Puppy insurance

[Justme68]

Got a five month old cockapoo, wanting some insurance but unsure of what to get and how much cover he may need. Can anybody recommend a good pet insurance?

I'd say Petplan is the best insurance although not the cheapest.

You also need Lifetime cover instead of annual because if your dog has a problem this year your insurance wouldn't pay out for similar conditions the following years if that makes sense? If you have lifetime cover then they will.

Also get the best coverage you can afford because vet bills are expensive. So for example Petplan have 3 different tier amounts they will pay out in a year, I think 4k, 7k and 14k so ideally you'd want the 14k one. I'd definitely not get the 4k one because if your dog needed an operation it wouldn't be enough.

We're with Tesco and have a lifetime policy that covers 15,000 a year including dental (which many policies exclude - make sure you read the small print).

As he's already five months old, it's worth remembering that anything you've already seen the vet for (even if it wasn't treated) will go down as a pre-existing condition and you won't be able to claim for it unless you manage to find a policy that covers pre-existing conditions.

You want as much coverage as you can afford - if you're struggling with monthly payments you can pay a higher excess to bring the amount down a bit. We do this and just keep the excess amount in a savings account just in case we need to claim.

Our almost-2 Lab is insured with ManyPets. About £450 p.a, chose larger excess (£250) to keep premium down. £15,000 cover. After two years pre-existing conditions drop out of their uninsured bit - he had an eye infection about three days before the insurance started, but by February that would be covered again as he has not had another (paws crossed). Dental stuff covered as long as vet has checked his teeth and we follow advice.

I've just switched from Direct Line to Tesco for our 1 year old cocker spaniel as Direct Line just sent a renewal notice for DOUBLE what we paid last year. Even though our dog is young and healthy and we haven't made any claims.
I went for the Tesco Premier £10,000 cover which was actually more than Direct Line offered as max cover. It came to approx £190 for the year which is less than half what DL were going to charge us.
Definitely worth insuring up to the max per condition that you can afford. Even a minor ailment can end up costing you 1000's otherwise.
Haven't used Tesco in a few years but with my cat they were very good, paid out quickly with no quibbles so hopefully will be the same now.

I'm with ManyPets for my cats and Tesco for my dog. Both seem decent for cover