do have one horse still covered as it would be hard to reinsure her later (pre existings and age) but the house pets are all commanded to not get ill.

Hi, yes I am beginning to realise that the initial premiums were probably never the true price, just a loss leader to suck you in. The premiums have almost tripled in 3 years from under £12 to £33.

I think now is the time to call it a day and open a regular saver account and call it a vet's sinking fund account. The way I see it is that my dog is over 7 years old so has quite a few years left. The actual cover I get is only £5,600 (£7k x 80%) and because of the £70 excess he is now not covered for minor things, so if the premiums keep going up, even at a much lower rate than they have been, then I would have probably paid about £4,500 in total premiums. It stands to reason that M&S as well as the original insurer are adding overheads and profit to the real risk cost, so it's terrible value and should only be taken out by people who couldn't afford expensive treatment (which is not me). I think it's no brainer but I will have a chat with the vet first about Mills arthritus and ask just how expensive it could get, just in case I am underestimating the costs, if for example she tells me I could pay out well over £12k for treatment, that may bring a change of mind. Not because I can't afford it but because it raises the value of having the insurance cover.

dannymccann

My dad insures his choc lab for more than his FocusST :rolleyes: , something like £300 a year for the dog and £270 for the car :T

My GF's dad once told me a right joke, me being a gullible sod didnt get it at first

Me : Do you have Milly (cat) insured?
GF Dad : Yea but only third party fire and theft
Me : Really?
GF Dad : Yea and weve got 3 years no claims, cos no one has set fire to her yet

It was at this point he couldnt do it any longer and was :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: all over the house, he couldnt speak for 10 minutes