What is the cost of pet insurance?

john432

So, looking to getting a puppy.
Would be interested to know what is the real cost of having insurance for a puppy to adult dog to 10 years + old.
Not sure what breed, but it will be small to medium size.
Would be great if I could get some true monthly cost of any breed and any age.
Thank you.

JGB1955

Insurance starts off at a very 'reasonable' amount.  We insured our English Springer Spaniel until he was 7 years old - and then it got ridiculous.  I think we probably got our monies worth out of those 7 years (possibly £4,000) but now self-insure... possibly paid out about £1000 per year since then.. but wouldn't bother with insurance EVER again.

tacpot12

Our experience is not to far off JGB1955's. We're currently paying about £350 per year with PetPlan for our 6yo dog and £674 for our 14 yo dog. Coincidentally the younger one picked up a bad cut while on a walk last week; the vets bill for the stitches, pain meds, and antibiotics was £650. We have an excess of £75 on the younger dog and £100 on the older dog, and PetPlan only pay 80% of the claim (after the excess). So we will get back £460 of the £650 bill, so about £100 more than the premium this year. 

Both dogs have had enough issues that mean we get back at least half of what we pay for the insurance, so I see it being a sort of pre-payment scheme for vets bills.

Sandtree

john432 said:

Would be interested to know what is the real cost of having insurance for a puppy to adult dog to 10 years + old.

With only a couple of exceptions then cost is relative to claims history and so get an animal that unfortunately picks up a life long condition and many pet insurance will become prohibitively expensive. PetPlan will be expensive to start with but wont change just because your pet get sick

thriftytracey

It is better to buy a more expensive policy that will cover pet conditions for life.  For example your dog may get diabetes.  Dogs get lots of life long conditions that humans get.

Also, check that there isn't a pay-out limit per illness.  Years ago our cat got cancer.  We had Tesco pet insurance and after they had paid out the limit we had to stump up £1000 for chemo.

I've got two dogs and I have "Purely Pets" and "Lifetime Pet Cover" respectively.  The premium is creeping up as they age so I may have to make a decision to self insure as they get older.

Vet bills are incredibly expensive.  A relation's dog had bad sickness and diarrhoea (he eats anything and everything).  The bill came to £1000 - overnight stay included which is very expensive.

john432

Thanks for your replies.
Anyone that has older dogs, that could gave a indication of the cost per month / year.  
Thank you,

JGB1955

When our dog got to 7 years old I think the premiums went up to something like £50 per month - but then the exclusions/excess  made it a 'no go'.

double_dutchy

We used to have up to 6 cats but we now have 4 cats and 2 dogs.

10 years ago I would have said that pet insurance was worthwhile but the premiums went up very steeply, without an equivalent rise in the maximum amount per condition, so we cancelled most of the insurance. We now have cover for our youngest cat and youngest dog only, but I'm thinking of cancelling those too.

Bear in mind the following:

Most pet insurance won't cover dental treatment, vaccinations or ongoing medication, and smaller claims may not be above the excess.

Larger claims are where you will recoup your money, but watch out for maximum payouts per condition or time limits on conditions.

Each year your premiums may go up because of inflation.....but also because the animal is a year older....and also if you have claimed that year, this can lead to premiums spiralling.

Vets are very expensive - almost everything they prescribe you can get cheaper online

TELLIT01

Even a policy which promises to cover the pet for life doesn't prevent the premium rising to an unaffordable amount.