Insurance help

[RoystonVaseySmegHead]

Hopefully getting a puppy and these 2 sites (animal friends and bought by many) keep coming up. Which one would be best? Hoping to have a Medium size rescue female which is what the quotes are based on.

The two Animal Friends policies in your pictures are 12 month limited with a £500 or £1000 condition limit - not nearly sufficient, IMO. Look for policies with lifetime cover and a higher vet fee limit. Petplan are pretty much the gold standard if you need a comparison.

Get a life policy otherwise any condition after you have claimed for that period would be excluded as a pre existing condition. Get as much cover as possible as vet fees quickly mount up. I have claimed over £4500 for various illnesses and accidents and my dog is only 19 months old.

Sorry should have said I am with pet plan so can't comment on the two companies you mentioned.

Annual cover is pretty pointless, that’s why it comes out as cheaper, there’s not many conditions that are cured within 12 months.

Also 3k isn’t a lot of cover.

I have both mine with BBM on life policies. The company has been great to deal with and paid out with no quibbles so far. It is more expensive than ANimal friends but the cover is a lot better and I wasn’t impressed with the reviews for ANimal Friends.

I use BoughtByMany (the maximum lifetime policy) as they covered a bit higher than PetPlan. I echo fittypheasant's experience. Very easy to deal with.

However, worth considering whether your vet will deal with an insurance company direct. I think almost all vets will deal with PetPlan but whilst BBM claim they will deal with the vet direct, you should also check this with your vet if it's important to you. Deal direct mans the insurance pays the vet bills directly rather than you have to pay them then claim the money back from the insurer. This is very useful if you don't have the reserves to cover the bills first.

Wow thanks for the replies i had no idea that they weren't lifetime ones, does anyone gave a cheap but reliable option? I'm on a student loan for the next 4 years and while i can afford to buy and raise a dog I know I need insurance and every penny counts

The problem is I don't think there is necessarily a cheap option unless you happen to pick a cheap policy which covers little and you get lucky and never claim.

If I was you I would get quotes for several life covers from all the major companies and compare them regarding the amount of cover per year. As you are short for cash try and get as high a cover as possible that you can afford. For example I have the 4K per year petplan one and as I have claimed over that in less than 19 months I wish I had gone for higher one.

Also if you are like me and are unlucky and have to claim you are stuck with them because if you move anything you have seen the vet about, even if you have not claimed, will be viewed as a pre existing condition.

Looking at your BBM quote it's hard to see what monthly cost you were quoted but I am going to guess it was around £5-10 pm. For around £5pm more you can get their £7k lifetime cover which is a much better option for you. I realise every penny counts for you but this is going to be £5pm that is VERY well spent.

If I put in a 3 yr old medium, spayed female mixed breed with no previous health issues and a £69 excess, then BBM quotes me £12pm.

Worth comparing that with PetPlan as I would expect them to offer something very similar (but more likely to pay the vet direct).

If you can't afford a reasonable insurance policy you need to question whether you can afford a dog. What are you going to do with a cheap policy that doesn't pay all of a large claim?

You either need to have savings to cover treatment or be prepared to let your dog live without the treatment it needs, possibly in pain, or put to sleep due to lack of money to treat.

Our labrador has had nearly £5000 worth of treatment in the last 3 years.

wings I can afford a Dog, I've spent the last 5 years thinking of all the ins and outs of owning one. But since I'm on a low income I have to work out the costs of everything and keep a track of where my money's going. So yes I can afford food/treats/accessories like toys and new collars/leads and harnesses and things like that. That part wont be a problem ive just never had a pet with insurance before... and i don't understand insurance policies and what not so I'm looking for help. The most I was hoping to spend is about 20 pounds a month. I've looked at the ones in my post, adds and Tesco and I'll look at pet plan ones. I just assumed they all covered pets for life and you just renewed it every year.

