Is pet insurance really worth it?

[longingforsomesleep]

We currently have 2 dogs (aged 5 and 2) and 2 cats (both aged 8) and are paying £77 a month pet insurance with Direct Line. This isn't life cover, just annual cover, so any ongoing condition they might develop will only be covered for one year. We've just been told that the monthly payments will increase to £91 next month - no reason other than 'the dogs are a year older'..... We've not made any claims in the last year (the excess is £90 and all our vet bills seem to be around that mark!).

Of course I've started looking around for a better deal, but have had to declare that our 5 year old lab has recently been diagnosed with 'a bit of rheumatism' and is prone to ear infections. One of the cats is also prone to urinary infections. So these ailments and anything related would all be classed as exclusions by any new insurer.

So, we can either continue paying through the nose with Direct Line; move to someone new and pay less a month but have a number of exclusions OR we can just not have cover at all. I wish I had never taken out any cover - just paid £100 a month into a savings fund which would have built up to a few grand by now. But of course now, I worry that, if I cancel the policy, they will develop all sorts of things!

Nevertheless, I am seriously considering cancelling the policy, putting £2,000 into a separate savings account and paying in say £50 a month. This would hopefully cover any big bills and, if it's not needed, we would still have the money. I've calculated that, over the next four years we will pay roughly £4,400 to Direct Line - that's if they don't put the premiums up again, which of course they will.

Does anyone have any views on this? I don't know what sort of big bills we might expect in the future - I know that operations can cost a few grand; but I don't know how much ongoing medication might cost. Anybody got any figures they could share with me to help me with my decision.

[daisydotandgertie]

Bills can be big - I know of one labrador who has needed joint replacement whose treatment has totalled £30,000 but that is pretty exceptional, I think and something which built up over his lifetime.

Bad bills seem to come in at £1-3,000 I've found. One of my girls has a history of getting properly death-defyingly ill - she's had a pyometra, meningitis, gastric torsion and finally to top it off two life threatening intestinal blockages at the same time. That's the sort of bill she's racked up for each disaster and for that reason she will be insured for a long time to come. I am also grey as a result of it .

My other three are far more restrained with their illness and (touch wood) have been far cheaper to run. One of the three is now uninsured; she's 11 and has never been ill and the insurance was ridiculous; the premium was high, the excess was massive and they would only pay a percentage of each claim anyway.

Our gamble with her is the same as yours - we keep an empty credit card with a big old limit, just incase. We did factor into our decision the likelihood of her causing an accident/damage where we'd need the third party cover, but as she mostly sleeps and does her nails, the risk with her is very, very low.

That's the only additional thing to add into your decision, I think. The liability issue if one of your animals causes an accident. It is very valuable insurance when you think of the disasters that could happen, if, for example one of your dogs caused a car accident.

[Sleepydog]

It's a difficult one now that you dogs are 'mature' so to speak. Anyone with a puppy then I would advise to have insurance.

The benefit of hindsight shows that you haven't had any claims -which obviously sways your judgement on this .

Our dog is coming up to 2 and we took insurance out - initially for the first year to get any problems dealt with - £2.5k (all this year , same condition) later we are really glad that we took it out and kept it on. Goodness only knows what our premiums will be this renewal.

We had two cats before the dog and never had insurance on them , we were very lucky and never had to pay big vet bills until later in life for thyroid removal and subsequent treatment so probably quids in on that.

Re the liability insurance - it would be interesting to hear how many of us dog owners have had to claim on this.

[horseylady]

My dogs aren't insured. I was half wondering why when the vet quoted me for investigations on my puppy, which I refused and am pleased I did. The vet bill was still £300 and I am unlikely to have claimed. My cats also are not insured. My horses are I pay £100 month for both of them and have never claimed on either. I was thinking of just paying into a bank account for them, but they will always need some level of insurance so they may as well have everything. Interesting with regards to public liability though. I might look into the costs and cover of insurance for the dogs. Vet care is expensive, insurers have to make a profit. I also know if my pup was insured I'd have not thought as logically about the investigations and it would have been unnecessary for her to go through that. Tough one really.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

We've always insured all our pets. We are currently paying around the £50 mark for lifetime insurance for one cat and two dogs (a pedigree lab aged 2 and a lab cross aged about 4), with Petplan.

Even minor things can end up being expensive - when ddog1 cut her pad quite deeply, and it needed suturing under anaesthetic, the total bill came to over £200, so even with the excess, it was still worth having the cover. And when ddog2 developed hypersalivation (which can be a sign that they've ingested something toxic) it was on a saturday evening, which meant the out of hours emergency vet service, where it is £140 just to get through the door.

Dh is pretty good at looking at numbers and working out the most efficient way to cover any expense, so when he says that the vet insurance is worth it, I tend to believe him.

[teanosugar]

I have two dogs and pay Tesco £20 a month.
For dogs I think insurance is definately worth it. As our vet said, the bigger the dog the bigger the bills!
Our previous dog had cancer and her vets fees topped £4K ( she was insured)

[longingforsomesleep]

Many thanks for responses. Am still inclined to stop the insurance. I checked back today and in June 2012 we were paying £46 pcm for 2 cats and 2 dogs. Two years later it's risen to £91 pcm. The really annoying thing is that the insurance company can't give me any idea of what it might be next year or in a couple of years time - even if we don't make any claims - because "it's all worked out by computer".

[Babylon1]

There was a thread a few weeks ago about out of hours vets fees and call out charges etc.

I work in the veterinary industry (not a vet not clever enough) and I would say yes to pet insurance every time.

Pets can be so unpredictable and vets bills can be astronomical

[Babylon1]

Line through fail
not clever enough

[longingforsomesleep]

Sorry, meant June 2010 we were paying £46. Hadn't thought about call out charges ....

[tabulahrasa]

My cat's cost me about £3000 in the last year (cancer) the bulk of that isn't for treatment but just to diagnose what was wrong with her, it's about £800 for an ultrasound.

[havingabath]

I can't remember the exact cost any more but pet plan, in little over a year, shelled out around £14 000 for my three dogs. I couldn't have funded their various cancer, heart, life saving operations etc without it.

I do regard it as essential unless your pockets can withstand a sudden hit of a few thousand, it's only ever an accident or major illness away.

[higgle]

Dog 1 - never insured never ill
Dog 2 - not insured, cost £1500 in vets fees before PTS
Dog 3 - insured, paid huge amount in insurance over 16 years, never claimed ( the rat bag only ever had conditions that were under the excess payable)
Dog 4 - elderly rescue dog, uninsurable at anything but sky high rates, now paying sky high vets bills ( but probably less than the insurance would have been)
Our experience over 30 years has been that it would probably have been less expensive to save rather than insure - but I'll still insure the next one we get, just in case.