Cancel insurance for older dog?

[toomanychickens]

My dog is now 13.5. She's a mixed breed and is in good health - few fatty lumps and cataracts starting. Just realised the insurance is now £61 per month. We're never going to put her through an operation at her age and there's a £80 excess plus they only cover 2/3 of cost. It's not worth it is it?

I changed my dog to third party only when it got to this stage. This meant I was still covered should he cause accident or injury to someone (theoretically costs could be huge if your dog caused a road accident, say). I got it through joining Dogs' Trust or you can go through an insurer but either way the cost is minimal compared to health insurance.

What dosage infant cal poly do you use? Does it really help with stiffness?
Our 11yo Staffy suffers terrible stiffness after a walk, and I wondered if calpol might help her.

The Calpol deals with the pain caused by the stiffness, not the stiffness itself. My dog is 10 kilos and has one 2ml dose of the infant Calpol. It's not to be confused with the over-six Calpol which is much stronger.

If I were you I'd check with your vet before administering anything at all. Ask for advice on the paracetamol and ask them to suggest a suitable dose. I should perhaps be clear that our dog only needs painkiller once or twice a month and always in relationship to exercise. If he was needing I'd go to the vet and ask for advice.

@Pluvia
Thank you!

You're welcome. Paracetamol can be dangerous if you administer the wrong dose. As I said in my original post, the dose and strength of the Calpol was originally determined by a vet at a time when there was a shortage of the usual canine analgesics. If my dog needed to take something daily I would want professional reassurance that it was appropriate to use it.

My dog also had calpol, or equivalent infant liquid paracetamol 120mg. He was 4kg & had half the dose the pp quoted. Also measured for me by a vet.

I chose to stop the insurance for my dog when he was £12 and just save the money instead. He’s very healthy but has slowed down quite a bit in the last year (he’s now 15). He does have arthritis and is on Metacam daily with three monthly reviews with the vet but that doesn’t cost too much as he’s small so only on a low dose and a bottle lasts us ages.

As others have said I wouldn’t put him through an op or intensive treatment for him at this age. He had to have a general anaesthetic when he was 13 to take some of his teeth out and it took him months to recover so wouldn’t do that again.