Absolutely outrageous insurance costs for elderly dog - time to self insure?

[SUPsUP]

We have a large, fairly elderly (13yo) dog. When we joined our vets practice they recommended we sign up to a particular insurance company, which meant we opted for full lifetime cover.
Over the years the premiums have gone up… and up… and up… and I’m pretty sure you could insure a Ferrari for less. A really wow Ferrari.
Added to the whopping premiums once he got over 8yo an older dog ‘co-pay’ kicked in which means we only have 85% cover AND the excess has shot up as well.
it’s now quite ridiculous, but DDog is on quite a few arthritis treatments which we do claim back what we can for.
We’ve long said we’d never put him through any kind of major treatment, but if we plan to
cover the costs of arthritis etc ourselves are there any other costs (bar the final call-out 😥) we’d need to factor in for an older dog?

We stopped insurance when we knew we wouldn’t put our dog through major treatment. She was about 14. She lived another 3 years and had a couple of ops - broken tooth out and an anal gland tumour removed but we just covered those costs.

Things may come up. You just need to have or be able to get access to the funds to cover it. Our vet offers a payment plan for regular customers so we always had that option should the need arise.

You might have decided no major interventions, but things to think about:

• how much those arthritis/pain meds actually cost, and what if it worsens so you need the next generation/higher dose/some other upscaling, which will give your dog many more months even years of normal happy life
• cost of fixing minor injuries
• you can ignore most dental costs as most policies exclude them, but what if it's dental injury or a disease process (both usually covered)
• cost of investigations of any new symptoms - unless you really would PTS not knowing if its something that could have been easily fixed

(PS: the cost of those medicines you already have is why your premiums are so high. My insurer has me over a barrel, as DDog has a condition which might mean she needs an operation at some point - so premiums went up significantly, but as it's a lifetime policy, they will have to cover it. Given typical lifespan of breed, if she ever needs the OP, the insurance company will make a small loss (based on current likely prices) if she's fine, then she's been an expensive pet. But we can't really change insurers because it's a known issue, so that condition and related issues would all be excluded)

I stopped insuring my old dog when he cost more to insure than both cars. And as you say, excess goes up and you have to pay a proportion in addition. Even with his arthritis medication and an operation to remove a spleen tumour on the point of rupture, we more than broke even between eight years and sixteen.

We did this a few years ago when the premiums became laughable. We just put a set amount away each month to cover any emergencies.

Do you have savings that exceed the amount you're covered for - and would you be willing and able to spend those savings on the dog's medical treatment?

As ever - it costs more to be poor. Self insuring is only feasible if you have significant available savings.

I stop insuring older dogs when they are of an age that I would not put them through major tests or surgery or a GA.

A few have been on pain meds but it is way cheaper to buy them than pay out on insurance.

Self funding an elderly dog is not an unrealistic idea but do consider if it will restrict you and your choices with regard to your dogs health. When I am happy it will not I stop insuring the oldies and have never regretted it

Similar decision has been made here. Dog is 13 and on a range of meds for his arthritis and drops for dry eye. It actually costs us more for his insurance premiums than it does to buy the medication. Add in a £170 excess and 20% of the bill on top of that and it’s fairly pointless making a claim.

We’ve already decided that we won’t put him through any major treatment at his age and the vet has made it very clear that once his current medication regime stops working then we have no other options and it’ll be PTS time.

My old boy had a long term illness (Cushings) so we stopped insuring him when the monthly premiums cost more than double the cost of his monthly meds (that I still had to pay 20% contribution to because of his age).

His tumour with his Cushings was inoperable, but we managed to keep a good quality of life with meds for a couple of years, so putting him through any major tests or treatments wouldn’t have been the right thing to do.

He was a knob head till the end though, and still managed a good few hundred ££ in vet bills for the stupid stunts he pulled in his last year (but still not anywhere near the insurance premiums)

Which company are you with?

I think once they're a certain age (and healthy) insurance does become a bit pointless. As long as you have enough aside for minor injuries or issues, I don't see the issue with cancelling insurance.

There comes a point where you won't put a dog through any further treatment anyway.

