To ask you about your dog’s insurance?

[MiniHolde]

I have a pure bred re-homed dog.

insurance is due for renewal. My current insurer wanted to double the monthly costs so looking for new one.

Last year I couldn’t get any money back through insurance.
My dog had 2 minor situations (simple skin infection - cleared up super quick and a little cut paw) I paid about £120 for this in total but my excess was £85/condition so couldn’t get any money back.

Previously I paid £38/month and was covered up to £8k

I have had a Quick Look and seems like I could get a cheaper insurance starting from like £16 or so…

I was thinking that perhaps if I went with a cheaper insurance and put aside £25.00 in a savings account it might make more sense?

Any advice?

Pet insurance is mostly a scam, the providers prey on the "what if".

Most dogs don't get sick or have accidents. Most of those that do, don't get seriously ill.

The perception that veterinary care is so expensive comes from having insurance in the first place. Of course Rex is going to have £1200 worth of blood tests and scans for that limp, the Vet needs to make money and the insurance company is paying.

Cha Ching!

In reality, Rex will walk it off after a day or two.

Save the money you would have paid on premiums in an ISA. You will have a nice little savings pot after a few years, if Rex gets ill, you will be amazed at how reasonable the treatment is that your Vet suggests, now that they know there isn't an endless supply of free money from the insurance company.

If you go to Insurance Emporium you can claim it monthly, not yearly.

Saving £25 per month will get you nowhere if you get a lifetime issue with your dog. Insurance has become ridiculously expensive recently though. I got a quote for my 8st rehomed dog yesterday - just shy of £1000 plus £160 one off payment in the event of a claim and 20% co payment per claim and only £5k cover!

If your dog was in double digits I would say that stopping insurance makes sense - however she's only three. That's very young and putting aside £25 a month will make no difference if she does something like snap her cruciate.

I've had large claims so insurance is now £180 a month . But we have been close to maxing out the £10k some years. I personally wouldn't skimp

Pet insurance is mostly a scam, the providers prey on the "what if".

but that's literally what insurance is generally. I've been paying house insurance for 2 decades and never had a claim. So it depends how risk averse you are

As a balance to the "pet insurance is a scam" 4 years ago I could have though that, never claimed, but now have claim over £20k over 3 years! It's like all insurance, winners and losers. I've paid car insurance for over 30 years and never claimed but we all want fully comp not just the basic

Yes, I'm with E&L/ Insurance Emporium and have claimed back much more than I've paid in for my dog over the 10 years I've used them. He's 16 now and I was expecting my premium to be sky high at this year's renewal, as he's been having ongoing physio for the last year. It's still £400 for the year and I can go back to claiming a contribution each week for his physio.

Someone else has already said they considered putting money away instead of paying insurance. I looked into this at one point with a previous dog. I was paying about £200 a month because of epilepsy & two emergency operations (unrelated - bladder stones & eating something she shouldn’t have). The epilepsy drugs were expensive so it wouldn’t have been much of a saving. I decided against cancelling because of the ‘what if’.

Then she got cancer. So glad I didn’t cancel.

I pay £28 a month for my 10yo dog for a lifetime policy with 8k of cover per condition. I think a lifetime policy especially for a young dog is important otherwise at the end of the year they’ll stop covering a chronic condition. If your dog needs expensive meds for life you’ll end up paying

the other thing to check is any exclusion. So I know someone who’s dog needed 12k of ligament surgery. The dog was insured, had no previous ligament or leg issues. In the small print it wasn’t covered. Blanket ban by that insurer as its a fairly common and expensive surgery.

Our foster dog has already had about £15,000 of vets bills before we got her. I’m not sure what the situation will be for her in terms of insurance in the future, but you have to be aware a young dog can suddenly require life saving surgery and it can quickly become 5 figure sums.

So saving £35 a month can’t compare to those kind of bills.

If your dog requires £15,000 surgery in two years time could you find that money? We’d have to take out a loan to cover that.

At the end of the day it’s insurance- same as house and car insurance. I’ve never claimed on car insurance, but it paid out when DH car was written off by someone driving into him.

Pet insurance is expensive and I’ve had dogs that I’ve never claimed a penny for and my current dog that I’ve claimed thousands on. She now has medication that cost £90 a month that I claim for.

We do both - a standing order of £50/month to the vet, which builds up in the account so that we don't have to worry about any excess or small bills, and insurance for the big stuff.

