Would you cancel your pets insurance at a certain age?

[TanaFrench]

My dog is 13 and has insurance. I was always going to just keep her insured until the day she passes (and I still might). But recently I have heard quite a few people say that they cancelled theirs once their pet got to a certain age because at that point if anything major happened they wouldn’t put them through it. I thought that was a good point, but I’m worried and still feel like I would keep it just in case. I wouldn’t cancel at 13 anyway. Maybe at about 16, if she made it to that age.

So I am just curious about what other people do. Do you keep your pet insurance forever or is it pointless once they are elderly? And if so, at what age would you cancel it?

If you can afford it, and it represents good value in terms of premium vs co-pay and total benefit, I would say keep it. As they age there may be more smaller bills to pay. My 13 year old has arthritis. His meds cost around £200 per month .

As long as he is happy and can still enjoy life/ has good quality in it, I will continue to pay .

Also, while you may not choose to put him through something, if something requires out of hours emergency, even euthanasia, the costs will be much higher than a regular appointment.

Just do the maths and decide what works for you. (My boy is not insured at this point - the numbers did not stack up).

We let ours lapse, partly because there’s a limit to what is sensible to pay and put the animal through. Partly because at a specific age the premium and the excess both shoot up, so you really aren’t getting good value.

If you put the premium aside as you were, it is then available for bills.

I cancelled when ddog was 11. Then copay went up to 50%, the premiums rocketed. He did have a number of health conditions that meant we wouldn't have put him through investigations / cancer treatment etc. it wouldn't have been fair on him and he'd have been unlikely to survive anaesthetic.

I think it depends on the premium l, how much the are insured for, and if you can afford it. My parents premium is £250 pcm but the amount their 2 cats (16 year old) are covered for has been reduced. They won't be renewing.

Our lab is 14.
Petplan is now £95 a month!

But he's having long term nerve injections and some other issues so we're glad to have it, overall about £250 a month saving

I'm keeping mine as might actually get something back from everything I've paid in over the years ... Mine is still very cheap though. Try waggel they are better for older pets than others

I cancelled insurance for two of my cats in the past when they were about 10/11 because the cost suddenly jumped, and exactly as you say I wouldn't put them through expensive traumatic treatment. I didn't regret that.

I currently have two 11 year olds and I haven't cancelled for them yet. Mainly because one of them has an eye problem which needs expensive treatment if it re-flares, and it seems unfair to insure her and not the other one! But yes in general my mindset would be to cancel around that age.

No I wouldn't, my cat like almost all older cats has arthritis and her meds alone cost over £100 per month. She also has her bloods and blood pressure checked regularly, all covered by insurance. Lots of older pets will develop age related disease but many of these conditions are perfectly manageable with medication. Insurance isn't just about heroic surgeries, for me it means I can keep my cat comfortable in her senior years at minimal cost.

I cancelled my previous dog's insurance at about nine years old. Even with his meds and major surgery we broke even over the last seven years of his life. When I stopped it it was more than insuring two cars.

Our renewal quote has just come through for our two dogs, 16 & 12, and it’s gone up 40%!
There is a 30% co pay plus excess and the actual amount the insurance covers isn’t actually that high, I took it out when we got the first and back then cover was fine.

I’m just waiting for some tests to come back for an ear issue, it would require medication rather than an operation, but is difficult and expensive to treat. I’ll decide then whether to cancel it.
I’ve claimed once for each dog, probably around £2500 in total but this was over 10 years ago.

I stopped my dogs one when it hit £70/month. Never claimed on it but it just kept on going up. He did have cancer a couple years ago when he was 13, but the cost of the treatment was still way less than if I'd been paying insurance for that time.
He's 15 now. I haven't insured my other dog (12) ever.
In all my life having pets I've only had one that needed an operation after being hit by a car (£750) and the cancer (£1200). One had a round of steroids and some painkillers but totalled less that £300. Maybe I've been lucky? I don't know. I've had at least nine cats and four dogs in my lifetime.

I had petplan until my dog passed away
I was paying £85 per month but had claimed £205.per month for many years
There's no way I would have been without insurance as the day she died that single days bill was £850

I cancelled my dog’s when he hit about 13. I wouldn’t have put him through anything but routine treatment after that age.

You need to look at the cost of meds though - my cats thyroid med was a lot through the vet. I pay for prescription and buy online for a fraction of the cost.