We’re with VetSure. They’ve gone through some rebrands since he was signed up as a puppy.
premiums have multiplied by more than 10x since he was a pup.
dDog did have a fair bit of (probably with hindsight slightly unnecessary) treatment/testing when he was younger for à dietary problem he then grew out of / we’ve had managed for years so is no
longer recurring, and one very expensive tendon op (which we definitely wouldn’t repeat at this age).
Even so I’m pretty certain the insurance co have recouped their costs with interest!

I’ve posted several times that I’ve never paid for insurance, always put money into a special account that has never gone in the red, in fact currently stands with a very healthy balance of several dozen k, for all vet bills plus other dog expenses. As a former exhibitor breeder with multiple dogs insurance was extortionate.
For the arthritis meds pay for prescriptions from your vet, they have to provide one on request, then order from one of the very reputable online veterinary pharmacies, can give links if needed. My last old girl was for several years on pills that from the vet cost almost £500 for six months supply. Exact same ones, in same packaging, from the online pharmacy I used were £145, plus the small charge to the vet for 6 month prescription.

DDog had a lump that needed to be snipped off under GA. £1500.
He also has arthritis and has Librela and galliprant, plus 3 human paracetamol a day (veterinary advice). I don’t think Librela is covered on insurance (I could be wrong).
I no longer pay insurance as he’s approaching 13.

We thought about cancelling but glad we didn't. Even without lots of major interventions we'd have wracked up a massive bill. Adequate analgesia, antibiotics etc, plus veterinary management and oversight all adds up. I'd say 3-5k in the last 6 months without any heroics.

I'd think carefully.. having to make decisions based on what you can afford would make an already heartbreaking time so much worse.

Petplan were faultless.

My lab is 3 and costs £98 per month with Pet Plan. This is more expensive than my car insurance. Vet bills can be horrendous, so it's a trade off.

@SUPsUP
Try Petwise they only do older pets work's for my 15 year old cat

I 'self insured' when a couple of my pets were in the teens and it became very expensive. One later needed medication for the last couple of years of their life, the other needed an op to remove cancer which cost a few hundred pounds. In both cases it was far cheaper than paying the monthly insurance cost.
It comes down to whether you can afford to pay a big bill, or for ongoing treatment should the need arise. I would never want to be in the position where I had to make a very difficult choice because I couldn't afford treatment.

Insurance is theft imho, but yes it depends if you could cover a bill if the worst happened. .

Think hard before cancelling, it’s not just major ops that are expensive! Our 15 year old pup had a bout of pneumonia this weekend and has cost almost £1500. A few months ago it was £350 for treatment of a cyst that had popped up on his leg. In May he had to have a CAT scan for some breathing issues. All treatable, not major ops and nothing that he won’t recover from but he’s cost us over £3,500 this year. At no point was it a life or death situation. If you can afford to put a couple of thousand away as an insurance fund then that could be an option I guess.

A friend was insured up to £7000 for her 9 year dog. The vets bill costs more than that, so she ended up having to pay a few thousand.

This is very interesting. How much do you put away into a fund? I am thinking of doing the same. Currently I only insure my six year old for accident. I think there is a big con going on with vet bills and insurance companies.

It's funny how a vet will find a cheaper 'work around' when they know you are not insured.

We stop insuring ours once we know we wouldn’t put them through any major treatment. We pay for minor treatments out of pocket, but don’t go for any major investigations. Kind of go on how they are in themselves and quality of life. Our vets are happy with this.

our old dog was diabetic. Insurance would only pay for treatment for a year so after that we we cancelled it and paid £10 for a 6 month prescription from the vets for her insulin then brought it from an online veterinary pharmacy for less than half the cost from the vets.

Our pet insurance has public liability cover of £250,000 so if in the - hopefully unlikely - event of our dog causing damage to property or a person, that will be covered to that value.

Third party insurance is always worth having

You can never rule out that your dog might cause damage or injury (directly or by eg getting loose and reaching a road, jumping at a cyclist sending them into the path of a car)

Public liability is one thing I wouldn't be without but surely a broker would find something?