Pet insurance

ellymoo

I have just rescued a wonderful little dog and want to insure him. Can anyone please share their hints & tips on what I should insure for? I know I need to look for one which protects against dental illness.

Some with lower monthly costs only cover you for 12 months. I don't understand what this means; don't most policies renew on a yearly basis anyway? I have only heard awful things about pet insurance and companies refusing to pay out, so I am very nervous about making the right choice. Thanks for any advice you can give!

SaverRate

I have personally gone with Tesco Bank (Royal Sun Alliance are insurers). The policy I have covers dental issues (not just accidents or injuries) provided I get a yearly dental check at the vets.

You need to work out what you would want them to pay out and how long over. If you go for a lifetime policy its renews every 12 months but will pay out for the same condition for the lifetime policy providing you renew. Cheap policies may only pay out for the same condition for a year then exclude it as a preexisting condition. 

Sandtree

ellymoo said:

I have just rescued a wonderful little dog and want to insure him. Can anyone please share their hints & tips on what I should insure for? I know I need to look for one which protects against dental illness.

Some with lower monthly costs only cover you for 12 months. I don't understand what this means; don't most policies renew on a yearly basis anyway? I have only heard awful things about pet insurance and companies refusing to pay out, so I am very nervous about making the right choice. Thanks for any advice you can give!

Pet insurance tends to come in three approaches, lets take an example of your dog getting diabetes as a long term chronic condition....

1) Single year limit - they will pay up to £5,000 in the first year and never anything more for this condition
2) Multi-year limit - they will pay up to £5,000 per year up to a total of £20,000 across multiple years
3) Lifetime limit - they will pay up to £5,000 per year every year

The problem is that once your pet has developed a chronic condition then either you have to stay with this insurer forever more or it will be excluded with any other insurer as a pre-existing condition. So the question is how much will they increase the premiums each year if you are claiming £5k each and every year?

You do get the likes of PetPlan that falls into category 3 but they promise your claims experience won't impact your premiums... they will go up each year as the pet gets older because just like us old age adds risk. As a consequence they are more expensive to start off with (by a fairly long way) so it all depends on your risk appetite.

ellymoo

Thanks very much both. So people tend to stay with the same insurer rather than do a yearly hunt around?

Sandtree

ellymoo said:

Thanks very much both. So people tend to stay with the same insurer rather than do a yearly hunt around?

That depends on people... those that frequent here tend to play musical chairs but if the music stops you are then stuck and that can get expensive quickly

The average customer for any type of insurance dont shop around.

ellymoo

I would normally change every year, but it sounds like that isn't the right thing to do in this case.

elsien

Each time you change, if your dog has needed vet treatment, there will an exclusion on your policy that won’t bs covered in future. If you have a healthy dog that’s not a problem. 

So for example when I got my rescue, she already had mange and a limp that needed checking out and was mild hip dysplasia. 
That led to a skin condition exclusion for a couple of years, and a lifetime exclusion on arthritis of the hips and any related conditions.
You also need to consider how quickly treatment costs add up, especially outs of hours treatment. 
My vet uses an expensive hospital for out of hours cover. When I thought mine had eaten something he shouldn’t have on a  weekend and was hypersalivating, an overnight stay with drip and blood tests but no other treatment cost me the best part of 1K.  So make sure you do have an adequate level of cover.

You will also find that all insurers charge more as the dog gets older - usually over 8 when you can expect to pay a percentage of the final bill as well as the excess. 

I’m with Petplan. They are more expensive but they do cover dental and don’t hoik up premiums when you claim. But they’re not cheap. 

Final option, depending on your finances, is to take out basic 3rd party cover in case your dog causes an accident, and put money aside each month for anything that does crop up. Which does run the risk that something expensive and unaffordable might crop up. 

ellymoo

Good lord. These figures are terrifying. I had looked into insurance previously obviously but had no idea that vet bills could be so much for an overnight stay. I will need to get more than £2k of vet cover then! One of my worries about getting a dog was the expense but I have wanted one for so long, I looked at insurance figures and they seemed affordable. How on earth do people on low/no incomes afford vet treatment?

My dog has fleas or somesuch, unsurprisingly, and was itching terribly when he came to me. He has already had antibiotics, steroids and tick/flea treatment and is much better. I took him to the vet after I got him as he was very uncomfortable and he's come on brilliantly. We are seeing the vet again next week for a check up so should I wait until then to insure him, as then we'll know if he has a skin condition or not? Also, we are pretty sure he's deaf but again this hasn't been verified by the vet. Should I add that as a pre-existing condition or should I wait?

elsien

Not all treatments are that much - like I say, my out of hours place is a lot more than other places. And it will also depend where in the country you are.

As a better example for planned treatment,  having to have some teeth removed (one a canine that didn’t want to come out) was a final bill of about £500. 

A needle biopsy without sedation and with test results was about £100. 

Nicking my mother’s mince pies and having his kidneys flushed through was a couple of hundred with an overnight stay because I got him to my vet during regular opening hours and didn’t need the emergency service. 

But he’d gone several years before that with no claims at all. Swings and roundabouts. 

Skin condition might be better to wait - they’ll probably exclude it now anyway because of the treatment you’ve already had, so a diagnosis one way or the other might help to limit the level of exclusion.

Most insurers also have something about not covering anything in the  first 14 days so that might be worth checking.
Deafness may or may not be an issue, depending on the cause of it. Congenital vs ear infection, for example. 

You may insure and not need cover for years. It’s like any insurance, there just in case.

People on low incomes use PDSA if in a catchment area, or I’ve also seen some desperate charity appeals.  Or sell things. Or in some cases just dump the dog. 

ellymoo

I felt really ill seeing that cost. Did you have a high amount for vet fees set originally as I've seen that policies won't let you change? I will find out where my practice use to get an idea of costs.

I've only had him a week and am in love with him already. The thought of having to refuse him treatment or have him put down because I couldn't afford it makes me feel sick. I feel like I've made a mistake taking him on, for his sake, but then I'm giving him day by day a much better life than he had previously. Lord. I don't know what to do but I think going for a more comprehensive policy is best especially considering his age (he is 7).

Do you think I should wait then for diagnoses before I insure or is it better to go ahead? It would be just my luck if his head fell off the day before I insure.

elsien

I have a 7K limit because I have a specific breed that can have some health issues. I’ve never needed that amount in 20 odd years of dog ownership but I’m risk averse. And he’s an idiot.  

You’ve not made a mistake taking yours on. You could go years without needing to pay much out. And you also need to think what treatments you might want. Some people pay stupid money for chemo for dogs - I’d not put mine through that so it’s not a consideration. 

Ditto some breeds prone to cruciate problems might need higher cover. Your average Heinz 57, it’s far less relevant for.

Most people manage just fine. But the NHS does shield us from the true costs of treatment so it’s as well to be aware. 

And for all that above I only had to pay the excess. That’s what insurance is for.