Pet Insurance Help please!

sheramber

Petplan paid out more in vet fees than I paid them.

My last dog had surgery for a cruciate ligament teat costing £3000 18 months after we got her. No way would I have saved £3000 in 18 months by slef insuring.

As it was it was covered by insurance.  Her insurance was  no more than £26 per month so  I was quids in and covered for anything else arising for many years.

Peace of mind at a small cost.

DullGreyGuy

Lavendyr said:
Edit to add that despite claiming the full cover last policy year, my insurance premium has only gone up by a really small amount and I'd expect that anyway as premiums are higher for older cats; Petplan promise that they won't increase premiums if you claim but I know other pet insurers do.

Petplan dont use claims experience as a rating factor for individual polices however they are notably at the expensive end of the market for those that havent made claims. 

As always insurance is ultimately a gamble... dont buy any and you may not have to pay a penny out or may have massive bills. Buy budget and you have to pay something out and it may or may not be sufficient should you have a claim or but comprehensive, have a larger cost but have the peace of mind of better cover is something does go wrong. 

Its the same for the insurer... do they want to gamble on your dog getting ill or your home falling into a sink hole or not. A former boss always told the story of a reporter approaching him at an event and asking what industry he was in and when he said insurance she looked bored and wandered off. He met her again at another event and clearly she didnt remember him and she asked the same question so this time he said he was into high stakes gambling. This time she was animated and asked hist biggest bet... the answer of $200m certainly got her excited until he finally admitted it was insurance

sheramber

All insurance is a gamble whether it is house. car, mobile phone or pet insurance.

We pay it and are glad when we don't have to claim. Except people seem to grudge paying for pet insurance if they don't make a claim on it.

My friend's neighbour was very glad she had  house insurance when her house was struck by lightning and burned to a shell.

Naomim

As an aside, as they are for human consumption can you get a prescription and take it to the chemist? I used to do this for my old dog when he was on gabopentin. I used to have to pay a fee to the vet for the actual prescription and then the Private prescription cost £15 at the chemist. This was a couple of years ago but was much cheaper than buying from the vets. 

Brie

I'd also talk to the vet about this and explore the alternatives. 

Some vets think it's a doddle to give pets a pill.  Might work for some and not others.  I've not had a dog for decades but remember they would gobble anything resembling food so pills were easy. 

Cats are a different story - 1 of ours thought anything that was in a bottle and rattled was a treat and would come running.  Any of the others were a nightmare - wrap in a blanket and try to jam the pill down only to have the cat immediately spit it out. 

And I've had 2 different ones that were diabetic.  Both of these were treated by injection - this was easy as I timed it to meals and the cats were usually quite complacent and would munch down while I gave the injections.  1 injection a day meant I needed to spend about £30 a month on insulin.

sheramber

Desmopressin  can be given as tablets or  as eye drops.

Diabete Insipidus 9 which is rare in dogs) is totally different to Diabetes Metillus.

Insipidus in due to lack of hormone to enable the kidneys to concentrate urine and can lead to dehydration. 

 DM is a due to high blood sugar.

OP, there is an active facebook page for owners of dogs with DI.