Insurance for older dog?

[ndo4000]

Hi all,

I have an 11 yr old cockerpoo. His insurance is due up in the next few weeks and I was just wondering how other people have dealt with insurance for older dogs? I'm being quotes about £400-500 per year. Just wondering when you get to the point where you 'self-insure'?

Thank you!

Mine leapt from £40 a month to £250 a month after my dog contracted rare Illness when she was 9-we just save a money into a vet fund now and don’t touch it unless it’s for her.my other dog is 9 and we pay £38 per month but he’s rarely I’ll.once is goes up next year- I’ll do the same and put money in a separate account.

Our 11 year old is self-insured and now has £7000 in her bank account.

I used to self insure the oldies eg I had an elderly lab that was wobbly and I woiuld not have put him through much invasive treatment but I have keeped the insurance on my 12 year old collie.

Partly because he is not acting like an old dog, so still out and about and doing all the crazy things he used to. So feel like I need cover for accidents!

He has literally this week been diagnosed with an auto immune condition which has made the paying of the insurance for the last 4 years worth it.

Look at the individual dog, if are they still well enough for operations and treatment, then I would carry on with insurance unless you have a very large pot of money that you can give over to them.

£500 a year would be spent very very very quickly on quite a minor vet treatment. Although your dog is smaller but our collie needed skin scraps and biopsies and the GA and lab work came to nearly £900.00 alone.

10 days of medication and consult was over £150.00

I've never self insured my dogs. I've always had insurance and paid the increase in premiums. Like I do with my own life insurance.

Regarding self insurance: We never used an insurance company, started off with a couple of thousand pounds and regularly contributed what we would have been paying in premiums. I'm not sure if self insurance works starting later in life; it takes time to accumulate funds sufficient for dealing with the health problems that are more likely to occur in older dogs.

It can cost a few grand to ascertain if your dog's ailment is easily treatable, and outcome is return to normal good quality of life.

Unless you have that much in accessibly savings that you don't mind spending on the dog (at any point, so before you start amassing savings at a rate of about £400 per year, assuming you do put all the new premium into a savings account), then the worst case scenario is putting down a potentially treatable dog because you cannot afford the investigations.

It's your choice of risk/benefit.

But do keep third party insurance, in case your pet causes an accident that causes damage or injury to a human or another animal

Oh yes wetotter has reminded me, we do have third party insurance with Dogs Trust. One million pounds cover if I recall correctly for a nominal amount per annum.

500 a year? Mine costs over twice that. But we've got over ₤5k back in claims this year.
It goes up when the big claims are likely to come rolling in...

I've claimed almost £7k for my nearly 8 Yr old dog this year alone...she had cancer at 2 and my insurance has paid out significantly more than I've paid in over the years.

I'm currently paying £150 a month, but that's cheap at the price for the peace of mind that I don't have to worry about vet bills.

This year she collapsed twice on dog walks...it cost 4k just to get a diagnosis of spinal disease.. the treatment another 1.6k...

Look at the individual dog, if are they still well enough for operations and treatment, then I would carry on with insurance unless you have a very large pot of money that you can give over to them.

I think that's very good advice.

I'm paying over £100 a month for my 11 year old small breed dog but she's still very lively and, given her breed, could potentially live for another 7 years at least (although, goodness knows what insurance would be by then).

I will stop at some point but not until she slows down and I know that I definitely wouldn't put her through anything too taxing for her.

I stopped at eight years old with my last dog, when the policy cost more than insuring two cars. Luckily he didn't need anything major until he was twelve and we calculated we were just in profit. My younger dog (<a year) is insured but my older dog (9) now isn't.

As others have said-look at the individual dog.the eldest is 13 ,was a rescue and has never fully recovered from rare Illness-she has a good quality of life but we have already decided not to put her through any invasive treatment-hence a savings fund .Our other 9 year old is fit as a flea so definitely worth paying the premiums