Pet insurance

Onebrokelady

Hi everyone 
I’ve just adopted an 8 year old dog and need to get some pet insurance and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations or companies to avoid. My last dog was insured with Animal Friends and I didn’t find them that good, thanks in advance for any info 

Rhyddid2026

Animal Friends paid out when my dog needed an operation, and it was pretty straightforward, but then they put the cost up massively the following year. I don't think I've heard of one company that everyone is positive about. I tend to change most years now, which is annoying, but necessary with 2 rescues with pre-existing conditions.
I'll follow this thread though in case you get some good suggestions, I'm due to renew soon.
Congratulations on your new best friend! 

elsien

At 8 you will likely find insurance starts getting more expensive anyway. I am a firm fan of petplan for paying up without quibbling in the main, Providing dental cover and then not hoiking up the premiums if you have lots of claims  (although it will go up more substantially as the dog gets older with any insurance) . But they are more expensive than other insurers, and when dogs hit a certain age you have to start paying a percentage of the bill as well as the excess.
whatever you go for, go for proper lifetime cover that resets every year. 

As my dog got older. I reduced the level of cover from 7K to 4 because I wasn’t going to put him through any ridiculously expensive treatments or operations, as otherwise it probably wouldn’t have been affordable.

I am confused by the previous posters comment about changing every year due to pre-existing conditions. pre-existing conditions for me are a reason not to change because new companies tend to exclude them?

IOWJJBTM2025

Our dog turned 9 last year. He had some lumps removed when he was 7 and the policy cost went up when he was 8.
The policy for this year turned up on auto renew for £2000 for the year. When I looked at the policy everything was excluded for dogs aged 9 and above apart from third part cover if he escaped and bit someone. The policy was with Tesco. We declined the renewal and was warned that other insurers may not cover him because of his pre-existing conditions.
I was not really that happy with them as an insurer - We took him to the vets aged 7 because he had 9 lumps that were all growing at pace. The vet was given the insurance policy and all 9 lumps were removed. The biopsy showed that only 5 lumps were cancerous. Tesco insurance declined to pay for the non cancerous lump removal which was just over £1000.

sheramber

elsien said:

At 8 you will likely find insurance starts getting more expensive anyway. I am a firm fan of petplan for paying up without quibbling in the main, Providing dental cover and then not hoiking up the premiums if you have lots of claims  (although it will go up more substantially as the dog gets older with any insurance) . But they are more expensive than other insurers, and when dogs hit a certain age you have to start paying a percentage of the bill as well as the excess.
whatever you go for, go for proper lifetime cover that resets every year. 

As my dog got older. I reduced the level of cover from 7K to 4 because I wasn’t going to put him through any ridiculously expensive treatments or operations, as otherwise it probably wouldn’t have been affordable.

I am confused by the previous posters comment about changing every year due to pre-existing conditions. pre-existing conditions for me are a reason not to change because new companies tend to exclude them?

Petplan only  start insurance  dogs before 8 th birthday, 5th birthday for certain breeds.

sheramber

You will have limited choice for cover starting at 8 years old.

Not a recommendation as I have not used them bit have a look at Many P ets as they do insure older dogs.

KxMx

I burned through £4k for diagnostics on a cat in 2019 (policy was for 7k).
There was nothing that wasn't absolutely necessary or done in the wrong order. 
Big bills don't always come from operations or extensive treatment.

These days 4k wouldn't go far cat or especially dog.

Onebrokelady

Rhyddid2026 said:

Animal Friends paid out when my dog needed an operation, and it was pretty straightforward, but then they put the cost up massively the following year. I don't think I've heard of one company that everyone is positive about. I tend to change most years now, which is annoying, but necessary with 2 rescues with pre-existing conditions.
I'll follow this thread though in case you get some good suggestions, I'm due to renew soon.
Congratulations on your new best friend! 

To be fair they did pay out when my dog needed and operation that cost £3000 and I stayed  with them because she was an older dog and I couldn’t get insurance for her anywhere else. I’ve done a comparison and been given lots of options that are quite reasonable 

Onebrokelady

elsien said:

At 8 you will likely find insurance starts getting more expensive anyway. I am a firm fan of petplan for paying up without quibbling in the main, Providing dental cover and then not hoiking up the premiums if you have lots of claims  (although it will go up more substantially as the dog gets older with any insurance) . But they are more expensive than other insurers, and when dogs hit a certain age you have to start paying a percentage of the bill as well as the excess.
whatever you go for, go for proper lifetime cover that resets every year. 

As my dog got older. I reduced the level of cover from 7K to 4 because I wasn’t going to put him through any ridiculously expensive treatments or operations, as otherwise it probably wouldn’t have been affordable.

I am confused by the previous posters comment about changing every year due to pre-existing conditions. pre-existing conditions for me are a reason not to change because new companies tend to exclude them?

Pet plan came up at £71 a month even with an excess and co pay and that’s not affordable for me 

Onebrokelady

IOWJJBTM2025 said:

Our dog turned 9 last year. He had some lumps removed when he was 7 and the policy cost went up when he was 8.
The policy for this year turned up on auto renew for £2000 for the year. When I looked at the policy everything was excluded for dogs aged 9 and above apart from third part cover if he escaped and bit someone. The policy was with Tesco. We declined the renewal and was warned that other insurers may not cover him because of his pre-existing conditions.
I was not really that happy with them as an insurer - We took him to the vets aged 7 because he had 9 lumps that were all growing at pace. The vet was given the insurance policy and all 9 lumps were removed. The biopsy showed that only 5 lumps were cancerous. Tesco insurance declined to pay for the non cancerous lump removal which was just over £1000.

I’ll avoid Tesco then 😀

Onebrokelady

sheramber said:

You will have limited choice for cover starting at 8 years old.

Not a recommendation as I have not used them bit have a look at Many P ets as they do insure older dogs.

I did a comparison with compare the market and they came up with loads