Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

to insist we have pet insurance?

123 replies

Springersrock · 07/05/2018 11:14

We have a dog and a cat. DD has a pony. All 3 are fully insured.

I’ve always insisted on having insurance as I never want to make a decision based on what we can afford, rather than what’s best for them (plus DD has rider insurance, liability insurance, her tack is insured, if pony dies stuff like removal, etc are all covered as well as injury and illness).

Both vet practices deal directly with the insurance company so other than paying the excess, we don’t have to worry about anything.

Most people I talk to seem to think it’s a huge waste of money - we’d be better off getting an emergency credit card, or putting the monthly premiums away in a bank account and DH is coming round to this idea too

For me, putting the money away each month is ok once you’re a few years in, but if pony got colic tomorrow we wouldn’t have enough money put away yet, and I don’t want to be paying off a massive credit card bill for years to come

So, AIBU to think the insurance is non-negotiable?

OP posts:

RefuseTheLies · 07/05/2018 11:16

My cat is 6 years old. She’s needed emergency vet treatment twice - the first bill was £700, and the second bill was £1200. I am very happy we had pet insurance.

Labracadabra · 07/05/2018 11:16

It is for me. I'm a vet and our animals (dogs and horses) are still insured even though we deal with minor stuff ourselves. I recently bought a new horse jointly with a friend and it was a condition that it had to be insured (friend doesn't usually insure his)

MrsHathaway · 07/05/2018 11:18

If you can't afford insurance you can't afford the animal. We didn't get pets until we could sensibly afford their upkeep.

PutDownThatLaptop · 07/05/2018 11:20

I have claimed on my insurance for my cats six times in four years (two cats) paying excesses of £50 only each time.
I spoke to some friends yesterday whose dog (thankfully insured) had a broken leg and the operation to put a plate in, associated x-rays etc cost £4000. You would have to save a lot of premiums to arrive at the same cost as serious vet treatment, particularly for horses, surely?

Gah81 · 07/05/2018 11:20

Not a waste in the slightest. Having insurance for my elderly cat has saved me thousands of pounds in the last year alone!

Agree with PP: vet bills and insurance should be included in the tallying-up when considering whether or not you can afford a pet. So well done, OP - hold your ground!

NCJaneDoeNut · 07/05/2018 11:21

YANBU.

People are very silly especially about things where they don’t directly face the consequences.

That’s the whole point of insurance. Some people lose (paying in more than one gets out) others win. By putting aside a little a month, yes you will cover most routine accidents. But will you cover £50,000 if all the animals are injured at once (e.g. a fire).

Would you have enough self-control if you are facing financial difficulties not to ‘dip into’ the £8,000 you’ve saved up ?

If you see the animals as family and will do anything for them insurance is vital. If you see them more as a car (oh, it’ll cost more than it’s worth to fix) take a gamble.

FreudianSlurp · 07/05/2018 11:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

theymademejoin · 07/05/2018 11:22

You're not unreasonable to think that.

However, I don't have insurance for my dogs. I looked at the costs (including annual shots required, whereas I get them biannually) and benefits, considered the potential risks based on our lifestyle and breed of the dogs plus the fact that insurance companies where we live only pay out 50% of costs once the dog is 8 and decided not to.

Shmithecat · 07/05/2018 11:22

Yanbu. I think it should be compulsory like car insurance tbh.

19lottie82 · 07/05/2018 11:23

Unless you can afford to pay any vets bills outright, then pet insurance is a must.

Original poster

Springersrock · 07/05/2018 11:23

Most of the other owners at our yard don’t insure - they just put the equivalent of monthly premiums into the bank each month.

We’ve only had DD’s pony a year - that’s £450, which is nothing.

Dog has definitely had his moneys worth on his insurance over the years.

For me, I’m not willing to take the risk

OP posts:

shalalala · 07/05/2018 11:23

Yes definitely. So glad we had insurance or would have had to pay £4,800 for our cat last year!

neathanderallady · 07/05/2018 11:24

We had a dog a few years ago, at the same time husband lost his job. Children couldn’t bear to rehome the dog. So we were poorer than we had ever been, but even then I insisted that we only kept the dog if it had full insurance.

