Help me cut my dog care bill

[MistyBay]

Hi everyone, I currently pay a small insurance premium for my six year old dog and then on top a Vets at Home subscription for worming tablets and a free health check once per year plus I think a vet visit if we need it.

The animal healthcare comes to £18 per mont and the insurance £10.94.

I'd like to reduce this if I can. I would pay more for the insurance and then just buy the worm tablets off the interet if cheaper.

Can anyone recommend an alternative?

Or, does this sound like quite a good 'covering all bases' cover?

Can someone also recommend me where to get the worm tablets online?

https://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/search/go?asug=&w=wormer&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1OmoBhDXARIsAAAYGSGIgm1BwVRTyQbXIts_P1WH9RGkLBxtTokp3Qg5Q3PHo36Jkn4jGpwaAjEkEALw_wcB

What about its annual inoculations? I’d cancel the £18 DD, and just get the dog vaccinated once a year when it can have a check up. It’ll cost you maybe £50 as opposed to £200!

Insurance for £10 is exceptionally cheap. Our cats is around £40. We have been quoted £50-89 for a dog which is the reason we are waiting before getting a dog.

We find it cheaper to buy flea and worker online and just pay for vaccinations than the vet plan.

The insurance is accident only and looking online I could get that down to £5 per month, however I think it could be prudent to up that to include illness and then can the healthcare plan, doing what Soontobe60 says - just buying vaccines, check up as one off every year and then buying worm tabs online.

Have you looked into what the healthcare plan covers and what the cost is of the items separately? I work at a practice and it’s set up so it saves clients money. If you buy non prescription products it’s going to be frontline or advantage neither of which work well and neither give you lungworm cover. You can ask your vet for a written prescription to get POM flea/worm online. New RCVS rules mean this has to be issued at a time when the animal is having a physical examination so ask at your annual vaccination.

The worm medication listed above does not cover lungworm. I think lungworm wormers has to be on prescription. So your dog will only be partially covered.

If you are getting yearly vaccinations and monthly wormers you will not get it cheaper than the £18.00 per month.

Personally I would cancel the healthcare plan but I would also increase your insurance to cover illness.

If you're struggling to pay £28 a month now how will you afford an operation or medication if your dog is sick?

I thought you were going to say you were spending hundreds of pounds per month! My insurance premiums are £130 a month with a £170 + 20% excess. Dog has cost me over £1,000 in the last 6 weeks alone!

You definitely need much better insurance if you are struggling with your current costs.

It might be worth checking your healthcare plan though as mine also covers vaccinations.

I've never bothered with the vets own healthcare plans as theirs didn't offer value for my requirements. I pay £40 for vaccination/annual check up and buy wormers ( & any flea/pet meds from online pharmacy) you can also send off 💩sample to wormcount lab and see what needs treating but may work out more expensive option. For whatever reason my dogs never picked up ticks or needed preventative flea treatment as so infrequently had any. In some areas or if also have outdoor cats then it's a necessity. The vets did offer a test for lungworm & sure worm count does too.

Would you qualify to use PDSA for vet treatment? As if your thinking current very low outgoings need cutting back your going to struggle with even relatively minor vet treatment as most bills likely wouldn't meet criteria for accident only cover. Is your dog too old or have too many pre-existing conditions?

You can ask vets for written prescription and buy meds from online pharmacy and in most cases it's cheaper and can save fair bit when it's regular treatment but some meds you my want dispensed by the vet to have straight away.

why give a healthy dog flea and worm treatment, every month, when they don't have fleas or worms?
Why do people do this? You are flooding your dogs system with unnecessary chemicals.
Give them 'treatment' if or when they get fleas or worms.

This!

I have a great vet that also recommends this.

Because flea and worm treatments prevent dogs getting them and bringing them home! Fleas are a pain to get rid of and it'll cost a small fortune to treat your home/dog. I've had my own dogs for 15 years and never had fleas in the house because I use vet flea treatments.

You also need to prevent Lung Worm and to my knowledge only vet wormers prevent this.

OP I thought you were going to say you pay £100's

If the £18 vet plan is anything like mine it's so worth it. I get all flea/wormers, 2 free vet consultations a year, free nail trims/weight checks, includes annual booster and kennel cough, discount on dentals and there's other stuff included but I can't remember off the top of my head.

Also if you live in a high lung worm area ( I do ) the damage will likely be done before you find out . I personally know 2 dogs that have had lungworm and have been left with health issues .

Hmm, I agree for the most part, but lungworm is very different and by the time you know your dog is infected, the damage is already done.

You can buy Panacur for dogs on the internet without prescription and it covers lungworms.

Dogs need flea treatment every month and worm treatment every 3 months. The medication prevents them from getting fleas or worms. Imagine them not being treated and bringing fleas home. It would be horrible for the dog and expensive go or family having to fumigate everything.

It says lung worms in a packet.

They don't need either of those things every three months - it's personal choice. My dog is six and has never had any flea treatment. He does get wormed but that's because we live in an area with lots of livestock and deer/wild animals.

Panache is licensed for treatment of lungworm when given once daily for 7 days - at a cost of about £14 for a small terrier dog. You need to treat monthly to prevent any new infection becoming patent - it’s not licensed for this anyway but it would be almost the whole cost of your monthly plan to do it like this.

I have also heard about not treating for worms unless they actually get them and have to say it makes sense. However it does seem that if I don’t keep up the dose her 💩 gets a bit squishy and she starts scraping her arse on the grass. Don’t know if it’s just coincidence.

it’s not really the money as I’m not broke but I do resent over-insurance. I think most people spend too much without really knowing what they are paying for. I want good value rather than cheap.

Ideally i would want accident, some illness cover limited time and perhaps a phone vet option. I’ll then pay the one off fee for vax and worm tabs.

ill see what I manage to come up with and report back in coming days.

Currently as someone who works in the industry I would say you are under insured. The most common claims are long term illness not accidents.
My own dog has epilepsy even with the good discounts I get his bill since June is nearly £4K.

I would agree with this.

Unless you have access to thousands of pounds at the drop of a hat, insuring for accidents only is very short-sighted.

I know so many people who claim on insurance for things like diabetes medication, steroids, painkillers etc.

🙌 🙌

I test for worms then treat if necessary.

I agree I am underinsured which is why I want to reduce the healthcare plan bill and spend it on illness cover.

Can you tell me more about testing for worms? What does that involve and how much is it please?

And, what does bum scraping actually signify? Does it have anything to do with worms?

I have no idea about testing for worms as mine is wormed regularly, but bum scooting can be a sign of worms - but it can also be a sign of anal gland problems, or general irritation in that area. Some dogs also do it just because it feels nice!

If your dog is scooting then it's worth a vet check just to be sure, as both worms and anal gland problems can be painful and irritating for them.

There is a HUGE ethical question here about how this is right - that you have a £4k ongoing bill for a pet.

If your dog is that ill that it warrents that much money to keep it well then it sounds very sick. Does it need the treatment at all - what will happen if it is left alone with no treatment? Or, are you being fleeced by the vet?

This is exactly the problem with the pet industry. It's turned into big business and people are getting rich on perceived pet illnesses.

I don't know what the answer is, of course no animal should suffer. But also, vets and insurance companies are blackmailing us with this type of attitude. How can treating a dog with epilepsy cost £4k?