Has anyone successfully self insured a pet?

ChopperST

vaio wrote: »

Nice choice of breed, our GSD had a flat (rather than sloping) back and didn't have hip problems (other than when it was bath time & suddenly his poor back legs became incapable of making it over the rim of the bath but miraculously recovered when it was time to go swimming in the local lake)

There was a thread on here last year about these "insure for life" pet policies, because they are annual policies the T&C can be changed so the "insure for life" bit isn't binding on the insurer and even if it was all they need to do is jack the premium up.

There will come a point (£16 is fine, what about £160/month? or £1600/month?) where it become unaffordable.

Just seen this reply so apologies for the delay.

Fortunately we are of the means to afford paying for expensive treatments if necessary so as I mentioned to the OP if the insurance was uneconomical to continue then I would cancel the policy and if the treatment was necessary and would give him a prolonged and healthy life we would pay for it. Far too many people do not consider the costs associated with owning an animal and fail to plan for this eventuality. They just see the 6 week old ball of fluff and forget that they age just as we do. At current premiums (£200 a year) the level of cover we get (£10,000) just makes economical sense to us.

Our last dog developed cushings disease and required regular medications and tests which the insurance no longer covered towards the end of his life, however the medicine completely reversed his condition and we continued to fund it ourselves (circa £50 a month for the drugs plus 3 monthly vet checks and bloods etc). Sadly he developed diabetes as a consequence of the cushings and the kindest thing then was to have him put to sleep. We paid for the vet to come to us so he could be put to sleep in my wife's arms who had had him since a pup as it was the kindest thing to do. I would have hated to have not to have been to able to afford the treatment for the years it gave him quality of life.

JasX

Depends how hard headed you're prepared to be in putting down an aging pet with limited (eg 6-18 months) good quality life left if it anyway if it needs £xx,000 for an operation to allow it to see that time out.

Sorry if that sounds particularly brutal but it could well be what it boils down to.

bugslet

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

"Self insure" is just a pretentious way of saying "don't bother with insurance".
Take the risk, but be aware what the costs might be if the worst happens.

It isn't necessarily a don't bother attitude, that makes it sound like a very cavalier approach to a pets health, though I'm sure it applies to some people.

I have 5 dogs currently and over the last 25 years have always had between 2 and 6 dogs. I have never insured.

In that time I have had one with epilepsy, so he had ongoing tablets and blood tests every 6 months.

One had a tumour on her leg which required an operation and cost £1600.00.

One that developed haemangio sarcoma, there was an option to operate, but after discussions with the vet, we decided that managing the condition was the better way forward than having multiple operation sites that would probably only extend his life by a few months.

After that it's been the usual vaccs, earmites, minor things.

I have no doubt that I am far better off financially because I haven't had insurance. My dogs aren't ones that have known issues, such as the GSDs hip problems, so that is factored in. I do have sufficient money put aside to take care of them, so for me it was a considered course of action which so far, has paid off.

diamondally

In May 2013 I finally decided to take out insurance on our 13 year old cat. It wasn't easy finding a reasonable policy due to his age. 9 months later he was diagnosed with a rare form of Lymphoma. So far we have had almost £3000 worth of investigations and chemotheraphy which still has months to go.

His quality of life is still excellent and he is in remission. It would have been a heartbreaking decision without our insurance policy. We were originally paying about £30 a month and expected the renewal to be so high (or his condition excluded) that we would need to cancel and pay for treatments ourselves. They only increased it by £2 per month this May!

We have had no delay in paying out, a £150 annual excess and something like £12,000 limit each year for his treatment. This is the Morethan Premium cover.

I think whichever company you go with check for lifetime cover, pre-existing conditions (does a condition become pre-existing on renewal) and go with the highest level of cover they have. A lower level of cover was available to us but that £5 extra premium has been really worth it.

colesy

If you hang around the cat forums like I do, you'll find that many owners self-insure by tucking away what they would have paid in premiums every month and then paying out as and when required.

I'm more risk averse and insure my three with Pet Plan, covered for life, £4k pa annum limit. If you suddenly find that one of your cats has heart disease when she goes into congestive heart failure without warning, you'll find out that £4k doesn't go very far at all and you'll think you ought to have taken the £10k option.

