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?

The thing is you can't tell what it is they might need. Obviously huge surgeries maybe not, but if it is some sort of regular food stuff or an op that is a one off but would give them another 7 yrs pain free...

You don’t know it’s the final illness at first.

It may not obvious at first, you don’t want to PTS for
something easily fixed or minor and by the time you have gone to out of hours or the animal has investigations or stays in as an in patient you are already talking thousands.

Once our dog turned 12 her insurance went through the roof - plus the excess went up to something ridiculous like £400. I cancelled the insurance but we were lucky that we got another three years with her and when it was her time, she passed quickly from heart failure.

Dh cancelled our pet insurance when our two cats were about nine. One had had various issues and interventions, but the insurance company made it so hard to claim, and limited the amount we could get back in so many creative ways that he got thoroughly pissed off and cancelled it. He promised me if anything came up in the future we would just pay it out of our savings.

So of course then one of them was diagnosed with cancer six months later. We spent £15K on her treatment. I do not regret it, and the insurance would have capped their payout at £6K anyway, but y’know, we’d still have been £6K better off…

The other cat has been very cheap over the years, barely any expense beyond annual vaccinations, but in her old age (18 now) she has developed various conditions that need expensive drugs to manage. On these drugs she is sprightly, happy and lives life to the full, so it’s not a question of it being ‘kinder’ to PTS. Luckily we can afford the drugs so it’s not an issue, but if funds were tight it would be an awful decision to have to make, because it’s not like we’d be sparing her invasive treatment. She doesn’t even notice there are drugs in her food. She is lively and pain free.

So be careful. It’s not straightforward.

Don’t insurance pay towards the animal being put down and cremated? If so I think I’d keep it if it meant paying significant less then the cost.

I was a veterinary nurse and I would say keep the insurance for things like diabetes (insulin is expensive) also senior check ups including bloods to check kidneys ect. If he gets bad arthritis, the pain relief/Yumove ect adds up.
Or if you decide to cancel the insurance, keep putting money away monthly for vet fees.

We did once our spaniel got to 8+.

Strangely, costs got cheaper once the vet found out we weren't insured.....

Likely do similar once our premiums start to rise. She's 6 now and £36 a month (no claim history) so happy for now.

We don't have insurance now for older pets. We saved an emergency fund that can cover this sort of thing.

Dcat is 16. He's diabetic so is expensive, insulin, needles, 6 month checks which usually involve adjustments, blood glucose check kit at home. None of this would be covered by insurance as it's classed as an ongoing condition. Then last year he also cost £2000 at emergency vet he had a kidney infection. This would have been covered.

Ddog is 13. He's also cost a lot. All his teeth out, in two ops (greyhound cross, they are prone to tooth decay). Wouldn't have been covered on insurance. Then £2000 on emergency vet with severe vomiting and weight loss problems, turned out to be pancreatitis. This would have been covered but any future flare ups wouldn't have been.

So in last 2 years we would have saved say £4000 on vets bills if we'd had insurance. After excess. However, that is very similar to what we would have paid out in monthly payments, in fact, it's less!

In both cases of illness we were pursuing a diagnosis. If they had cancer or something we would not treat. For both of them they've had lovely lives and I hope to give them a peaceful end.

Yes.
I think we have to be sensible once our dogs get older. I wouldn’t put them through half the treatments vets suggest for elderly dogs either. It was suggested my last dog had MRI + chemotherapy at 12 years old. She was put to sleep instead.

I've just cancelled our cats. He is 10 and a boy, and they doubled it!

Our vet says it's a reasonable decision, and very common. We are affected by having Fitzpatrick in the area, so we pay extra premiums to cover everyone else who uses him 😡

I did for our dog. Trouble is at one routine appointment the vet mentioned she thought he had a heart murmur (this was years ago) so if we changed providers it wouldn't cover anything heart related. Current supplier put ours up ridiculously high last year (to the point where we would struggle to pay for it) so we sacked it off altogether. He's 10 now and whilst realistically he could still have another 6 years + left (he's a bichon frise, average life expectancy is 12-16 years according to Google) he isn't a spring chicken anymore, he is looking old so if he does come down with something he would need an operation for or serious treatment I probably wouldn't put him through it anyway.

