That my dig insurance is talking the piss

[Ikeasucks]

Ok so have a 7 yr old spaniel and have always had her covered with Petplan on a life cover policy- it needs renewed right now - they want just over £1400 for the year. Tell me this is crazy - what do others pay

Petplan is notoriously expensive isn’t it?

Our dog is much younger so at the moment (2), it’s £300 a year with Tesco for the most cover we could get.

In terms of insurance, you get what you pay for. Petplan is the gold standard.

I was quoted £3200 for my 11yo Labrador last year. I couldn't afford it so have switched to a cheaper one with existing conditions excluded. I felt like I had no choice but to take the risk.

Have you previously made claims?

One claim about 4 years ago for elbow surgery. The rest were repeat medication claims only.

My spaniel is just about to turn 7

We’re with Many Pets and her insurance is now £100 a month - we have had a large claim for her though - best part of £6k for a cruciate ligament operation.

Hers is a lifetime policy so they can’t exclude the other leg so I’m just kind of hanging on for the other one to go then I can move to a cheaper insurance company.

I do stick to insurance companies that my vet will do Direct Pay with and they all seem to be more on the expensive side.

Tesco and Sainsbury’s are much cheaper.

We had pet plan for our last spaniel who died just before his 5th birthday and they paid out 10k that year on tests and chemo etc. I can’t fault them but I guess that’s why you pay the high price.

Age 7 or 8 is when the premiums start to really go up for dogs. If you haven’t had any claims then you could shop around, if you have had any claims then other companies will most likely exclude those conditions.

I'm with sainsburys for my 12 year old border collie £25 odd a month.
Was previously with Purley pets who went from £44 a month & quoted £89 a month for 2026- 2027.

Really sad this wasn't an archaeology thread

I have Petplan for my cats, and it's expensive.

But it's worth it for the sort of bills that can end up racking up in the senior years, and I took it out after having to pay for cancer treatment and meds etc for my previous dog. Wiped out my savings instantly.

That’s double what we pay for our beagle who has just turned 8! We’ve never claimed though.

We pay £1700 for our 3 year old Bulldog with ManyPets - it comes eith 24hr video access to a vet & 20% of our yearly payment refunded if no claims!

It’ll probably depend on your postcode too - all our local vets (all small animal practices in town) charge way more than my DM’s vet (mixed practice in rural location).

1350 for our Samoyed, 3 1/2
1200 for our Chihuahua cross, 8 1/2
760 for our JRT/Iggy cross, 2 1/2

All covered for life with Petplan.
I should note that our chihuahua has had eye surgery, stomach surgery and multiple dentals, all of which have been covered without quibble and pre-authorised where they can be which is a weight off our minds.

Our samoyed has just been diagnosed with elbow dysplasia, which involved at CT scan at £2600. Pre-authorised so we just had to pay £50 deposit. And he'll be having water treadmill, physiotherapy and general rehabilitation which they will also pay for as he's a young dog with hopefully a long, fun life ahead of him.

Have also previously had a diabetic cat, who was covered for ongoing meds etc.

You really do get what you pay for.

I have renewed ours with Agria Pet. It's gone from £400 to £480. We used the full claim amount last year for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Had claims in preceding 2 years as well for other things. Will be using the full claim amount this year to I expect. They have advised if our dog dies during the year they will refund the unused amount.

10 year old Springer: 1,600 per year with PetPlan and due for renewal, I’m dreading it . Saying that, he had an expensive op when he was 2 and we are just starting medication for arthritis. He is insured’for life’ so previous conditions not excluded. I think this is more expensive.he’s worth every penny though. He brings us soooo much joy every single day .

Could be worse, you could be with animal friends, paying more and also having your claims refused because they don’t cover some of the main things that pets need (dental and anxiety meds). Ask me how I know 🙃

My 4 year old Lab was insured by M&S until a week ago, but it went up so drastically that I took advantage of Sainsbury's 9000 Nectar points offer and got a quote from them. Higher insured amount, much lower excess and only three fifth the price, not taking into £45 of points!

I had 2 cats covered with petplan under their lifetime cover plan and whilst it was expensive, they paid out over £15k in surgery costs for them by the time they were 4 with no issues. So I was very grateful I had cover with them!!

I've moved abroad with the cats and no longer have insurance and now have to pay for their surgeries myself... I miss Petplan!

My 7 yr old £28 per month - Perfect Pet.

£4,000 per condition lifetime

With Ageas for our small breed dog. She hit 10 last year so the premiums went up to £90/month.

The renewal quote for our 10 year old Frenchie was £200 a month. That would pay a maximum of £5k in claims. So I would only effectively get £2.5 K by the time you took off the monthly cost.

We cancelled and bought accident-only cover and put the previous monthly costs into a separate account.

Cancelled ours when the dog got to around this age for the same reason - it seemed to grow exponentially every year.

I just paid for things when they came up. I probably avoided spending £10k in insurance (possibly a lot more!) but spent about £4k on the dog.

Plus maybe £2k of dental, which isn’t covered by insurance anyway

I think Petplan is the most expensive for a reason. Other than the price I've not ever heard anything negative about it.

I used Napo for my dog. They were ok. Cheaper than Petplan but you can't ring them up about anything. You have to chat with them online and then arrange a callback, which might not be the same day. I did have to do a couple of claims with them, and they paid both of them, but for one of them they quibbled a bit about my dog's breed. He was a saluki lurcher, and they tried to argue that a 'lurcher' is a sort of pedigree and wanted to put up my premium as a result when I tried to claim. Luckily I have a good vet and they just changed his medical record from 'lurcher' to 'mixed breed'!

I am not sure if I would use Napo again or just bite the bullet and go with Petplan. I think it's only when you actually need to use the insurance that you know how good or not the provider is.