WTF do I pay pet insurance for?!

[Savemykitchen]

Looking at the FIFTH tooth extraction for Dcat. It's happening once a year now.

Years ago I naively didn't know that our insurance didn't cover teeth. Longtime cat owner since childhood never known dental issues in all those years. So, once the first issue happened Dcat insurance would not cover as it's seen as preexisting condition.

Honestly not sure we can afford it this time. I'm at a loss, they're saying it'll be over £2k, we only just paid £700 and that's on top of £££ monthly insurance which does sweet FA.

Even when Dcat had a leg issue a few years ago, the vet couldn't fucking figure out the issue to treat it (Dcat slowly improved but still not 100%). So although nothing was treated, initial care was covered by insurance and now ANYTHING potentially leg related is "preexisting".

Honestly don't know what I have to achieve by this thread other than to vent.

That sounds a lot for one tooth

My cat had 10 teeth out and it cost £700. The next year more needed to come out. She only had 2 good teeth left so we decided to take those ones out. One as it would be another x-ray, anaesthetic etc. But another part of it was cost. The type of issue she had would eventually get to the good teeth.

The two operations came to just over £2k.

I would probably see other vets for a quote. Also ask if it's likely to happen again.

@Savemykitchen

Tell them no

We had this with our eldest cat but wouldn't go ahead as she wasn't in pain and was eating fine
2 years later, we agreed to it and all they ended up doing was cleaning them

I think it's a rip off, insurance doesn't cover cats teeth and it's quick money for vets

Yes, we have a lifetime policy. But the downside is you can't move to another provider because then anything that has been claimed for is pre-existing. We have a dog with IBD, had two claims for that so far and likely to have more in the future.

Insurance is only as good as the policy you buy. You need to read and understand the terms and conditions that you are agreeing to.

I've never known a policy to cover routine preventative dental work. Most will however cover anything caused by an accident (e.g. teeth damaged when hit by a car) or disease (e.g teeth needing to come out because of a tumour in the mouth).

Cheaper policies will often only cover a condition for 12 months and then you can no longer claim.

No policy will cover anything pre existing or relating to that body part. E.g. dog has diarrhoea in January, take out insurance in February all gastrointestinal conditions will be excluded. I've been out of the industry for a few years, but the only company I've ever known to consider removing an exclusion, is petplan. They will say OK, dog had diarrhoea in January, if they go 2 years with no repeat, we'll remove that exclusion. The time period will vary depending on what the exclusion is.

I've dealt with 100s of people contesting rejected insurance claims over the years and every single one was due to them not understanding (or just not reading) the terms and conditions of the policy they purchased.

Pet insurance is always worth it as long as you pick the right company and the right policy.

A lifetime policy will never exclude conditions as pre-existing as long as the condition didn't start before the policy was taken out.

My dog is with Petplan, I would never use any other company. They have paid out £18,000 in 3 years for multiple issues.

Not all pet insurance companies and policies are equal. Choose carefully and read the small print.

• NB I used to be a veterinary nurse and was also a pet insurance claims assessor.

Hmmm I've got 6 weeks free with kennel club for puppy, was thinking of staying with them

Cats are with animal friends and they've been v good

This thread got me thinking. I'm with animal friends lifetime superior plus. It covers dental up to 3k. I just randomly chose them. But it says no specific exclusions. I got lucky with my random pick. I pay just over £17 a month

We've always had pet insurance (and has been worth it) but often even the expensive lifetime policies have exclusions about dental treatment. I agree the prices quoted seem excessive though!

Ddog is insured with Petplan on a lifetime policy. Current cost £80/month.

Her meds are £600/month and she’s recently had a few nights in doggy hospital and that was £4k.

We definitely get our moneys worth out of the insurance.

Teeth aren’t covered though, but she has regular scans where she’s sedated so if any teeth need doing they get done then as the sedation is the most expensive bit.

we lost our 10 year old Labrador last year, but had a petplan lifetime policy since he was a pup. We claimed over twice the amount we paid out in premiums during his life.

the premiums went up steadily every year with his age, not related to claims, but for us it was financially worth it and worth it for the peace of mind we would be able to get him the right treatment when he needed it.

Also had similar experience, the time before last. Took a bunch of teeth out, said there needed to be more extractions and then when they looked six months later couldn't find the issue. The most recent extractions have been a totally different area.

