Pet Insurance for 10 animals, insure or save?

jbkmum

We have 10 pets (mixture of strays, given to us and all that jazz)

4 dogs, 6 cats.

Quoted with Bought By Many for 15k worth of cover = £2506.57 per year.

My partner and I have different opinions, he says we shouldn't insure and just save, I disagree. Whilst saving 2.5k a year would be great especially if none of them need treatment, it only takes one large vet bill to distablise that idea.

Thoughts and opinions (other than rehoming the horde....)

djp64

I'd save and not insure especially as the excess on most policies will be more than some of the more common things cost to treat (I'm thinking of a cat abscess from a bite usually treated with antibiotics where cost is around the same as the excess).

Had several cats over the years and the last two - one has never been to the vet and one went once for an abscess and once at end of life when a brain tumour was diagnosed.  Total cost significantly less than insurance cost over the years.

I think (without any real basis for it) that dogs can be more expensive vet wise so it may depend on the breed / age / current health of the dogs you have.

MovingForwards

Always self-insured my cats over the years, definitely wouldn't have spent the equivalent amount in premiums for the couple of vet bills I have paid.

jbkmum

Well one dog is a collie x german shepherd so I think I would insure him, another is a terrier x spaniel and having spoken to the vet they think he'd be more likely to need treatment for an accident as he doesn't think he would be susceptible to any breed related illnesses. Then there is a collie x sprocker and a sprocker. The sprocker is 4 years old, I must have spent around 3k on her insurance since having her and she's only been to the vets for vaccinations. 

I may self insure for the cats then, but definitely insure the collie x german shepherd as he has a GS build and so could be potentially susceptible to hip displaysia etc. Then I can save £200 a month into savings

sassyblue

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to insure them individually? thats an average of £250 per pet and I’m sure they don’t all warrant that kind of premium.

I’d advise ALWAYS going with insurance.

Malthusian

Unlike almost every other form of insurance, pet insurance is more valuable the more money you have saved, because vet bills expand according to the amount you have in the bank.

The point of pet insurance is not that it's cheaper than self-insuring (if it was, insurers would go bust) but the peace of mind that you won't ever have to ask yourself if you're putting your pet to sleep to save money.

If the OP is confident that won't be an issue then not taking out pet insurance is a rational decision. (10 animals suggests they're either very pragmatic or round the twist. And the latter type wouldn't normally be asking questions like this on MSE.)

boots_babe

Whilst I can understand self-insuring for some things, for pets this has never made sense to me. Vet bills are so expensive, even a minor op and say 1 night stay over, would likely cost hundreds. Given that you have so many pets, the chances of issues occurring are even higher, so I really wouldn't recommend leaving it to chance and self-insuring. 

You say it's £2500 per year to insure all of your pets, in my experience that would be gobbled up easily by one 'medium' medical incident, so seems like a no brainer to just insure. Honestly, it's not worth the risk otherwise you could end up landed with massive medical bills if you have just one or two issues with your pets. 

Good luck.

jbkmum

Ok I’ve rethought it. 

I’m going to self insure the rescue cat, insure the rest on 7k but the German shepherd on 15k until I can get him hip scored (thus knowing if I’ll have a costly bill).

Valid points in the last couple of posts.

Im definitely round the twist, I didn’t intend to end up with 10 animals, I just can’t say no and people know it. However…I’ve reached my limit for sure

squirrelchops2

I toyed with this too but having seen how bills rack up I went for insurance. All it takes is one illness, night or 2 in hospital and a couple of x rays and you are up to £1500 before anything else

sheramber

if you don't insure them all it is Sod's Law that the one that needs vet treatment  will be one that is not insured.

seven-day-weekend

My friend was only telling me yesterday that she could not have afforded the excellent care her dog  had when she had terminal cancer, paid for by the insurance. 

Another friend had to have three (of eight)  of her dogs put down in one year and ended up with a bill of £2k.  She couldn't afford to pay it.  Luckily her brother bailed her out.

We have never insured any of our cats.  Our son's cat has never been insured and has only been to the vet a few times, mostly in recent years. She is 22.5  years old. 

But it is just luck really, isn't it?

If I had loads of animals I would deffo insure them.