Help!? With pet insurance.

[mummyof2kidsx]

I don't know where to start. Pet plan have quoted me 28.00 for lifetime cover, 4000 vets fees 90 excess. i really don't know what i need and what i don't in the cover....this is my first puppy so I haven't got a clue whats a rip off and what isn't as i don't really know how much things will cost without insurance.. can anyone help? or recommend a good pet insurer..thanks xx

he is a shetland sheepdog by the way and is 14 weeks old xx

After a lot of research I went with John Lewis, £28 pm but the cover is £7k a year so better than Petplan. Only had puppy 5 weeks so not dealt with them (yet!) but had good reviews on here and in Which. HTH and good luck with your puppy!

I use pet plan for our Lab with lifetime cover which is 30.00 a month and have just insured the new pup JR X with Homebase for 10.96 a month for exactly the same cover

I'm guessing the fact pup is a cross breed has made a massive difference.

We had our previous dog insured with John Lewis. He became ill at 3 months old and had to be PTS at 5 months old. John Lewis were brilliant, efficient and kind to deal with despite they fact we cost them much more than we'd paid them.

Petplan are generally very good (though I personally had a mega falling out with them and appeared to end up on some sort of bad customers blacklist from that point onwards )
We now use M&S but have yet to make a claim though their customer service so far has been second to none.
If you can afford it then lifetime cover means a condition such as diabetes will be paid for for the rest of the dogs life, so long as you adhere to the Ts&Cs. Otherwise the company will cease to pay after one year.
As for costs a previous dog was referred to a specialist, initial consult was £360 and it just went in from there, eventually totalling over £4000 Another dog was insured for over 12 years and we probably never even claimed £1000 back so it is swings and roundabouts.
Personally if we can afford it I like the certainty of knowing I can take my ill dog into the surgery and say "do whatever you need to"

I have just gone with M and S, they do a variety of plans. I choose them after the superb treatment that my boss received from them in dealing with a £3000 claim. Very quick and helpful at what was a very stressful and upsetting time after their lab was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had to be pts. For your info though knee surgery on my cocker cost £1300, and an endoscopy to retrieve a grass seed from his nose was £360!!

i have always been a bit of an internet pet insurance jumper, never had to make a claim in 8 years for my dogs so just gone with the best cover for the cheapest price

this year ive had to make huge claims for little dog and worried about not being with one of the big named pet insurance companys, but bubble dot com have paid out all claims very quickly and have been lovely over the phone - they even send out feed back forms about how your claim was handled

ive been very impressed with them and its been well worth the 8.75p a month!