to not insure my dog?

[fluffymouse]

She is a mixed breed, her dad is a breed known for being very healthy, and mum a Heinz. Neither have any health problems. She is a small dog too (live longer, healthier from what I hear). She is also a docile little thing, so I have no worries about needing third party insurance as she would never be aggressive. She is also spayed (reduces risk of certain cancers).

I have savings and could afford to pay out for a large vet bill should something unforseen happen.

Insuring her with petplan (the insurers most people recommend) would cost an eye watering 34/month. There would still be a large excess (110).

Wibu not to insure on this basis?

A friend of mine has a docile dog which got out and ran into the road. The dog wasnt insured and the vets bill was 4000+, that was without paying for the damage to the car that hit him.

If you have enough savings to cover that sort of amount and not miss it then you are not being unreasonable. If you cant then you are.

My friend is now unable to insure her dog due to the injuries.

My dog is insured and has had two operations in six years for unexpected injuries. These were paid for by the insurance and has worked out cheaper than if we had paid for it ourselves.

Yes I could afford a bill of that scale.

Dog has escaped a couple of times but just walked herself to the park! It is something we are careful about now though.

An rta is probably the most real risk with her, but I think it is unlikely to happen.

What about 3rd Party damage? My mum has her dogs insured primarily in case they cause a road accident.

I've been considering this. A friend of mine put away the premiums she would have paid into a savings account. We have insurance so should one of the dogs have an accident we could cover it. At the moment my cat and two dogs cost £50 a month to insure and that's not the best insurance. I ruled out petplan as too expensive. I know they insure for life but the reality is that should one of my pets develop a health condition that is lifelong requiring expensive treatment I would pts.

Vet bills can be horrendous and you have no idea what might be happen. I appreciate it seems a lot, and it does. But illnesses/accidents can't be predicted unfortunately.

So I agree with the poster above, if you have vast amounts of cash available to pay bills or can get credit with your vet and some sort of pay monthly scheme with them (that would work out more expensive than insurance). Of course it is possible nothing will happen.

In my experience it isn't worth the risk.

I think there is a forum on dogs on MN, I'm not sure where, but you might also want to ask your question there as well.

Swings and roundabouts I think.
My westie lived to a grand old 14 with the occasional vets visit, nothing more than £50 a time.
My Scottie died aged 9 from copper storage syndrome and in the 8 months before we lost him cost around £5,000 to diagnose, medicate and keep a decent standard of life for him.

Neither were insured as both were very expensive per month because of age.

My pup now is insured and probably will be until he's six or seven and it becomes silly money again. At that point one again I'll save the equivalent cash per month. I guess it depends how much of a gamble you are willing to take and if you could pay five thousand or more if needed.

YABU ,its worth it just for the 3rd party cover - go with a cheaper ,more basic plan with a different insurer . I have a cross breed terrier and don't pay anywhere near £30 per month for plenty of cover .

bike Dog only weighs 7kg, so I think in the even of her hitting a car it is very unlikely she would cause any damage to the car, so I really don't see 3rd party damage as an issue. (I hate to thing about dog bein in a car accident, but I think the risk is very small. We live on a very quiet street, and are careful now about her escaping)

floral why do you think 3rd party is required for your dogs?

Also what insurers do you use?

We have a gsd, use sainsburys and pay £15 a month. To me it's worth it and I wouldn't consider not having it 'just in case'

Bloody hell, I've just done 2 dogs and a cat on MoreThan for life at 41 pound a month, PetPlan quoted me 33 pound for one. Don't go with PetPlan is my advice.

I use Direct line ,I have a basic policy because I'm happy to risk an ongoing issue and can afford it . I think the 3 rd party is important because we live in a very litigious ( is that a word) world now and even the nicest dog could have a red moment and snap or as others have said cause a road accident . I've claimed twice for my boy for minor ops ( about £700 both times) so I'm getting my money's worth and pay £80 excess .

You would be an idiot not to.

I know you said you have the savings, but insurance is more sense in a financial pov.

I see why you wouldn't want to and instead of paying insurance I pay into a savings accoint that will only ever be used for vet bills for my dog. However I do have third party insurance as it's essential! If your dog (however small) ran into the road and caused an accident you will be liable. Whilst the car may not be damaged someone may swerve, collide with another car, hit a pedestrian, even be killed as a result of your dogs actions and you could be held liable for that. In these worst case situation scenarios you could be looking at tens of thousands which I doubt many people could pay and not miss. The likelihood of this happening is of course tiny but third party only insurance is cheap enough to not take that risk.

3rd party is often covered by house insurance, so check your policy. £5,000 for 8 months. Mine would be pts first.
People object to £20 to see a GP, but pay far more in vet bills - sense of proportion please people.