I'm (my cat is) with petplan and have claimed over 11k in total for a variety of things over a 3 year period. Luckily no further cause for claim in the past 6 years though the policy cost has gradually increased from £9 a month to £32 a month.
Maximum claim per year is 8k

Broken leg in two places
Poisoning
And various tummy problems probably due to the previous poisoning

Not sure if he is covered for teeth though I am going to check!

I'm with Animal Friends, I thought it was a good level of cover, and it actually is but just not for teeth, which don't seem to be covered by many policies.

I don't think I should have bothered tbh, as I only believe in a certain level of care for animals. I understand and respect why other people do, but personally I don't think an animal's life needs to be prolonged or sustained by long term medical intervention or drugs with all their side effects.

If DCat were to get cancer or something similar then I would only want to keep him comfortable for as long as felt manageable for him. It must be such a scary and horrible process for an animal. I hate to think of DCat being put under anaesthetic as many times as he has been. Must be petrifying for him.

I’d be tempted to just take the tooth out, but I expect it’s more complicated than that. What would grate is knowing they’ll go in, charge £2k and likely have no idea. I’d seek a second opinion.

I’ve had questionable experiences like the vet wanting to do an mri, but admitting it might not show anything. So £1k and anaesthetic (and possible death) ended up being £75 problem solved. 🙄I have lost my faith.

I had to pay £900 for a full teeth clean under anesthetic for DCat including one removal. Didn't realise my insurance didn't cover it either. FML.

Switched insurers to one who covers dental. They cover all preexisting conditions as long as they don't first reoccur within 24 months, which thankfully nothing did. Under the original insurer, in the first 2 months of having DCat I had a £2k bill which they did cover, so I've been lucky so far. But always have a sense of impending doom around vet bills. They are insane.

Who is your new provider please?

Yeah it’s a rip off. My cat “needed” a tooth out and it ended up £945 for anaesthetic etc (but they trimmed claws whilst under woopy do). Pet insurance of £12 a month didn’t cover dental so I had to pay it myself.

mine were rescue cats and I was thinking of reducing a dog but not now. Owning a pet is now way beyond the costs of a lot of people.

*rescuing not reducing

I've been out of the loop for a few years and things may have changed, but when I was working in practice dealing with insurance claims, Animal Friends were the worst for well buried exclusions in their Ts & Cs.

This is why we have insurance too. Although we have claimed some vets fees over the years ( my dog is 12).

My two are with petplan covered for life and it includes dental if I get an annual dental checkup by the vet. Which I do. They're 10.5 and we've had one dental op, various emergency stuff and some ongoing gastro issues and petplan have paid up for everything. So I think my £70 a month is well spent - and it was £26 a month when they were kittens, now just under £70 for them both which I think is reasonable premium rises considering my claim history. It's peace of mind if something big happens, but I think if I didn't have the cover I do I'd just be saving monthly into a fund specifically for them and also making sure I had a credit card with a high limit!

Dog owners can get public liability insurance to cover all their dogs if they are members of the Dogs Trust, which is £25 a year.

Oldest DDog is not insured, two youngest have pet plan lifetime policies which they've absolutely had their moneys worth out of over the years.

We have a credit card with nothing on it and I think a 10k limit, and when these two get old enough that the insurance is no longer worth it (couple more years) we'll move to sticking the premiums in a bank account with the credit card as a back up should we need it before the bank account has a decent amount in it.

Sister works in insurance and told me a few years ago that pet insurance is the most profitable insurance out of all insurances you can get. so I have never bothered plus most pet insurance I checked stop after 8 years of age so as mine are all old I do two things. I pay a monthly plan with vets si get reduced consultation prescriptions etc. also as going there years they allow monthly pay off on larger bills. also save a bit each month. if know a large bill coming I sell stuff myself towards it - did this for specific hernia operation for one of my dogs. touch wood worked so far
for yours though would defo get a second opinion sounds a bit mich

My cat had to have 3 teeth out last week and it cost £300. The nurses warned me that my insurance may not pay out as they are funny about teeth 🦷 and a lot say it's wear and tear. I am with Pet plan and was happily surprised that they paid the lot ! Very quickly too within 48 hrs the money was in the bank!

Petplan covered for life here. It's expensive, but I've never had them not pay out. Broken legs, tumours, tail amputations, epilepsy, dental, water therapy, biologics etc. Covered for up to £7k per year per pet.

If your cat isn't too old now you should look into getting a lifetime policy rather than a one-off yearly one.