Insurance for dogs - is it worth it?

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When my 2 dogs were young I looked into insurance, but based on what I wanted it to cover, and what I thought they were most likely to need, the premiums were so ridiculously high for two of them that I decided to take my chances. So far I've been ok, they are healthy and apart from routine jabs etc they've only averaged about one visit to the vet per year, so I'm quids in.

They are now middle aged, around 6 years old. I am starting to think that perhaps they are now approaching the age when things start to go wrong - hip problems, growths, other nasties - and therefore insurance might now be a good idea should they suddenly need some prolonged and/or expensive treatment.

Would appreciate anyone's views/experiences on this.

I would never be without it as I don't have

thousands laying around and I know people who have had bills running into the thousands.

I wouldn't hang around too long if you do want it as unless things have changed from when I had my cat you may struggle to get a new policy after 7 for the very reasons you are now consdering it.

Any new policy will also now exclude anything you have consulted a vet about in the past too so that may affect your decision too.

We've been paying out for years and our 7 yr old mongrel had never had any visits to the vet other than routine jabs.
Then he jumped in a pond and impaled himself on a submerged piece of rusty metal. Admitted for emergency op over the weekend then weeks of medication and check ups etc. I was very glad of the insurance then!

We have it for our two. I think we've probably had about £30,000 treatment covered for our boy, so well worth it. Not so much for our girl, but then that's what insurance is for (and I think 'glad she's not had so much wrong'). I think it's worth it.

Thanks for the feedback - I think probably I need to get some sorted now before my luck runs out, and before they get too old so the premiums get hiked.

Any recommendations or warnings on which company to use?

My friend swears by Petplan, admittedly he has 2 cats. However one of them is always getting herself hurt and needing expensive ops/treatments, and they always pay straight away. He doesn't even have to pay the vet and get it refunded, it gets sorted automatically.

FWIW Petpan is owned by Allianz.

Definitely and certainly whole life cover.
I cancelled once to cut costs (had had it years & never claimed) my dog then developed epilepsy which cost £40 ish a month plus check ups every couple of months.
The insurance would've covered it.
I'd recommend petplan as ime they are the only insurer vets will deal with direct rather than paying & claiming back.

It's hard to decide. My two cost me £45 a month in insurance which feels a lot, especially since neither has needed treatment for a while. However, in 2010, they were both really ill and the insurance covered about 6k worth of treatment. I wouldn't want to be in a position where they really needed care but couldn't have it because I couldn't afford it.

Yes- I researched and researched for best deals and went with John Lewis.

whole life cover.

We use Petplan - we haven't had to claim often but what happens is the vet keeps tally of the fees, it seems to work smoothly. Not cheap - the premiums do rise as the dog gets older anyway.

One of the main reasons for having dog insurance is for liability cover - if your dog causes someone injury (which could be accidental eg tripping someone) then you could be faced with a horrendous bill. I'm not sure whether standard household policies cover this sufficiently (if at all).

Given my experience frankly I'm amazed that you had the nerve to wait this long without :o
I have had a dog and a cat with multiple claims totalling well over what I will ever pay in premiums. Have also had two dogs with very few claims where I undoubtedly paid out more than I ever got back, but in a split second all that could change. And nothing beats having a really sick or injured pet and saying to the vet "do what you need to"
TBH I now just factor insurance in as another cost of owning a pet, rather as I would for a car.

I pay £38 a month for two boxers with Tesco.

Never had a problem with claiming, Tesco even paid out two weeks after the insurance was taken out (got the dogs as rescues on a Saturday, insured Sunday, took to vets on Tuesday and was told one of them had ingrowing eyelashes and would need an op)

Thanks all - will look at Tesco/John Lewis/Petplan.

Much appreciated

Does anyone happen to know on the off-chance if any insurers cover 3rd party damage to cats/other animals? One of my rescues could do serious damage to a cat if she ever got the chance - which she doesn't - but I live in fear of her escaping and getting hold of one. I guess maybe this would be covered by our household 3rd party liability insurance - must check.

I have been doing a lot of research on dog insurance this week and I think I've decided to go with Pet Plan (Cover for Life £7,000 per year with 2 million 3rd party cover) which is the company we were always with, with our old dogs.

I looked at lots of other policies, but was wary of the amount of small print conditions that I came across, as well as some really bad reviews for certain companies. Some example of things that are often excluded or limited are dental treatment and cruciate ligament repair and in some cases there are limits per condition, short time limits for getting your claim in and other subtle bits of small print.

Pet Plan were always ok with us in the past, always paid out promptly and without and argument and paid our vets direct, which was much easier than paying out and claiming back.

Someone did say to have a look at NFU as well, because they seem to offer a good deal, but they don't cover dental and I have a breed that is prone to dental issues in later life.

The Pet Plan policy appears to cover damage to other animals, but if you are proven to have prior knowledge of your dog's aggression they won't pay up (same with every insurer) so if there's been incidents in the past, you still may not be covered.

Best advice I can give is to shop around, but make sure you go through the full policy documents and terms and conditions with a fine tooth comb and be very careful. Dh works with a solicitor who explained that some of the policies are written in legal-ese which can, in some cases, make it sound like they mean one thing, when they actually mean the opposite.

I'm really cross about how long it's taken me to trawl through the documents for each quote I've had in order to try and highlight any potential snares and find the best deal.

Also not impressed with some insurers who were phoning me to push me to take out policies within an hour of asking for an online quote.

Thanks Moose.

Know what you mean about being phoned by pushy people - I did an online enquiry about Freedom Fencing 2 days ago and they've already called me twice to see if I want to proceed. Have told them to sling their hook until DCs back at school and I get more than 5 mins to read the stuff. That's a whole other difficult decision.

We have whole life policy for £4k per annum, £0 excess for £17 a month for our pup. So glad we have now as he eats bloody anything.