I cancelled mine at renewal recently for my nearly 12 year old. At £100 a month and knowing I’d have to pay an excess then 15% of the amount of claim, it didn’t feel worth it. I’d rather save the money just in case, especially knowing that at his age I would likely avoid any big treatments.

We did this when our cat got to about 11 years old. We do have enough money put aside to be to pay for any veterinary fees required .

Are you all getting pet meds from the vet? If so, you need to get a prescription and order online. It's about 1/3 the price. My large dog has arthritis and his are only about £30 a month

I’ve always had old rescue dogs and never could get any insurance as they’ve all been 12+ so I am shocked to see it does actually exist!! If your premiums are under £100 a month and you are v confident they will pay out then if carry on. I expect they won’t pay out though or would try not to.
In 6 elderly rescue dogs we’ve had cancer/stroke/blindness/heart disease , epilepsy and recently thyroid issue. I don’t know if these sorts of things would be covered by insurance but that’s the sort of things we have had over the years from ages 12-18.

We pay almost £100 in insurance now our dog is 12 but he has a couple of conditions (nothing worth putting him down for as he’s being treated & still acts like a loon as though he’s a puppy!). His meds are about £250 a month, he has to have a vet appointment, urine tested & a blood test every 6 months which is about £500 plus he has bi weekly hydro sessions which would be another £80 a month all covered for our £100

As long as your pet is on an insured for life policy, i wouldn't cancel. My cat became hyperthyroid at the age of 12, absolutely no need to put her to sleep as with medication as still has a perfectly good and normal quality of life. The medication costs about £45 a month and she has a review every 3 months which sometimes required a blood test. I also had the option of her having an operation to remove the thyroid and also radioactive therapy to cure it. Even though i didn't choose to go for them, it was still nice to have the full range of options available without having to consider the cost.

Yes we cancelled for our 13 Yr old cat but kept it for our 4 Yr old dog. The tragic reality is we wouldn't put our old cat through big expensive treatments like chemo or a big operation.

We do save the money we used to spend on insurance and put it in a specific "pet" account, we use it to pay for some arthritis supplements and any regular vet treatment so we know there's a bit of a fund there should he need something we see as reasonable (e.g. that wouldnt ruin his last couple of years), but then we get to keep it when the old boy is no longer with us....

My 12 year old female cat became hyperthyroid too - it must the age for it. I had stopped insuring her two years earlier.

I did the required number of weeks of meds (four weeks I think?) to control the condition, and then she had surgery. It was day case so not expensive. She didn't need further treatment and lived another 3 years.

She was very nervous and not the type of cat I would have put through either daily meds or radioactive therapy. Part of my decision to stop insuring her was due to the type of cat she was - I knew she would find certain types of treatment too distressing so they would never be an option.

We've just cancelled our older cats' insurance as the price skyrocketed and I just don't feel like we're getting our moneys' worth.

He's arthritic but the medication costs less than half of what his monthly insurance costs were - we pay £24 for Metacam and about £30 twice a year for bloods. Much, much cheaper than insurance!

I did, but can afford any treatment.
Since he’s had no insurance he had a growth which was easy to remove but cost £1800.
He also has Librela £130 ish a month and Galliprant £67 a month.

Give to someone who can provide care for "such animal"? With that attitude, you shouldn't have pets at all.

What about the public liability element of pet insurance though? I’m reluctant to cancel pet insurance because it doesn’t just cover health issues, you can get policies which include all sorts of other things (dog walking, kennelling, rewards for lost dogs…) but PL is the main thing for me.

@iamthecakefairy The dogs trust do public liability for £25 per year.