what's been your most expensive vet bill - one off or ongoing?

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I've been saying it for years, but am now seriously thinking of cancelling our pet insurance. We pay Direct Line £154 pcm for 2 dogs and 2 cats (only 12 month cover, not whole of life). We've never made any big claims, only the odd one for a few hundred.

One of our dogs recently had to have a tooth removed (trauma not decay so actually covered by the policy). The whole op was about £400 and Direct Line have sent us a cheque for £156 - having removed the £80 excess, £15 for special food and £156 for 'scaling and polishing'. After much discussion, turns out the 'scaling and polishing' actually includes the extraction itself. The vet says this was necessary to ensure the surrounding teeth were clean and not harbouring any bacteria which could have infected the wound. Direct Line are refusing point blank to cover any teeth cleaning so vet is having to let them know the cost of the actual extraction. If we're lucky they'll be covering half of the cost of the op.

I'm so annoyed with them I'm wondering if we should just cancel the policy. We're paying almost £2k per annum in premiums - which will no doubt go up now we've made a claim and with age. We could cover any biggish bills without too much difficulty, but I'm wondering exactly how big they might be. I know serious ops can cost a few grand and ongoing medication can work out very expensive. Our dogs are 6 and 9 (labradors) and our cats are 14. If i could start again, no way would I take out pet insurance. I'm seriously tempted to just risk it and tell Direct Line to take a running jump!

So what's been your most expensive vet bill?

Bear in mind that dog insurance rises hugely every year after dog gets to eight, which is only middle age for most breeds. Also that you would be unlikely to get new cover for an old dog.

Ive been very lucky (or unlucky) in that mine have always been insured and I’ve never had any real vets bills in 15 years. One of them has joint supplements on insurance but that’s it.

Same goes for the horse.

I’m tempted to cancel but knowing my luck one of them will break a leg the day after I cancel just to prove a point and I wouldn’t have thousands to hand!

Over £2000 for severe D&V requiring hospitalisation was the highest single claim.

Approx £1700 for removal of a rag from his stomach.

Lots of other 'few hundred' amounts.

Dog not even 19 months old yet

Dog 2 - £4K for cruciate ligament (uninsured) - and we're told if one goes the other is likely to .

Dog 2 - £6.5k in total (so far) for ear operations (covered by insurance - thank goodness!)

Where do I start! My girl is almost 9, she was diagnosed with Addisons disease when she was 2, but it took her almost dying and an emergency trip and week stay at Liverpool Animal Hospital, that cost was about £5000. Since then we have had various accidents and ailments.

In November she had TPLO surgery, the surgery was successful but she didnt recover from limping, they performed another surgery to look at her knee joint and then injected steroids. This cost is about £4500 but its not over. She has started limping again.

We currently pay £200 per month for insurance which is going to go up massively in November when our renewal is due. As she will be 9 we will also pay 20% of any costs. I think we are going to have to cancel as it is now far too expensive. We will put away £200 per month and if the worst happens we will have to use savings and a credit card.

I had no idea she would be so expensive - its lucky we all love her so much.

Wow, that was cathartic

2k and it was in the first 18months of having him so I wouldn’t have been able to save it in that time. Also- when he died and the vets processed the bill and sent to petplan they paid immediately with no quibbles which was appreciated when we were all so sad.

I claimed £800 on my 4 week's free petplan insurance that came with my dog for tail amputation, they paid that no problem and I carried on the lifetime cover, £43 a month. At the start of this month, the dog had emergency treatment for kidney failure, and was PTS, £977. I've just had word from petplan they're paying everything but the excess, euthanasia and cremation costs, so £250 for me to pay. I'd had him four months, he was 2 years old. Worth every penny if you ask me.

OldGolden has cost over £5300 recently for two cruciate ops.