Older dog and insurance

[Dogaredabomb]

My jrt is 10 and in excellent health apart from needing daily apoquel and a touch of gingivitis. The apoquel and gingivitis aren't covered by his insurance as pre existing. I can't remember why I changed insurers last year, probably a massive premiums hike.

I pay £30pm with napo and I appreciate that it's not a huge premium. I checked through my vets invoices for the last year and I paid £1400 for treatment, apoquel, boosters, dental work. On top of that is worming and flea treatment.

I tried to claim dental and allergies from the insurer just to take a punt and the claim was, correctly, refused.

My last dog made it to 11.5 and was struck with an aggressive cancer which couldn't be cured. He died within 5 weeks and I chose to go with only pain relief and anti emetics/nausea and then pts as soon as his life was unhappy. And even that minimal invervention, short amount of time and the pts and cremation was about £4k.

I'm just wondering whether it's even worth having insurance for an older dog with co pay, exclusions, increasing premiums.

It seems an enormous step to stop insurance but I already, very happily, pay for all his health maintenance and I know what he's like, he won't run into traffic or eat a stick.

He could get cancer, diabetes, arthritis...... then I'd be sorry not to have insurance.

What are your opinions on insurance and older dogs v chancing it and using a 0% credit card?

Just to add, I also don't believe in much intervention with animals ie I wouldn't go with chemo or anything much beyond pain relief (not because of cost and just my opinion).

Personally, I put money into an account instead, once mine got to about 7. Mine is now on daily tablets, and I pay for that from my monthly wage, but if anything big happens then I’m afraid that it’s the end when the money runs out. But mine is 14 now ( long living breed) and I feel happy with that.

Thanks dusty I'm inclined to agree but it seems a massive step to be uninsured. How much do you end up with in the account and does it tend to cover unexpected illness have you found?

I’ve got several thousand in the account as I’ve been doing it so long, but I’ve managed not to touch it at all. I’ve managed to cover the dentals and lump removals from my wage, which is all he’s had.

Can only speak for me, I stopped my labs insurance when he was around 8/9.

It was £160 pcm with a list of exclusions longer than your arm. Even the insurance agent said it’s not really worth it as we won’t cover so many problems now. I stopped it and he got a mast cell tumour which they’d have covered (but I’d have been paying the £160 all along). It cost about £1500 to remove.
He had Librela, Gabapentin, Galliprant £200/£300 a month, the odd ear infection an extra £200 on top of the existing treatments so occasionally I needed to pay £400 maybe £500 a month, (but ears were pre-existing anyway) he had his nails trimmed at the vets etc.
In the end I asked they check his ears at every Librela appointment which meant seeing a vet not a nurse but it worked out a bit cheaper and less hassle. He lived to age 14.

I also wouldn’t have gone down the chemo line due to his age and condition (the vet wouldn’t have agreed to it in any case).

Just thinking his premiums are, currently, £360 pa which as we all know would be wiped out by one minor illness. However, doubtless the renewal price will be extortionate and if i switch then the list of exclusions grows.

If I started again I'd not insure a dog at all and start saving from puppyhood.

£30 per month - that’s very cheap! I pay double that for a two year old lab.

You’re paying £ 360 a year. To put things in context, when ddog had a sickness bug, a year ago , it cost £150 at vets.

A friends eight year old dog had kidney problems which cost eight thousand pounds.

I’d stick with the insurance for peace of mind.

Glitchymn do you think the premiums you would have paid covered the cost you paid out yourself? It's quite tough not chasing treatment isn't it, I didn't feel guilty though, just sad. Now that enough time has passed I'm so grateful that I could spare him too much terribleness. And it's just not about the money.

If I started again I'd not insure a dog at all and start saving from puppyhood.

Me too.
I recently asked a chatty receptionist at the vets, how many people insure/don’t insure, as I feel a bit guilty about not doing. She said it’s 50:50, which I was surprised at, I assumed more people insured. Perhaps the companies selling it want you to think most people do.

Dusty yes, it's a fear thing. Like you're a bad owner if you don't insure. But when you've done many years of dog ownership....

It's the nature of insurance and why it's a surviving industry that premiums hike when you need them to the point that it's not cost effective. And you've spent a decade insuring a perfectly healthy dog.

In the first eighteen months, we just about broke even (sickness, benign tumour, infected lump/spot). Not had any claims for a year (touch wood).

Its one of those Russian Roulette situations when you don’t know if you’re going to need it or not.

I'm about breaking even with my 14 year old dog, sometimes I wonder how the insurers make any money at all. I insure just for the security of knowing that the majority of it will be covered. So far so good and they've paid me back within a few days of each claim, not a fancy insurer either, just Animal Friends. I pay £60 a month for him, he's a mixed breed mid sized doodle and I now have to pay 20% with an excess of £120 so first visit is usually me having to pay but for anything major they continue to pay, including monitoring of an existing condition he has.