Then again, in my early cat years, I had 2 rescue moggies that didn't cost a penny over 15 years except for annual vaccinations, right up until their time was up.

The vet is not allowed to recommend an insurer but there's a definite nod and a wink towards Pet Plan who are one of the few insurers where they will wait for direct payment from the insurer and not ask you to pay up front and then claim back. Pet Plan quite rightly make a full history check on your first claim to make sure you haven't failed to disclose a pre-existing condition but once that hurdle is cleared, they provide excellent service in my experience.

TBagpuss

I self insured my last cat - mainly because at the time I fist got him, I read the policy details it is seemed as though practically everything was excluded.

I think that over his lifetime, the decision paid off, as he was generally very healthy. In old age, he did develop thyroid problems. He was on medication for the last 18 months of his life, which, in addition to the tablets which worked out at about £1 a day, meant he needed frequent check ups with blood and urine tests to ensure he was stable. Set against 13 years not paying insurance premiums I'm sure that it worked out cheaper in total. I didn;t set aside money specifically with his name on, but I have always sacved and by the time he became ill was in a position where the extra costs were affordable from income any way.

That said, I have now reached the point where I am starting to think about getting a new cat (or cats) and it is my intention to insure them when I do. I think that there are a lot more conditions which are treatable/manageable now than they were even 15 years ago, and that scans, blood tests etc are much more likely to be offered, so the chances that a specific injury or illness will be something which can be treated, as opposed to something where palliative care and/or euthanasia are the only options, are much higher.

I know why my cat was ill, we did have a discussion about possible further tests at one point when he was under the weather - in the end, the vet advised against is as, taking into account his age and existing ailments they felt that the risk to him of the anaesthetic and the stress of having to stay in overnight would outweigh the potential benefits, in his specific case. I am not sure what I would have done had they recommended he had the further work - while I would have (as I did with the thyroid treatment) been focussed on quality of life against stress of treatment and likely success rate I am not sure I could have totally ignored the possibility of a price tag in 4 figures.

I also have a friend who is very wealthy but chooses to insure. He could pay any bills which might come up, but says insurance reduces the stress as it is one less thing to worry about in an emergency..

dearlouise

I self insure my cats (I have 4) as when they reach a certain age (even with switching insurers) where the premium becomes ridiculous. Mine are all 8+ years old now and classed as in 'old age' despite all my family cats living to 14-18 years old.

Even with one cat having recurring cystitis (I purchase the medication over the internet for a fraction of the cost of buying from the vet) I am better off.

My last quote for renewal when I did have insurance about 4 years ago was around £25 on average for each, give or take a few pounds for age differences. So you're talking £100 a month at least.

Over 4 years that's £4,800.

In the last 4 years I've spent:
£1600 on cat 4 breaking her leg - this included complications & wasn't straightforward
£60 on cat 4 having an eye infection
£800 on cat 3's cystitis treatment
Totalling: £2,460

Meaning I'm £2,340 up. I imagine the saving is a lot larger as insurance has gone up so much in recent years.

I do regret paying for insurance for years. The only other big cost was when cat 2 came back with half his tail hanging off. Even with an emergency vets & operation to amputate the end, it cost £600. Whenever cat 3 had a flair up of cystitis it would come under £60 which meant I couldn't claim due to the excess.

GwylimT

Mine are self insured, my dog was insured until recently but every claim we had attempted were refused as the insurance company said it was caused by a pre-existing condition, ignoring the advice of three vets.

My cat has never been insured, well, she was when we got her but we didn't renew. We put away £10 a month, she is now 13 years old, so that's about £1500 in 'her' account. So far our only costs have been vaccination, worming and flea treatment. We do similar with our dog who is five in a few weeks, but we put £15 in as dogs tend to cost a little more with certain treatments.

sallyj17

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

"Self insure" is just a pretentious way of saying "don't bother with insurance".
Take the risk, but be aware what the costs might be if the worst happens.

Would have to disagree with this...


Imho self insurance is where you make plans for dealing with vet fees.. whether it is saving money in a bank account, keeping a spare credit card, or just knowing that you will have cash easily accessible should the need arise.


This is very different from just not bothering to consider it.. and hoping for the best!