pet insurance recommendations

[boredsolicitor]

we are getting a dog soon and jsut started looking at insurance but its a bit baffling. i think i want cove r for big things going wrong and am happy to cover the routine vets bills for minor things. any one have any recommnendations - i hear quite a lot of noise around pet insurers refusing to pay up so wonder if there are any companies to avoid? Any advice welcome?

I had petplan insurance for my dogs whole life and they paid every single claim I ever made .
Not the cheapest insurance but I had lifetime cover thank goodness as she had the most terrible allergies her whole life .
Even my vet said it's a good company and did a direct payment for claims as they would pay out

Just to add that her monthly bill from the vets was £200 plus (allergy medication and injection)each month for her whole life!

thank you - i will have a look at their site. so glad they did the biz for your ddog.

I would recommend you to ask your veterinary practice who they deal with directly, this means that you typically pay the excess and the insurance company pays the vet practice for the treatment directly. This is sometimes easier for people as it means you do not have to pay upfront for all the treatments and wait for the insurance company to reimburse you, but it is obviously dependent on your financial situation and if ever your dog requires specific medical care.

Similarly, I would always recommend pet owners to shop around but I would always say go with a lifetime policy over an annual policy. A lifetime policy means that if your pet gets an illness or condition which is long term that the insurance company will pay out for it, always read the guidelines of the policy and see what is and isn’t included. Unfortunately, you see a lot of people take out annual renewal policies which treat 1 condition, but afterwards they are classified as pre-existing conditions and you cannot claim for them again hence the idea for a lot of people insurance “excludes body parts” and do not pay out.

My animals are all insured with PetPlan and I have used them for several years, and have generally had a good experience with them and they work with all my veterinary practices directly, I haven’t had an issue with them paying out so far but alike to majority of companies when your pet gets older you will likely have a co-payment for all treatment (when my dog is 9 years of age i am liable to pay excess + 20% for my policy personally). Routine treatments are not actually covered by insurance, such as spaying/neutering or routine dental procedures such as scale and polishes unless done for a medically necessary reason, so even with insurance you would be expected to cover things like vaccines/neuter/worm/flea etc.

Good Luck with your new puppy!

Thanks everyone - went with Pet plan in the end . Puppy is an absolute joy! Still trying to crack the house training but only one or two pees a day now and fine overnight which is good . Mostly ok with my 2 cats but then randomly chases them . Hopefully it'll settle soon :)