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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not insure my pets?

191 replies

Chevrotains · 05/08/2023 15:33

Does anyone here just put away savings each month for their pets? I'm aware there is definitely a risk to this as well, but just tired of the amount going up each renewal.

OP posts:
AgnesX · 05/08/2023 18:06

My cat has arthritis, his meds, which have given him a new lease of life, costs £150 every 5 weeks give or take. TF for insurance.

AgnesX · 05/08/2023 18:08

MrsMoastyToasty · 05/08/2023 15:58

I currently have our 2 cats insured with Petplan. When we got the renewal notice this year they said that they will be in contact next year when they are 10 years old about changes to their cover. I'll see how much it will be and make a decision then. However I'm wary of cancelling it as Toasty Boy Cat had calicivirus and toxoplasmosis in the same year and the claim amounted to £4k.

Be careful when renewing and check pre existing conditions are covered. We found out the hard way with a previous pet.

SunBarelyHuman · 05/08/2023 18:09

pedigree Cockapoo
*
🤦‍♀️*

JMSA · 05/08/2023 18:12

My dog is insured. My cat (now passed away) was insured for YEARS and YEARS, then I let it slip. You couldn't make it up, after never making a claim, something went wrong in the month's gap between him being insured and not being insured. It cost me a lot of money ... never again!
I get the logic of putting money aside every month instead. But knowing my luck, something would go wrong when I'd put 100 quid aside.

FoodFann · 05/08/2023 18:16

Two months of paying £30, and wracked up a £2500 bill. Best £60 I’ve ever spent

Sarvanga38 · 05/08/2023 18:16

Showdogworkingdog · 05/08/2023 17:14

My dog is 14. We’re fortunate he’s always been well so we’ve never claimed on his pet insurance. As a young pup the premiums were ok but it increases every year as he gets older. We’re now paying £111 a month insurance premium. There’s no point in shopping around now so I’m sucking it up, grudgingly. Recently he’s been struggling with his mobility and he’s been to the vets a few times Each visit is a £50 consultation fee plus medication anther £50. The excess is now £100 plus 20% of the treatment so these visits don’t meet the threshold to claim. The vet has mentioned he might need an MRI which would cost around £3k, our excess would still be £700 or so on that but that would literally be the only thing we’ve ever claimed. It’s not been good value.

if I had another dog I’d put away £100 a month for any vets fees and wouldn’t insure. It is a risk of course, a friend’s dog needed emergency treatment and a referral to a specialist vets aged three which would’ve been thousands without insurance but I resent now that I’m being stung for my insurance premium and I’d still be left with a big bill if he needed treatment.

My dog is 14 ... The vet has mentioned he might need an MRI which would cost around £3k, our excess would still be £700 or so on that but that would literally be the only thing we’ve ever claimed. It’s not been good value.

I am a firm pro-insurance person with much loved pet dogs, but I am also pragmatic about not putting elderly dogs through invasive procedures.

When my vet suggested an MRI on my elderly dog, I asked them what on earth they thought they were likely to be able to fix if they found it at that age, when the issues they were addressing were related to age. I then changed vet.

I would be asking your vet the same!

BouncerFish · 05/08/2023 18:18

When my healthy, loved dog was diagnosed with cancer at age 6 and a half, we spent almost every penny of his £12k coverage on diagnosis and such treatment as we were able to give him. Thank goodness for insurance.

Sarvanga38 · 05/08/2023 18:20

@Showdogworkingdog, surely all these visits are part of one ongoing condition too? I can’t see why you wouldn’t be able to claim these bills, having just paid the one excess?

thetombliboo · 05/08/2023 18:20

I had a dog who's monthly prescription for allergies and skin problems was coming up to £200 a month In the end which was to be for her lifetime. She then died at 5 from something unrelated and sudden, they recommended a pet icu at just under 1k per night. She didn't make it there and it still cost over a thousand. When I brought our new dog home I insured her immediately.

I think vets can really be a lot when you're not expecting it or another monthly bill if they need ongoing treatment.

It also depends what type of owner you are, some people view their pets as pets and others don't. Unless money is no issue the cost most definitely impacts your decision making when you don't have the insurance.

studentgrant · 05/08/2023 18:20

It's also about treatments you would pay for. My elderly cat died at 18, and I wouldn't have paid for extensive medication once she became ill. It wouldn't have been fair on her, or possibly affordable for us. As it happened, I paid for a x rat and she the vet thought that she wouldn't live anyway.

Ohthatsabitshit · 05/08/2023 18:23

Work2live · 05/08/2023 18:01

We’ve had over £2k from our dog’s insurance over the last couple of years, both for relatively minor/common things (removal of a cancerous lump being one). So it’s been well worth it for us. He’s a big dog too so any treatment generally costs more - as does his insurance!

But he’s getting on in years now and our most recent renewal went up so it’s now almost £90 a month.

I’m not sure we’ll renew again, we do have savings and will keep putting money away for him, but he’s getting to an age where we wouldn’t want to put him through complex surgeries etc anyway, sadly.

