To think pet insurance is pointless!

Though I will say, we have indoor cats...

Brazenhussy. One of my indoor cat’s vet bills amounted to 4.5k in the last year of her life. Thankfully she was insured.

You just have crap insurance OP tbh

^^ This, absolutely.

I was bloody relieved I had insurance for my horse when he broke his shoulder in the field, £8000 vet bills, plus cremation costs when he eventually died. I got back market value.

Then the dog tore his cruciate which was over £3000.

I’m fuming on a mate’s behalf, her crappy horse insurance are refusing to pay vet’s bills, even though they’re covered on her policy. They’ve also said they won’t be giving her market value. The company is renowned for failing to pay out and giving shit excuses, including the now famous ‘Oh yes, our offices burnt down’. Wankers. Wonder if the OP is with them?

I think a lot of people on here have put their animals through a lot more than I would personally, and paid for it. I'm also surprised at some of the bills that people have paid for certain things that my animals have had, they're more than double what I've paid.

Membership of the Dogs Trust comes with 3rd party public liability insurance for pet dogs. It is £25 a year and I think of it as a donation to charity rather than anything else.

Yes it bloody is. I had to claim my insurance recently for a bill for my poor dog, the vet couldn't figure out what was wrong just kept putting him through blood tests etc. The vet also put this through to the insurance company as 2 conditions so I ended up paying 2 excesses, so from a bill of £390 I paid £200! Then the insurance company informed me that when my renewal was due they would not cover any further treatment my dog needed if the symptoms returned, and a list massive of other things they wouldn't cover (basically everything he would be likely to have). I cancelled the insurance and am now paying for treatment for something else myself.

@Genevieva - third party insurance is a good thing to have, but won’t cover big vets’ bills for your pet.

RottDogs insurance was £14 a month from when we got her. No problems for 3 years, then one weekend she started limping.

2 weeks later a diagnosis of cancer.

Just over 2 months and £4k later she was pts. 💔

Insurance covered all costs (including that last horrible appointment and her cremation) less £150.

You need to look for better insurance OP.

What do you do if you have no insurance or funds to pay? We struggled when our elderly cat became ill and died. Even to have her put down cost us. And that was after days of tests etc (all pointless and v expensive as we knew she was on her last legs)

It's a gamble really, isn't it? We have a 1 Year old Labrador who, thank goodness we didn't decide to gamble on when it came to insurance. His premiums are £38 a month (so about £450 a year) and we have recently reached the maximum of £4K of payouts for our policy year. Thank god we went for the more expensive lifetime cover as he has a genetic condition that will need ongoing treatment... I just wish in hindsight I'd gone for a higher amount each year.

So for us it has been well worth it, but you could be in a situation where you shell out loads on insurance and never claim. Depends if you're a gambler or not!

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius I know! There are a wide range of options out there for people wanting health insurance. For those who can't afford it or feel it isn't money well spent, I think Dogs Trust membership is an excellent option. Everyone's situation and risk appetite is different.

My premiums hardly changed after a lot of claims for the first year. Make sure you get a life policy otherwise anything they find won't be insurable the next year.

Our cat insured with lifetime cover, it covers any amount upto £12k and all illnesses are covered, even preexisting. Thankfully we've not had to use it but if she got say, cancer, we'd have the treatment covered rather than scraping together or having her put down.

Insurance companies aren't in it to make your life easier, they're in it to make money. They know the odds and they make it so they win. In other words, they are counting on making more money out of you than they will have to pay out. You will almost certainly be better off not paying them and putting the money into an account instead.

That said if you think you'd struggle to pay for expensive treatment without insurance you would be better off with it...

My insurer told me that the term of insurance is monthly if you pay monthly instalments which they said meant my limit was £8k/month not per year. Doesn't make sense to me but if that's true it's definitely worth paying monthly. We won't get to find out as dog was diagnosed with a terminal condition recently and is expected to last around another 2-4 months. Lucky we had insurance as the diagnosis cost nearly £4K with all the tests and I'd only changed insurance 2 months previously. So I'd paid £32 for the 2 months worth of premiums and then they were hit with a massive claim which to be fair they paid without question.

Have you checked direct line?

We have recently had 2K of tests covered by our insurance.... Yep tests not even surgery! We are currently doing all we can to avoid the surgery but if she needs it then it's another 3K! Thankfully covered for 8K per condition.

Unless you have amazing savings can you afford to treat them?

Our old dog had both hips replaced, 1 emergency with a few nights in it, and a plate in for t of the replacement joint - we claim over £20'000 in his lifetime - a heck.of a lot more than we paid in. All bills paid within 2 weeks and the big bills £8000 + £6000 paid direct to vet hospital so we didn't have to pay out- all before he was 5 and he lived til' 12 1/2 years old.
I would not have a pet without insurance

Rubbish pet insurance policies are almost pointless. Good ones are not.

The biggest mistake people make is not reading the terms and conditions.

We started off paying £7 a month for a lifetime policy for our cat. Claimed after a year, with a condition that would never get better and required expensive drugs. I was dreading the renewal quote as we were locked in to this provider, but it was only £8.50.
8 years later and 16k worth of claims, our premium was still only £14 a month.

Oh and renewals only went up £3/4 per year same as our other dog who we have never claimed for.

You sound like your being ripped off we took insurance out on our cat and when they were 8 at £40 a month it was £75 1 off excess for dog £100 for cat in that we had £4000 a year plus a few other benefits for a year after for each animal, after only a year
From taking it out we claimed about £2000 in total unfortunately my cat had to be put down so the monthly price when to £25 i think, in the past 2years we have claimed in total about £4000 maybe more for our dog ,her renewal is up in august shes 11 and they said aa shes getting old they will have to increase excess and charge 20% of all claims shes on long term medication and needs a tooth removed thanks to the insurance we dont have to worry about the cost and we didnt have £800 for her ct scan on top of her medication, were with pet plan weve not had any problems with them despite the number of claims

Cat and dog sorry

If love to know which insurers some of you are using. Last time we looked, it was crazy expensive, and there are a whole host of natural illnesses (breed specific) dog insurance wouldn’t cover, and like
OP I only found a very limited amount per condition.

What did you find excluded @Writersblock2?

Most insurers will cover anything that isn't

1. Pre-existing

I have insurance for one of my dogs. When he was a pup I got the top tier insurance for him, which would cover him for life with any ongoing conditions. At 1yr old he was diagnosed with epilepsy, which costs £87 per month in meds. Now although the insurance HAS to keep him insured for life, I didn't realise that they can charge whatever they like, so they offer a renewal each year but it's £99 per month, so we're basically paying for his meds & tests. I'm sticking with it though, just in case he develops anything else or something else happens. For the investigations for his epilepsy, it costs £5000 in tests. We would've have been able to afford that, then his subsequent monthly meds, so it was worth having the insurance. Just shop around for best deal, making sure you check thoroughly what's covered.