Insurance for Elderly Dog?

[madameimadam]

Hi!
I suspect I know the answer to this but wondered who you insure your dog with if they’re very old, if at all?

We’ve just had our renewal through from Petplan and it’s gone up to £175 per month!! This is, admittedly, for a very old boy - he’s a 14 yr old schnauzer.

It’s a tough question but is it worth renewing? 😢 At his ripe old age, if he did become ill, we’d probably let him go peacefully rather than put him through expensive treatment. Sounds awful, but he’s done very well getting to 14 with just a few occasional niggles. (He sometimes is a little bit stiff when he gets up but mostly as he’s been snoring loudly in his basket for hours!)

Not sure what to do…
And sorry if that sounds mercenary. He’s a much loved, slightly deaf but gorgeous grumpy old man. I was just taken aback by the insurance quote!!!

Im a vet, and i often advise my clients on this.
I think you are being sensible- most of the big expenses are for major surgery, which at his age you might well decide against. Eg I would pay out for spinal surgery on my 8 yo dog, but I probably wouldnt put my 14 yo dog through it, as she already had other issues. So not heartless, imo

We stopped insuring ours when we decided they were at an age we weren’t going to put them through surgery. We were burnt a bit though by the insurance company never paying out when we needed it to though, it was very frustrating.

We always intended to put what would have been the insurance money into a separate account if it should be needed but didn’t get around to it. You could do this as a buffer if there was an expense at some stage, and if not needed you have some savings to use at a later date.

Ours lived to 14 and 16 so we made quite a bit in not paying the insurance premiums.

We stopped insuring our elderly greyhound for the last year or two, the premiums were too expensive with lots of exclusions and extras to pay. He had a dental (not covered anyway) about a year before we lost him and I knew I wouldn’t put him through another GA/surgery.

I still insure my 14 year old Golden. Realistically there’s not much I would do if she became sick, but on the very small chance there’s something I could have done and I didn’t have insurance I’d never forgive myself. But I’m very lucky in that I can afford ‘peace of mind’ insurance rather than ‘necessity’ insurance.

This happened with our golden retriever when she became very old. The premiums were ridiculous. We chose instead to put £100 each month into a savings account, with the intention we'd use it for minor ailments but if she became seriously ill we'd let her go. Fortunately we never needed to touch it, so we used some of it to have her individually cremated and were able to keep the rest.

I adopt very old dogs typically 12+; never had insurance because I could never find anyone who would insure… I probably think if I was paying £175 a month, I’d roughly get my money back a year so probably wouldn’t be worth it on balance. I have only ever had one huge vets bill of 3k plus, and that was really exceptional. On other occasions I could roughly tell you that end of life care- eg stroke, treatment and the end have cost £700-1000 depending on situation.
beat of luck with your search. I have had 7 elderly dogs now; things that have occurred health wise - stroke, heart failure, cancer. The 3k operation was to remove the inner ear tube of a 17 year old Yorkshire terrier.. normally it’s not good to operate at that age; I had to do it because he’d had such a rough time with years of neglect and had only had a few good years with me, and he could not carry on with the pain of this ear as the cyst was growing and blocking / expanding the ear tubes. So I went ahead to give him a last chance at some more good life; and he lived until nearly 20! So that was a big one. In your shoes I’d just keep a strong emergency fund. Xo

I switched to a basic Tesco policy around 25 pounds a month for my 14 year old boy just so he had some cover.

We have a 14 year old lab and we let her insurance lapse last year for the reasons you’ve described. She currently has a minor health problem, which has been quite costly to officially diagnose & treat, but less costly than a few months of insurance premiums would have been. If she needed something major (surgery) there’s no way we’d put her through it now. Her overall condition has declined a lot over the last year or so, but it sounds like your schnauzer is relatively fit, and could potentially live a few more years (we had a border terrier who lived to nearly 17). In your shoes, I’d probably make a conscious effort to put aside the money that I’d have spent on insurance just in case you need it for vet bills, and if you don’t, that’ll be a bonus!

Don't renew it. I think the insurance companies put in so many exclusions & small print it is not worth it.

Put what you've been paying monthly into premium bonds. Then if anything is needed, at least some of the money will be there. As a bonus you may also win.

When our insurance took a big jump not that long ago I decided to stop paying.
My dogs are quite young but I think it's the breed

I set up a standing order into premium bonds for them to cover any big expenses and have a credit card as back up while it builds to a decent amount so fingers crossed we don't need it.
Could you do something like this, Set the premium aside in a separate account for vet fees?
At that 14 there's alot I would happily pay for in an otherwise healthy dog and alot that would get compassionate end of life care. This happend with our gsd years ago and our cat not long ago both were too advanced to make a recovery so they got an amazing last few days and a kind end.

In your situation, I'd probably not insure OP.
But if anyone is looking for insurance for older dog, Waggel don't have an upper age limit and you don't have to contribute to any claims once they reach a certain age (no co-insurance). They've paid out for me - not large amounts. Monthly payments are high but I think it's worth it as her arthritis meds are £50pcm (that's online, more from the vet) which is covered so that takes a chunk out of the monthly amount.

I kept my insurance going, but my dog had a couple of chronic conditions so I was getting back roughly the same amount as my premiums, possibly a bit more.

I think, unless you have ongoing conditions which the insurance pays for, once premiums reach the 3 figure level per month, it’s probably more sense to put the money away each month as realistically, you are unlikely to aggressively treat illness in old age

Thanks everyone. Lots of wise words and great advice.
Think we’ll probably go for cancelling the premium and putting the money into a savings account instead.

There’s no way we’d put the old boy through extensive surgery for example. I’d imagine the possibility of sort of thing is what we’re paying for so it doesn’t make sense to continue. Especially if the insurers would no doubt have various exceptions or caveats in the small print!!!

Anyway, here he is. He’s a fine looking old gentleman:

Aww, he is a lovely boy! ♥️

The same as @noctilucentcloud

DDog1 is nearly 13 and her insurance is a shade over £100 a month (she's a small cross breed) However the insurance cheerfully and swiftly pay out for 80% of her meds which means what I actually pay is very reasonable.

U til recently I've routinely cancelled after about 11 years of age. However I got horribly burnt during Covid and ended up with a very large bill and a dead dog (this was in the height of lockdown when we couldn't actually speak to the vet face to face so really quite exceptional circumstances)

At 14 I think I would continue if I could afford it on the basis that it was unlikely to be long term and I'd paid up until that point.

I'm with ManyPets and they even paid out when our last dog was PTS at the grand old age of 13. I was surprised they did that, and they even covered the home visit.

@madameimadam
I would speak with the vet.
Ask what palliative care would cost and discuss options for when the worst happens.
My thoughts are should doggo become very ill, that medication to keep him comfortable and pts would be the difficult choice to proceed with.
I think you are doing the right thing to plan early as it's what we need to do for ourselves as well.
I love schnauzers btw, such lovely and extremely clever doggies. 🩷🩷🩷

I was with pet plan for my 3 dogs up until last week. The premiums for my 12 and 13 year old dogs jumped up £40 per month to £268. My youngest dog is 4 and never had a claim,. 12 year old is healthy but 13 year old has a monthly arthritis jab costing around £100 which the insurance paid 80% towards. Decided to cancel them all and self fund the jab, putting money in a savings account for other vet bills. The insurance costs I feel are eye watering.