How much do you have in a pet savings account?

WantToBeSE

I have 12 year old cat and am about to get a puppy.

My cat has barely cost us anything through the years, just flea/worming/vaccinations.
But i am aware that i've been lucky up till this point, and that dogs are more expensive.

So i have started a pet savings fund, where i save a certain amount each month for when unexpected costs arrive. Also to pay for pet food, toys, new beds etc (especially since puppies chew everything!).

So I'm wondering how much i should put into the fund every month.

If it helps, the puppy isn't going to be a big breed, she is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Also, the vet does a £12 a month 'annual dog pack' and that pays for both of the puppy vaccinations, all worming and flea treatments for the year, and also 20% off anything bought from them (not prescriptions). I am wondering if this would be worth it.

Katiehound

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Also, the vet does a £12 a month 'annual dog pack' and that pays for both of the puppy vaccinations, all worming and flea treatments for the year, and also 20% off anything bought from them (not prescriptions). I am wondering if this would be worth it.

Up to you but I don't think £144 is such a bargain.

The annual vaccination is around £24 - mine need theirs as they are often in kennels.
Some would argue you don't need to get them vaccinated every year. You only need 2 vaccs in the first year, after that it is one booster. This would not cover things like kennel cough vaccine I assume.

I'm lucky mine have very short coats and don't get fleas, but sometimes I buy flea/tick treatments online. (It's the ticks I am concerned about.)

I buy my wormers online- Cestem, cheaper version of Drontal + with same ingredients. The last tablets I bought for large dog were on offer - up to 35kg- £2.50 per dog.
So if I was worming them x 4 per year= total cost £10
You are talking a much smaller dog!

For small health problems I have a doggy first aid kit- mainly trad remedies from health food shop (teatree oil, slippery elm etc) bandaging from pound shop.

Toys etc: Kong, Buster cube. cheap tennis balls, soft toys from car boot.
Zoom Groom (have seen cheaper versions but not lately.) my dogs love this and push each other out of the way to be groomed!

bedding: I make doggy duvets and sell them for charity funds. Use an old clean duvet cut and hemmed with a material cover like a large pillowcase,.Cheap plastic oval bed.

And what else do I buy from the vet? The only things I buy are the engraved discs when one gets lost.
Everything else comes from local suppliers ie dog food which is cheaper than the cheapest online.
I shop around for collars, leads, bowls etc. Most of those items last for ages. I always buy s/s bowls then they go in the dish washer and don't fade, get chewed etc. Wilco's have a good pet section.

Sorry I can't help about the savings fund as I just buy things as and when needed

ripplyuk

Do you have insurance or is this savings fund to include vet bills too? Your cat is now getting older, and generally this will be the most expensive part of their life.

Personally, I think the monthly vet schemes for vaccines/workers etc are a good idea, though not particularly money saving. The benefit is that owners tend to make sure they keep up with treatment schedules, if only to to feel they're getting their money's worth.

WantToBeSE

The £12 a month will include:

Health Check & Annual Vaccination
Kennel Cough Vaccine
Six month Health Check
A year's supply of Flea Control
A year's supply of Worm Control
10% off Consults (including out of hours), Neutering, Dental, Food & Waiting Room Sales.
A Free microchip or a Plaque of dental bites to help with dental care when you join.


I will be paying for Insurance separately (thinking of PetPlan).

ripplyuk

That scheme sounds like a good idea to me. It'll help you to budget. I wouldn't necessarily stay with it forever, but it'll help you see what you need to buy and when. With that and insurance, I'd probably just keep a small amount in savings and pay for things as and when you need them. The only obvious things are neutering and insurance excesses.

I'm assuming the cat is also already insured. If not, I'd start saving as much as you can. Policies become restrictive at that age.

ericsson68

Personally I would self insure. I wish I'd done it to start with. I now purchase a monthly amount of premium bonds. I'm hardly going to make anything on the money in an account, might win something, it's 'out of the way' yet easy to cash in if needed.

I've had insurance for my dog for the last 11 years. He's had some health issues but taking in to account premiums fly up after 8 and you have to co-insure nowadays, I've paid out nearly 5 times the amount of the actual cost of treatment, which has included some cancer removal so not cheap items.

chucknorris

ericsson68 wrote: »

Personally I would self insure. I wish I'd done it to start with. I now purchase a monthly amount of premium bonds. I'm hardly going to make anything on the money in an account, might win something, it's 'out of the way' yet easy to cash in if needed.

