Lab owners

[Helencatz]

How much a month do people pay for their lab pups and who with?

[desperatehousewife21]

Insurance? We’ve just taken out one with Bought by Many, £22 per month and our lab is 10 weeks old.

[Helencatz]

Yes insurance I don't know how I missed that word out

[Wolfiefan]

Make sure it’s lifetime cover. And check who your vets are happy to claim direct from. Some vets won’t deal with some insurers.
Sorry. Don’t have a lab though!!

[Helencatz]

Is that the highest and lifetime cover?

[Helencatz]

I know definitely want life time cover and the highest.

[UnfinishedSymphon]

Ours started off at £18/month, she's now almost 8 and it's £65/month as we've made a few claims

[bumphope2020]

I'm being quoted around £60 per month for the most comprehensive cover, which is a bit of a shock

[BlodwynBludd]

£47 a month. I love my lab but they are expensive to keep going.

[WeAllHaveWings]

7 year old lab. Started around £24/month, now £64/month for £4k cover. Petplan.

[LBee2020]

Ours is 6 months and we pay £34 / month for a high coverage life plan with PetPlan

[JonHammIsMyJamm]

Young Adult lab with no health issues or claims. PetPlan CoveredForLife, mid range of cover (Classic+?) gives £7k vet costs a year plus other benefits. We pay about £50pm

[JonHammIsMyJamm]

We also pay £16pm for a flea/worm plan with our local vets.

[ApolloandDaphne]

We use Petplan. She is 8 now and the premiums are around £75 p/m because she has had an expensive operation and a few other treatments. They are very good though and always pay out quickly without quibbling.

[WeAllHaveWings]

We use Petplan. She is 8 now and the premiums are around £75 p/m because she has had an expensive operation and a few other treatments.

Petplan increases (significantly!) with age, not with treatments, you would be paying this even if you had never claimed. We are £64/month for a 7 year old, so I've got £75/month to look forward to next year!!!!!!

[MirandaMarple]

A reliable life policy should cost around £22-25 per month.

Insurers class a 6+ year old Lab as senior so prepare for premiums to rocket.

I have two senior Labs and I think I'm paying around £100 per month for both now. A couple of condition are no longer covered too as we've claimed the max per year/condition.

[Holyrivolli]

I don’t have insurance for our dog who is now 7. I’ve got money which I can use if he needs any treatment if he needs it. I figure that I’ve saved thousands on insurance to date and I’ll make the decision at the time whether it is worth putting him through any treatment. I love him very much but his quality of life is the most important thing for me. I don’t agree with the Supervet approach of putting animals who don’t understand through weeks or months of pain and anxiety to sustain their life when they don’t/ won’t have a decent quality of life at the end.

[awesmum]

Healthy pet plan - all worming, flea and jabs £15 per month
Insurance £20 per month
1 and a half year old.

[NoSquirrels]

Our Lab-cross (5) is just under £30 for lifetime cover with Petplan. I know it’ll go up - I wasn’t expecting 6+ to be senior, gotta say, but still worth paying for peace of mind for me. I don’t want to have to decide anything stressful on the basis of finances and paying insurance is worth it to me for that safety net.

[tabulahrasa]

“I don’t agree with the Supervet approach of putting animals who don’t understand through weeks or months of pain and anxiety to sustain their life when they don’t/ won’t have a decent quality of life at the end.“

The thing is though, it doesn’t have to be anything majorly invasive or complicated to cost loads of money tbh - scans are stupidly expensive, so cost you thousands before you even know how easily treatable things are.

Or a few hundred a month on painkillers for arthritis because the cheap ones make a dog sick soon adds up to loads.

I mean if you can get hold of thousands of pounds in an emergency - great, but I’d never want to be in the position of having to have a dog PTS because for instance it ate a sock...

[JonHammIsMyJamm]

Standard tests costs a fortune (blood tests and scans) and overnight stays can soon mount up. Then as a PP says, you have the issue of ongoing, potentially crippling bills vs euthanasia or rehoming for financial reasons if you have a pet with a long term but very manageable condition. Obviously, insurance is optional and some policies aren’t worth the paper they’re written on but personally, I would advise every owner of a dog to have it

[Holyrivolli]

@tabulahrasa. Absolutely. I’ve accepted the fact that I might end up having to spend a few thousand on diagnosis and/or drugs for treatable conditions which don’t impact too much on quality of life. I’m not going to put my dog through major surgery with low prospects of getting back to his current quality of life. It’s also helped by the fact that he’s at low risk of injury by misadventure - he’s chilled and sensible so no running off or sock eating for us anymore thankfully.