Is insurance for a dog worth it?

LadyDee

Lover_of_Lycra wrote: »

I am very close to pulling the trigger and getting a dog. I can’t decide if pet insurance is worth it so I would like to get other dog owner’s opinions.

I know that some policies cover you for 3rd party damage, if your dog runs out into the road causing an accident for example, and I can see the benefit of that.

It’s the medical cover I am undecided about. It seems that the insurance gets more and more expensive as the dog gets older, which makes sense as the risk of health problems gets higher, but does it get to the point where self insuring would be cheaper or is it just a gamble?

Do you insure your car, your house, your contents? Doesn't it make you feel more secure knowing that "if something happens" you'll be covered?

If you can't afford insurance premiums then I'd forget about getting an animal of any sort because you certainly couldn't afford vet's fees.

As an animal gets older you'll find some insurance companies won't even cover them, but if the insurance is taken out when they are young you can still continue to cover them - at far greater cost admittedly. A couple of x-rays, an operation, can cost an absolute fortune.

Insurance premiums for anything are one thing I happily pay (and it is a struggle) and hope I never have to use.

[Deleted User]

I have car insurance because I legally require it to drive on the road. I have buildings insurance because it’s a requirement of my mortgage.

Who said I couldn’t afford the premiums for pet insurance? All I was asking for is people’s opinions of an insurance policy versus self insuring? This is a money saving website after all.

mumf

For what its worth... Our dog(8 yes old) has whole of life cover with Equine and Livestock at £25 per month.I have had uninsured dogs in the past and the vets bills damned near broke us.

Its akin to private ( human) health insurance. We pay NI so we see a doctor for free.No such thing with animals, sadly.

sheramber

Lover_of_Lycra wrote: »

I'm going to a breeder. I've been scouring rehoming websites such as the Dogs Trust and SSPCA for years and I've never seen one up for adoption. I found the breeder via a personal recommendation from one of my colleagues. He and his wife visited the breeder before deciding to go with her and after the puppies were born (5 weeks) and then again when they went to collect their dog. I shall also be visiting the breeder. My colleague has had dogs all his life and he couldn't recommend this particular breeder highly enough.

The breeder has said that the parents have been health tested and I have the opportunity to within the first 5 days of collecting the puppy to have it vet checked by my own vet. Should there be a fault/problem that will have detrimental affects on the puppy as a family pet then the breeder will offer a full refund upon return of the puppy.

I'm as confident as I can be that this woman is the real deal and not running a puppy farm.

And she knows in 5 days you will be very attached to the puppy and very reluctant to return it to an unknown fate, no matter what problem.

LadyDee

Lover_of_Lycra wrote: »

I have car insurance because I legally require it to drive on the road. I have buildings insurance because it’s a requirement of my mortgage.

Who said I couldn’t afford the premiums for pet insurance? All I was asking for is people’s opinions of an insurance policy versus self insuring? This is a money saving website after all.

Only you can make the decision then. It's your risk. If you can afford to take the risk without the benefit of insurance, good for you. It's not so money-saving if you have to fork out £000s in vet's bills.

I know somebody who, whilst checking out insurance for her just acquired Alsation puppy, the puppy was diagnosed with a serious lifelong illness, meaning huge vet's bills for the rest of dog's life and years later she's still paying out, with no hope of ever being able to get insurance cover.

[Deleted User]

I might take the belt and braces approach of lifetime or per-condition-no-limit insurance and self insuring. Like life insurance the younger the dog the lower the premiums for pet insurance so I could have insurance in place asap. If I couple that with my current lump sum and regular lump sums then should the insurance become so horrifically expensive that the cons outweigh the pros I would have a very tidy sum in the bank.

Those who have made claims before would you recommend your insurer? Were they easy to deal with or did they try to wiggle out of paying?

KxMx

Pet Plan are consider the best for dogs & cats.

sheramber

Not a recommendation as I have not used it but Bought By Many have a policy where the premiums are fixed for the life of the policy. It might be worth looking into.

GwylimT

Personally I think it's worth it, before we moved our cat and dog were insured with petplan, the cat was around £14pm and the dog £19.

The dog is only five, however he has has two knee replacements. The total? Almost £8k with aftercare etc. His premiums come to a grand total of about £600.

Cat, to this day we don't know how she managed it but she bruised her spinal cord, this needed a small surgery and a lot of after care, she had to remain at the vet hospital for almost two weeks at £200 per day!!! Her totalcost was around £4,500 I think. She is 7, so her premiums have cost us around £1,100.

We have definitely had our moneys worth.

Mandy53

I would definitely recommend taking out insurance for any pet unless you have a substantial amount of money put away which you could use to pay vet bills. I never thought i would have to use my insurance for my cats but have had to and it,s just as well i took out insurance when i did as one of my cats got ill just a few months after i took out the policy resulting in specialist vet care tests,scans,biopsy,treatment,etc running into thousands of pounds. MRI scan alone cost £1600!. I do have quite a large excess to pay as the older they get the more the premiums go up and the higher the excess but it is still worth having the insurance and they pay my vet direct which is even better. I have a whole of life policy too ,thankfully, which covers ongoing conditions for life. I have 2 friends whose dogs both suffered the same terrible injury in their Crusiate ligaments resulting in many operations at a specialist vet hospital, pins,x rays,medication,etc.One dog is a young black Lab,the other was a 10 year old Rough Collie (sadly, he never fully recovered from his injury and died of a heart attack) . My friend with the Lab has insurance and the vet bills are still rising due to her Lab still needing more surgery 16 weeks! after her Lab was injured.and already having a number of operations She could never have afforded the vet fees if she didn,t have insurance. My other friend also had insurance and the final vet bills were around £8000.Her vets had to be paid upfront then she claimed it back minus the excess. When her insurance renewal was due, the insurer wouldn,t insure her dog but as say, sadly he died.There are so many different policies,companies and prices for insurance but always check and double check exactly what the policy covers(and doesn,t cover) as they don,t all offer the same cover and check the small print if you do go ahead with taking out insurance for your dog. My friend with the Lab is with Petplan as am I and we have both found them to be very good especially paying the vets directly and paying them quickly.