I have Bumble insured with Petplan. I pay a lot but he is worth every penny. He has whole life cover and £12000 cover...

RoystonVaseySmegHead in case it's not been clear, both cover the dog for life but...

• per condition policies set a limit on how much can be claimed per condition. e.g. if the dog gets diabetes the insurance will cover the first £s of costs but then you are on your own for all diabetes costs for the rest of the dog's life. It will still cover other conditions (up to the limit).

• lifetime cover conditions for life. e.g all diabetes costs are covered for the life of the dog, up to the maximum allowed to claim per year. The max differs by policy. For example, the £7k one I quoted above would pay up to £7k per year total for any conditions but would then pay the same again the following year. That way you can claim £7k a year, every year for a single condition if that's what you need.

£20 per month should get you a decent policy.

Petplan 4 year old lab is £42/month, I expect it to increase by £4-5 a month for the next 4 years then go through the roof to £80 a month or more when he hits 8 and older.

beware of cheap policies, animal friends in particular get terrible reviews for not paying out and you will need to pay your vet up front while waiting/and hoping your insurer will pay. Once you are tied into a pet insurance policy, if you dog ever goes to the vet for anything, even if you don't claim for it, it is impossible to change without restrictions on your new policy.

Have you included monthly flea and worm treatments in your figures, they can cost around £9-£10 a month (can't remember price, but reasonable ones which also protect from deadly lungworm are prescription only, we get via our pet health plan which is another £12 a month).

Pet insurance is a bit different to other types of insurance OP.

For life cover you do need to stay with the same company so in effect you are tied to them if you claim but the condition will be covered all the time you pay the premiums. You need to really read the policies t&cs closely to work out what they cover and limits etc.

The good part though is that 'some' companies don't penalise you for claiming unlike say car insurance. However, that's not true for all pet insurance companies so again look at the reviews etc.

It doesn't matter if you claim, once something is on your dogs vet history if you move insurer it will be classed as preexisting & excluded, they can also group it so if like my dog who had bout of dire rear (was on foster so not insured at time) it can be excluding all bowel conditions.

You usually have to pay excess to vet & they'll direct claim for larger bills but they don't have to give credit especially if insurer is slow or unreliable at paying out so could be expected to pay upfront & claim money back yourself.

Petplans more expensive but doesn't hike up premiums massively once they've hooked customer in (remember may end up stuck with them or exclusions) or after claims and while do charge higher excess &%of bill for oldies some insurers just make premiums ridiculous to get rid instead. My 2 with pet plan have only risen a couple pound a month per year even after claims, less than other insurer who started at £15pm for 3yr & now at £60 at 10yrs, plus up excess & premiums post claim.

Who underwrites BBM policies? Given few insurers (Halifax/axa) opted to scrap pet insurance & passed policies onto another holding its customers over a barrel (due to exclusions again) do need to consider the longevity of company & potential changes to policy cover on renewal when they change underwriters as has happened with M&S in past.
Sure there was another insurer few years back that when came to market had cheap set premiums regardless of breed which appealed to many, but prices soon raised as time went on probably as it wasn't so financially viable.

Brill thank you for the help I'll keep looking and see which ones will be good for me, ill speak to the rescue and see which thwy think woupd be best. wings yes I've totalled up what flea and worm treatment will cost, as well as saved up enough for my vets vaccs for life program which is a one off payment. I get help with neutering costs as I'm on a low income and microchipping is £8 at my vets so I've thought of that too. Are there any other things I need to think of that I haven't already? E.g. i can clip nails and clean teeth myself if needs be which will be free and a friend of mine owns a grooming salon so can take the dog there to be trimmed if they need it and she'll do it cheaper as she takes on apprentices. There's a discount pet shop where i can spend £13 a month for new toys/brushes/ leads etc. Will probably feed a mix of raw and dry food and a bag of floor scraps (dog food from the butchers) are 50/70p and they're quite big so id probably get 4 bags a week while the dogs a puppy. Bones from the butcher are about 20p for a treat when the dog is older. Dry food from Lidl is about £7 a bag i think which would do for a week or so until the dog grows. So that's £10 a week roughly while the dog is a pup, which is £40 a month for the food. I can afford to spend a maximum of 75 a month So that's why I'm looking for cheap but good policies.

