AIBU to feel sad about cancelling pet insurance?

[YourNeedyLurker]

Our dog is 16 and 3 months old, I’ve been with Tesco for her and her dearly departed sister for years. We didn’t actually start claiming until last year for her and then for her sister’s kidney failure and subsequent PTS. I’ve claimed a few times for the dog we have now as she has had the occasional seizure episode. Blood tests showed she “may” have a brain tumour but as she is ok in herself for now we are not putting her through tests as what could they do anyway?

Anyway, we had notice that we are due to renew for her at the end of October so had notice that her monthly policy was doubling to £105 a month. That’s just not feasible because, really how much vet treatment is available at her age? we have just decided to put the £50 away each month.

I just feel sad about it.

Here she is on her birthday in June 😀

i prefer to put money away. As a pet gets older the policy gets so expensive and of course at any age there can be exclusions and high amount of money to shell out when claiming. cant think of name oh yes excess. some vets mine included do a sort of saving scheme where you can pay in ready to be used but savings plan just as good
love your dog is it a chihuahua

I’d cancel too. We canceled our insurance and also saved the money ourselves once our pet entered the older years. We did pay for some treatment in his final year but I think we about broke even.

Yes I have money put away. If it’s needed it’s there, if not I have savings instead of giving it to an greedy insurance company.

Most people don’t have thousands of pounds available to spend at a moments notice though - that’s the issue. My dog costs me £600 a year in insurance and we’ve never claimed - but if he’d become ill at six months, we’d only have saved £200 worth of premiums, meaning we’d not have been able to cover his bills.

Even now I would rather spend £50 a month on insurance than fork out thousands all at once on an unexpected bill.

Yes, it’s a risk but for me it’s paid off. I have 17 years of saved premiums.

Then you’re very lucky.

My cat recently became poorly over the weekend a few months ago. Having at first spoken to insurer I took my cat to the emergency vet.
The bill came to just under £500 which I had to pay on the day. A few weeks later I received a grand total of £129 as payment from insurer once all deductions had been made.
This has made me question whether pet insurance really is worth it?

I stopped insuring mine when the premiums went over £100 too - but they were about 10 when that happened.

Now a similar age to your dog and I think I’ve probably saved several thousand pounds - including the money I’ve spent (quite a bit!).

So much isn’t covered by insurance anyway.

I think this only really works if you have cash available to pay if something does go wrong however…!

Thanks to the posters that understand it’s not a cost thing, it’s just not feasible. I’d pay double the new premium cost if I could keep her for 10 more years, never mind the 16 I’ve been lucky to have her. I still pay the Pet Health Club at the vets for her as she needs her anal glands done around once a month and her nails clipped and that works out cost effective with her annual boosters included too.

To the pp that asked, yes she’s a chihuahua.

We haven’t been abroad since 2022 due to her and her sister’s advancing ages. Just not fair to leave them in someone else’s care. We are lucky to have a camper van and she still enjoys being our little furry camping buddy and travelling about places we visit in her pushchair 🤣

It’s sad because you’re acknowledging that you probably don’t have much more time with her.
I understand why you have and also understand that feeling of early grief.

We made the same decision with our 15 year old dog

his non related brother racked up thousands and thousands of pounds of vet bills. Co pay due to his age was 20%. We paid it as we thought he’d recover. Looking back, we put that poor dog through hell trying to get him better and swore we would never ever put his brother through what he went through so cancelled his insurance (it was over £200 a month and 20% co pay). We just have a credit card we keep for vet bills (eg dental). Anything major, we won’t persue again

You weren’t in the new forest in the summer were you? Met someone in a camper with a 16yo chihuahua which looked very like yours. At Black Knowl?

I understand OP and think you've made the right decision.

Your dog is a total poppet. It's obvious she couldn't be more loved or happier.

It is not unusual to cancel insurance as our pooches get older. I cancelled mine at age 8/9 when it got to £110pm. I am on benefits and can't afford that.
She now over 15 and I would not put her through anything really expensive and/or intrusive.
DSis has a dog over 16 and has had insurance all her life. Never claimed. I claimed twice on mine. One time was a few months after I got her. Broke her leg. Another time was when she was bitten by another dog on a bank holiday.

