Do you need Pet Health Club on top of insurance?

[W0rdl3]

It covers fleas, worming, health checks sbd 20% discount on spraying, vax-£17 a month on top of £30 insurance.

It’s our first dog.

They do different things. Insurance will pay out if dog needs an operation or long-term medication. Pet club essentially spreads the cost of vaccinations and parasite treatment over the year. If you’re planning annual vaccinations and regular flea/worming (not everyone does, people have their own views) then I would do the pet club.

It's up to you.

Add up the parts you'll use in a year and divide by 12. If its more than £17, it's worth doing.
If its less, then probably not, unless you prefer a monthly payment plan for things like vaccines.

We do it because it helps spread the cost more and we save a little bit. Ours comes with health checks, a couple of other services and some discounts for grooming etc with a pet shop.

As @GiantCheeseMonster says, they are different things.

Depending on the deal your vet offers, it can be good value and is a way of spreaing the cost. Ours is £15/month and with everything they offer I think it saves us about £50 a year plus we get unlimited free nurse consultations for things like claw clipping and general issues that don't need the vet.

I don't do it for the cats (I buy Advantage & worming tablets from an online pet pharmacy & they are on a "Vacc4Life" scheme with Vets4Pets - I paid £99 & it covers their annual vaccines for the rest of their lives).

I may do it for the dog when he can restart his vaccines (Advocate is prescription only, so a bit more of a faff to get online. He's currently on immunosuppressive drugs so can't be vaccinated at the moment).

I would say check your level of insurance cover. We've burned through almost £7k in 7 months...

It's totally up to you.

I don't bother for mine as I just pay for the dogs' vaccinations (cats are indoors so I don't vaccinate them), and I buy flea/worm treatment online when I remember

It can be helpful in terms of spreading costs but only if you're going to use every aspect of the plan IMO.

If you are planning to flea and worm regularly it can work out cheaper. Compare the prices with buying and see the difference.

Compare like for like - Do not compare with supermarket worming/flea products as they generally are not as effective as vet prescription only products.

It might be worth it in the first year for the additional spaying discount, then you can decline to renew. Ours includes all vaccinations too.

I do it because the annual vaccs & the regular flea & worm treatments come out cheaper than not doing it & paying separately, even with buying decent treatments myself online. Not all flea & wormer treatments are as effect as the ones you get from the vet.

It spreads the cost of flea/worm stuff and booster jabs, plus gets them eyeballed by the vet twice a year (which has included anal gland evacuation and claw clipping). Plus a discount on certain other stuff they sell (but I haven't used that). I reckon that I at least break even

Re the pet health club you need to add up what you will spend on wormers / flea treatment / vaccinations in a year and see if it saves you money . In my case it saves me about £100 per year .

It’s cheaper than paying separately for us, plus we can see a Vet Nurse for things like weighing, chat about spaying, familiarization sessions, 20% off spaying. Think it’s 10% off (non OOH) vet consults too. Will review annually to check it’s still cheaper, worth doing that if flea/tick/wormer isn’t monthly.

I don’t flea or worm my dog unless I suspect they’re infested, I never understood why people do it routinely

We do it because ours includes anal gland emptying as well which unfortunately is pretty frequent with our girl

@Catcrazy83

I don’t flea or worm my dog unless I suspect they’re infested, I never understood why people do it routinely

Mixes at daycare, Lab so could pick up anything (good at Leave It command but still, some smells are very enticing….), lungworm a concern, the one time we left flea and tick treatment for just under 3 months she got a tick on her face…..

It’s best for us and vet agrees, so that’s why we do it.

@Catcrazy83

I don’t flea or worm my dog unless I suspect they’re infested, I never understood why people do it routinely

It's much easier to use preventative measures than deal with an outbreak. Ours arrived with fleas and it took weeks and weeks to get rid of them.

They can include all your vet consultants, so if your a first time owner and think that you might have lots of questions or things you don’t know how to deal with then it could be worth it.
Check the ancillary benefits on your insurance, some have video vet appointments and they are well worth using.