Original poster

Springersrock · 07/05/2018 11:25

And yes,

Would you have enough self-control if you are facing financial difficulties not to ‘dip into’ the £8,000 you’ve saved up

This is a huge factor for me too. I don’t think I do

OP posts:

LEMtheoriginal · 07/05/2018 11:26

As a vet nurse I watch with horror at how quickly a vet bill reaches the thousands. I don't insure mine as I get a significant discount however I have always maintained that if that changes them unless I can afford insurance then I can't afford the animal.

I am also equally horrified at the premiums though.

Shmithecat · 07/05/2018 11:26

Springersrock, the whole 'save the monthly premium equivalent' train of thought is so ridiculous. £450 would be wiped out on a consultation, x-ray and blood test for a cat. I cannot believe that horse owners thinks that is sufficient!?!

StarbucksSmarterSister · 07/05/2018 11:28

Someone I know puts the equivalent of the monthly premium in a bank account should a problem arise.

I once worked out that if I'd done that for the whole of his life I'd still have been 50% short of the cost of the treatment for my pet, which was for one accident and subsequent complications.

No contest in my view.

JustSeeingHowManyCharactersWeC · 07/05/2018 11:28

We have horses. One instance of colic surgery alone is 10 years of premiums.

If someone said that you could insure your car for thousands of pounds worth of mechanical failure for £35 a month people would jump at the chance!

LEMtheoriginal · 07/05/2018 11:32

Justseeing - in all fairness that is more than we pay for our car I surance

Brokit · 07/05/2018 11:32

I think it depends on your attitude to insurance and how well off you are.
I insure against catastrophic loss or high risk. So car, house, travel insurance. Small pets no, though I would a horse. It's outrageously expensive and I could afford the bill if it came to it.

LEMtheoriginal · 07/05/2018 11:33

Ah but not if it simply goes wrong I guess

RedHelenB · 07/05/2018 11:34

Didn't bother with my cats and both lived 20 plus years and cost £150 emegency c section when mother cat was 1 year, £300 when mother cat had a tumour removed and £90 when she was pts. Think I made the right decision but gave insured the dog, partly because he cost money and also for owner liability.

FASH84 · 07/05/2018 11:37

Our cat was diagnosed with a heart murmur at 2, a cat scan (yes I know) and a visit from a cat cardiologist and a minor electromagnetic procedure would've cost us over £3000 , makes the £10 a month insurance more than worth it, before the diagnosis his insurance was £6 a month so in two years if we'd put aside what we would've spent on insurance we would've had a princely £140 towards the cost. You're being sensible OP

mustbemad17 · 07/05/2018 11:39

Depends. I fostered & eventually adopted a 9 year old staff bitch with an extensive medical history. Liver cyst that needed 6 monthly monitoring, regular infections that required antibiotics, arthritis that needed medicating. Our cheapest insurance quote was £54 a month & it covered the square root of sod all. We didn't take it out.

She cost me £2k in the six months we had her...plus another £1.5kish that the rescue paid out whilst she was fostered. She wasn't able to be vaccinated due to her medical history, which negated a lot of insurance, & i couldn't have her speyed until she had gone a certain time between antibiotics. Insurance was just pointless. That said, i took her on knowing this. And i made sure i could find the money for whatever she needed.

If people take on a young animal, imo there is no excuse for not taking out insurance. If someone takes on an animal & refuses insurance for whatever reason, they should be held accountable for the cost. I know somebody who had a 6 month old cat PTS because he had a suspected hip fracture after a car hit him...they had no insurance & couldn't afford even the xray. They then got a dog on 3rd party liability only. I was outraged

ThanksForAllTheFish · 07/05/2018 11:41

Pony insurance is the most important of the three if I’m honest. They usually have a public liability insurance included which is essential when you have a horse. Also operations or specialist care for a pony (such as a stay at the vet hospital) can run well into the thousands so well worth it. My mum did have a horse once that had had an operation on one leg before she bought him - the insurance company would only insure his three other legs but it was still worth the cost due the huge amount of benefits of have no tgei durable.

Cat/dog insurance not so important. We have had pets with and without insurance over the years. The dog with insurance developed an ongoing health issue and the insurance stopped paying out for the treatment after the first instance so we were £100’s out of pocket each year anyway as well as paying a monthly premium for insurance. The pets that didn’t have insurance have cost us varying amounts over the years and this has always been paid from savings or put on a credit card and paid back over a few months.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5