Dog insurance

SusieQ28_2

My dog is 14 years old and I have insured her with Castle Cover for the last 6 years. They recently changed their underwriter and it is now with Petwise insurance. The premium has jumped from £23 per month to £67 a month. I know it will increase because she is an older dog but it seems excessive to say the least.

I have phoned them up but got no joy, other than they use national statistics when they calculate premiums.

I am hoping someone out there will have some comments or advice, good or bad.

And please be gentle with me as I'm new to this.

Thanks Sue

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Sue, unfortunately it's a sign of the times that premiums are going up and up and especially with an older dog.

Does she have any existing conditions that you're currently having treatment for?

Personally, I think there comes a time (for me anyway, as I say, it's a personal thing) when I wouldn't put an old pet through extensive / invasive (eg surgery) treatment.

I reached this point with my beloved old lab, Ben - when his premiums rose to huge amounts and it was just becoming unaffordable to maintain - he was on arthritis meds but I was able to get a prescription for these from my vet and buy them online for around £15 / month .... I put the difference in money away so that it was there to cover any other things that he got (the odd tummy upset etc).

Not sure if that helps or not

elsien

Ditto what Rising says, depending on the current health of your dog.
You may also find that as the dog gets older they hoik up the excess as well as the premiums, so that's worth checking out as well.

When my last got to this age, I talked it through with the vet and we decided that any expensive invasive treatment was out as it wouldn't be right to put her through it. And I used the money I would have paid in premiums to pay for the treatment for existing health conditions. If yours is currently comparatively healthy it might be different - it does depend a bit on individual circumstances.

bugslet

Agree with rising and elsien, there comes a point when extensive treatment is perhaps not worth it given any potential discomfort, reduced chances of recovery and the short amount of time left.

I personally don't have pet insurance ever, but would certainly have a review of it once they got to 10 -12 year old, depending on the breed and their health.

zaksmum

I also agree with the above.

My older dog Lucy will be 11 next birthday and is definitely slowing down a bit. But she still has a fantastic appetite and enjoys a couple of short walks a day, and chases cats in her dreams!

I do have full insurance for her but if she got something serious like cancer at her age I wouldn't put her through any invasive or painful treatments.

I'd let her go gently although of course it would break my heart - but when you love a dog, it's not about your needs, it's what's best for that dog.