Maybe it's better not to insure your pet?

Katiehound

The problem is that now it costs quite a bit to just darken the door. 

A friend took her dog to the vet yesterday with an eye problem. Yes, they were in with the vet for an age- probably more than 20 minutes. Consultation,  painkillers, eye drops x 2- total spend £109.

Why do dogs seem much more unhealthy these days? There seem to be younger dogs being quite ill which suggests to me that (in)breeding may have something to do with it.

KittenChops

Our (then) nearly 7 year old cat had a terrible 5/6 weeks last year - 3 claims made (urinary obstruction, constipation & kidney injury).  Total vet cost (some of it out of hours emergency which is incredibly expensive, was several hundred pounds just for the initial consultation) was around £9000.  Insurance paid out around £7800, after £100 excess per claim + 10%
With some things (like his urinary obstruction), if they get it once, they are more likely to get it again.

LinLui

Katiehound said:

Why do dogs seem much more unhealthy these days? There seem to be younger dogs being quite ill which suggests to me that (in)breeding may have something to do with it.

I think there's a balance. There were more mongrels / fewer highly overbred dogs/ no puppy farms in the past - basically with the exception of the more robust breeds, mongrels are healthier than "breeds". In the past people often didn't take animals to the vets when ill - there was less concern about animal welfare, but equally vets didn't have th capacity or tools to identify and treat many pet illnesses (just like human doctors can now do more). We also have more pet owners and a goodly number of them have utterly no clue as to how to look after the needs of their dogs. 

thriftytracey

We stopped insuring out cat when she was 10, we had never had to claim.  She is now 16 and never had to take her to the vet.  If she did get ill now then obviously we would take her to the vet but I would suspect it would be an end of life condition.  We also stopped the vaccinations as she is a house cat.

Our two dogs are 7 and 8, a poochon and a jackapoo.  £28 and £34 a month with insurers that pay out for lifetime conditions.  We have only ever made one claim on one dog which was £300.  So if we had been paying the premiums into a bank account we would have a fair amount.

The OP spreadsheet didn't include cruciate ligament condition which is very expensive, and they have four legs (or 8 in our case)!  One of our insurers have advised the following.

·        If your pet is aged 4 years or over at the time of claiming, there will be a 15% co-insurance to pay which is increased to 25% when aged 7 years and 30% from age 12. This is a contribution to the balance of the claim once you have paid your excess.

·        New claims limits will be applied for both MRI/CT scans and cruciate ligament treatment. If you have a £2,000 or £3,000 policy, your limit is £1,000. If you have a £4,000 or £6,000 policy, your limit is £1,500. If you have a £10,000 policy, your limit is £2,000.

·        New claims limits will be applied for dental illness treatment. If you have a £2,000, £3,000, or £4,000 policy, your limit is £200. If you have a £6,000 policy, your limit is £500. If you have a £10,000 policy, your limit is £1,000.

·        If you have a £2,000 or £3,000 policy, a new claims limit of £500 will be applied for complementary therapy. The limit for £4,000, £6,000, and £10,000 policies will remain unchanged at £1,000.

So the limit has dramatically reduced for scans and cruciate ligament treatment, and you would also have to factor in the 25% contribution.  I will be looking to change the insurer at renewal - luckily the dog in question for that policy has never had an illness or claim.