Dog insurance £2,500 or £4,500 per condition?

[wangle99]

Am just going to insure our greyhound but unsure what amount to select for treatment paid out as never really had to pay out for huge vet bills!

The choices are

a. £2,500 per condition in 12 months

or

b. £4,000 per condition

The £2,500 is standard with the policy but you can select the other one. Experienced pet insurers what do you think the best one is?

(This is with Tesco btw)

I have just taken my dog out with direct line and opted for the 4,500 per condition with no time on it. the thought behind it was if the dog got life long condition when it was one atleast we would have the first 45oo paid ( if that makes sense).

hAVE YOU INSURED WITH TESCOS BEFORE? We have our cat with them and have found them to be crap at paying out. They have never paid a penny out.

How old is your Greyhound? Is it an ex racer? You may have difficulties if he is, although things have changed lots since I had one I'm sure.

I didn't ever get any for mine and was lucky that the few injuries he did sustain (tearing his skin falling off the dining room table - don't ask! - etc were over the years less than we would have paid in premiums, ditto the cats.

Although we generally keep a small 'pets account' just to be on the safe side. Perhaps paying a small amount into an account monthly would work for you?

Hmm I did wonder if Tescos would be actually any good if we needed to make a claim.

Our greyhound is an ex-racer but he wasn't retired due to age or injury just because he was crap! Never actually raced successfully!! He is very young as well.

Our dog is stupid (sorry Harvey lol) and I can see him trying to jump somewhere or getting caught on barbed wire or something equally stupid and us needing to pay out LOTS to sort him out!

I do want to take a policy as I know I will never keep money in a small account

i would reccommend direct line, we pay aorund £20pm for 4,500 plus other benefits but our dog is quite rare (some insurance companies had not even heard of him) he isn't rare just not seen everywhere!

I would suggest that you get a "cover for life" policy so that they keep paying out if your dog gets a lifelong condition that can be managed though not cured - diabetes for example. Petplan are just one example of one that I think are very good - not perhaps the cheapest though but generally quite good at paying up and promptly.

my 2 dogs are labs, one of which has hip dysplasia. her hip replecement cost 3,200.
luckily we had no option but to take #pedigree' cover with petplan, the best imo, which was lucky.

yes cover for life - try healthypets or M&S were good but might have hiked prices recently

Hi If you havent already taken out a policy I would consider a cover for life plan. Ive a persian cat that 18 months ago had to have major surgery on her bladder at a cost of £3000, she still needs medication occasionally but this is always taken care of by petplan each year. I no they are not the cheapest on the market but ive always found them great at paying up quickly. My labrador is also insured with them.
I hope this helps!
p.s I think MOREHAN also d a cover for life policy?

You want cover for life. It costs more but is worth it. Obviously there are all the lifelong conditions to deal with but there can be other more unexpected things that can pop up.

I posted on another thread about how our puppy was scratched in the eye (three days after the insurance came through, phew!) by a cat. She needed a specialist and then consultations and an operation to try and save the eye, more consultations, medications. In the end, she had the eye out and it ended there, but if she didn't it would have dragged on and may have gone past the 12 months, including more operations after that. You don't think of things like that when you think of insurance, you think of broken legs but that little catty escapade cost us over £4,500 and could have been much more.

Fortunately we were very lucky with the free 6 weeks trial we had and ended up on the kennel club policy that covers to £10,000 a year, otherwise we would have been screwed.

Remember that £4000 seems like an awful lot of money but it can all get used up with one incident and then what happens?

My nan had one of those 12 month policies for her dog who was possibly the most ill dog on the planet. Every year, some new illness would be added to the exemption clause until he was eventually uninsurable.

Meant to add that what also matters is who pays out without question. Some insurers are cheaper because they argue every claim that they get and try not to pay out.

My vet said that PetPlan were excellent.