Should I get lifetime dog insurance for my 2 year old (dog)?

[GentlyGentlyOhDear]

My dog insurance is up for renewal and the past 2 years I've got the lifetime policy. I've not made a claim at all (touch wood!) and am wondering whether I should keep coughing up the extra for this insurance or whether to just opt for the basic cover up to £3000 vets fees per year?
I've never had a dog before so I've no idea about the insurance, really. Would would you recommend?

If you can afford the extra then I would say go for it.

It is great that you have yet to use the insurance, but who knows what is round the corner. If it is an injury, then likelyhood is the stand alone year policy will be fine, but if it is say, diabetes or an eye/ear problem, you will only be covered for the 12 months covered in that policy.

I say this, having only got a year policy and not lifetime cover for my 6.5 yo mutt and my 2 cats. I just couldn't stretch to the bigger payment each month.

It is such a big jump between the two types of policy and it has gone up this year (and we are poorer ). And thinking about it, if we did end up with a lifetime claim, wouldn't the insurer just put the premiums up the following year to cover it?? I'm trying to justify to myself going for the cheaper one aren't I!?

If money wasn't so tight then I wouldn't hesitate

It is hard and that is what I was faced with, I wouldn't not have my pets insured because my dog injured herself aged 6 ish months and cost just under a grand (insured - phew) and then the youngest cat got injured and broke his pelvis aged 4 ish months, again just short of a grand but thankfully insured.

As far as lifetime illness is concerned, this is very easy to say now with [touches wood] healthy pets, I would not want to keep a pet alive if that meant them having endless medication and procedures/trips to the vets to do so. But who knows....

My dog is in renal failure and has cost over £4k in vets bills over 2 years. There is no way I could afford this if she wasn't insured with life time cover. It depends on what your financial situation is like.

Can I ask if your policy went up massively when you renewed it after first claiming Ilove? I suppose I can switch back to lifetime cover in the future.
I'm so risk-averse that I will probably stick to lifetime.
Now I'm stressing that we don't have human life cover either

you can switch back, but do you have to declare all previous ailments - in which case any issue they have had until that point will be uninsurable? Obviously illness as opposed to injury.

How much more is it a month? Is there another area you could cut back on to make up for it?

Maybe you could get a yearly policy for this coming year and try and save a bit each month towards next year's life policy?

I am in a bit of a crap situation in that i have enough money to pay for my essentials, but none left over to save IYSWIM. Although, better than others who don't have enough to pay for essentials so I am not moaning I promise.

I went for the lifetime cover again! I decided that for an extra £7 a month I would just do it and the co-op say that policies will not increase due to you having a lifetime claim, it would just be the inflation costs etc.
Phew, another thing off the to-do list.

definitely worth it for £7 a month

My policy has only increased by a couple of pounds a month over the years. I worked it out and I have spent less than I have had out of it so worth every penny.