Is pet insurance worth it?

samborambo

I have a Dachshund who will inevitably, unfortunately, end up with back problems. He's uninsured at present because I haven't been able to decide if its worth it. He's 2 and a while away from any major health issues hopefully. I have savings and enough money to cover anything that comes up but will it save me money in the long run or am I better off just continuing to save for any eventuality? I have insurance for a cat that went through a £1000 operation but they only paid half and I've not used it in 8 years since.

mattk_180

It's all relative and down to whether you are prepared to take that risk.


What if the pet developed some kind of horrible illness like cancer and treatment was going to cost £5k? Could you afford it?


It might not happen but if something as expensive as this did happen and you can't afford it, what would you do? Just let it suffer?


It might have no medical issues at all in its life and down the years you could look back in hindsight and say it was waste of money, but you just never know.


It's personal choice really but I'd much rather have the piece of mind.


On the cat subject, why did they only pay half? You need to check the policy thoroughly to make sure you would get the maximum benefit available and a decent level of cover for all eventualities.

PlymouthMaid

I guess it is fine not to have it so long as you can afford the bills and don't get tempted to neglect the animal's health. Also maybe check where you stand if your dog was to cause injury to somebody else as I think most policies have that built in.

pathtofreedom

It depends on making sure you have the right coverage really. I think it is well worth it myself. I have cover which is "lifetime" cover which means say my dog gets epilepsy or needs heart medication (which my parents dogs did for years) then it covers you for the lifetime of the dog, and not just one year.

My current dog gets these growths which need removing sometimes and testing for cancer, if I didn't have lifetime cover, after the first time it happened the next year it might not have been covered as it would count as pre-existing.

I think it also depends on how you would treat an animal if it was sick. Me personally if my dog got cancer or needed chemo or something, I wouldn't put her through that, I'd just put her down, as I think the stress of operations and treatment when she won't understand what is happening wouldn't be a good quality of life. That is just my personal opinion. Some people like to prolong their pets for as long as medically possible damn the cost or what is involved, there is nothing wrong with this either I want to be clear, but I guess it depends if your cat or dog got that sick in later years say, would your first thought be euthanasia or treatment at any cost. If it is treatment then insurance which is a lifetime type policy would be in your best interest, otherwise you could end up spending out more than what a car costs, on treatments. Although yes you might be lucky and never have to claim for anything, but knowing you can is worth it in my opinion.

samborambo

Hi all, thanks for the advice. I could cover the costs of any issues as I do have a good amount of easy-access savings so he wouldn't need to suffer. The quotes for a Dachshund--while covering everything and including a good amount of coverage are quite high. I'm just wondering if that money is better off saved? Really what I'm trying to get at is in a situation where I can afford it if the worst happened, which is the cheaper option? Insurance or setting money aside just in case?

The cat insurance policy was just an awful one and I learned my lesson from that. They were a terrible company.

pathtofreedom

samborambo wrote: »

Really what I'm trying to get at is in a situation where I can afford it if the worst happened, which is the cheaper option? Insurance or setting money aside just in case?

If you ran out of the money saved, would you be willing to put that animal down if you couldn't afford the rest of treatment. If yes then self insure and hope you don't ever need to touch that money for something else (survive after redundancy, accident etc if your own emergency fund runs out) and that the money lasts long enough if the animal got sick or was hit by a car or something. If you wouldn't put it down then insurance all the way, as yes you might not be able to afford the payments later, but you wouldn't be able to self insure then either if it was that bad not have £30 or so a month for the insurance.

Kimba1234

I insured my pet! It is very wise to do you save a lot of money just make sure to do it when the pet is young and healthy otherwise they won't insure it, seems fair though!

teddysmum

I've never insured mine and agree with a vet friend I once had on a forum. Though she could make money via insurance , she advised clients to save up instead, as most of them ended up out of pocket.


I can afford what my dogs need (had four but now only two ) and anything too expensive would probably be so horrible that I would be unwilling to put them through that treatment.


People at our vets, two weeks ago had had a cat then a dog needing treatment and both just short of their £70 excess, so no saving at all.


I've had dogs for forty years and calculating on what I would have spent on insurance, I reckon I own them lots.


Also, the insurance for old dogs is very expensive and any costly end-of-life treatments would be too cruel anyway.


I've had three dogs with heart problems (two cavaliers for over two years ) and the cost was less than insurance would have been.


However, if I had a hound, I think I would insure, as they are prone to broken limbs, but even then you are stuck as if premiums go sky high with your insurer, moving would mean no cover for any breaks or limb problems.