At £90 a month you’re paying over a thousand a year, so it seems an unusual decision

Arniesleftleg · 05/08/2023 18:23

depends how much you love your Pet. My kitty is part of the family and has been insures since day 1, 9 years ago. It's cost us about 2.5k over the 9 years but I'd not dream of not having insurance. If something happened and she got sick and the vet said say 9k to make her better, we'd be stuffed, so insurance is essential.

My friend was on the cusp of stopping her cats insurance and a week later one of her fur babies got his fave half ripped off by a fox. It cost over 12k to fix the poor thing. Thankfully she didn't stop the insurance!

HRTQueen · 05/08/2023 18:24

I have cancelled my cats insurance

was going up to £60

he is 19 no longer goes out so I do not bother with injections. He seems fine and I use herbal pain relief for his arthritis he sleeps most of the day, has decided social norms do not apply to him and purrs when cuddles up to me (it’s not as often)

Every time we went I was talked into blood tests all came back fine and remarkable for his age. Next time he goes it will be to pts (if can’t be at home) I wouldn’t give him any treatments now he has had an amazingly pampered life

Ohthatsabitshit · 05/08/2023 18:25

Money is not love. Treating whatever the cost is not love.

LemonLight · 05/08/2023 18:28

I think it would be madness to not insure pets. Over the years our dog had giardia, then had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis then ate a sock and needed surgery and then had a chest infection and then heart failure. It would have cost us thousands had we not had insurance.

SlightlygrumpyBettyswaitress · 05/08/2023 18:33

Most people are covered for liability under their household contents.
We are insured for our little dog.

Work2live · 05/08/2023 18:39

Ohthatsabitshit · 05/08/2023 18:23

At £90 a month you’re paying over a thousand a year, so it seems an unusual decision

Show quote history

What seems an unusual decision?

studentgrant · 05/08/2023 18:39

It isn't love. We all care a lot about our cat but he isn't a human or a "fur baby".

Prescottdanni123 · 05/08/2023 18:40

The amount it goes up by will seem like peanuts compared to what it will cost if one of your pets has a serious medical emergency.

Namechange1990 · 05/08/2023 18:44

Personally I think it depends on the pets. I have 2 dogs who are 1&3 I didn't have insurance and recently had to come up with 4k for my 3 year old so I insure them.... The cats aren't insured but tbh I prob will. That said my 24 year old thoroughbred I didn't insure only because after speaking to a vet their comment was they wouldn't be likely to do any major work on her so awful as it sounds I have pts money put aside (not because I don't care about her only because I wouldn't ever put her through it after rescuing her) we also have several small pets which I don't have insurance for. Tbh I think it's also a little bit dependent on the pet. My patterdale is quite a "sickly" dog whereas my pug is quite hardy so if I only had puggly id prob just keep money aside.

LokiCokey · 05/08/2023 18:49

Just had my dog treated for pancreatitis and it cost £6000, insurance will only cover £5000, earlier this year my cat was sick out of hours, had tests and ultimately PTS which cost £3000, so with no insurance I'd have been looking at a £9000 bill this year so personally it's not a risk I'm prepared to take.
Yes you might not pay to put your pet through extensive treatment but even relatively simple things add up these days.

LaurieFairyCake · 05/08/2023 18:52

Last quote I had in June was £260 a month for my 3 pets

I decided to cancel my insurance after I'd paid £70 a month for the first 2 years of my dogs life - total waste of £1700 quid

Instead I made some decisions after 30 years of pet ownership - no cancer treatment (after having it for a cat 8 years ago). It was AWFUL - feel terrible about it now, cat only lived 6 weeks Sad

And the second decision was if my animals got injured I would stick it on a credit card (have a £25,000 limit) if the prognosis was GOOD

AccidentallySuckedTheStrippersDick · 05/08/2023 18:52

I don't insure my dogs. We have a credit card with a £1500 limit on it and that's it. If my dog had a bad break on a leg, we would amputate. If my dog was so Illl it needed ££££ of tests without knowing if a decent quality of life was even possible afterwards, they would be PTS. I love them, but they are animals and they don't understand long term illness or pain in the way that we do. As their keeper is my responsibility to know the exact point when enough is enough. In the past we had a young rotty of 3 that needed a £800 surgery on his leg to remove a fist size cyst. . We paid it without quibble as we knew it would be an easy recovery and he had a good life ahead of him. When it grew back at age 8, no. We let it grow and strapped it up to avoid trauma and infection but I've say we just knew it was time. My current rotty butch snapped her crucial last year, £700 and was easily paid as she was young. My old RIDGE back had a heart problem and Hated medication. Beefcake very aggressive just seeing the box. So in balance it was fairer to him to PTS.

Every case us different.

Shadowchaser · 05/08/2023 19:06

I’ve always insured but this years premium is £33 (fine!) but for 3k cover with a 20% co payment…so less than 3k! A credit card would probably be a better risk.

countrygirl99 · 05/08/2023 19:15

If you're lucky you'll be quids in. If you aren't you'll be skint.

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