except for public liability, pet insurance is a scam. Someone convince me otherwise.

[dobedobedobedoo]

Lifelong dog owner. never had insurance. Was stung with last dog who needed cruciate reconstruction which probably cost around £5k. She was an expensive dog who had multiple other health problems and probably cost me over £7k in vet fees. new puppy has arrived. Trying to find insurance, but it seems that by the time you have added the excess, and the exclusions you would be far better just putting money in a saving account and using it if you need it. Finally found a company (pet plan) that seemed to be reasonable, only to be told that the limit they pay out for cruciate recon is £700; this is the main reason we are insuring. If you take a 'reasonable' policy, @ around £50/month over the life time of a 12 year old dog you will pay £7200. there are few dogs that will need £7k of vet fees (that will be eligible under any insurance policy). Except PL, there seems no point.

[Cookiedoughdynamo]

I really don't think that some people realise how much vet bills can cost. We had a dog who became ill at 6 months old and as a result needed medication every day in order to stay alive. His tablets alone cost £150 a month and then there were check ups and other ailments which he had as a result of his initial condition. He was from good stock and we did our research into the breed before we got him. There was no way of knowing he would become unwell.
Our very elderly dog has just been to the vet for an injection costing £186, the second in two weeks. Her premiums are less than £40 a month and since January we have had more than £2,500 paid out.
On top of that our 2 year old dog was rushed to the vet on Monday - bank holiday and needed emergency surgery for bloat. The bill was £1,100 and we are now going to have preventative surgery to try to stop this happening again. His premiums are less than £30 a month.
You just never know what will happen with your pets and there is no way I could afford to put these sorts of sums away each month into a savings plan.
If you do your research and select a good insurance plan to cover your needs you have peace of mind. The limit on our cover is £15,000 per condition, per year. Yes we pay more for it but we know it won't run out no matter what we might need doing. No one wants their pet to be unwell but they are part of the family and when they are ill the last thing you want to be doing is wondering if you can afford to help them.

[shearwater]

It would be helpful if all vets had to display approximate costs of different procedures.

The thing both my cats and dog need sorting is teeth. It costs hundreds of pounds and is not covered by any insurance.

[Jufra]

I have had dogs for 20 years and both dogs have had cancer treatment has cost about £20k the majority paid for by the insurance. The last dog had cancer chemotherapy and lived for 10 years after. Lived to age 17 years. Insurance company paid out more than I had paid in total for the 15 years he was with me.

[dobedobedobedoo]

Thanks for your thoughts.

Unless it's been introduced in the last 24hrs, Petplan do not have a £700 cap on cruciate repair! they did this morning.

i would often choose PTS where others would choose long expensive courses of treatment
I’m in this camp. I would never have chemotherapy or palliative surgery on any pet. Chemo is pretty hideous for humans who understand, I’d never put a pet through that.

We have enough savings to cover a major illness or accident.

[tabulahrasa]

“Chemo is pretty hideous for humans who understand, I’d never put a pet through that.”

Pet chemo doesn’t work like that, it’s basically a bit more intense palliative care, the aim is to extend life without affecting quality so they don’t do the same doses or treatments as with humans.

It’s also not hugely expensive - it’s the diagnostics that are expensive, so the bit that costs loads is finding out if it is cancer or not.


The expensive dog the year we went over his limit, that was stomach surgery, he was 3 and had a fixable hole in his stomach... it was a fairly easy decision, but might not have been if we’d had to pay for it.

[Twooter]

Shear water - it is by some insurers.

[cricketmum84]

My insurance just paid out the full £4000 bill to fix our little cat. She's not quite 2 yet so we have paid nowhere near that in premiums yet. £85 excess and we are insured with petplan.

If we didn't have insurance in place we would have had to make a very difficult decision very early on in her care.

That alone makes it worth it for me.

[GCAcademic]

We had a £9k bill for a week’s stay in a specialist hospital and various scans for a mystery illness our dog had. No surgery, just scans, drugs and nursing. We’d toyed with not renewing the insurance a couple of months previously - bloody glad we didn’t!

[randomsabreuse]

DH is a vet. We insured our lab until he was 8 because DH wanted to be able to fund the better cruciate op which would need a referral. Staff discounts/DIY would make pretty well everything else affordable.

We had to put DDog down recently- through contacts we had advice from many specialists but in the end there were no options so money wasn't the reason for pts. We didn't do an expensive procedure purely because it wasn't useful clinically can actually could be harmful.

