Can't afford pet insurance increase.

[Doggyoho]

My dog is 3 months away from 7yo.
Been insured with animal friends since she was 8 weeks old. Up until last year we never made a claim. My dog had an episode after finding walks increasingly difficult and it was recommended she have BOAS surgery. The insurance covered it but her monthly premium has now gone from £26 a month to £59 and I absolutely cannot afford that. Especially as she will be approaching 8 soon and another 20% is added on at that age. If I ever had to claim for something else the price would be astronomical.

I will have to cancel her policy and take out a new policy and anything to do with her BOAS won't be covered and I recently went and had her seen for allergies (with the hope we would be able to get some panel tests done and covered by her insurance which wont be possible now I guess as they will be pre existing)

I don't know if I should go with animal friends again or someone else?o

Look around the market and see what else is out there.

Did you buy a Brachycephalic breed of dog?

I had to cancel my insurance with animal friends as they were increasing so much every year despite me never having claimed. My insurance was over £100pm. I'm now with PDSA paying half the price for the same coverage.

Have a look on comparison websites. Sometimes if you find a cheaper quote, your existing provider might match it. We are with animal friends, and I don’t pay that much - I’ve found them to be pretty good. However you might find something more in line with your budget out there.

I’m going to be a bit blunt but with kind intentions. If you can’t afford £33 a month extra then how on earth would you fund vital veterinary care excluded from a new policy?

You can’t afford not to renew. Find something else in your budget to cut to make way for the increase

Search around for other insurers before you do anything else.

Why are they having allergy testing?!

But you may need to just accept that your dog is getting on and may need to be put to sleep if they have any other issues arise, if you can't afford it.

Can you really not afford £59 a month? It may be better to stick with the current insurer if they will cover the preexisting conditions.

The premiums may well keep increasing, a friend's older cocker had ongoing skin issues which caused the premiums to eventually exceed £300 per month.

Not buy, no. I got her from a local rescue group that had a hoarding situation with multiple multi breed litters. I was actually on the list to foster a different pup but when I saw her I just straight out adopted her instead, love at first sight 😅

I don't think anything would come up? The only things would be breathing issues from surgery and she had that done almost a year ago with zero complications and her breathing is normal now.

And allergy issues which are mild but the vet actually told me the panels that I wanted done are pretty useless as they only cover environmental allergens like grass. Pollen. Perfume etc... and its much more likely to be a food allergy which is treated through a hydrolyzed diet and slow reintroduction of proteins, which I am now doing outside of veterinary care because its just a food we can buy normally.

So I don't think we would be likely to need to claim for either of those things in the future.

Put the maximum you can afford away in a separate account. Find a vet that is not affiliated to a multinational company. You can then do your best for.your pet. If your best friend is so sick you cannot afford or justify the cost then you have done all you can and it is time to let go. Your bestie will probably not be the same after prolonged and painful treatment. Is it fair.on them? You will be ok knowing you did not put them through unnecessary upset.

I hope your pet recovers and is happy for a long time.

Shes not really got allergy issues to the point where she needs massive amounts of treatments.

I was just being proactive because shes been a bit more itchy and licking her feet and the vet said she doesn't really need testing done but to just give her a novel protein for a while and see if that helps as its probably a chicken reaction.

I probably didn't need to involve the vet at all but I did andnits on her record now.

Prolonged annd painful treatment? "I hope your pet recovers and is happy for a long time"

She isn't ill? Shes perfectly healthy right now and if I take out a new policy that is half the price she will be covered for everything as normal apart from allergies (which aren't a major issue) and breathing issues (which she shouldn't have as she has already has had successful surgery a year ago with no complications)

Then do that? Sorry, I’m not sure what you’re asking. You can’t afford your the renewal price with your existing provider… so shop around and find another? Thousands of people do that every year. Or is there another issue?

I wouldn't change anything if you have already been to the vets for the allergy and it's a pre-exisisting condition. It's very hard to treat if it's someting out in nature, mold or something else that is just in the environment. My last dog had a mold allergy and living in the UK meant he was exposed to it all the time as it's just in the air always. The medication that helped was really expensive but the insurance covered it. Before he was on the medication he would chew his paws and scratch his neck until he blead. It got progressively worse. I would keep the insurance you have now for at least another year to see if you can figure out what the allergy is and what can be done about it. It might not seem bad now, but being constantly itchy and you not affording the medication would be horrendous for the poor dog.

You could increase the excess you pay if you need to claim. We did that with Animal Friends and it brought the monthly premium down.

Ddog had cancer last year and insurance paid out but it was only a 12 month limited policy not a lifetime one. The premium only went up 50p a month. I pay £26 a month with animal friends. Obviously he’s not covered for cancer anymore but it was a low grade tumour with low risk of reoccurrence and to be honest as he is now 10 years old I wouldn’t put him through another surgery like that as it was awful.

Perhaps given the age of your dog consider a 12 month policy rather than lifetime coverage?

Ah so maybe If i rang up and tweaked the policy i may be able to bring it down but keep the existing conditions?
I will do the online chat thing and ask.

Thanks.

It’s worth seeing if you can get the premium down by having a higher excess. That said premiums are high past 8, my dd cost £150 a month by the end but we were net gainers from the policy as they had paid out £22k over his final 4 years

Animal friends is awful anyway. My dog has a platinum lifetime cover policy, no pre existing conditions with 9k worth of cover and they only paid out about £700 of a nearly 2k bill recently. It was at a weekend and they said the bill was excessive and refused to pay!

If you don’t work sth out with your insurer or find a cheaper policy, you risk having to PTS if your dog needs treatment in future. I think you need to find a way.
When I got my second dog i left my vet plan that charges £30pm for wormer, flea treatment and check ups. I use a flea collar for the summer and drontal quarterly for worms. It’s under £45 for the year saving me over £300 (per dog). Re allergies it’s worth trying different kibbles as some have lots of allergens.

100% agree with this. Any insurance provider is going to annually increase the premium. They will also increase the % the amount you have to pay for out of pocket as the dog ages. £59 is not an unrealistic amount to pay for a 7yr old dog.

Have you tried negotiating with animal friends? They were going to put my premiums up by 30% and I told them I couldn't justify that expense and they brought it down to the cost I paid before.

Yeah but it doesn’t work like that. All lung and breathing issues and any skin issues may well be excluded, not just the specific illness/disease she had previously

For example if a dog has injured a leg, a policy may well exclude all future leg problems and not necessarily even just in the specific leg! So you are opening yourself up to multiple potential risks of being uninsured for things you cannot second guess now for ever more.

This is true. My friends dog broke a leg as a puppy and this is now excluded from her insurance. Even if it’s a different leg! She didn’t even make a claim for the original accident as she hadn’t had the puppy insured at that point.

Your dog is at an age where prices are going to start shooting up in general as they’ll be more likely to develop age related issues anyway.

If you can’t afford £59 a month I’d be worried about how you would afford to cover things like surgery for lumps and bumps, etc.