Sense checking costs of dog’s vet plan and insurance

[TopCatLuther]

My vet’s pet plan has just increased again and I’m looking to sense check how much I’m paying vs the value of it. We have 1 v large crossbreed rescue dog (41kg) who we think is about 9 and still in good health.

Price has just gone to £30 per month, which includes his yearly boosters plus flea and worm meds. Looking at their page, it includes other things that we don’t use eg a “wellness blood screen” and 10% off food, which has a high mark up to begin with.

He’s also insured to a high level, and I’m wondering if I’m paying more than I should for that as well - premium is £1k a year.

Looking for perspectives on what other people are paying and any tips to lower these costs - when I’ve looked into it previously, our vet charges a lot for a prescription for flea and worm meds, which makes it expensive to then try and source meds online. Thanks 🙏

It's hard to say because of breed differences, ages, past medical etc.

My dogs are 2 and 3 years of age and I pay £50/month for both.

I wasn't aware boosters and meds could be included in premiums.

Not sure how much I'll help.
I'm sure I heard somewhere that soon vets will have to standardise their prescription charge, not sure if that's true.
I have a medium cross breed rescue (18kg). I don't pay for a plan. We get flea treatment once a year for the summer, it's about £55 and lasts 3 months. Find generally in the winter/colder times we don't need it. Although we've just got a kitten so may need it more in the future.
Insurance wise we've just got a basic plan that costs £17 a month, never used it. He's 9 and healthy.
Had quotes for the kittens pet plan, which includes flea, worm, boosters, microchip initially and yearly health check/clew clip and it's £18 a month, but realise that's probably due to drug prices being less for the smaller animals.

I think the OP is referring to a vet subscription plan which is separate from insurance. They can be quite good value!

My vet subscription plan is £25 a month, small breed 8kg, 2y.o dog. Includes boosters, flea/tick meds, wormers and unlimited consultations.

PetPlan Insurance is £50 a month.

I'm sure I heard somewhere that soon vets will have to standardise their prescription charge, not sure if that's true.

BBC News - Vet prescription fees to be capped at £21 - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj32d05x702o?app-referrer=deep-link

I believe this is coming in

this will be a standard charge for a written prescription for you to use online. You will still need to buy the medication.

many practices only charge roughly this amount for a written prescription anyway.

it’s not going to make the massive difference people think it is.

I wouldn't use a vet monthly thing but I don't flea or worm routinely so for me it wouldn't be worth it. Don't even do all vaccinations routinely on an older dog. I send poo off for worm counts and titre test for immunity levels instead. She hasn't had fleas in 12 years and as a white short haired dog I would notice (and do check). She's had 2 ticks which I have removed.

She is insured and it's £45 a month I think with Animal Friends. Would not recommend them but am stuck with them now I think. She has a lifetime policy and we claimed for the first time ever a few months ago, bill was over 2 k and I had to pay 3/4 of it as they cap every single thing. They will only pay so much for a consultation, so much for a blood test, so much for a hospital admission....and when your dog is ill out of hours we went over their limits very quickly. I knew I had a 20% copay due to her age but did not realise all these limits. I had taken their top policy out with something like 10k of cover so was gobsmacked to realise how poorly insured she was. I suspect her policy will rocket next renewal and I probably won't renew at her age.

I also have a puppy with Admiral. Think I pay £28 a month for him. I have gone through the policy and there are no limits like with the Animal Friends policy. I am thinking though of moving him to Pet Plan just for more reassurance.

Friend of mine though pays £140 a month insurance for her older dog with Pet Plan so their premiums go up a lot as the dog gets older. But then they pay out I guess unlike AF.

I do think with an older dog you have to think about what would you put them through in the way of surgery or invasive treatment? I wouldn't put my 12yo dog through an operation or chemo. So is the insurance worth it? But then when I had my 2k bill for a bad attack of diahorrhea (she nearly died) I guess there are things which are worth treating as no ongoing effect on the dog after they've recovered.

The best thing I have done since that even is move vets. To one which is open as routine at a weekend (so not an out of hours price) and overnight they do their own on calls rather than outsource it to another company. Ig we had been at this vet when my older dog was ill I think the bill would have been more like £600.

We don’t have a vet plan but insurance for our almost 8 year old is £1900 a year. He is 23kg. We just pay for worming, flea tick and boosters as they happen which works out around £15 a month. Our vets however is a rural independent vet and far cheaper than many.

My cats are insured with Pet Plan and I recently had to max out the insurance on one of them. They paid out promptly and without a quibble.

I’m with @JulietteHasAGun- I think it’s a grand scam that vets have people believing they need to be putting these chemicals on/in their pets on a monthly basis. It’s expensive, unnecessary and it’s poisoning the environment.

Test periodically for worms and treat as necessary. Check for fleas and treat (immediately and seriously, with veterinary grade products) as necessary - well kept dogs don’t routinely have fleas, in 40 years of dog ownership I’ve had one ‘outbreak’.

I know ticks are very area dependent, so this is the one area I might be more cautious if I lived somewhere problematic. However, even treated dogs get ticks.

Can you just price it up?

I have smaller dogs 10-15kg. The written prescription fee for 6 months of parasiticides is £23 or so, but hopefully will.come down as pp said. The meds are approx £40 for the 6 months of tablets. Plus a separate wormer approx £7 for 6 months worth at 15kg. I think the annual boosters visit was about £120 recently. So for me, it's about £260 annually for each dog.

We are rural so ticks are a big issue, but the tablet we use protects against them. Plus our vet's plan is for a spot-on, which I'd rather not use.

Mine are insured, but aren't members of the vet's club as it wouldn't be cost effective for me.

I buy Seresto collars, as we live in a tick heavy area. The collars were approximately £34 and last around 8 months.
I don't routinely worm, which is supported by vet advice. They said worms in pet dogs are rare and current advice is not to routinely treat, because of the damage to the environment.
Mine have only had blood tests if there is something wrong or as part of pre-op checks, so the costs have always been covered by insurance.

We are not members of the vet club. I wormcount my dogs and have only had to worm 1 dog in 30 years. I groom daily so no issue with fleas and remove ticks if they get them. One dog has a seresto collar as he seems to be a tick magnet.

I do insure my dogs but when they get older I stop the cover as I am lucky enough to have money if needed but also I would not put an older dog through a lot of treatment.

We are in a vet plan for our beagle and it costs £28/month. It includes free routine vet consultations, 20% off for out of hours consultations, free health check every 6 months, free flea and worm treatments and free annual vaccines. I think it’s worth it because she’s a 1.5yr old beagle and into literally everything!

Mines currently £22 a month for worm treatment, boosters and a yearly check. I think that’s cheaper than buying the meds separately. We have a plan through our local vets.

I also found it really helpful as a new dog-owner. Being able to just take her to the vet and ask "is this normal/Should I be concerned", without incurring a cost every time, rather than googling stuff was so much easier.

I have always insured my pets with Petplan at a high level, and I don't regret it. At the later stage of my big GSDx rescue's life, I was paying £120 per month for insurance and they were paying out £220 each month for medication.

My young Labrador has £65 per month insurance, and in the last 18 months I've claimed over £9000 in abdominal surgeries. That's 12 years worth of premiums, so if we never claim again we'll still be up.