I think we would do similar with future dogs - insurance initially then self insure given staff discount and ability to do all routine stuff "in house".

Horse insurance is definitely a scam!

[Flamingo84]

From my experience I wouldn’t be without it.

My dog had spinal surgery costing £4K, a week hospital stay and endless medication totalling almost another £1k and my insurer paid it all direct to the vet. Since then (almost 3 years) she’s had physio every 5 months and hydrotherapy twice a month which they continue to pay out for.

She’s also had overnight stays for eating things she shouldn’t have which cost a few hundred a pop and they paid out on those too.

As the spinal injury could happen again, we’re keeping the cover (life of illness) even though the premiums are high. If it happens again we know that she’ll get help and we won’t be worrying if we have £4-5k to hand.

You’d have to have enough savings for a worst case scenario so expensive surgery with hospital stay etc. Then just because you’ve paid that out doesn’t mean they won’t have something else wrong a few weeks later or a continuing health condition that will whittle the savings quickly.

I think you’ll find over 12 year many dog owners end up having much more than £7k of treatment for their pets.

[adaline]

@shearwater Tesco cover dental care.

[Toddlerteaplease]

My cats have had £16k of claims in 18 moths..

[Toddlerteaplease]

No way could I have afforded that.

[doodleygirl]

Insurance was a lifesaver for my girl, she is 10 and has had about £15,000 worth of treatment, all paid by M & S pet insurance.

I would never be without it.

[higgyhog]

Dog 1 - collie cross, bought as a puppy, PTS aged 17, no vets bills apart from routine stuff under an insurance excess, she was not insured.
Dog 2, Dachshund, not insured, cost us about £3k in surgery and treatment for back problems, was not cured so PTS aged 9.
Dog 3 - Pedigree Petit Bassett Griffon Vendeen, lived to be 17. After our previous experience we had him insured with a very good insurer, cost a packet, we never had a claim.
Dog 4- Elderly Staffie , developed leukaemia, not insured because too old , huge expenses for diagnosis and treatment.
Dog 5 - Elderly Staffie, not insured as too old, cost us very little except arthritis medication.
I'm afraid you can't win. When I've insured I have not had to claim, when I've not i've had 50/50 experience of a very health;y dog or one that has proved to be very expensive.

When we get our next dog I'll insure if it is a youngster but knowing us it will probably be some geriatric sweetie from the Oldies Club who will brighten our lives but cost me a fortune.

[shearwater]

You should check whether the public liability element is covered in your home insurance. I spoke to Direct Line when I was renewing my home insurance, they gave me a quote for pet insurance but did confirm the public liability element was covered in the home insurance - so I wouldn't be paying out for that in the pet insurance should I wish to take it out.

[BrokenWing]

Petplan have paid out more than the premiums for our 6 year old lab.

[Youwantshoesinashoeshop]

I do not understand how it could cost £9,000 per week of speciapist inpatient care for a pet. My mate had bowel cancer surgery and 4 nights in HDU for£1k more than that. It's the same as car insurance-funded repairs: total swizz.

[Lougle]

Our dog had ear flushing and follow up recently, along with itching. £1300 in total. I was glad he's insured and he could have the very expensive drugs that he needed to get it under control.

[feliciabirthgiver]

Tesco just paid out £4K for TPLO surgery after cruciate damage on 2 year old lab - Xs was about £200 I think - they were brilliant and would highly recommend.

[Tamberlane]

I have insurance for my dogs because I dont want finances to make medical decisions for me.
I work as a small animal vet and still chose to carry insurance..

I hope to never get good value out of it because that would mean I have had a very sick dog.

Insurance is for things that could financially ruin you. Car house health and dog are my priorities at moment and I've got insurance for them all.

[SandyDays]

We are currently going through a claim for a lab with a torn ligament, with all the scans, surgery and hydrotherapy the bill will be nearly 5k. He is 1, so we have already claimed far more than our premiums.

We have also claimed a few hundred for him eating a balloon he found in a wood which made him poorly.

I don't ever want to have to make a decision not to treat him because we can't afford it.

Coincidentally I have just had to make a decision about a dental implant for myself. I can't afford the 2.5k dentist bill so am having a denture instead at £250 - wish I'd insured myself better!

[SandyDays]

Feliciabirthgiver - hope you don't mind me asking but how was you experience of the TPLO surgery? Our lab is having the same op in a few weeks and we are hoping it will be successful