Pet insurance is a minefield!

[Mickarooni]

Any advice please? I’m going with lifetime cover. My main query is, I’m not sure what the annual vet fee limit is sensible for a dog. I looked at a policy with a limit for £4000 per year but if dog needed a big surgery, that might wipe it out? Would appreciate any thoughts. Please and thank you!

I'm with Bought by Many for my cats

Think its a £15k limit

Thank you @dementedpixie. My only query with Bought by Many is that they’re a relatively new company compared to older, more established ones.

£4K is definitely not going to completely cover the costs for some things - orthopaedic surgery, spinal surgery, but also if a pet was very ill and had to spend a few days in hospital then the bill could also approach 4k. I would say 8k minimum if you’ve got a healthy small cross breed, 12k if you have a big dog or a high risk breed (french bulldog, pug etc).

They were great when I claimed and it was all done online

We also use Bought by Many for our cats. We've had them a few years. All good so far, I think they are underwritten by a big insurance company so not as 'fly by night' as you might fear. I have two of ours on a 'fixed price for life' deal which may turn out to be a bit of a bargain as it's only £10 pm with a £70 excess.

We've had a couple of claims, both injuries due to accident/attack resulting in an injured tail and an operation to remove an eye both of which were paid out without quibble.

As to whether you could go over £4k, perhaps talk to your vet to see if that sort of situation is common? It's probably specialist scans that eat up money. I know my insurance paid out around £1200 for a heart scan for one of my cats once. If you had that and surgery on top, plus post operative care and medication, it might take up a big chunk.

I have a mid range lifetime cover for £7,000 this is with Emporium Insurance. I also pay money into a savings account each month. It depends really on what you can afford to spend, but I would like to think most things would be covered with £7,000 worth of cover, but I appreciate that may not always be the case.

We like Bought by Many too who paid out directly to vet easily when Ddog aged only 2 needed a general anaesthetic . I can PM a referral code which gives a £20 amazon voucher if ever useful , just watch their small print as your pets normally need to be up to date for all vet recommended vaccines for a claim to be accepted (even an unrelated one )

A Vet nurse once said to me you would be better off opening a savings account and putting money in monthly to cover your pets bills. I've paid Pet Plan top cover for 14 years and look after my cat very well, consequently she hasn't had a big claim yet. Cystitis once caused by me being away and skin irritation caused by the vaccinations I had to stop as she doesn't socialise with other cats or fight with them. I have the insurance for peace of mind but it is £75 a month now and I'm subsidising other owners really making all the claims. I would love her to have a holistic treatment like acupuncture or another but Pet Plan make it as hard as hell to use it by saying I have to be referred by my vet to a practitioner and they cannot guarantee they will cover it before I do so. I haven't enjoyed dealing with Pet Plan at all I don't find them generous I have barely claimed and they are tight fisted.

We have Petplan for Ddog with a £5k a year limit.
For 4 years we hardly used it but this year he was very ill in June (£3500) and needed a minor op in October (£1000) and the ongoing checks and medication wiped out the other £500.
We are fortunate enough to be able to just pay if necessary but it’s not always the case. I think we are just about in profit at the moment but I expect our premiums will go up

I can see that’s frustrating but the whole point is it can be unpredictable- both DB and I have had our first (v young) dogs have unexpected huge bills (one cancer) so I’ve been grateful for it and he says he’d never not insure again for the peace of mind. My friend did stop when her dogs were old though as found the cost too high

@TricolourCat

A Vet nurse once said to me you would be better off opening a savings account and putting money in monthly to cover your pets bills. I've paid Pet Plan top cover for 14 years and look after my cat very well, consequently she hasn't had a big claim yet. Cystitis once caused by me being away and skin irritation caused by the vaccinations I had to stop as she doesn't socialise with other cats or fight with them. I have the insurance for peace of mind but it is £75 a month now and I'm subsidising other owners really making all the claims. I would love her to have a holistic treatment like acupuncture or another but Pet Plan make it as hard as hell to use it by saying I have to be referred by my vet to a practitioner and they cannot guarantee they will cover it before I do so. I haven't enjoyed dealing with Pet Plan at all I don't find them generous I have barely claimed and they are tight fisted.

