alternative to pet insurance

[lizzyboggs]

Ive been looking at MyPetCard an alternative to pet insurance and with my insurance premiums rocketing every year it looks tempting, Anyone joined them and any advice welcome

I have 2 decent size border collies, I use Vet Plus, it goes by weight,covers all the basics, injections, wormers,flea treatment, annual checkup,anal glands,nail cutting. Then monthly deals, this year my 11 year old had her teeth cleaned and some extractions. A couple of years ago my youngest was spayed half price. There was a free lump check and surgery at the same time as the teeth. Ours have all been farm stock, not many issues. I had a Phalene up to 3 years ago,he was insured when we got him,we continued. He was 18 when finally PTS,had only been to the vet twice,apart from annual checks,jabs, and both things... one he ran into a wall as a puppy,jarred his back. next renewal,"excluding any back,nerve, muscular skeletal issues", while the premiums rocketed. Tbh,I would stick the insurance premium equivalent in a savings account.

My pet card is not an alternative to pet insurance. It's a savings account. If you've only paid in £100 then you've only got £100 of cover. Fine if you're pet doesn't need vet care for years, not so much if they get sick within a year or so of starting to save.

Self insurance is always a viable option, which many could benefit from, if their pet never or rarely needs expensive treatment. One way to do this would be to just put money in a savings account, which would earn interest.

I see that MyPetCard has a monthly fee that appears to be effectively £4.49 if you fund the account by monthly standing order 'to help save money and care for your pet with our great money saving benefits we only charge £3.99 a month plus a small loading fee of 50p per transaction'.

But it is true that there will be a (possibly substantial) lead in period where your savings won't cover the veterinary treatment that your pet needs.

However, I suppose it depends how useful the phone and video support is. A lot of the time, they're probably not going to prescribe anything without physically examining your pet and also often it will be obvious if they need urgent treatment, eg if injured. But if you tend to be a bit anxious about every cough or vomiting event, it might be good to talk this through with them without actually paying for a full consultation.

The 'access to lower price medication' looks interesting and could be worth the membership if their vets issue private prescriptions - it doesn't say that they do though. A lot of veterinary practices charge a lot for medication that can be bought cheaper online, but you need a prescription, which they also charge for - so if membership gives you access to this cheaper or more convenient to your own vets, that might be worth the membership fee alone, but I can't see that they actually offer this, so you'd have to confirm.

I save into an ISA every month, and have done since I had my first cat in the 1990s. It’s covered everything very comfortably so far, including expensive dental work.

There is a couple of reason why I looked at it, you get 24/7 access to their vetline just like insurance companies and they have lots of vets who will do 0% finance if you don't have enough in your account. The plasterer doing my bathroom said his premiums had gone from £16 per month to £80 per month and he has never claimed. Putting £80 in my account every month would soon build a pot for Maisie. He has gone for it and I think I will too. thanks for everybody's comments.Lizzy

My 11 year old poodle has always been fully insured (with more than) and we claimed once when he was 5 (neatly £5000 following a car accident). He has now been diagnosed with Evans syndrome and we are already in the 1000s of pounds, and will have thousands more pounds to spend on imaging in the next week or two and likely several hundred pounds a month for the rest of his life. More than have paid it all out without any hesitation. His premiums are about £200 per month, but his insurance has paid for itself many times over.

Thats £2400 a year I couldn't afford that, and given what i picked up on the web about the condition I would not let my dog suffer what looks like a pretty horrible condition.
I only wanted to ask about the alternatives to pet insurance but there is a moral question here. Do we sometimes hold onto our pets and put them through hell just because they are insured or would someone like who had a very ill pet and isn't insured, be doing the pet a favour by putting them to sleep. I love my dog but when the time comes I wouldn't hesitate to do the right thing.

EVANS SYNDROME."Air Hunger" and Extreme Fatigue: Because the immune system is destroying oxygen-carrying red blood cells, your dog's vital tissues are starved of oxygen. This creates a sensation of running a marathon while resting. They will feel profoundly weak, dizzy, and may pant heavily just trying to get enough air.

my Phalene was insured with the company Noel Fitzpatrick advertised, can't think of the name. He was PTS January 23,at 18,so it was 21 years ago.. He had no arthritis, joint issue, mobility.Unfortunately,he had CCD. We did try supplements and very expensive meds. To no avail. We gave him a lovely walk on the beach before his final journey to the vet.

