Dog insurance i don't need a mortgage for!

[TotalConfucius]

I have a Big Dog and Little Dog.
BD's insurance renewal has just come - £757, or £63 a month. I'm a bit stunned. It's with Tesco as it has been since the day he came into the house at 8 weeks old. He's just turned 11 on 1st March, he's a golden retriever, OK health aside from gammy ears that require drops a few times a year (but always below the excess of the policy so we don't claim). By the time I add on LD's policy I shall be paying nearly £90 a month on dog insurance. We only pay out £60 on our own insurances and that includes critical illness!
Anyone know of any cheaper options?

[toboldlygo]

Aged 11 you may struggle to find a new policy - everything will be on a 12 month limit and will likely have a big hike in excess (Petplan for example will want £85 + 20% of any claim) and probably with a drop in vet fees cover. They will also exclude anything previously mentioned on his history.

It's very crap but pet insurers have you over a barrel with older dogs and particularly lack of coverage for pre-existing conditions. I know quite a few people who have cancelled their policy and put the premium away into a savings account instead, or have a credit card on standby.

[Perdyboo]

Animal Friends - I paid 9quid a month until ddog became senior and then 10.60 a month until we recently lost him :( The excess is a bit high so when he went on monthly tablets we had to cough up for those, but we were ok with that. We transferred to these because previous insurer wanted 45.00 a month. I wanted to insure my dog but like you say, not more than ours! They transferred all vet history and though we never actually made a claim, I rang them a few times for advice and they were lovely to us when darling dog died. Some claim circumstances become exempt over the age of 8 but we were happy with them because it was lifetime cover.

[Wordsmith]

Another vote for Animal Friends - we pay about £13/month for our dog and that's the intermediate level of insurance.(up to £2000 per condition). We had to claim this year and they were excellent. Not sure what happens when you try and insure an older dog.

[Redcherries]

Another Animal Friends vote, we've used them for years in the highest level we can get and they've been great, never argued a claim despite our late hound having lots of operations and then end of life care.

I have a senior small dog on about £17 a month and a large hound puppy who is on £27 a month.

[Notthecarwashagain]

Mine are insured with animal friends too.
£8.99 monthly for the 2 (£4.99 for Goldie pup, and £4 for my adult mixed breed)

I've only got basic plus for now though.

[2plus1]

I don't understand how animal friends are so cheap per month. We looked at them for a 6yr old staffy for life cover and it was £50-£60 per month with no previous claims. How do you all get it so cheap?

[daisy5569]

in my experience Animal Friends are cheap because if they can they will do their best to get out of paying out if you claim. I had my oldie insured with them for years and claimed once when he had to be castrated at 12 years and again towards the end of his life when he had heart disease. He had cushings since he was about 8 and this wasnt covered. But despite my vet writing to them to support my claim for the investigions and treatment for his heart disease, which she said was not cushings related they refused my claim twice and only paid out when I wrote to them to complain and cancel the policy. If I hadnt have complained I would have been £1400 out of pocket.
Google their reviews they are not all good

[Lonecatwithkitten]

I'm with Daisy Animal Friends are cheap as they wriggle out of paying as much as possible.
At 11 years old a golden retriever is hitting the age that the likelihood of claiming a big amount is likely to dramatically increase. Finding a company to switch to that will give you a good level of cover at this age will be tricky.

[Redcherries]

I think over my late dogs lifetime animal friends must have paid out well over £10, 000 on various things including 3 facelifts, surgery for his paw when he went through a plate glass window, life saving surgery for bloat plus days in the vets following initial recovery as his stomach appeared to be dying, then ongoing treatment for acute heart disease. Never ever had any problems getting payment.

I hope my experience with them stays the same, although hopefully the current brood will be a little less fond of having reason to go to the vets!