Dog insurance...to insure or not?

[Panicmode1]

We are going to be getting our new puppy around Christmas (not my choice for it to arrive then, but just when the season happened!) so I'm looking at insurance - but several friends with dogs have said that they don't bother because most policies aren't worth the paper they are written on.....so now I'm confused about whether or not we should get some?

If you do insure your pet, can you recommend a good policy? The pup is a pedigree Golden Retriever and will be coming with four weeks free insurance from the breeder anyway.....

Yes, Floral, mine probably did the same for a few years. But when the dog got to around whatever the age is you can't insure them after, (8?) they really ratcheted it up as they knew we had to stick with them.

I got a good discount from them for insuring two dogs with them for some time and we were very happy with them for a few years - but when the dog got a bit elderly, it got ridiculous.

I'm currently watching "The Supervet" and (as last week) another case where people weren't insured and the costs would be thousands - about £5000 I think for the cat they are showing tonight. My old boy is insured with Petplan and they have paid out thousands. He was hit by a car 10 years ago, broke his pelvis and has had various complications since because of it, including an operation to remove most of his colon. I worked out that the premiums I have paid over the 13 years of his life wouldn't have covered half the cost of the treatment he's had.

BTW, I know he was unlucky but you never know what might happen.

I used to insure everything in the Lavender household (pet plan) but I stopped doing it a few years ago. My premiums were pretty big (horses and dogs) and every time a claim was made that part was subsequently excluded, certainly for horses, I can't remember the story for dogs.

I ended up with so many exclusions that I decided it wasn't worth the cost. I did have a large claim once for surgery on a horse in Newmarket - cost about £4k, other than that, nothing for 10 years.

I would spend the money on vets bills if I needed to, my premiums were nearly £1000 each year so four years on I have saved a bit. Have a good, local, pragmatic vet though who I trust which probably makes me view it differently.

My mum has her 2 dogs insured with Tesco ,they're 13 have made a few largish claims and I think she pays about £46 for the 2 so very reasonable still .

Life time cover unless you have deep pockets. I could pay premiums for the ret if my life and not come close to what insurance has covered.

Definitely insure.

Our old girl who we lost to Leukemia in January was insured with pet plan and they must have paid out thousands for her arthritis medication and leukemia treatment. Her premiums were around £40 for the last year or so of her life, and eventually excess was around £130 and 5% of the bill but still well worth it as it meant we could say yes to all the treatment she needed to have a comfortable last few months.

New rescue puppy insured before we went to collect him, again with Petplan as we had realised how valuable the lifetime cover is with long term illnesses. He turned out to have allergies, causing eye and skin problems. If we had not insured him as early as we did those allergies may not be covered (normal clause of a 2 week period between taking out insurance and claiming for a particular condition may not have been met) and we would be paying out £300+ a month for his investigations, treatment and meds. Petplan deal directly with our vets, we just sign the forms and file the notification letters. We will have to pay the excess again in January, and no doubt premiums will go up a bit but so good to know we will be able to look after him and he can go to the vet and the specialists they recommend as often as he needs (4 times in the last fortnight, after a flare up) without us having to consider the cost.

Thanks so much - still following the thread!

We will definitely insure. I also heard a horror story yesterday where a friend's sister had paid out for a pedigree pup, had the 4 weeks free insurer from the breeder and then took out their new policy at the end of that - because there is a 6 week exclusion in the small print that any preexisting conditions aren't covered, the problems the dog came from the breeder with aren't covered and the breeder wouldn't refund - only take the dog back! So, I think we will get our own insurance as soon as I can insure the puppy - most don't start until the pup is 5 weeks old I think, so I have a couple more weeks to wait......

I think most of them do a four week exclusion...so as long as you insure it when you get it your new insurance would kick in when the breeder's runs out.

Unless you continue that insurance and then it's the same policy.

(So if worst case something happened in those first 4 weeks and you weren't planning to continue it, you could)

Lavendersun - lifetime cover for dogs doesn't exclude things once thr

blooming phone.

It doesn't exclude conditions the next year was what I was trying to say.

But the problem was that the new insurance had a 6 week exclusion and the condition only came to light after the dog had left the breeder - the pups had been passed by the breeder's vet. Therefore neither insurer would cover the (very significant) costs of fixing the problem......must be quite rare though, surely?

Yes, because most insurance only has a 4 week exclusion period, lol.

That's what I was trying to say about it. They all have an exclusion period if you change insurers or let the free 4 weeks lapse, but 6 weeks is a long one.

You made perfect sense - this must have been a weird situation and rare (I hope!). Anyway, I will check the small print, make sure I have whole of life cover and it sounds as though Petplan may be the way to go, but I can't get a quote yet because the puppies are only a week old...

Thanks for your help everyone.

Some of them don't cover congenital conditions...if their policy had such a long exclusion period I suspect that might be one of those policies...as in ones with lots of exclusions and caps and weird extra things which is why they end up a lot cheaper.

The breed I have is one of the most expensive to insure, I saved a bit by going with a slightly cheaper company than petplan because I was ok with the difference in the small print - I could have insured him for half what petplan charge, but he'd not have been covered for half the things I've claimed for either.