Is pet insurance really worth it?

Nebulous2

The jury is still out for me. I wouldn't like a bill of several thousand pounds and therefore have insurance.

Mutt is now 3 and a half and has been ridiculously healthy. A red eye resulting in some eye drops, which came in below the excess, is the only time I can recall him going to the vet, other than for routine check-ups / vaccinations.

So we're now well over £1000 down in premiums, with the excess creeping up, now at £85 and the premiums starting to rise as well.

stator

If every person claimed more than they paid in premiums it wouldn't work. The whole point is that you pay them money and hope you never have to claim. If you are lucky to have a healthy pet just count your lucky stars and keep paying the premium and hope you never have to claim.

Gwhiz

In addition to covering vets fees, I always had dog insurance for the 3rd party liability cover too.

Escaped dog causing a car crash could be expensive!!!

sheramber

You can get third party cover by joining Dog's Trust for £25 per year, £12.50 if over 60.

https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/get-involved/membership/

RuthnJasper

missbiggles1 wrote: »

...I do think that this is scaremongering and is likely to put people off adopting animals who are desperately in need of a home.

I do take your point MB. All my dogs have been rescues and my great aunts helped to set up a rescue home that is still going today; I know how many deserving animals need a home.

But adopting a pet with no consideration as to the possibility of costs of treatment in a crisis isn't really doing the animal any favours. I've seen some really horrific illnesses/injuries which have gone untreated for months because the owner couldn't afford veterinary costs and wasn't insured.

But every case is different.

Nebulous2

stator wrote: »

If every person claimed more than they paid in premiums it wouldn't work. The whole point is that you pay them money and hope you never have to claim. If you are lucky to have a healthy pet just count your lucky stars and keep paying the premium and hope you never have to claim.

First ever dog so it is uncharted territory for us and yes we are lucky. The woman who owned his mother and bred him told us that she gave up insurance years ago as she only ever had very minor claims.

Most people will pay more in premiums than they get back. A relatively small number of people will get much more back than they pay. That's how insurance works. We're almost at the point where self-insuring would have made more sense. We didn't know that three years ago though.

Then again, he is very agile. Seeing him charge up and down a hillside, leaping vegetation, jumping heather crossing streams etc is a pure delight. Would we be so willing to let him be a dog if we were terrified of the cost if he hurt himself?

colesy

Lily-Rose wrote: »

I am sorry to be pedantic, but it depends if it's a cat or dog.

If it's a dog, then yes. If it's a cat then no.

We had cat insurance for about 10 years and never claimed on it, because nothing ever cost more than 100 pounds, and the excess was £85.

Spaying, vaccinations, flea drops, worming tablets, and other 'regular' stuff was never included in the pet insurance. And even when one of our cats had an abscess, and had to have an operation and an overnight stay, and anti inflammatories and antibiotics and painkillers, it was STILL only £180. So only £95 over the excess.

We paid £40 a month for our 2 cats, and when the last quote was £53 a month, we decided to cancel it.

2 years on, and 1200 pounds saved later, we have still paid no vet bills for our 2 cats.

Wish we had never bothered getting pet insurance. It's not necessary for cats IMO.

Dogs though.... yes. Dog bills seem to be 3 to 4 times higher.

One cat with heart disease - £5k worth of bills in 12 months - worth it when the worst happens.

chucknorris

If you can afford to pay for the worst possibly scenario (that might be for more than once) and you are willing to take on that risk, then pet insurance isn't good value, which is why I self insure, I also self insure my house too.

But if you can't afford paying for the worst scenario and/or don't have the necessary attitude to risk it, then pet insurance is necessary. So even though I don't personally pay for pet insurance, I still think that it is a good product, because it protects many pets that their owners couldn't afford to pay for their medical care. So I voted that pet insurance is worth it (just not for me), for that reason.

I am a member of the Dog's Trust, so I am covered for 3rd party liability.

RuthnJasper

This question has come back to my mind to haunt me in recent days. I had a day off work on Friday last week, so decided to take my dog to her favourite country park for a good run. She dashed off after a squirrel and hadn't been gone a moment, when there was an almighty scream followed by several others.

Something had been jutting out of the ground at an angle and Gisele had run straight into it, becoming impaled. :(

I'd upload a picture, but don't want to inflict that on you. She has been fortunate in that the accident is unlikely now to be fatal - the stick went in under an arm, penetrated some 30 - 40cm into her and exited near her groin area, but somehow (miraculously) missed her major organs, arteries and abdominal wall. She's encased in wrappings with a temporary stomach drain and doing extremely well. The drain is due out tomorrow.

However, the initial bill for her surgery and medication came to @ £611. It won't finish up much below £1,000. My car MOT having been three days prior to this and Christmas almost upon us, I am very VERY glad that I bit the bullet and got Giz insured back in January. It has certainly spared me one sleepless night out of several...

Piercedmrsp

For me it's a resounding YES... now, and I wish it had been earlier.

I'd never been much bothered about insuring our dog as she's always been healthy and we're not too badly off. I thought if anything happened we'd be able to afford it (thinking cut paws, that sort of thing). Then she got a life threatening infection and had to have major emergency surgery over a weekend, with the whole episode costing somewhere in the region of £1800. Not a bill we were expecting! We covered it - of course we did, she's part of the family - but I see now my original view of insurance was wrong and probably cost me next year's holiday! We were also lucky that my family are very "dog people" and helped us out so we didn't have to put the whole thing on a credit card.

Fortunately she has recovered fine and is back to her old self now (minus some tummy fur still to grow back properly) but it made me realise we might not always be able to afford it if something else goes wrong in the future and I just can't risk having to balance money with her health. That's not the sort of dog owner I want to be. A lesson well learned - she is now fully insured!