I have insured my dogs until they get to around 9 and then the premium shoots up. I worked out for one of them, I would have to have bills of £2900 that year to break even vs the premium cost and excess.
I was able to cover her visits and medication as she got older. My vet was happy to write a prescription so I could buy the medication online where it was much cheaper.
The puppy is insured at the moment but once her premium increases I will cancel and just pay as I go.

It’s always a risk. We adopted a cat at 9 years old and until she died at 14 I worked out we claimed around 7k in insurance. We only had the 20% co pay to pay. These were mainly routine tests and thyroid medication. Couldn’t have afforded that paying £100 here or there in a savings account.

Depends on the breed - some are really expensive to insure

Personally, I don’t think there is an alternative. I have had many dogs (and cats and all manner of small furries). Some of them never saw the inside of a vet save for routine care. Some of them cost way above the premiums on a monthly basis for conditions that were definitely treatable and not things any reasonable person would consider pts for. And one of the dogs became suddenly and immensely unwell within a few weeks of adopting her - if I’d gone the savings route, I could never have afforded to treat her. I have learnt the lesson and now factor in increasing insurance costs in to my decision on whether I can afford another dog.

Goodness.... definitely don't believe everything you read on the Internet! The little guy is on very expensive immunosuppresents which mean he is having an almost normal life, even though he is very ill. He competes in a canine sport and wouldn't do so well if he felt like you suggested. Interestingly, my elderly DM has a very similar condition (the NHS pays for her medication luckily) but I haven't considered putting her down either.

And also, whilst we are at it, I would stop using whichever AI you used to find out about Evans syndrome because it has absolutely nothing to do with breathing.

If you are thinking of self insuring a savings account would be better than this as you would get interest on the amount and not pay fees.
many vets do Klarna and other 0% finance deals. Other options I have seen clients use is 0% credit cards.
My Pet Offers finance, but from my experience if you fail the credit check for one 0% option you will fail it for all of them. So it would only work for you if the other options many vets offer would work for you.

All our pets are insured. If you can summon up at least a few thousand without a second thought from your savings then you might risk it. Bottom line is vet treatment is very expensive. Without insurance you risk having to have your pet pts because of finances. I wouldn’t risk that.

For a young pet, if you put £100 per month into a savings account and only use it for vet costs you would have a decent amount saved before they get into older age when vet bills/medication tend to become more common.

Total gamble though if your pet ends up ill in their youth. My 5 year old dog ended up with cancer and the cost to just get the inital diagnosis was £1000's.

My cat needed medication for life from around 7 year old which cost around £80 per month.

I've always insured my pets as I couldn't cope with having to get them pts simply because e.g I couldn't pay a £5K bill or monthly costs for meds for diabetes etc.

Insurance is always a hot topic. Those that pay and never need to claim often say it's a rip off. Those that do make a claim say it's worth it.

I pay around £39 a month for my 5 year old cocker. This year she ruptured her cruciate ligament (£4k) and cut herself on barbed wire (£650). Add in a bout of pancreatis and pain meds for arthritis and I've claimed at least £5k this year. In total I've claimed around £15k for her. Saving £100 a month would have left me very short.

My 2 year old has had one claim, which was less than I have paid out for her insurance so far. To be honest though, I'd rather have it that way and have a healthy dog.

When our pet insurance hit £180+ a month for our then eleven year old boxer we decided to not bother with insurance and put £200 a month away in a savings account for her vet bills.We also took out a 0% interest credit card in the eventuality we needed to pay a largish bill before we had accumulated much in savings. I guess we were fortunate that our beloved dog remained relatively healthy until a week or so before we had her PTS this June. Bless her cotton socks, she had accumulated near on £3,000. Only you can make the decision regarding insurance. Ours became expensive because of a cruciate ligament op and then a small cancerous growth and of course premiums increase each year and they also increase as your pet ages.