Does everyone here insure their pets?

[dangirl]

Am getting new puppy in 4 weeks!! So excited!

Thinking about insurance. Is it really worth it? (silly question I know - how long is a piece of string etc.) But do you generally find, that you have got the money back again? Is there a minimum legal requirement such as 3rd party?
Am I right in thinking that the average price is aprox £20 pr month?

Indeed!

(I am Goober normally.)

Dogs used to be insured - can't afford it now though, so no.

I have had my cat insured since we got him until this year.

He is now 13 and they wanted insurance premiums of nearly £20 a month with an excess of £50. In all the years I have paid I only claimed £40 when he was very young and decided to eat a whicker basket!

I just don't feel I can justify that cost any more. I would scrape the money together if he was ill.

To be honest I would think long and hard before I put him through anything invasive at his age now regardless of insurance covering it or not.

I used to have a rescue collie X, she was 6 when I got her, pts aged 15, she was never insured, she had to have various treatments over the years, but never amounting to more than a couple of hundred in the worst cases and many years when she only saw the vet for her booster.
When I got my puppies (one is now 2 1/2 the other almost 1) I decided to insure them. With a puppy you never know whether they might develop health problems such as diabetes or epilepsy which can cost alot to treat, they also do silly things like eating things they shouldn't running into holes or fences etc. Fortunately I haven't yet had to claim for either of mine but I'll keep them insured until they are probably 4 or 5. I would recommend insuring a puppy, and go for the 'for life' options in case they develop a problem. Its also worth ringing and varying your cover, my older dogs premium had jumped up to over £20 per mth so I rang up, removed the cover we didn't need for holidays etc; so he's just covered for vets fees and 3rd party and it brought it down to £12. Thats tesco, the other one is through morethan.

throckenholt

glad to see you have your animals interest at heart

glad you think they are not worthy.

Mine arent currently insured but im seriously considering it. My youngest pup whos 3 months has free kc insurance. SHe ate a door frame a week ago and was very ill, the vets bill was £70 but with a £60 excess and you pay 10% of everything over it wasnt worth claiming. Direct line seems good its £15 a month for both of mine but i need to see how much it goes up when there older.

My husband and parents have the same view as throkenholt as does my friend whos a farmer. They would never pay out thousands to save a pet which in a way I can understand. I never want to be put in that position though which is why Im seriously considering pet insurance.

When my pup was ill i was so worried she would die and panicking about the vet bills at least once i remembered the insurance i felt better.

I don't understand the relevance of insurance going up when they are older and therefore you won't insure now. Young animals get hurt and injured as well and you can stop the insurance at any time if you don't want to pay out anymore.

We don't insure. Mainly because with our type of dogs the biggest expense is dentals and none of the plans cover dental costs: or if they do, you first have to pay for dental check-up.

What we are going to do with our new dogthe third of the breed we've hadis pay a fixed amount into a savings account each month.

Both our old terriers had various dentals and operations but we still would have lost out financially paying insurance.

No, we don't insure. We prefer to save the money and if necessary dip into it. So far have never needed it. (touch wood).

I have policies with healthy pets and pet plan, both of which I can heartily recommend. The dog is with healthy pets for £8 a month and this provides up to £5k per incident/illness - friend's dog was hit by a car recently and over time the treatment came to well over £7k so that makes me nervous but I accept it was exceptional bad luck for them, not an every day event!

It's not just injuries, a good policy will also fork out for lifetime conditions like thyroid problems, epilepsy and even behavioural modification or special diets.

Huge bills are thankfully not an every day event for owners, but they are if you work in the surgery. There are too many decisions made based solely on how much something will cost and it means that many pets do not get the most appropriate care for their illness and injury, some being put to sleep instead. People who say they can not afford insurance should really be looking hard at whether they should own a pet at all in my opinion as they are not going to be able to afford big bills and unless you qualify for the PDSA or similar schemes what hope is there if your pet gets seriously ill??
Please people, think hard about this - if you have the money to hand then fine you are able to consider not insuring, but if you don't can you really afford not to???

'People who say they can not afford insurance should really be looking hard at whether they should own a pet at all in my opinion as they are not going to be able to afford big bills '

You know this how?

Sorry, pushed Send too early in my last message and most of it didn't come out.

Ignore!

thesunshinesbrightly I was just about to say that!