Pet Insurance ? Do you have it ? Who do you use ? Have made a claim ? Would you recommend them ?

[NomDePlume]

Having been served with a projected bill for post car accident operations on my lovely little cat for a whopping £960 . I've decided that we need to get ourselves some pet insurance in case something big like this crops up in the future. I'm aware that it's a case of too little, too late for this bill, but I want to be better prepared next time.

We recently bought a puppy, the breeder told us that Tesco pet insurance was the best - it is more reasonable than others as far as I can see and offers the same level of cover. HTH

Thanks for this so far guys.

Sue, I understand that not everyone would be prepared to pay that bill , whether they had the money or not. The fact is that our cat is only 7 years old, in rude health apart from the damage to his leg (which he has had pinned and plated and they've since discovered that he has severe nerve damage and no circulation to the leg, so it will have to come off), and will not be left with heavy, ongoing health issues or costly medication once this treatment is carried out. We are fortunate enough to be able to pay for this particular treatment and Alfie is very much a part of our family. If this treatment would've left him with long term health problems and no quality of life, then we'd obviously have to think again.

both my dogs are covered by petplan. they are covered for life, they will cover any illness for as long as it goes on (some will only pay for 1 year) and my vet deals with them, i dont. i pay the first £60 which is not always easy to find, i admit, but it is easier to find than the 3k one of my dogs hip replacerments would have cost me!
all i had to do was ring them out of coutesy to say the vet would be forwarding the bill to them for this one! if i hadnt had this insurance, i would have had to have her put down, probably closely followed by her sister who would probably have pined for her.
all i really of know of the claims is the letters i get saying they have settled the claim for 'cystitis' for example, direct with the vet.
i have never had a problem with them, the vet recommended them and they have never refused a claim.
we have claimed for the following (between the 2 of them) :
*cystitis x 5
*hip replacement
*blocked bottom (!!) knicker elastic- dont ask!!
*cut leg, restitched and dressed 4 times before she left it alone.
:)

We took out Pet Plan insurance when we got our kitten (she's now 3). When she was 6 months she started having fits, and the vet did all sorts of investigations to find out why (could have been anything from an infection to a brain tumour). Because we had insurance, we weren't limited at all in her treatment (including an overnight stay at Bristol's vet school for a spinal tap and scan ) and she was eventaully diagnosed as being epiletic. The bill was over £1000 . She's now on a low dose daily medication and is fine, but needs 6 monthly blood tests to check her liver and kidney functions (£80 a pop) so....... yes, pet insurance is a good idea.

I think it costs £7 a month, so we've already had our money's worth, even if she lives to be twenty.

So far Tesco are looking like the best value with reasonable cover at £6.84 a month.

mine also includes £1million cover for damage to other people and property.
handy, since they nearly knocked a lady over month or two ago as they chased her cat!!
:o

Blimey !

my cat needs tests done as he has FLUTD, he had the first bout of it in november but wasn;t diagnosed with FLUTD then, we took out insurance in december after he got very poorly with a sore throat and lost lots of weight. Since then he had had 2 bouts of FLUTD and had had to have injections but now the vet wants to do tests and they are going to cost £480. The insurance won't pay because he has had urine infections before..

We had real problems with Pet Plan. When the cat hit 6 the payments almost doubled, and continued to rise pretty steeply every year. Given that they had refused to pay out on ANY of the treatment that our cat had (she has an ongoing condition which they refused to pay out for, and then they claimed that everything else we had her treated for stemmed from that), it was taking the pee a bit. I'm glad that other people haven't had the same experience with them, but I certainly couldn't recommend them.

It might also be worth mentioning that when we looked at other companies, most of them wouldn't insure our cat because she was over 7 years old.

Check out M&S - don't know about cats but they are fantastic for dog insurance (you can choose a 'no excess' policy and the cover is for life - i.e. renewed every year rather than stopping when you claim up to the max as with some policies). We've claimed nearly £1000 last year and our payments have not gone up at all this year.

For older pets I've heard Sainsbury's are good (some won't take on older animals).

WWB - I've been getting online quotes which ask the cat's age (he is 7). I've been honest on them all and the payments are all between £6.84 and £9 a month (cover varies though).

The 'no' to 7yrs+ is awful. FGS 7 is no age for a cat ! Not even halfway through its life.

I'm with M&S too. Again for a dog but so far we have claimed 4 times in just over a year. We pay no excess and we only pay £11 a month compared to £25 we were paying with Norwich Union

They've even paid out for behaviour therapy!

Pinnicle is a good one. They pay straight into your bank account and pay up pretty quickly. Also will pay if your pet has an ongoing health problem for the rest of their life. i think Pinnicle and Pet plan are the only ones that do this. I pay £9.80 monthly (I think) for a 9 year old Burmese with arthritus.

Pet Plan every time, My cat was seven when we got her, no probs getting the insurance, then had major claim when she was shot and run over fleeing. She lost her tail and broke her shoulder, massive claim but no probs.

hiya guys, pet plan now insure cats upto 10yrs old. i work in a vets and we only recomend pet plan. we have a lot of problems with tesco, they grumble about paying out on a lot of cases and they only cover a condition for 1 yr. M

Have to say PetPlan are my fave too - they cover ongoing year on year which others don't always.

They also do direct o vet payment - but only if your vet does too, some vets insist on money up fornt regardless of your insurance companies policy.

There is another one (can't recal name) that is non-profit making which attracted me, however, it turns out they are underwritten by a second company (big - the insurance worlds Procter and Gamble!) who's name has also gone from my chees brain and they are rubbish at paying out claims, ongoing care etc.

I spoke to my vet about that compnay and he roled his eyes and said I would have to pay up front if using them! lol

Ooh just recaled underwriters name but don't want to get done for slander or defamation!

but I have to tell you as they are rumoured to be really really bad - and underwrite a lot of companies (think may include Tesco????)

it is E&L insurance

Should I ask for this to be deleted now??

We have petplan and they were great when our cat was hit by a car. He had a vets ambulance (!), was in cat hospital for weeks (a proper one in Wimbledon), had ops, home visits & physio, the lot. We had a bill that was around 2.5K and they paid up without a murmour.

Wouldn't worry about saying that about E&L securlurking - they have such an appalling reputation for pet insurance everywhere you look. Have never heard a good story about them!
We used to be with PetPlan till a couple of years ago but they kept on hiking the premiums astronomically every year even when we didn't claim, till it became a total rip-off. A lot of vets have arrangements with them.

2 labs phew - now you can join me on the stand for our joint defamation trial

So who do you use now?

See you in court! We're with M&S now.