Insurance - Older Dog

[DominoDaancing]

Hi All,

Our 15 year old dog had cushings and also gallbladder issues. She has medication for both of these.

Her insurance renewal has just come in at £360 per year, plus £300 excess for each condition, so another £600 to pay.

We are going to cancel, and pay for her medication and then pay for anything else she needs. Our vet can give us a prescription for £22. My thinking is that if she was to need any surgery at this age, we probably wouldn't put her through it and also if she became ill with another condition, we could pay for that medication ourselves.

However I'm wondering if there is any very basic insurance we should have? Has anyone else had this scenario and any advice? Current insurance is with Tesco and I will call them for a chat too.

Thanks!

£360 a year?! Is that a typo? That’s insane. My two year old Goldie is £80 a month.

£360 per year is cheap, it must be a very limited policy? Excess is high though but usually around the £200 mark plus 20% at that age. I think you're plan sounds sensible enough. I would have 3rd party as a minimum though, I think it should be a requirement of dog ownership.

My dogs insurance for a 7 year old border collie went up to £550 for the year, £100 excess. I have cancelled but have a cheaper one with Sainsbury’s but not so much cover. If you don’t think you would put your dog through any operations, scans or testing, then I wouldn’t bother with insurance, I presume your current one is paying for medications. It’s hard making decisions as our pets get older, most friends I have no longer have insurance after pets turn 10 as premiums are just so expensive.

your dog is a healthy 2 yo. That’s how medical insurance works. I thought £360 was a typo in the low direction!
Check if your home insurance policy includes 3rd party liability cover for a pet - while it’s unlikely an elderly dog will cause anyone a problem there’s always the outside chance of a dog doing something random and causing a road accident or tripping a pedestrian or cyclist - a life changing injury can incur a multimillion liability.. There are specific 3rd party liability policies for dogs - I don’t know who through - I’d imagine they’re pretty cheap.

@ErrolTheDragon my oldest is £220 a month. I kept full insurance up. I know how per insurance works - and if you have decent cover it gets higher as they age.

If it's only £360 a year, I'd keep it up. If it's £360 a month, I would consider stopping it.

How much are the meds on line? How often would you have to pay for a vet consultation to get a prescription?

Apologies, I hadn’t read your post properly.

Arrrghhh sorry, £360 a month!! Plus the £600 excess - duh.

I thought that might be the case! 😁My dogs insurance is insanely expensive (£15K cover though) so it confuses people!

So the £22 prescription will give us 6 months worth of her medication and I've priced it all up and it's considerably cheaper than £360 per month.

Previously it was £210 per month plus the £600 excess, so last year we kept it but I think this year we will leave it.

I'll check about 3rd party insurance though too. I think that's what was at the back of my mind about being good to have.

She would still need a scan once or twice a year to keep an eye on her gallbladder, but she's only sedated for these so they don't cost too much. Also a couple of blood tests for her cushings, but again, not too pricey.

Per month! Absolutely not worth it at this point. Sounds like you'd be much better off paying the vet fees yourself. You're obviously aware of the need for monitoring and you're right those tests will cost way less than 4k a year!

@Easyozy Yes it's so expensive isn't it! I will check about 3rd party insurance and cancel our existing policy. I knew this day would come - last year it increased a lot but we kind of broke even with it, so it was worth having but this is a huge jump!

Also worth checking your home insurance policy, you may be covered ed for 3rd party liability with your dog on there.

Ouch! My private medical insurance for two middle aged humans costs less than that!

Wow that is CHEAP! I got up to £70/month for my then ten year old and I’d never claimed. My cousin has large sporting breed and pays over £2000/month for the three of them (she has made a few claims though).

@Stickytreacle thank you I will check that. I would never have thought to look there!

This is what we did for our old whippet when she turned 13. The insurance went through the roof and we decided that we could afford it if she needed anything. At 15 we took the decision not to go through invasion treatment that would have needed hospitalization. She would have died of fright.

The only thing I would look into is third party insurance. What if the dog caused crash?