Pet insurance - euthanasia

geri1965_2

Does anyone know if it is standard for pet insurance not to pay the cost of having the pet put to sleep?

My cat had a tumour, they have reimbursed me for all the bills but taken off £50 as they say that euthanasia is not covered. This doesn't seem fair to me, as I only had her put to sleep because of the tumour - it's not like I just wanted to get rid of her, it was to end her suffering.

I feel a bit upset about this really.

Kittian_the_Blue

What does the policy wording say?

geri1965_2

It's not the excess, that was £70 and I paid that when I sent the first lot of bills in.

I don't have my policy to hand but it's with Direct Line - looking at at their policy wordings, it does seem excluded from both their policies (and I can't remember which level of cover I went for).

If it's excluded, it's excluded and that's fair enough - I'm not going to argue the toss. it just seems unfair, when having her put to sleep was for the best, and actually saved them money because I was taking her for treatment every 2 weeks and it was costing me (them) £68 each time.

I can understand why a policy wouldn't cover euthansia for reasons of convenience but when it's as a result of the condition they are insuring, it just seems petty.

I have had both my cats insured with them for 12 years and this is the only claim I've ever made. When it comes to renewal I feel inclined to get my other cat insured somewhere else, as long as they don't all exclude it.

Kittian_the_Blue

I've had a quick look at some other policies (petplan etc) and they all seen to exclude the cost of Euthanasia - seems like a cost they don't want to incur.
Personally having had cats for 15+ years I've never bothered insuring them - the money I've saved on insurance has been much more than I've spent on treatment, pet insurance has always seemed overpriced to me - cheap when they are young, but extortionate when they are 8+

geri1965_2

I've probably spent more on premiums than I've claimed, but it's peace of mind really - my stepsister's cat got ran over and had a leg amputated, and it cost her an awful lot of money.

Vancat

Sorry to read about your cat.
Mine also was found to have lymphoma in April. She had a week's tests, scans, bloods taken and drip sessions and one session of chemo, which she sadly couldn't tolerate at 14years of age.
We too had no choice but to have her put to sleep.....only 6 days after being admitted, and being sent home for 2 of those days.
She was insured with PetPlan. My bill for those 6 days was £1500.....of which I had to pay the first £100 excess, plus 20% of the rest, plus the final cost of the euthanasia....£48.....even though she was already on a drip at the vets.:(
I knew it wouldn't be covered by my policy...but was a bit put out at the cost from vet. (The £48 is the same as my neighbour paid the same vet earlier this year, taking her 22year old moggie in to be PTS, but who wasn't undergoing any treatment at the time.)
I do understand that my vets have to run their business however, and as they are great vets, I didn't say anything!
VC

geri1965_2

Mine was £52.95 so that sounds about right really. My friend paid a lot more because she had her cat individually cremated and had the ashes back.

Sorry to hear about yours - mine had been ill and having treatment for a couple of months, so I had a bit of time to get used to it. She was 13.

Is that normal with Petplan, to pay an excess and then 20% of the cost on top? It seems very steep - my excess with Direct Line is £70 although they did deduct it twice as my vet told them Spook had two separate conditions (she was being treated for hair loss at the same time as they discovered her tumour, which I had assumed were connected but obviously he knows better than me).

Lou85

Hey,

I'm pretty sure it is standard to not pay for putting pets to sleep. We had a similar situation with our dog last month and because he was older we had to pay the cost of the jag, his cremation and 20% of the final bill. I think if your pet is young, you don't have to pay a % of the bill but because it is more likely they will need treatment when they get older, insurers cover their back and try to discourage you from making small claims by charging a %. They are taking their time to process our claim so in the mean time we had to pay the full £572 and wait for our cheque. It's a bummer especially when it's so unexpected but i'm sure you'll agree that pets are worth every penny. Our insurance states that they only pay for ongoing treatment so putting a pet to sleep is not ongoing sadly.

kiwikaz

There are so many pet policies out there today to compare so it does get confusing as to what is / not included.
We had a policy with Sainsburys which we found to be excellent. We had to have our Belgian put to sleep on Christmas eve as he had a stroke. Our policy paid out for having to have him put to sleep and also for cremation. As has been mentioned earlier the cover becomes more expensive from 8+ but personally I wouldn't be without it as I'd hate to get caught out with an enormous bill.

geri1965_2

A friend from work has pet insurance from Sainsbury and she says it's excellent as well. I am definitely going to look around at renewal for my other cat, although she is 12 and it might not be worth moving from Direct Line as they have insured her all her life.