With puppies to ensure they are getting all they need to grow I would look for a complete food (whether that is raw, dry or wet).

Use allaboutdogfood.co.uk to look at the different types and brands. Typically a good quality food often isnt much dearer than a poorer quality as you often need to feed less.

Just wanted to echo what Bitey said about puppy nutrition being important. When the dog is grown you can change about with foods and getting a complete balance is not as important. Your dog is likely to be an adult, anyway but worth noting.

Might br worth budgeting for training classes which can be useful, even for an adult dog. Especially if this is your fist as it gives you a chance to learn how to train.

Dry food from Lidl is about £7 a bag

Look at the allaboutdogfood site for foods. What brand is it? The Lidl food Orlando gets a shocking 0.1 out of 5 score, look at/click on the ingredients in the food on that site and you will see why.

As Bitey says a puppy needs a diet that provides its complete requirements to grow healthily, a £7 a bag kibble and floor scraps that are not nutritionally balanced to a puppies needs is never going to provide that. You need a good quality kibble suitable for puppies to start with unless you follow a balanced raw diet which I think is certain amounts of meat, offal, bone daily (I don't do raw so not sure if that needs supplements for a puppy, you would need to research this)

Cheap AND good insurance policies do not exist. If you decide to go cheap, and many do, as long as you go with your eyes completely open which may include having access to large sums of money to pay for exclusions (or to pay upfront while waiting to be reimbursed) or being prepared to put to sleep if you cant afford to treat immediately. You might be lucky and your dog will never need a vet, it you want to take that risk as many owners do you need to be prepared for the consequences should they happen. Our dog once had a dire rear, no known reason, took to vets and they kept in overnight and bang we had a £400 bill (we have petplan who paid directly to the vet, but many don't or the vet will not accept and want you to pay immediately and then claim from your insurer).

Another annual cost to consider for autumn/winter is waterproof clothing for you and anyone else who walks the dog. A 30 minute-1 hour walk in wet weather 2 or 3 times a day requires good waterproof clothing and footwear or it will be absolutely miserable for you. Also lots of clean dog towels to dry/clean mud off after.

We do nails with a dremel sander after being recommended on here, I find it much easier than clipping, but your groomer friend might be able to clip nails for you for free/cheap. We don't need to do it often, 2-3 times a year as he wears them down naturally during walks.

Thank you I'll have a look on that website tonight so far I've only looked at adult foods as we've applied for 3 adults and 1 pup, but the pet shop I mentioned earlier sells big bags of food so I'll phone and ask about what would be best or pop in when I know what's happening. When I said floor scraps i meant all the bits that people can't eat, the butcher minces it all up and sells it quite cheaply so there's a bit of everything in it like offal and tripe and whatnot so not just gristle and nasty bits, my friend feeds her greyhounds on it and has done from them being puppies they seem to be good on it but I'll talk to the butcher and find out exactly what's in it. Although im not sure whether we will be feeding raw yet, it depends if dp can manage it. We've all got good waterproofs since we use them a fair bit in every day stuff so that's not an issue, it'll mostly be me and dp walking the dog since ds is at school, we're hoping to do a short morning walk then a longer afternoon walk and another walk at teatime with toilet breaks in between. But when i know whether we're getting an adult or a pup I'll look into the amount of exercise they need coz I know pups need lots of rest. I'm not sure where our nearest training classes are but its definitely something I'll look into, and ill keep looking at the different insurances and talk to my vet when I see them next week

And this will be the first dog I've owned myself but I had a few dogs growing up the most recent died about 6 years ago so not too long ago.