To ask you about your dog’s insurance?

I think it depends on the age of the animal. I don't have a dog, but I have two cats who are both insured.

However, they are still in their prime. I don't think that I would insure an older animal. After a certain age I would have them pts if they become seriously ill or injured rather than put them through treatment.

Exactly. It only works if you already have access to a decent pot of money or can afford to stick it all on a credit card.

A friend of mine would have had to fork out over 6k the other week for cruciate surgery if she hadn't had insurance. And unfortunately once one leg goes, the other is likely to follow 😬

I with ManyPets , and am aware of the mn thread, Watchdog, and Facebook group, ‘ Many Pets, Many problems’. However, to date, claims have been paid out with 48 hours, and premiums are ok.

Not looking forward to next renewal though. However, have pre-existing conditions so feel a bit trapped as most other insurers won’t accept you until after two years since the illness.

Same. I could not longer afford the £100pm my dog's insurance went up to, so could not afford to put it in savings either.

Yeah the 'just put x into savings' won't be useful for YEARS - it needs to go hand in hand with an empty credit card and a high credit limit.

It's taken me the better part of 20 years of pet ownership to have both savings and a clear credit card with a decent limit. That route is not an immediate option for most people, its something you work up to! Even so, I still would be loathe to do it except for the direst of emergencies as my ability to pay off that credit limit is shockingly low!

Also I don't believe in the "just put the equivalent into savings", I'd only have just over £1k saved up which would get me nowhere.

I was with Many Pets, tried to cancel last year (decent quote with Napo then too) and they changed this and that reduced premium but it's a co-payment thing.

Haven't heard great things about MP (there's a thread on here about them poss going under and they've been on watchdog too) so decided to switch after hearing good things.
I hope I never have to find out if they're good or not 😂

Cheap insurance policies tend to mean the premium will rocket up on renewal, the cheap offer is to draw you in.

Or they nit pit and quibble everything and have endless smallprint that equates to 'we're not paying for 90% of this hahaha'.

I use Petplan, not cheap by any means but they pay up promptly, most vets take direct payments, and as far as insurance companies go, they're pretty fair.

Lifetime policy, so unless we stop paying, ongoing conditions are covered (up to the annual amount each year) for life.

If you do NOT have ongoing conditions/pre-existing conditions (and it sounds as if you do not) and/or are not on a life time policy, then it might well be worth changing.

But i would run a mile from the super cheap policies.

That’s amazing!!!!
never heard of Napo
Im with many pets and it’s twice that (£16k ) no pe conditions and just 3 yrs old

I would ensure it’s min of 8k per year, as vet bills are huge. My dog has had a lot of problem and now has glaucoma and I’ve claimed a lot of money so it’s gone up a lot but I’ve got no choice but to pay it. Be careful changing but it should be ok if not a long term condition. I changed mine a few years in as the conditions he was treated for as a puppy were very vague so we were ok changing.

My friend’s dog was involved in a freak accident
£12,000

They were under insured.

They have generous contacts who helped.

If you don’t have that-( I don’t) You’d probably lose the dog.

Insurance is horrendously expensive even for a young healthy dog.

I've swapped to Napo, £32 for £16k £99 excess
3 yo pedigree.

Fortunately no PE conditions.

That does not actually cover your dog for vet care though... just damage to other people's dogs/property.
Well worth having anyway.

Thanks. Mine doesn’t mention copayments anywhere and I’ve scoured it so I’m assuming there isn’t any

Dogs Trust membership includes third party insurance. As I'm over 65, I pay the seniors rate which IIRC is £15 per annum.

We've had this discussion before. I think unless you take out super duper, mega expensive insurance you'll struggle to claim all but the most expensive treatments. My dog is over 6 and I've found out that they reduce the payout on the vet bills by 20% because of this. Excess is more so half the time it's not even worth claiming.

Our ddog had lymphoma and died recently at 6 years old, the entire vet bill was about £1600 in total, I managed to claim back about £800. But if I'd saved all the premiums I'd have been better off.

The only thing you I'd get via insurance which is lien to keep is third party insurance but I'm sure you could get that for peanuts.

It's a US invention, I think - it's like the excess, but it scales with the value of the claim. So the excess will be a fixed amount, and the copay will be a percentage of the total claim (including the excess).

No, because it's painful and if it gets bigger (which it will) it'll start to prevent her from eating and drinking.

Copayment is how much you pay in the case of a claim. For an older pet it's usual to have a higher excess and then a % of the bill

@ntmdino if it’s not cancerous , can’t it be left alone?

Copayment on my policy is 20% after age 8. Basically you pay 20% of claim. So when we claimed £2000, £99 was excess and £400 was our 20% cp and insurance paid £1501.

Never had dogs insured before, then my springer ended up munching through £18k in his lifetime. Now we have our two insured to the hilt. They are working dogs and I wouldn't risk it. It's £40 a month for the 2 year old span and £70 for the 9 year old lab, both on many pets best policy.

I don't have pet insurance. I did for our first dog who happily lived a full span for her breed in good health and was then refused any care after she needed dental treatment. PTS at 13 when she aged rapidly and became doubly incontinent. Dog second was never insured at all and cost a total £800 after acute onset leukaemia. Also PTS. Dog 3 is now 10 and her nickname is vet bill. Congenital elbow problems before she was 9 months old, £4k, obviously spayed soon after. Rehab costs. Ever since she has needed preventive veterinary attention and daily medication/supplements and diet to cushion the onset of arthritis, plus she's just needed a lump on an eyelid removing -- twice in three months! If anything serious compromised her enjoyment of life, I would PTS but as long as she's not chronically ill, I won't. I just save the insurance premiums up mentally. It does help that our vet is a sole practitioner married to a farmer and is quite forthright about what can be done and what is money down the drain. For which I am exceedingly grateful.

Excess is £240 which is fine. I could afford that no problem. No idea what you mean by copayment.

...aaand in an example of perfect timing, it looks like our Akita's going to need surgery for a non-cancerous lump in her mouth. Roughly £4k.

Yay for insurance, eh?