It’s a very sad but sensible choice. Once you know a pet is old and/or infirm enough that you would no longer choose to put them through General Anaesthetic or invasive treatment, that’s the time to cancel.

This year I cancelled my eldest cat’s policy. He is my best friend in the world and I dread the day anything happens to him. But I know in my heart that I couldn’t stand to put him through operations and stress at his age - I don’t want to lose him that way. He will continue to get his annual bloods (which I never claimed for anyway, with excess I’d get about a tenner back) and the most he’d get now is medication. This would almost certainly cost much less than the £90 per month/£120 plus 20% excess insurance.

Sadly not us!

They know how to pick their moments don’t they? Already emotional about cancelling the insurance and she had her first seizure in about 2 months this afternoon. She’s ok now though.

We start the vet conversation as though we do not have insurance by asking how much this would cost and what the alternatives are, anything cheaper they can suggest...surprisingly they don't recommend we spend as much.

It is sad and I understand your feelings. My dog, Tommy, a Jack Russel, began to have seizures when he was about 14. When he began to behave differently and they became worse despite anti seizure medication, the vet offered to send him for a scan but we decided not to go ahead because whatever the result, we would not have put him through any drastic treatment. There comes a time when their quality of life is diminished and it's time to let our dear pets go. I really wish the same could happen to me in those circumstances. Whether you have insurance or not, the end result will be the same.

We've only had cats (and a few hamsters & fish) till now (puppy for 6 months) but never had insurance. Over a lifetime, I think it works out cheaper. And we are fortunate that we can withstand a sudden hefty bill. Remaining cat now 18. Has barely had much in the way of treatment her whole life, though an accident at aged 2 meant a bill over £1200 (partly due to out of hours emergency surgery). But 16 years on, that isn't much per year.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your ageing dog OP, totally understand your thinking and feelings.

I agree totally. it's hard to do too. All of mine are rescues and here in Ireland any animal over age of 8 that hasn't had insurance can't be insured. so I saved 30e a month instead which helped when my oldie needed a hernia operation and a cancer lump removed at 11 years of age. she now 14 and in great health.. however if her cancer cam back due to her age I wouldn't put her through it now. my newest dog is 1 and have two young cats now aswell instead of pet insurance I pay something like 60e a month to my vet. I get all vaccinations free. free flea and worm treatment a reduced consult few and discount on treatments there. so at the moment think that's a better plan for them. I also have savings just in case something happens. I will note though that the price of vets are gone up considerably

It's a totally understandable decision OP. I hope she's comfortable after her seizure.

I used to think that. Then our insurance company put the monthly- yes monthly - premium up to £350 and we had to pay 20% plus the excess was £200.

We paid insurance for our dog every month for 12 years. We tried to claim twice, once for a growth on his ear and once for teeth (£1000 bill) both were rejected. We cancelled the insurance. We eventually had him pts at the age of 15. We had to pay vet costs for that but im still glad we cancelled. I would be reluctant to ever take it out again to be honest

Vet nurse here - the simplest of treatments aren't going to cost thousands and also they would more than likely not be claimable anyway when combined with the excess.
That said i think you are absolutely doing the right thing in cancelling insurance for a dog of this age and to save money for her instead.
My thoughts when they reach these kind of ages are what treatment /procedures will i / won't i go for ? is it fair to do so ? am i probably going to give her just a little borrowed time if i do ? am i doing this for her or for me ?
Sadly the majority of dogs around this age are quite obviously slowing down, plodding along and suffering with some ailment or another and any ops /procedures we do carry out are often simply because the owner can't say goodbye when the reality is that is exactly what they should be doing.
To the pp who says insurance is a rip off i see proof every single day of why it absolutely isn't ,expensive sometimes yes , but often the difference between life and death in some circumstances.
Your little dog is lovely and i hope you have her for a long time yet .

This. My old dog costs more now as she has lots of niggling things that come with age that are not covered under insurance or the excess.
No "big ticket" things... just lots of little things.