Insurance and pet plan?

[Planningahead4567]

My family would love a dog, we love our friends dogs, love animals and its a good time in our lives for a dog. But I am a planner and just want to think money and practicalities.
I've seen places like pets at home advertise pet plans for around £20 is thst all we need or do we also need insurance?
Or do we just need insurance on its own? With the insurance do we pay an excess or the full amount and claim the money back after.
There are so many things being advertised when I look online I'm not sure where to begin with the vet and insurance side of things.
Is there anything else you wish people had suggested or you knew before getting a dog?
Thanks

The vet run plan covers annual vaccines, wieners, fleas and usually a full check over with a vet twice per year - my lab costs about £15 per month .Preventative care It’s cheaper than pay as you go

Insurance covers medical treatment - so if something goes wrong. You need all life cover , the largest amount you can afford . Yes you will pay an excess, usually once per year for any single condition. Yes you pay then claim other than for larger surgeries etc where the insurer may agree to pay directly to the vet and you pay the vet the excess.
I use Pet Plan insurance and my vet nurse does all the paperwork for me.

Wormers not wieners 🤦🏻‍♀️

You definitely need insurance as well- ideally covered for life.

We’ve just had a 9k bill for our dog and petplan have covered 90% of that without question.

Thank you. I just wondered if i needed to budget for both plans as I want to be realistic if I can afford all this before I go any further or get the kids hopes up.
I will do some research and get some quotes.

Personally i'd say you need both but if you're doing one or the other i'd say insurance is more important.

Check your vet prices off plan and compare, usually they aren't too expensive monthly, I think ours is £22 for the month and covers her check ups, vaccines, Flea and worming ect.

Insurance is a must and get as much cover as you can, or if you go for a lower limit but per condition.

We've been really unlucky the last year and a bout of pneumonia and a damaged ACL has so far cost us about £12,000 in surgeries, medications, xrays, ect. Our insurance was maxed at 10 so we've paid the other £2,000 out of pocket, vet bills mount up incredibly fast.

It was cheaper for me to pay as you go, vaccines and flea/worm treatments, with our vets by a considerable margin. I paid for 2 prescriptions a year to get flea/worm tablets. Do check.

This recent thread might help?

www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/5484475-how-much-does-your-medium-size-dog-cost-you-pm

I have insurance for my dogs, but don't have the vets monthly plan. I buy Seresto collars for flea and tick protection. And on the advice of a vet, I don't routinely treat for worms.

We have the monthly plan, but we don't have insurance - we have enough savings to cover a substantial bill. I'm sure one day we'll need to cough up, but so far, over 20+ years of dog ownership, mostly of 2 dogs, we've saved (depending on which insurance stats I look at) 15-20k.

It's up to you if you want to take the risk.

Thank you for the information. I didn't think about the insurance only going up to a certain amount each year.

Sorry to disagree re veterinary pet plans, but I think they are a complete scam.
I have cats rather than dogs (hint in the username 🤣), but the issue is that pet plans provide a load of services that you just don't need.
Twice yearly vet appontments? I've had cats for 40 years and an annual 'MOT' has always been fine
Monthly flea treatments? My cats all go outside, catch rodents etc. I use flea treatment as a cure NOT as a preventative. It's better for the environment and better for my wallet. Oh and none of mine have had any fleas since 2019 so zero cost for flea treatment in 6 years.
Worming? Again cure not preventative. One of my cats had a tapeworm once in the last 5 years. One vet visit resulting in one pill and it was sorted.
Insurance is sensible (particularly for a dog) but the vet pet plans are just a means to fleece pet owners by providing services and drugs they don't need.

I don’t use the vet plan. Honestly, I think they’re a bit of a money making scam - not that I begrudge vets doing it (they are a business after all, just like a coffee shop or a supermarket - they’re there to make a profit). My dogs, except my older ones, go in once a year unless it’s urgent. Meds are bought online and much cheaper (using a vets prescription).

But the one thing I wouldn’t do without is insurance - I know someone who let their young puppy jump off a sofa. It shattered the poor bastards leg. £15K worth of surgery, a trip halfway across the country to the only vet capable of fixing it, and no insurance. Besides, not having insurance is fine if you have some savings, until your dog has more than one big issue - dysplasia, pra, cancer etc. then you’re buggered.

And cat ownership is not comparable to dog ownership. It’s like comparing a mango and a courgette.

And cat ownership is not comparable to dog ownership. It’s like comparing a mango and a courgette.

Yet our conclusions on vet plans and insurance are identical, despute the fact that I have a mango and you have a courgette. 🤣

I have both pet plan and insurance for my pup, but I shall see how much I get out of the pet plan after the first year and then reconsider for next year. So far it has paid in full for all of his vaccinations and two check ups, with 2 more to go. Both pet plan and insurance cost about £20 each per month. His food costs around £50 a month.
But then, there are all the things I also buy, a house crate, a travel crate, bedding, toys, leads, harness, coats ( he’s on his third coat and he’s only 4 months old!) most of which are probably not essential, but I enjoy spoiling him!

