Boring I know but...PET INSURANCE??

[PersonalClown]

We are getting a dog soon and I will be a responsible dog owner and am insisting on insurance...
but what should I be loooking for?

Is it better to pay more that covers preventative and routine vet stuff or just a bog standard policy??

You won't get cover for routine & preventative stuff - neutering, vaccinations, worming & flea treatments are never covered.

Look for lifetime cover - many policies will only cover an illness in the first year it arises so if, for example, your pet develops arthritis, you can't claim in subsequent years, no matter how long the illness lasts.

Look carefully at the excess on the policy and any % of vets fees that you'll still have to pay.

I prefer to get high cover for vets fees (£4k at least for a dog) but am not too worried about holiday cancellation etc.

Petplan, Morethan and M&S always get good reports.

Good luck

We have Sainsburys and they have been brilliant. Have paid out more than we've paid in

marks

I haven't seen one that covers preventative and routine stuff. If there is one I bet the premiums are sky high.

I use Lloyds. They've always paid out quickly and easily. We've probably broken even on what we've paid and had back.

Fabulous to know. Thanks.
Our local vets does a great Puppy starter service that looks really good. Covers injections, worming, microchipping and neutering and a check up after 6 months for about £200.

We've got Tesco's 'extra' policy. It covers up to £4k per condition for vet's fees with no time limit on claims (i.e. will cover the dog for life if necessary) and also offers the extras such as holiday cover, lost dog advertising etc. It has a fixed excess of either £60 or £120 (higher excess = lower premiums) with no extra to pay. They're very good at paying claims and will pay the vet direct, and they're always cheaper than anyone else when I get comparison quotes for renewal each year. I currently pay £34 a month for two pedigree labs and two cats, so it's very good value. In the past 16 months they've paid out almost £2k in various claims, and our dog is currently awaiting surgery for elbow displaysia, so it's been well worth the money!

As bella says though, no policy will cover the routine stuff, so you'll need to budget at least an extra £100 per year for vaccinations, worming and flea treatments. Depending on your vet, the initial vaccinations will be around £50 and microchipping will be around £20 (if it's done at the same time). Neutering costs depend on whether the dog is male or female, it's age and size, and your own vet. We paid £200 to have our labrador bitch spayed in 2008 when she was 8 months old. Expensive things, dogs! Worth it though

Our local vets does a great Puppy starter service that looks really good. Covers injections, worming, microchipping and neutering and a check up after 6 months for about £200

Bite their hand off, sounds like a great deal

It might also be worth considering if your vet is able to do any direct claims with a specific insurer. Ours is only able to claim direct from Pet Plan. If we hadn't have been insured with them, we would have had to pay out £4K in advance of claiming back surgery & meds fees for our tom cat.

We have been very impressed with Pet Plan for our cats' cover and we will extend that to cover our dog when she arrives too.

Our vets "push" petplan but I changed to morethan, and in all honesty they have been great.

Reasonable price and life cover too, which is important if they get a lifelong problem ... which mine has developed!