Is it normal for a new vet to say this?

[stirling]

"Before your first visit, we strongly advise you to sign up for pet insurance"

??
Registered my 8 month old kitten and only wanted to have her checked and neutered etc. I live in a ridiculous area where people have a huge amount of money and the residents are completely money driven /obsessed (except me of course!) but since I'm a highly sceptical person, I'm fearing this means

"we plan on exaggerating or inventing medical problems so that we can maximise your costs which you'll claim back from insurance"

Of course, I could be paranoid!

Absolutely get pet insurance. There is a few companies that allow payment direct to the vet minus your excess. Some get you to pay upfront then claim back. All insurances are not the same. Your vet will advise you which is best for you.
At my practise if you have no insurance and can’t pay we will allow a payment plan to be set up.

We do deal with animals other than dog/cats. Hamsters teeth need filed if not looked after correctly rabbits & rats too, some broken tails ear infections. Parrots snakes most domestic pets.

@Poppy101010

Vets recommend getting insurance because treatments can be expensive, and many pet owners can't afford this without being insured.

Also, if you attend the vet and your pet is diagnosed with a condition before being insured, no insurance company will cover the costs for that condition.

Best to get insured before any illness or conditions arise!

^ This

I'm a pet owner and strongly recommend you sign up for insurance before your first visit too, the best and most comprehensive lifetime policy you can buy.
I have spent literally thousands of pounds at our vet over the last seven years, managing ongoing conditions without insurance. Big regret of mine.
Do not underestimate how expensive pet ownership is.
If you buy it before you go, then any undiagnosed, inherited conditions are more likely to be covered.

We just got a bill of £1200 for our two year old cat for hospital treatment for a week, blood tests, antibiotics etc. Thank for we had insurance!

We've had a quote this morning for somewhere between £800-£1k for a dental extraction, tooth cleaning, anaesthesia and other related treatment for our 8 year old cat. I'm so glad it will be covered by our insurance. Get the insurance, get the best one you can afford, make sure you read what is covered as many won't cover dental treatment, make sure you pay attention to whether the limit for each condition is for one year or restarts each year. There's also things like payment for assistance if your pet is lost which may be useful if your cats will be going outside. We use bought by many.

Thanks again everyone, learned a lot from this thread.
Took out lifetime with Animal friends?(?) at £4000 annual fees as opposed to the £6000 the receptionist recommended as I couldn't afford the highest tariff so have to keep fingers crossed.

Went cross eyed searching reviews for pet insurance companies, even the supposed better ones like petplan and waggel are littered with "no pay out" reviews...

@stirling

Thanks again everyone, learned a lot from this thread. Took out lifetime with Animal friends?(?) at £4000 annual fees as opposed to the £6000 the receptionist recommended as I couldn't afford the highest tariff so have to keep fingers crossed.

Went cross eyed searching reviews for pet insurance companies, even the supposed better ones like petplan and waggel are littered with "no pay out" reviews...

I'd recommend checking if your vets do direct claims with Animal Friends. Admitted its been 8 years since I worked in a vet practice but we didn't, as they were crap at paying out. I'd really recommend looking for higher cover too - £4000 is quite low. Is that per year, per condition (ie if the cat got an ongoing condition does it renew each year or is it just one cap of £4k per condition)?

I took out insurance for the latest cat from 8 weeks old and have paid far too much with zero return.

However, knowing him, on the one occasion he needs veterinary treatment, he will do something so spectacularly expensive that it'll be worth it in the end.

I hate to put a downer on this but Animal Friends are cheap for a reason. They are notoriously bad at paying out and vets won't deal with them directly so you'll often find you need to pay the bill and then get reimbursed later.

I checked local neighbourhood group for a recommendation :(
Argh. What a minefield. The more expensive ones had awful reviews too!

It's difficult, isn't it? People tend to post their bad experiences, which is why I recommend seeing who your vets won't do direct claims with as its a better indicator of who is bad at paying out.

Petplan is usually a good bet. My current insurer is Bought By Many who had paid out over £6k in the last 6 months with no issues, & both my primary & secondary vets are happy to do direct claims with them.

AF had a tendency to wiggle out of things - when I helped with insurance claims for a while, I spent literally months arguing with them over a case where they refused to cover a leg problem as "it might have been related to a previous claim". The original injury was something like a cut paw pad that needed stitches, the new claim was a car accident which broke the same leg - but they argued with us for ages! (Details changed a little to be non identifying).

On average you won't get value from pet insurance premiums.
But that means you have to be prepared for at least occasional high bills

I'd be annoyed if my vet was so pushy about insurance
Mine have never once recommended it
Our vets are hugely relieved if ppl just get their pets annual jabs & animals are wormed, not obese

I took my dog to the vet this afternoon. 10 minutes examination. £50 + £32 medication. But that means that if he needs further treatment, I'll only pay £18.

Our vet advises this, but in on the basis that if the vet identifies a problem, you may never be insured for anything relating to it, whereas if you take insurance out before any medical condition in known, you'll be covered, at least for a period of time.

When we got our pup, she followed my other dog off a high wall. Had to take him to the vets, they asked if I had insurance if he needed treatment. Didn't have it that day but did the next day. Glad I did as 6 month later he had to have a growth on his leg. It cost about £500 to be operated on, I got my money back because of the insurance I got.

We have just spent over £1000 on a scan for our cat to diagnose lymphoma. We dont have insurance, but we have had her 11 years so probably would have paid out that much in premiums over time.
We didnt go for chemo which would have cost 4k initially but she seems to be doing ok on steroids which are £15 a month.