We've mulled over this several times and have decided to self-insure. We have a 5 year old border terrier. He's in good health and gets regular vet checks, he lives indoors so opportunities for trouble are limited. The cat has cost us more through roaming outside & getting in fights. If anything happened to him I'd pay almost whatever they asked to fix him and we do have the cash to do it. Luckily it hasn't happened so far touch wood.

Where we live the 3rd party thing isn't an issue but if I was in the UK that would probably tip me into getting insurance.

Not just about damage to a car for 3rd party. What if (and I appreciate it's a big what if) someone swerved to avoid hitting your dog and crashed into someone else? That dog still caused the accident and you would still be liable. Likelyhood is slim to almost none but still.........

As for vets bills I find that if you're insured you have greater options because you're not thinking about a "budget".

For example, dog falls down some steps and seriously injures/fractures a leg (happens quite frequently with smaller dogs). The cheapest option would be to amputate in a lot of cases. Even then you'll be lucky to escape the vets with a bill under £900.

With insurance, a more high tech operation by a specialist vet (orthopod vet) to repair and heal the animal with a more "gold standard" approach.

As for putting an animal to sleep, no decent vet will euthanise an animal if there is an option it can come back from illness or injury to an excellent quality of life for the duration of the foreseeable future. They have a duty of care.

I would never put dog to sleep unless it was absolutely necessary for quality of life reasons (certainly not to save on vet bills!). I have enough savings that even if a very unlikely event happened I could afford the vet bills.

I just think dog is unlikely to have vets bills totalling more than 510 in the next year (cost of insurance plus excess) so it makes financial sense.

3rd party I don't see a need for, as the risk is negligible.

I just wanted to see if there was something important I have overlooked.

£510 is very quick to wrack up. A dog coming in for x-rays alone could be £350+ THEN there's the cost of treatment once diagnosis has been confirmed. Revisits, drugs and the possibility of it being a lifelong condition. Therefore monthly shelling out of drugs, recheck appointments, if it's urinary related the insurance will pay out for food too.

My previous dog was a Heinz 57. In theory shouldn't have had any issues. In reality (if I wasn't paying stock price) without insurance £180 a month to medicate. She had dreadful allergies that made her feet itch.

I've worked in the veterinary industry for nearly 10 years, there really is no eventuality or condition you can plan for. I've had clients from every earnings bracket, even the odd minor celeb and aristocracy, to the multi millionaires and those on the strictest of budgets.

I've not come across any insured client with a decent policy say they have thrown good money down the toilet. I have had self insured clients say it though.

I'm not sure I get what you mean by "the risk is negligible" in relation to the third party bit.

I'd strongly suggest having a chat with the vet practice you intend on using. Let them guide you. Costs vary from postcode to postcode with vet bills a bit anyway.

I'm inclined to say that they will suggest insurance. After all if veterinary surgeons themselves get their own animals insured (and let's face it, if they can't get cheap bills, who can?) it's going to be worth it.

Fluffy mouse do you have access to your savings day and night, because most vets you have to pay up front. If you have proof of insurance then treatment will start ASAP.

I've had cats and dogs all my life and never insured any of them

ican yes I do. Instant access.

wiener I mean that the risk of my dog causing an rta resulting in damage to other parties is negligible. I know my dog would never harm another dog/person. It's interesting you always think insurance is of financial benefit, when surely the insurance companies must make a lot from it.

If people think 3rd party is such an issue, I can get dogstrust membership for 25/year, and view it as a charitable donation too.

I don't doubt for a second that your dog wouldn't do anything intentionally bit you have mentioned that it's managed to escape a couple of times already. Even if you live in a quite area, there are still roads.

I suppose I have just seen one too many situations that could have been mad a lot easier for people of they forked out a few quid each month rather than diving into savings for initial treatment and forking out a fortune every month for ongoing treatment.

I see that x amount comes of my account every month, I don't notice it, I'd jolly well notice it if it cakes out of my savings though, then I'd have to build it all back up again.

On every pet I've owned, I made at least 2 claims.

The Dog's Trust 3rd party is for 1 million. Have a look on Martin Lewis's page, he says it isn't enough and I quite agree.

Erm look at other insurance companies. I pay no where near that a month with m&s pet insurance...

Yabu to not insure do you really want the only reason you pts your dog to be financial?

Hit by a car - can be very costly
Tumours - costly
Genetic defects/ predispositions- costly
Attacked by another dog - costly esp if that dogs owner legs it as also uninsured and unwilling to pay

Parental health especially with crossbreeds does not equate to puppy health

A good temperament doesn't mean that in the right situation she won't bite (unsupervised child being a bit too rough/ adult making her feel threatened)

Being small also doesn't equal good health

Not worth the risks imo :-)