Pet insurance claiming - worth it?

[puppydisaster]

Our puppy is insured with full life cover with Petplan and we've never (yet) made a claim.

About a month ago, she was being sick repeatedly, so we took her to the vet who gave her an anti-sickness injection and charged us about £100. We didn't bother claiming because of the excess.

The problem has never properly gone away with her digestion - she's fine for a couple of days, then will refuse breakfast and have a gurgly tummy, then will be fine again by the evening. This morning she's been sick again, so I'm taking her back to the vets. I'm expecting it to either be a food intolerance or (possibly?) something stuck in her somewhere that's intermittently causing problems. Not even sure that's possible over such a long period.

We would be able to add the previous visit to a claim if we chose to make it today, but assuming today's bill is a similar £100, is it worth putting in a claim on insurance, or is it going to massively increase our premiums for the rest of her life?

Obviously any huge cost we would claim on insurance, but trying to get an idea of at what level it's worth making a claim.

worth claiming in my opinion. My dog had intermittent diarrhea & occasional vomiting. After 3 years we had to have testing done & he has IBD so far in the last year this has cost us approx £3000 if not more. On top of that we have to give him apoquel for allergies which are around £90 a month. The only downside is his monthly payments have increased to £90 a month, but since we are claiming for 2 illnesses every month this is still better than having to find the money especially as he needs regular blood tests & we are still looking for the correct medication which will be expensive

It may also depend on how your excess is treated. We only pay the excess once per year, some policies have an excess per condition

I am with petplan because they advertised that premiums rise with age but not claims.

I have claimed for anything and everything over my excess.

Gosh, yes, claim if it’s anything over your excess. I’ve been petty about £4 in the past.

Is there a danger if you don't claim that in any future claim this would be an undisclosed prior condition? I was warned by my vet about this when I said I wasn't going to claim for something that was only just over the excess in case it put my premiums up in the future

I was warned by my vet that if my dogs stomach issues turned out to be caused by something he shouldn't have eaten then the insurance company might record him as a scavenger and refuse to cover anything else similar in future... his tests were inconclusive and I did claim but haven't had to test this theory yet thank goodness! but something to consider/ask your vet about!

Odd that your vet said that.

Mine has had two major claims for emergency surgery to remove an obstruction from his gut. The pesky boy keeps eating things he shouldn't in the forest when out of sight ☹️

From previous experience I have put the claim in on the second visit.
I'm with pet plan and have never had a problem and I have lifetime cover which I've been claiming for a few years and my premium doesn't shoot up the next year
I've found it only goes up by a few pounds every year but I wouldn't be without insurance
Ask your vet about putting the claim in

Pet Plan don't increase premiums based on your claims. It's based in breed and risk of where you live etc. so always claim, in my view. Anything on your pets vet record will be pre existing if you move insurance company, doesn't matter if you claimed or not.

Pet Plan can feel pricey but they are the best I feel, especially if you use them from the very beginning.

It's worth claiming, imo. Our dog needed Apoquel and nutramega for ear problems. We got £170 back because of the excess. Then we've put in a repeat prescription and got the whole £145 back a couple of days later. Every time we put in a repeat, we'll get the whole lot back now.

*Odd that your vet said that.

Mine has had two major claims for emergency surgery to remove an obstruction from his gut. The pesky boy keeps eating things he shouldn't in the forest when out of sight*

Hoping it was indeed nonsense as there's a high chance my boy's luck of the iron stomach will run out at some point 😅 he's both too clever at getting hold of things and too stupid not to eat them!! my fault for being a sucker for labradors tho haha

My bloody dog eats things it shouldn’t at every opportunity. Petplan have never quibbled yet.

The vet thinks it's allergies so we're on a long road to try to find out what's triggering her.

Tips hugely welcome (or perhaps I should start a new thread).

We're trying cutting out chicken first (including dry food).

We claimed for ours last year for a similar issue once it got over the price of the excess. The claim was about £700 in total once all investigations were done, and our premium has only gone up about £20 this year. Be warned tho, if they decide your dog needs any special prescription food that you usually can’t claim for that. Ours is £78 a month for a bag and can’t be claimed for

Have you tried her with a tube of Pro Kolin yet?
It is cheap and I would always try it before doing an exclusion diet.

Definitely claim now , this might be an issue that takes a while to resolve so better to start claim now
Pet plan won't inflate premium on that basis
If it got a bit better but needed investigation in a few months , they might decline claim as previous issue wasn't notified

May I ask your dogs breed?

My ddog had episodes of upset tummy/sickness (never predictable, always out of the blue) and gradually progressed to what appeared to be kidney failure and we were told to expect the worst but they couldn't pinpoint why.

Thankfully and lovely vet decided to test for Addisons disease which was confirmed and he is now doing amazingly well. Insurance has been a god send as we must be up to 7k by now. Although it is rare, it is most common in poodle breeds (including the doodles) St Bernard and Great Dane. If things don't resolve it may be worth talking to your vet about testing for Addisons

I would avoid all meats that were fed soya - chicken, beef, salmon and pork. Sometimes it's not the meat they're allergic to but the feed it was on prior to slaughter. My dog had reoccurring ear issues and cutting these 4 proteins out helped instantly

My dog has awful allergies and has had for years .
We avoid poultry,rice,lamb and fish as well as 100 other things
We have apoquel daily,piriton twice daily and a cytopoint injection every 30 days
Some may not agree with giving these drugs but in all honesty it's improved the dogs life 10 fold and worth it all

Thing is usually once you claim once you can claim anything else than for that year as you’ve paid the excess! My payments have gone up due to an ongoing claim I have but it’s quite nice to also be able to reclaim all vet costs for my accident prone boy!

She's a double doodle.

I will look into this, thanks.

The test is quite expensive which is why it may be best to go through your insurer.

Before your dog has it they need to NOT be on steroids so don't let your vet treat for allergies before that (steroids are generally the first goto for treatment) it is called an ACTH test (not a general blood test for resting cortisol). Because it is rare vets aren't looking out for it as much, and can be tested under the wrong conditions, but if they are diagnosed it is a very easily managed condition and the dog leads a normal life

You are very welcome to pm me, I seem to have become very knowledgeable in Addisons over the last 18 months! 🙄😆

@Birnamwood Noted, and thank you.

A lot of dogs can't tolerate chicken, mine is one of them. I know chicken and rice seems to be the go to when dogs have upset stomachs but it's not great for all dogs.

She also can't eat dry food.

She's been on a sensitivity wet food - oddly enough, the chicken flavour - for several years now, with a probiotic added.

Works wonders for her sensitive tummy.