Do you have questions on pet insurance? Ask PDSA vet Claire Roberts - £200 voucher to be won

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Created for PDSA

Do you have questions on how pet insurance works, the different types of policy available and why it’s important to protect your pet? PDSA expert Claire Roberts will be on hand to answer your questions.

• Everyone who shares a question on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw.
• One lucky user will win a £200 voucher provided by Mumsnet.

About PDSA vet Claire Roberts:
“ Claire Roberts is a vet working for the UK’s leading veterinary charity PDSA, which provides free and low-cost veterinary care to the pets of owners in need. She has worked in mixed and small animal practice as well as in academia and currently provides veterinary advice for PDSA’s communication team. Claire lives in Bristol with her two rescue cats, Indiana Jones and Jon Snow.”

Here’s what PDSA has to say:
“With so many different policy-types on the market, choosing the right pet insurance policy to meet your pet’s needs and your budget can be complicated. PDSA Vet, Clare Roberts is here to help by answering any questions you have about protecting your pet; from the key cover to look out for, to jargon-busting those technical terms!”

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

Mumsnet Insight T&Cs apply

We are thinking about getting a rescue dog. Would the lack of precise information on its age and health limit our options for a good value pet insurance? Would it be more expensive than if we got a regular dog?

I have a pet insurance for my kitty and claimed on it last year when he had a run in with a car. Now we've already made a claim do we need to get any extra policies or better cover to ensure he's still protected in the future?

We have a kitten and wonder if its worth changing policy to a higher one as he gets older? I never know how much cover you do actually need. Thank you

I'm struggling with the options for cover - we don't just want accident cover but illness as well but there are two types:

Are you looking to cover the cost of veterinary fees for [xxxx] for a fixed amount per each illness or injury, or for an overall amount for all illnesses or injuries during a policy year?*

Which is best?

thank you!

We are considering getting a dog, but slightly concerned about the costs involved! We would definitely buy pet insurance, but what are the main things I would need to make sure I have covered?

Is it worth insuring an axolotl? Do they often get sick? How can I transport mine to the vet as I know they shouldn't be handled

I wondered what your view is on cover for dental disease as some insurers won’t cover it.

My DD is a vet and consistently sees animals with awful dental disease that their owners can’t or won’t pay to treat.

My cat has gum disease and I would’ve spent over £2000 on dentals in the 2 years since we adopted him if it wasn’t for insurance. Our vet considers dental health vital to animal well being and I agree.

Are the insurers always going to try and sell u what u don't need for extra cost?what key things do we deff need and are there key terms we don't and are for only insurers profits.

Does having a indoor only cat reduce the premiums or is it not taken into account?

I will soon be adopting an elderly cat. She is in good health for her age. What conditions do I need to consider when I choose a policy ? She will be an indoor cat.

new dog belonging to bf is bullying my dog but also loves her, she keeps trying to hump her although both girls. She tries to bully my dog over food my dog sometimes gets scared to eat what can I do

We have an adult cat. As a young kitten she was noted as having a heart murmur. We assumed she couldn’t be insured. She’s now been cleared of this and has said to grown out of it. Can we insure her and do we have to mention this since she’s now fine?

Our cats insurance is very expensive as he's 16. We've spent ££££££ on insurance. Is there any no claims types of pet insurance? We've never needed to claim and as he ages it's getting more expensive.

Should I have got a plan that covers dental for my puppy? It was almost twice the price to include it on all the ones I looked at.

Why is insurance for dogs over the age of eight so prohibitive? Premiums rocket as soon as this birthday is reached, even if you have a clear claims history. I know that as they age, there’s more chance of illness, but even so …

As my cat has got older the excess for claims seem to have gone up, is there a way round this ?

I'm confused about our 20% co-payment - we have £2k cover and assumed that insurance payments over the year should still total the amount of cover, but we've made two claims and have only been paid out £1600 (total bills of nearly £5k)- what's the point of a cover amount if it won't actually be covered?

I presume the older the pet (a dog in my case), the higher the insurance premiums? Is that correct or are any other factors taken into consideration?

I don't have a policy question, I have a fat cat question - how do you/I get the worlds laziest cat to exercise? She is worse than a dog for stealing food, we have had to lock her food away because she bites through the packaging to get to it, and she hates play time. Any ideas on how to get her moving

Is it usual for pure breed cats to have higher monthly premiums than a moggy?

we have a pure breed cat and his premium is nearly twice that of my 2 moggies (who are 3 years older than him).

always have insurance for my dog,long term is it best to have one wioth lifetime cover in case of a long term illness.

How can I try and reduce the cost of pet insurance for my 10 year old cat?

I do shop around but the price has really rocketed the last few years - and only the eye wateringly expensive policies include dental - this is the only type of treatment my cat has ever needed!

We have insurance for our elderly dog. She is 12 so we have to pay a good percentage of any vets' fees ourself anyway because of the compulsory contribution. It's already £60 a month and this was one of the cheapest decent policies we could find. We only keep it going in case she was in an accident (God forbid) and because it has some kind of indemnity insurance to cover us if she causes harm to anyone else.

Does everyone else find insurance for older animals prohibitively expensive? Is there any way to reduce the cost?

Can I insure a cat 🐱 that technically is not mine?

His owner knows her cat lives at mine and she has no problem with that. However when he had a fight with a rat 🐀 recently I had to take him to the vets I couldn't get hold of the neighbour. She can't afford to feed the poor thing so there was no way she could have paid the vet bill so that fell to me as well. She could have taken him to the nearest PDSA for treatment in the scheme they have with regards to certain benefits but unfortunately the nearest one to us is to far away.

I've asked her if she would officially relinquish ownership but she won't. So all cat microchip information tracks back to her. Would this be an issue for the insurance company.

Before I'm accused of cat napping, the neighbour had a baby - she walked in the front door with the crying baby and the cat left immediately by the back door and moved into mine. I think the neighbour hopes that eventually the cat will move back in but the baby is now a toddler in the cat chasing phase so that's not happening!

I have an aging hamster- 23 month old female syrian- she is my beloved! - the only time she went to the vet she was traumatised, (had to wake her and take her out of her bed during the day; due to covid restrictions, vets took her in for her examination so she was handled by complete strangers, Lord knows what they did to her- it took me over 6 weeks to retame her and get her back to her busy, confident little self)- I can see her slowing down and her behaviour changing, and just want to give her a good 'retirement'- what steps can I take to keep her happy in her dotage?