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?

My chihuahua is not insured but my bulldog is.

Bulldogs are well known for expensive health problems.

My chihuahua doesn't go out and with his jaw problems and other disabilities which he has, they wouldn't cover him for much anyway. He hasn't cost me much money at all despite his many problems and if he was to become very ill and needed a lot of treatment and operations we would put him to sleep as he is unlikely to survive operations anyway.

Floudering My vulture pet insurance company have paid out £5k. I have paid them £105.

My last old girl cost them about £200, and yes, I paid them well over £1600 in subscriptions, but I never begrudged it. I did stop her insurance when she was older, but continued to build an emergency pot for her if it ever became necessary.

I have paid house and contents insurance, holiday insurance and car insurance for over thirty years now and have never made a single claim, but I rest safe in the knowledge that I have that security. Every insurance company is a vulture, until you need them.

I have been lucky, as you seem to have been, in that very little has gone wrong with my cats and dogs over a thirty year period, with my latest boy, elbow dysplasia has cost a small fortune. He has had the very best treatment, x-rays, MRI's, surgeries, more painkillers than you could shake a stick at, and the most wonderful care and I have been totally relaxed in the knowledge that I don't have to work out the finances to see how to pay for it all.

Yabu.
Unexpected things happen and vets are more than happy to rip you off.
My neighbour's cat was horribly injured by some thugs. It did cost a fortune to treat her.

Actually laughing at the 3rd party risk being negligible' comment. Ahh, naivete at its best.

Let's hope one of the scenarios already mentioned where the dog gets out and causes an accident involving pedestrians and street furniture doesn't happen, eh? You might be covered by your house insurance but hey ho, let's just run the risk and settle it in civil claims court!

I can't get reasonable insurance (price or coverage) for Cereal Dog as he has various diseases which could (!) be the cause/exasperate any current/future conditions. However, we do have 3rd party.

We have one particular cat who we have always claimed more than the policy cost each year. One of his conditions is long-term and has gone on for years. My parents old dog started fitting and needed CT scans and large amounts of expensive medication to control the fits for three years before his quality of life got bad enough to make it the right time to put him to sleep.

Ok I will get dogs trust 3rd party as it helps the charity too, though I still see the risk as tiny.

Dog would never lash out, I don't buy this any dog is dangerous rubbish. Take the point about a very unlikely rta.

I have a young fit bitch who we insure fortunately. She has just had to have a vagenectomy with a price tag of £8000.

Thanks petplan.

She is recovering very well and full of beans again.

Shop around for insurance....mine is insured with the co-operative for £11 per month. I had one incident which resulted in a 2 day stay at the vets, drip, bloods and medication costing £500. The vets filled out the forms, I signed them and it was sorted within a week without calls, letters etc. Mine is well worth the tenner a month for peace of mind.

I've got cats and horses rather than dogs. Horses always fully covered for vets bills, and I've always thought it money we'll spent.

Cats not insured, but over the years an arm and a leg doesn't cover it! Zeb cat started with bout of cystitis, despite treatment he ended up having to have his bladder opened up and flushed out - then got pneumonia and nearly died. All I could do was say thank god for credit cards.

Thats just one example of the trauma the 3 of them put me through over 17 years! And the debt.

So now they are at rainbow bridge, the new inmates are insured, and interestingly pet plan came out tops for value for the 3 cats, although having experience now, I definetly wanted life time cover. For me £30 a month just means peace of mind.

The 3 horses cost me £140 a month!

I know, I know ....... But I'm a big fat softie. So, Yes to insurance from me and public liability just good sense really.

I dont insure my dog. I put away £15 a month. When I get to £100 I buy him a premium bond . This based on previous experience where I paid for insurance and after one claim, they refused to pay the next.

If you can afford the vet bills... I agree with your approach

Get the insurance.

Long story short, DH & I can afford expensive vets bills. DH thought insurance was a waste of money, but insured our 6 dogs anyway - it costs us around £80/month, partly for the 3rd party aspect.

2 weeks ago, one of our dogs (who we thought was a young, healthy, collie boy) suffered complications from laryngeal paralysis, a fairly rare condition he'd had for a while and we didn't know about, which resulted in extreme heat stroke, transfer to Bristol vet school, along with various plasma and blood transfusions, associated vet care and eventually he was sadly PTS. The bill came to over £5000.