I don't think that's a great attitude. Many issues in older pets are costly, but with the right medication the pet can still have a great life. I can understand putting a pet to sleep when uncomfortable procedures would not be nice for them but not 'well if they get any problems I'll kill them and replace with a new one'. I think that's awful.

Personally no, because you never know what you might need it for. However, having had a very ill cat most of last year I think I would be cautious about trying to extend a life that is getting to the end anyway. But the insurance is useful for chronic conditions.

I have a 16 year old cat with a chronic skin allergy and arthritis, so we use the insurance to get back the cost of his medication every quarter. He's still living a good life (currently asleep in the conservatory) and the insurance means we can try different medications to see if they help rather than sticking with one cheap one.

Never paid any for two dogs.
Took them to European country for surgical procedure.
Tbh I would never burden myself with cronically ill dog. I know it sounds harsh but they are pets and at point the problems overweight the benefits it is time to pts or give to someone who can provide care for such animal.
They are both at age now where I am comfortable to pts rather than looking at them having bad life quality.

We are considering cancelling ours as the annual premium:max payout is 1:4

And that’s before the excess is taken into account.

One of my DCats is now 17, and has had his thyroid successfully treated, for which I am glad he was insured as total cost was about £4.5k in the end. The insurance has just gone up to more than £150 a month, and I am going to cancel it and set the money aside in case. I wouldn’t put him through another op, he’s an indoor and garden cat these days (deaf and nearly blind, so can’t be allowed beyond the garden), so accidents are unlikely. I just don’t think the insurance makes sense any more at this point given his particular circumstances. He’s still a v happy boy, and I hope he has a number more years, but treatments are likely to cost less than the insurance from here on in.

I actually hadn't thought about it tbh. It has gone up when she hit 10 but it's nothing eye watering as yet. I wouldn't put her through any invasive testing anyway. It's more for accidents than anything.

When she starts down the dementia road or soiling all over the house etc then I'll be PTS. Just don't believe in prolonging life if they're not happy or in pain.

As our dog gets older the insurance cost got daft. More than quadrupled over the 9 years we had insurance . And the excess got high. And the amount of cover for each condition got lower... so we stopped, put the money into an account each month (pay for his jabs and meds from there) and now he's 13 we are still in profit.

He is an old dog now (for his breed, and you can see it in him) and if he had anything major go wrong, we would not seek to prolong his life - even with insurance. The only thing that could cost more would be making him comfortable.

I cancelled one of my cat's premiums when he was 14. He was a large cat, and had started slowly deteriorating, just because of age. We decided that if anything 'big ticket' were to happen, it wouldn't be the kindest thing to put him through treatment. He bumbled on until 15, then when he could no longer do much for himself other than sleep, we had him PTS.

Mine has pre existing conditons but the premiums are crazy high now (£160pm) and he's only 7. At some point I am going to do a bit of a calculation between paying them or covering the costs his prexisting myself and getting a new insurance for a smaller amount that won't cover the pre existing things. I wonder if that would be better.

However, I do track all claims vs premium costs and when he goes, he will make a great case study into pros and cons of insurance. By then I will have included a £250 (maybe more 😱) monthly payment into my budget for his insurance/costs. I am inclined to keep that in the budget and my next dog, only insure for the first few years when it's cheap - anything left of that £250 when the premim is paid, will be saved. That means there will come a point around 3 years old when insurance costs start to rise that I can cancel the insurance with a decent pet savings buffer and self fund.

Absolutely not.

It does not have to be a major condition that it "all or nothing" with elderly pets that mean a low quality of life. Many older pets can develop chronic conditions such as thyroid problems or diabetes that can cost a fortune in meds and blood tests. In fact our 17 year old car who has an overactive thyroid is currently climbing trees in the garden.

We also had a an older cat (we found him behind the wheely bin) who had a tendency to develop bladder crystals. The solution was minor - a bladder watch out and change of diet - but if we had had to pay the full cost for emergency vet, scans, drips, drugs and procedure it would have cost £2,000

I am considering this as well. I kept it on last year, and one cat did develop a condition, so we have used it. But the premiums have increased so much this year - now £1200 for the year for 2 16yo cats - that it doesn't seem good value. We are very unlikely to spend that on minor conditions, and wouldn't put them through treatment for anything major. Due to the existing conditions, we couldn't switch providers now.

I think this will be the last year we renew.