Dog insurance - any recommendations? Is £2k per condition enough?! Help needed...

[Levvylife]

I have a Cavalier King Charles puppy who is only a few months old but I need to get him some insurance in the next week or so, but I'm really struggling to get my head around all the options! Should I go for lifetime cover? Is £2k per condition really paltry?

I want to keep costs down as far as I can but not scrimp, I just don't know what level of cover to go for as I know Cavs can have health problems with hearts, eyes etc, but then again while he's young should I just get annual cover for the basics?

Hugely grateful for any advice, thank you!

hiya
my late dog - greyhound - had a tumour and had to have it and a rib removed and the final bill after all medication etc was around 3k. I have a policy with Tesco and have 4k per condition cover with £60 excess - sorry cannot advise you regarding lifetime cover but in my exeperience you just need one serious condition and 2k would not be enough.
x

Hello,

Thanks for the reply - this is what I'm worried about. I heard a horror story recently about someone's dog developing diabetes and the food and daily meds cost a fortune. I think I can get fairly decent lifelong cover for about £16 per month but still sifting through masses of quotes! I think I need a spreadsheet.

Lifetime cover is a must for any long-term conditions that could come up (eg diabetes, epilepsy etc) otherwise they exclude each condition at each renewal.

Personally, I wouldn't go for under 4k per condition, per year, as something like a broken leg for example can cost thousands.

If you do a quick search or scan down the doghouse threads, there have been a few threads about dog insurance recently that might help.

I've got 7k per year lifetime cover with Axa. It's just over £35 for a Staffy and a Labradoodle.

2K is woefully under estimated especially for a lifetime condition such as epilepsy. Like brunette said, 1 serious condition and it's wiped out and going to another insurance company with a known problem will push your premiums high.

John Lewis, Argos/Homebase (all same company), Axa and a few other are your best choices.

7k per year with axa too, I would rather cover comprehensively so only consider lifetime policies with 6k per annum per condition... Have spent nearly this a few times!

Just to give you an idea.....
I had a springer puppy about 6 years ago. At his first jab the vet said she suspected something was "off" with him but could not put her finger on it. Same at second jab.
A few months later we really could not crack house training and the volumes of wee produced were startling to say the least.
A couple visits to the vets led to a referral to a specialist, initial consultation of £360 for half an hour. Several nights hospitalisation at £75 a night, scans, blood tests etc meant the final bill was over £4000. We had also been offered growth hormones for him which we had declined but would obviously have added to the bill.
Monthly medication was £60.
All covered by insurance thankfully. This was over the course of a few weeks and for a condition that was inconvenient rather than life threatening so yes, I would say that £4000 was a minimum if you can afford that level of cover.

Thanks for all the advice. Have taken it all on board and am now thinking that the Argos lifetime cover might be the best for us. £24.90 per month, covers up to £7k per year and seems to have a decent write up on the Which? website. Excess of £90 and cover seems fairly comprehensive. I think I'll cancel my gym membership (I figure the dog will keep me much fitter than me currently not going to the gym does!) and that'll just about cover it...

Just got a quick quote from Argos.

The 7k is per year, not lifetime cover.

Also need to look carefully at what they cover, as only their Platinum one covers diet/food and then only for 4 weeks per year.

Compulsory excess is £65, but you can increase that to reduce your premiums if you want to.