We were really surprised and rather shocked when our dog needed an eye operation and Petplan only covered half the bill. We had to pay an excess due to her age and a first claim surcharge as well. Seeing as we are now paying over £70 a month for her I'm inclined for future dogs to take out 3rd party insurance in case they run out in front of a car and cause an accident but put savings away for medical care

Randomly I'm sorting my cats renewal out today too!

Would anyone know why it's been more expensive from 0-8 years to insure our female cats but their monthly cost has gone Up by just £1 per month this year but the boys have gone Up by £2 per month?? (With animal friends). No claims made against any policies ever

I'm not too bothered by the cost really just wondered why it's changed from girls being more expensive to boys?

(They only cost £6-8/mth on the new payment plan so I don't intend to change insurer anyway as pretty sure I won't get it cheaper)

We're with Bought by Many for our dog and although we've never claimed for a major operation we've claimed lots of times for minor illnesses (at least 10-15 times) and we've never had a single issue, it's an easy online process to claim and we've never had a claim turned down. I'd definitely recommend them. Our insurance premiums also haven't increased much year on year despite the fact we've made claims.

Ddog is insurers through petplan lifetime cover £4k a year. Tbh I never considered of it would be enough, never had a pet with a significant bill before. Last year they paid out the full £4k between surgery for a cruciate ligament and immunotherapy for allergies. Unfortunately looks like they'll be paying out another £2.8k this year for the other cruciate ligament.

I could not recommended pet plan highly enough. No hassle, pay the vet directly. If I was inquiring another pet I probably wouldn't increase the limit, I feel like Ddog has just had a really bad run of luck.

@TricolourCat

A Vet nurse once said to me you would be better off opening a savings account and putting money in monthly to cover your pets bills. I've paid Pet Plan top cover for 14 years and look after my cat very well, consequently she hasn't had a big claim yet. Cystitis once caused by me being away and skin irritation caused by the vaccinations I had to stop as she doesn't socialise with other cats or fight with them. I have the insurance for peace of mind but it is £75 a month now and I'm subsidising other owners really making all the claims. I would love her to have a holistic treatment like acupuncture or another but Pet Plan make it as hard as hell to use it by saying I have to be referred by my vet to a practitioner and they cannot guarantee they will cover it before I do so. I haven't enjoyed dealing with Pet Plan at all I don't find them generous I have barely claimed and they are tight fisted.

I’ve heard that too from a few vets. I’ll definitely get insurance but I’m going to set up a Direct Debit into a savings account too. I’m fortunate enough to be able to do this. In the pas, I’ve found that by the time a dog hits 8 or 9, you’re paying the excess and a % of the claim and a large monthly premium - so it feels a bit galling - but I’d always insure regardless.

@WisestIsShe

Ddog is insurers through petplan lifetime cover £4k a year. Tbh I never considered of it would be enough, never had a pet with a significant bill before. Last year they paid out the full £4k between surgery for a cruciate ligament and immunotherapy for allergies. Unfortunately looks like they'll be paying out another £2.8k this year for the other cruciate ligament.

I could not recommended pet plan highly enough. No hassle, pay the vet directly. If I was inquiring another pet I probably wouldn't increase the limit, I feel like Ddog has just had a really bad run of luck.

Pet Plan are quick and efficient, I’ve never had to argue with them but they’re extremely expensive. The excess was insane with my old dog before he died. I’m thinking about going with them again but not certain.

Thank you all for the advice.
Much appreciated!

Petplan was too expensive for me which is why I chose bought by many. Have been with them a couple of years now

A Vet nurse once said to me you would be better off opening a savings account and putting money in monthly to cover your pets bills.

They clearly didn't live in the South East. Would take very little to burn through a year's insurance payments here! (A split ear running in the woods on a Sunday would have done it for me 10 years ago, I'd hate to imagine how little it would take now.)

Does depend on where you live, but here a £4k limit would not be nearly enough for anything relatively major.

My dog is nearly 8 years old and apart from annual boosters, flea treatment etc. we've spent very little on vet treatment for him as he's had no accidents or illness, just some itchiness.
The huge amount we'd have paid on insurance by now would have been such a waste; and having had a look recently I see that even the best policies seem to have big excesses.

Just going to take our chances and continue to PAYG! 😬

Bought by many just forked out £2500 for my puppy who had lameness on and off.

Submitted the bill and it was approved that Ernest day no questions asked

I've nothing but praise for them

I've gone with 7k life cover for my puppy with PetPlan