HOW MUCH? Dog insurance gone up £700 in 2 years. Any vets around? How much 'coverage' do you recommend....?

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

So our pet insurance quote for this year is a grand total of £1690, or #141 per month

The Big Dog has a very managed pre-existing condition (dietary allergies, we just buy Hills ZD online, problem solved) and has had one operation on a tendon a few years ago which ran into thousands. But we've not claimed for anything for a couple of years, had nothing more than a cut or ear drops from the vet. I am fecking flabbergasted by that quote, and then to top it all see that it is basically 85% cover because he's over 8 so there is a "15% ‘co-payment’ contribution thieving robbing charge. So it's basically 2k for 85% coverage.

Has anyone just put the money in the bank instead? Would any vets advise it? What would £1700 buy you in terms of vets bills I wonder?

Not a vet but severe D&V over a few weeks requiring admissions, tests etc cost us over £2000.

An emergency operation to remove an obstruction that he had eaten was over £1500.

If I remember correctly an endoscopy was several hundred.

£1700 doesn’t get much once it runs into surgery, especially for a bigger breed. If he’s already damaged his leg he might have a weaker one too.. going by my old dog, he managed more injures in later life than he ever did as a pup, mostly from still trying to act the pup.

We don’t have pet insurance. Instead We applied for a credit card with a $5000 limit, we have it locked in the safe specially for pet medical needs.

Insurance was not cost effective.

I have said this before on Mn. I have added up all the insurance I have paid on multi dogs over the years and I have paid the insurance companies way more than they have paid out.

I do risk it with the older dogs and do not have insurance on them - it is just not cost effective and also some decisions are different if you are discussing a 14 year old dog. However I do have the means to pay out if needed and money would not affect my decision on treatment.

The younger dogs are insured I can't quite pluck up courage to risk no insurance....

But £141 a month is a mammoth amount. I insure 5 dogs for less than that with £7000.00 cover discount for multi dogs .

What sort of dog do you have for it to be that price

I have a crossbreed, 10yo and pay about £30/month. Claim £100 back in medications every month for arthritis and have done for years!!

We found once our lab turned 8 premiums skyrocketed. That was without having ever made previous claims!
We cancelled insurance once he turned 8, it just wasn't cost effective. We have insurance on our current dog but he is young so much more affordable.

You need to weigh up the pros and cons.

Big breeds are generally much more expensive to insure - and also to treat due to their size and the amount of anaesthetic/medication required.

Realistically £1700 won't get you very far if your dog needs an operation. Even surgery for something like an obstruction could run higher than that, and that's assuming there are no complications and your dog doesn't need to be kept in the vets for several nights.

However big breeds don't tend to have long life spans and surgery risks increase with age. My question would be - if you cancelled the insurance and your dog got sick, could you afford the treatment? And would you be happy to have to put your dog to sleep for something that would have been treatable had your dog been insured?

I mean - what if your dog got hit by a car and broke a leg? Or ruptured a tendon or snapped a crucible? Those surgeries can run into thousands of pounds yet the conditions are treatable.