Pets at the Vets

IvanOpinion

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

Deep rooted suspicion of pet insurance and I have a working gundog so I suspect they'll be plenty of exclusions for my mutt. I trust my vet more than insurance companies so just pay for whatever's needed.

Our last dog was not insured and whenever she was ill the vet was told 'whatever is necessary' (I KNEW she would not rip me off). This time we have insurance, not because of the vet fees but more because of the litigous society were someone might sue if they let my dogs out and they get bitten (not that they would ... I hope).

Interestingly, in spite of all the "I have insurance" responses here, the majority of those who voted are (currently) in the the "no, I don't have insurance" camp.

I noticed that as well

Ivan

Katinkka

I have my persian on the supercat petplan insurance. Its £11 a month but has already paid for itself when he had to spend 6 weeks living at the vets when he was a kitten. The good thing about going with a company like petplan is they often will sort things out for you. THe small things you end up paying for and then petplan will reimburse you but when Fitz had to stay in and the cost was going to be in the 100s then the vets fill out a form and call them and you dont have to do a thing. We also get money if the cat dies or goes missing to get a new cat. Not that we would want to but he did cost £300.

netty061

Our cat died a year ago after a short illness and he was insured with Sainsbury's but the excess was still £200 - they take off an initial £50 then a percentage of all claims. The renewal was due at the same time and they had changed underwriters who changed the rules to 'per condition for the lifetime of the pet'. We got two kittens and I trawled the internet, finally finding M&S which cost the same for two as it did for our previous cat (he was only 7 years old) and a far better benefit with no excess. So far it hasn't changed. Its worth looking around as the terms really do differ from policy to policy.

chalky_bertie

We thought about insurance for Bertie the rabbit (god rest his sole) after the problems of having his teeth operated on every 6 weeks(ish). Looked into it and with the proviso that the pet had no problems when buying the insurance policy we decided not to. We allready knew about his teeth. Anyway we started a fund in a pot upstairs putting away £10 per week for him which in the main covered all the bill and had no problems. I thought there was also an excess on the policy so when taking that into account I'm not sure if we would have saved anything.

But I would recommend anyone putting a few £ away a week just incase of vets bills if you don't want to take out insurance.

A final note we estimated that we had spent somewhere in the region of £2k on him during his life! In our eyes any pet would be worth that money.

JBEILBY

We went with Saga Pet Insurance and opted for the top policy for our cat - glad we did 18 months later he went down with Feline Leukaemia - cost of diagnostic tests and treatment for associated conditons was over £600. When the DNA test came back positive we had to have Bitsa put to sleep. We received full payment except for the excess including the price we paid for him.

I am currently the servant of Jaspurr who at the last count is down to 7 lives and he's only three!! So once again Saga claims department is being kept busy.

ksh123

As a former veterinary nurse I have always thought pet insurance a disgustingly poor deal (as are current vet's fees - I know what the drugs etc cost) but still until recently I always had pet insurance for my menagerie. My biggest gripe was always that from age 7 cats and dogs become "elderly" as far as insurers are concerned and fees and excesses are LOADED. With hindsight, and given the high costs of such insurance I now believe its better to forget the insurance and leave spare capacity on a credit card for emergencies. Probably will cost less in the long run, i.e. if your pet lives till 15 or some such grand age.
Now |'m on incapacity benefit the insurance is way beyond my reach anyway, so God forbid,if anything should happen,we'll all be charity cases I guess.

pug_in_a_bed

The bigger the pet, obviosuly the bigger the bill...having had only wee dogs till a year or two ago, when i got a big lurcher, got a shock. The little un has been the vets only for injections/checkups in her whole 12 year life.

Before last christmas, about 3 weeks before, the lurcher (it means thief ironically enough:)) pinched a carcass out the bin, didn't even know it had gone, she was ill for about 6 or 7 weeks, misdiagnosed - finally an x-ray revealed the carcass stuck in her tummy, and out it came.

£900 later (seriously) I am still paying off my wonderful sister. Christmas was virtually cancelled!

She is now insured and thank god i say shes never out the place!
They're big runners so she has hurt her foot, was attacked by another dog and had to be stitched up. I think if you don't have that kind of money you can hold of striaght away, then pet insurance has to be the way to go.

Debt_Free_Chick

pug_in_a_bed wrote:

was attacked by another dog and had to be stitched up. I think if you don't have that kind of money you can hold of striaght away, then pet insurance has to be the way to go.

In this case, if the other dog could be identified, I'd be after the owner to pay for the damage THEIR dog did!

norma_snockers_2

As a vet I see the heartbreak faced by people when a much-loved pet, part of the family, needs expensive diagnostics or treatment but they just can't afford it. Unless people are on benefits they usually won't qualify for help from the various charities. For most people insurance is the way to go, although people who use this site are more likely to be disciplined enough to have an emergency fund of some sort to fall back on. When chosing insurance there are several points to consider, other than the obvious "how much is the premium?"

How much is the excess I pay? Is it a flat rate or percentage? (or both!)

What exclusions are there? - existing conditions, those that arise shortly after the policy is taken out, "routine" or "preventative" treatments, eg neutering, cosmetic dentistry, vaccination, worming.

Is it a "for life" policy? Get one of these if you can afford it as when the policy is renewed and an exclusion put on an ongoing condition (diabetes, heart failure, skin allergy, arthritis to name a few) a new insurance company will exclude an existing condition and it is too late to change.

What is the limit of a claim? Is it an annual limit or per condition? Vets can do wonderful things but new drug developmant and advanced surgical procedures cost a lot, particularly if referral to a specialist is necessary. Ask your vet about her/his fees and typical referral costs to decide on an appropriate level of cover for your pet. Remember large dogs cost a lot more to treat - imagine the difference in drug doses between a chihuahua and a St Bernard!

What other benefits does the policy provide? Third party liability for dogs is one I consider worth having. Other services include kennel fees if the owner is hospitalised, advertising if pet is lost, reimbursement of cost of pet if it dies. Which do you consider worth paying for?

Finally, ask your vet and your pet-owning friends which companies they have experience of and choose one that provides fast, efficient service without haggling unreasonably over pay outs.

sproo

Things to look out for:

you may (very likely) have to pay excesses eg I have a policy where the excess for dogs is £65 and for cats £55 so that if the vet bill for my dog comes to £100 I get £45 back

Some companies say that they will claim directly from the vet but you should ask you vet first as this is up to them. My vet states that everyone should pay up front and they then submit the claim form. Then the reimbursement comes in the post which I have known to take from 3 weeks to 2 months.

The terms of the policy are obviously very important. For example pet plans budget tariiff gives you £4000 per pet per year ie whatever the condition(S) you can claim up to £4k per year and then the next year you have another £4k for the same conditions or new ones.
Direct line will give £4k per condition but for up to a year or under their advanced policy (more expensive) £6k per condition for an unlimited time. I do not know about other companies.

My personal experience is that my dog has bilateral hip dysplasia and we are looking to have his hips replaced. The vet said that this would cost £4k per hip. I phoned my insurance company and they said that as the condition is bilateral they would pay up to £4k for both hips not per hip, even if each hip is done several months apart, leaving me to find £4k from my own money.
Also the cost of x-rays and medicines has eaten into the £4k leaving me to be able to claim only about £3.5k.

Hope this helps