Dog Insurance

~_Dragonfly_~

Hi,

We have a soon to be 13 week old puppy who we are needing to find new insurance for and I have a few questions.

We're with the KC at the moment with free insurance.

A week ago he went skidding on the floor and couldn't put his leg down, I panicked and we took him to the emergency vet, but he was already fine again when we got there and they found nothing wrong but gave him some meds anyway, but he was fine and our vet checked him on Friday and nothing wrong.

The thing our vet said was that if we move they might not cover that leg as he has had treatment for it even though there was nothing wrong, is this right?

We don't know which to go with and I'm just going around in circles looking at them all. We are after a lifetime policy that renews each year for life. We looked at the PetPlan Classic £7,000 cover one but are unsure if that's the best and how much it will go up each year, though the £25 a month isn't a problem right now.
There are just so many out there, so many reviews and opinions that we just don't know but need this sorting.

con1888

I'm sorry atm I don't have much advice but I am hijacking your thread so I too can get advice ( hope you don't mind) we get our puppy on the 7th and have 4 weeks free so need a policy for after that.


I have been recommended one from Animal Friends that is about £25 a month but read some bad reviews online from people who actually had to claim

Bromley86

I have been recommended one from Animal Friends

I'd suggest you start your own thread as you've a very different situation. However, the first response will likely be "do a search" as there's been a recent thread on Animal Friends. It wasn't complimentary, for the same reason that you read in those online reviews.

@OP. It's hard to say, but unfortunately your vet is (unsurprisingly) likely correct. Certainly some insurers would use it to wriggle out. All you can do is ask them outright what they would exclude (if anything) given the treatment your boy has received.

Whenever I've tried, I've had no joy; PetPlan might be expected to be more cooperative than the ones I've spoken to though. Probably worth getting a printout of your pup's medical history and scanning it, as it might help you speed things up if you can email that to them. I'm guessing here though.

If PP do say they'll cover the leg then, given that I assume you're running out of time, perhaps sign up with them. You can then do the other insurers that you might be interested in and either change mid year or wait for the renewal date.

PP Classic £7k would be a good level of cover. No idea about what the future premiums would be, though PP ones start high so maybe they change less?

Good luck!

Kaelea

I've just insured my pup (7 mths old) with Petplan

my pup had a slight infection in her right eye as a tiny pup a few days of eye drops and she was as right as rain, but no insurance company would insure her eyes, but its not as bad as it seems, its only for infection, if she was to have an accident or get into a fight etc her eyes would be covered, if she goes a year with no more infections then they will cover her eyes next year

I doubt very much if you will be able to get your pups leg covered under insurance if you change, so you can either stick with your current insurers for a year and see what other insurers say next year, or ring around and ask now, good luck, I know its a minefield out there

gettingready

OP - in your situation, stick to the original puppy insurance as your vet is right, nobody else will cover the leg now, it will be classed as pre-exisiting.

Con - avoid Animal Friends. For every 1 good review there are 100s bad ones for claims refused for no reason.

With GS, look for a high insurance cover, 7k per year and life Policy not "per condition". Zara is with Argos Platinum, covered for 7k per year and as you may remember, her 1 leg coster over 6k in vet fees (£5700 operation plus previous Xrays)

marmitepotato

Got my puppy covered with VetsMediCover. £28 per month for 10k cover, it's a life policy. I have already claimed and they were very very prompt in paying out. Can't recommend them enough.

david39

Whatever you do, make sure that you know what happens long term with any policy that you take out.

Remember that if you decide to change insurers mid-life of the dog, then previous treatments will probably reduce the cover that the new policy offers. This makes changing insurers very difficult if your dog has persistent health problems.

You are doing right, making enquiries now, before it becomes a problem.

We had a dog, insured by Petplan, which worked out well in the early years but Petplan increased the excess every year until, by the age of six or seven, we were paying all of the bill each time we visited the vet because the medical costs never reached the excess. In his final year (10) we were required to pay £80 excess plus 10% of the remaining balance for each treatment.

I now look on pet insurance as insurance against long term illness or serious accidents only - day-to-day run of the mill problems will result in little or no pay out because the excess on the policy is as much as the treatment.

Personally, we now put the anticipated monthly insurance premiums away in a separate bank account and pay for the treatment from that. We have accumulated nearly £1,000 so far in 4 years and paid for everything medical for the dog from it including booster jabs (which are not covered by insurance).

chris_n_tj

We had PP for Teeg. Our excess never went up, nor did we have to pay a % of any costs. Our premiums didnt really go up by much, in fact our Daughter who has same breed and same policy paid pennies more than us, and thy have never had a claim
TJ was 8/12 years old (we lost him 11 weeks ago) PP were brilliant, and our Vet bill were covered and always paid out within days.

Unlike David £1000 wouldnt have covered a month for us. So please be careful and chose wisely.

Also Animal friends like getting has already said, AVOID.

Ask your Vet for a recommendation , ask friends with pets who they use.
Enjoy puppyhood it doesnt last long, and i hope when you do decide which policy to go with, you never have to use it. Its just there for peace of mind xxx

PS any puppy pic's please xxx

chris_n_tj

marmitepotato wrote: »

Got my puppy covered with VetsMediCover. £28 per month for 10k cover, it's a life policy. I have already claimed and they were very very prompt in paying out. Can't recommend them enough.

Can i ask if your 10k cover is renewable every year? Or is it just 10k then when you have used it up thats it please?

My friend has a for life cover and has just found out her pot is empty, so life cover really meant nothing fo her. Its a mine field isnt it.

Victoria_Ke

Good morning,

Both of our dogs have been with Petplan.

They are expensive, especially as present dog is a rescue Boxer with no past history.

We have made a lot of claims which have been paid with no issues, so we are happy with there service and the premiums have not gone up that much each year.

gettingready

we were paying all of the bill each time we visited the vet because the medical costs never reached the excess

They would have it it was for the same condition and you had several visits.

Zara had some skin problems, first time was £120, got £55.00 refund (my exces is £65.00 at the moment), and full refunds for every related vet visits after that within the same insurance year.

I pay excess once per year per condition not per every vet visit...