This time, we wouldn't have been able to afford it, because our cash flow, for a variety of reasons is very tight at this time of year. (Farming before we're paid for crops).

The biggest thing to us, even though we did eventually lose our boy, was at no point did we ever have to make a financial decision regarding his care. We could get all the specialist help he needed and not have to worry. Insurance does give peace of mind.

Neither of ours are insured, they have an account for if something happens though.

Mixed breed dogs can also have health issues. You can't force people to insure their animals but I do think it's very sensible to - you may have savings now but not knowing what's around the corner can you really guarantee you still will do if and when the need arises?

I have never had insurance for my many dogs, cats, horses but after reading the horror stories on here of £0000s of vet fees, I must have been extremely lucky or very naive . I cannot believe how much some vets charge, fortunately I have always had reasonable ones. However, I might well get insurance for any new pets after reading this.

Insurance does give peace of mind.

Totally agree.

We lost our elderly cat last year, the vet thought she may have a brain tumour. She was old so we agreed to some treatment and investigation, but when it started to get invasive and she was just looking old and sad we let her go.

We'd got to £400 at this point, with many more hundreds (possibly thousands) if we'd taken the treatment further which we would never have been able to afford. We had her pts in the end, but as we never had to consider costs we knew that the decisions we made were truly in her best interests, and not with one eye on the bank account

If you can afford to pay for any treatment that your dog may need then you can afford to take the risk of not having insurance if you want to. The chances are that if you will be better off financially if you don't take out insurance. Insurance companies wouldn't make money if that wasn't the case. I would take out third party liability insurance though (unless you have a spare £1m).

I would never not insure my dog - to be honest it is just not worth the risk to me. I'm unsure as to why you would be quoted so much per month if your dog is low risk? I am less than £20 per month for completely comprehensive cover - this was on the vets recommendation as they are apparently very good at paying out and not trying to find loop holes in your cover.

Please shop around for your insurance. I have paid £11 per month for comprehensive insurance on my lovely old lab for years. The premium has just gone up to £25 per month, but I am being reimbursed for medication and hydrotherapy which costs around £230 per month.
My dog is 14 years old and has been an absolute joy, I owe it to her to make sure that she gets the care and attention she deserves. Having insurance has enabled me to do just that.

People who say their dog would never lash out are dangerous dog owners.

Fairyking are you really so misinformed? I know my dog and she would never be aggressive. Even when another dog attacked her (thankfully no injury) she didn't even try to defend herself.

I think it is terrible when people say all dogs are dangerous because of a few horror stories in the media. It is like saying all teenagers are thugs because you read a stor about a teen murderer. The are only bad owners, not bad dogs. I know my dogs entire history and her nature.

Our two Yorkies are insured with Churchill. One is six and the other is two, it costs £24 a month for a good level of cover with a £60 excess. The older one needed an operation last year on his knee, it started dislocating, apparently it's common in small dogs. It cost over £1400 and could have been more if it hadn't been treated quickly and he didn't need physiotherapy. The insurance payed out no problem. Like you OP, I looked at petplan and it was silly money.

I had a Jack Russell for years who was insured. He was always up to some sort of mischief being a Jack Russell and had a few trips to the vets. But each time the bill was less than the excess and we wasted so much money on that policy. But I'd still insure any new pet because you just never know.

Fluffy, respectfully, I disagree.

If a dog is ill it can be aggressive, if a dog is in pain it can be aggressive. It's not about a dog suddenly turning into a snarling beast but you must recognise that they can be unpredictable regardless of how well you know them.

Imagine a scenario where a dog has an undiagnosed illness causing it pain, someone comes along and strokes it there. It's perfectly possible that the dog would snap.

I have the softest lump in the world curled up at my feet, but I am never naive enough to think that he'd never snap because hand on heart I just don't know.

I disagree sisters. When dog was spayed, in pain and disorientated post surgery she never showed any aggressive tendencies. Neither has she any other time. She can show displeasure without being aggressive.

I appreciate the situation is different for a rescue dog/a dog whose full history you don't know, but I know my dog, and she would never hurt anyone. Her father is a breed known for its docile nature, and she has been well socialised from a puppy.