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats with dogs I’d say the flea and worming is a preventative! Not a cure. So very different in that regard as I’ve never known a dog get fleas or worms if properly treated…

But yes very aligned on vet plans and insurance! 😂

I don’t think the plans are worth it but then I don’t routinely worm or flea my dogs. I do worm counts and in 12 years my older dog has never had worms. She’s never had fleas either.

you definitely need insurance. You need life time cover otherwise at the end of that year anything they had that year will count as a pre existing condition and not be covered. And that doesn’t mean a chronic illness like epilepsy or also means if they had stomach issues which were fixed they’d never be covered for stomach issues again (so I was told).

you need to check the small print carefully. My dog has 8k of cover and recently the insurance only paid £740 of a 2k bill even tho my excess is only £250. They said the bill was extortionate (emergency weekend vet) and they capped every single test, consultation fee, etc. it was all in the small print. My younger dog is insured with a different company and there’s no such capping.

I stopped my dogs insurance when it went up to £70/month at age 7/8. Never claimed on it. I did have to pay £1200 to remove a tumour and related tests, and recently £1300 to investigate some issues (sadly the dog died during this). But I would have spent many more thousands paying the insurance.
My friend has three dogs and pays over £500/month for them now as she has had to make a few claims. It’s a gamble if you don’t take insurance, but an expense if you do. £20/month seems very cheap, look carefully at what it covers.

I don't have a pet plan but I do have insurance (confusingly with a company called Petplan!). Unless you have very deep pockets I recommend insurance and a lifetime cover which means an illness is covered year after year. I may have been unlucky but my rescue has a couple of chronic conditions and I have got back more than my premiums every year. To give you an example, one treatment for arthritis is an injection once a month at £120 a go. And then there's any accidents (luckily not had any) or other illness (eg ear infections) or like my idiot eating things he shouldn't (one out of hours to make him sick was £400). Another thing to consider is big dogs cost a lot more than small dogs as you pay by the amount of medicine for an animal (rather than a flat rate for humans). My insurance doesn't cover his annual vaccines, worm and tick treatment so that's extra.

I’ve owned dogs for over 25 years. Always insure them but have never signed up to a plan. I pay annual vaccines and working/fleas just when necessary.

we have spaniels. Insurance can become expensive as they age. Our was £25 pm, it’s now over £100 pm due to her age.

it’s a big commitment but I wouldn’t be without a dog.

I was stupid with my first dog (puppy) and got the cheapest insurance with Animal Friends.

One year into dog ownership and I knew better. I have now switched to petplan lifetime policy but there are exclusions on ears and skin, being as she had two ear infections before I went to PetPlan.

Don't mess around and get pet plan lifetime cover from the very start. I wish I had!

I also had the idea of drip feeding in £20/30 a month into a stocks and shares ISA, invested in some global funds. and have it be "The Dog's Money"

So that when the dog is 10 or 11yo and the premiums are too much to continue, there will hopefully be a decent pot of compounded money in there to cover something.

Insurance is essential.

I do have a vet pet plan as well. I think this works for us as we are in there so often for accidents and illnesses that having two free consultations a year. At the moment we are getting our monies worth as we are going monthly for nail clippings by the nurse which is free under our plan.

I also use the vet plan £25 a month which includes annual vaccinations, her annual brevetxo flea&tick jab and her quarterly wormers. Plus unlimited consultations, which is handy because I am a worrier and also bc she apparently cannot empty her anal glands like a normal dog 🙄

Definitely get insurance, the best possible cover you can afford. Pet insurance is one of the most commonly claimed insurances, and it takes the financial considerations out of treatment decisions at a really stressful time, which is worth a lot! Get a ‘lifetime’ policy.

Some people cancel their insurance when the pet gets really old because the premium goes up and they feel they wouldn’t put the animal through lots of treatment or diagnostics due to their age.

Petplans - if you use all the things that are included, then they’re generally quite good value. If you don’t plan to vaccinate / treat preventatively for parasites or whatever, then it probably won’t save you money (although all dog owners should be treating at least for worms, because they are zoonotic).

It’s worth talking to your vet about your pet’s risk factors and what preventative care they actually need - for instance, indoor cats often don’t get their ‘money’s worth’ from the petplan so I don’t tend to advise it.

Petplan is £20 a month, my dogs never had fleas but he has picked up ticks a few times.
Insurance £40 a month, he’s a small terrier and it’s gone up each year.
Food is around £60 a month but he’s on a special diet (for non fussy, non special diet dogs this could be cheaper.)
Other costs like dog walkers/training classes etc varies a bit depending on what I need/want to do with him.

It does add up but he’s totally worth it.