@MiniHolde - if you do try to go for cheaper insurance, you'll almost certainly fall foul of the "pre-existing conditions" clause. However, even if you find an appropriate policy, do not choose annual cover unless your dog's very old. Lifetime cover is worth its weight in gold, because it literally covers medication from any condition which arises during the cover period for the rest of the dog's life - our Akita has complications after her spay which means that she needs daily medication to control her bladder when she sleeps. Even 9 years later, the medication is still more expensive than the insurance.

Yes, but some risks are worth it, some aren't.

Most people don't have a couple of million quid lying around in case their house catches fire and takes the neighbours house with it.

But paying 7k for insurance over the lifetime a dog, just in case you get a vet bill for £500 isn't worth it.

@Hereyoume except many vet bills are a damn sight bigger than £500. A snapped cruciate ligament can set you back 5k and isn't exactly uncommon. And if one snaps, the other is likely to go too.

We have been lucky. We have always paid directly, and never had massive bills. It has saved us 1000s over the years. But then we knew we had funds avaiblable to pay and wouldn't have to borrow.

Perhaps the reason we have been so luck with all our pets, is that we only adopt mongrels, and they have a much much stronger constitution. Pure bred dogs are so often sadly full of genetic issues of every kind. Bred for looks rather than for health.

Pet insurance isn't a scam at all. Insurance is for something that MAY happen, not something that will happen. My girl was insured with Many Pets and I was paying £45 a month but I have now switched to the Co-op and the same cover (slightly better actually) is £22.

No way would I not have any of my pets insured. Something drastic happens god forbid and I wouldnt be able to come up with the money so I would much rather pay out a small amount each month and be glad I don't have to use it. Obviously small things aren't worth claiming for but anything big, then insurance is a must for me. My girl is 4 and I've never used it (touch wood) and my cats are 9 and not used theirs either but I wouldn't be without it.

Our dogs (8yr) insurance went up to over 1.1k a year... I saved up alongside the insurance for a year then binned it off and add to the account instead so we have a good chunk to pay for care if needed.
Allergies were not covered by insurance as we changed insurers after they started due to cost and that is what we often need to treat. Life expectancy is 10-12 years for her breed mix.

Put it like this; what would you do if something serious happened i.e your dog swallowed chocolate, or broke a leg, or got an infection and you didn't have insurance or savings to pay for the treatment? PTS your dog? Sell it? Dump it in a lay-by?

TBH if you can't afford, or are too stingy, to pay for insurance, then you shouldn't have any pet. Insuring them to make sure that we can fork out if something awful happens is the bare minimum of pet ownership. Unless you have £10K+ savings you're willing to lose if something goes wrong, then you get insurance.

I so disagree with this.
I think insurance is often more for the person than the dog.
If I didn't insure my dog, I could probably just about afford to adopt another (it would put a big dent in the costs anyway) and considering the need there is then that would in some ways be the best thing to do. But I couldn't live with the guilt of not being able to treat her for anything major.

As well as this, I think having insurance can contribute to people making poor choices as further treatment is not costing anything more and vets are usually keen to treat rather than pts.

If you could give a dog a choice, I think most would opt for a home with caring owners in the knowledge that they'd have to be pts if anything major happened rather than wasting their life in a shelter.

If you are on a low income an in receipt of benefits you can get free/discounted treatment with PDSA or RSPCA. It may be worth looking into for peace of mind.

My dog insurance is very expensive and I am on a low income. It’s practically impossible for me to change it now as my dog is 10 years old. The insurance is for around £8000 cover and I pay almost £70 a month. I have never made a claim. It costs more than my car insurance, house insurance etc. It’s eye watering.
Op, you could try switching and paying for a cheaper insurance. I know a dog groomer who just saves an amount each month instead of paying for insurance.
One of my relatives cancelled her insurance and about a week later her dog got sick. It cost her £3000 😬😬. Vet’s fees seem to have shot up since the advent of pet insurance 🙄.

I pay 75 quid a month for a 99 excess to 495 then 20% copay to 7.5k

I think its alot for a dog up until last week have never claimed for - she is 10.5

However in terms of escalating costs, she collapsed with wobbly legs and high temp last week - turned out to be "just" a UTI. Costs currently running at £700 with some more tests early next week to ensure everything is cleared.

Was anything excessive in what they did - no not really, full exam and she stayed with them for a couple of hrs for obs, blood test, urine screen and culture, antibiotics and anti inflamatory, and some eye ointment for something separate but maybe because she was run down. So costs can rapidly raise.

That seems quite cheap.
What's the excess on that?
How much is the copayment for a ten year old dog?