I've had insurance for my dog for the last 11 years. He's had some health issues but taking in to account premiums fly up after 8 and you have to co-insure nowadays, I've paid out nearly 5 times the amount of the actual cost of treatment, which has included some cancer removal so not cheap items.

I've self insured for about the last 10 years, but it is purely an economic decision, it has nothing to do with my dog's health. The problem is that some people need insurance, to cover the worst eventuality. So when anyone recommends self insurance they should really state that, otherwise it could end in tears.

krlyr

I have insurance, and a large limit on my credit card (for emergency/specialist vets who won't direct-claim like my own does), though anything else would just come out of my general savings pot - I don't have a dog specific one.

I would consider self-insuring in the future but for me I would like to have a minimum of £3-4000 in there, at least. For the breeds of dogs I own, cruciate ligament tears and hip dysplasia are a couple of the joint issues they're prone to, plus both breeds are susceptible to bloat (which may need middle-of-the-night emergency surgery to survive) so I'd need t consider funding that (and HD/cruciate ligament issues are often bilateral - i.e. in both legs). At the minute, I personally find insurance the better option for me (and I have claimed more than I have paid in for one dog - probably claimed as much as the other's premiums have cost me too!)

In terms of the vet payment plan, I posted on a similar post the other day explaining why I don't find them good value:

krlyr wrote: »

Annual boosts - £0, dogs don't need it after initial boosters (you can titre test if you want to be sure)
Monthly flea - £0, dogs don't need it if they don't have fleas (do we treat ourselves for headlice or scabies every month?)
Quarterly worming - £0, again, do we worm ourselves every few months?
Nail clips - £0, taught my dogs to let me clip/file their nails down at home
Annual health check - £0, my vets are pretty on the ball and do a good MOT every time we're in there at no extra cost on top of whatever consult we've gone in for, and I give my dogs an external checkover at home for lumps, bumps, signs of soreness etc.

Admittedly, I might buy the odd pack of Advocate to treat any undetected lungworm, as it's rife in my area, but I get a prescription (£12 for both dogs) and order online (£31 for 6 pipettes) - so £43 which would last me 2 years, and if I had some concern about them having picked up worms (or saw evidence in their poo) I'd buy some Cestem online (generic version of Drontal), £4 per dog.

Personally, I don't find the vet's own health plans very economical, plus they're also there to encourage you to come in frequently so they can upsell you other products. I appreciate that vets are businesses, but I don't fall for the sweeties on the shop counter on the high street and I'm not going to be sucked in to a money-making scheme at the vet, especially if it exposes my pet to more chemicals than they need.

Petplan is a fantastic choice of insurers though, definitely considered one of the top companies to be with and vets are often very happy to deal direct with them.

Pop_Up_Pirate

I pay nothing in insurance, regular 'check ups; or vaccinations.

I pay for flea and worm treatment out of my own pocket, which hardly costs anything.

If anything were to happen, I would pay out of my own pocket.




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tacpot12

We put £50 per month into a saving account for unplannned vets bills for four cats and a dog. We also pay £90 per month for PetPlan insurance. We're seriously thinking about signing our eldest cat up to our vets "VIP" scheme which offers the same benefits as WantToBeSE's vet offers, and will drop the monthly saving amount by the same amount if we do.

WantToBeSE

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I just realised the vets are a bit sneaky. On the list above, which i took from their website, it says that with that plan i would get a free 6 months check...but their website says the 6 month checks are free anyway!

I don't think i'll bother with the vets plan, i think i'll just do it myself.

i'll definitely be getting insurance though, as i dont want to run the risk of not having enough money in the bank if/when she needs it. Especially because she is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and they are prone to several illnesses, such as heart issues.

Re annual boosters, aren't you supposed to do that every year? My concern would be that if for any reason she had to go to kennels, i would more than likely only be able to find one that has a strict vax policy (i found that to be true with my cat. I've never vax'd her and no cattery around here will take her).

Flea treatment i will do every month. Lods of people around here dont flea treat their pets and if i miss just 1 month with my cat, she is riddled. So i dont want the dog having the same problem, even if she just catches them from the cat!

I have decided on £40 a month to cover everything, then £38 a month insurance, and i am unsure how much food will cost. I'll be keeping her on a grain free kibble for the short term, but i'd like to see if i can raw feed her.