Does anyone not insure, but put money aside instead? How has that worked out?

[Lucianne]

We've had Bella insured since we got her - she's now four - and despite not claiming this last year, there's been a bit of a jump in premium (premiums and claims listed at the bottom of this post). We're with Crufts, who now have been absorbed into the Kennel Club, from what I can tell, and aren't insuring new claims. In view of the AXA thread, I'm thinking that they may well want to get rid of existing customers too.

Having read some of the threads here, I realise that at the moment this isn't a high premium at all, but considering that...
 
a) she's still young and the premiums are only going to increase, and
b) they've got us over a barrel as her pancreatitis, although now well managed, will never get insured with anyone else...

we are thinking of stopping the insurance and putting away £300 a year (increasing as she gets older) into a vet fee fund instead. In addition, I'd get the cheapest possible accident only (and 3rd party insurance) cover. We don't claim for the £50 odd quid visits that happen every so often for anal gland expression/ ear stuff etc as it is, as our excess is £50 plus 10%. Touching wood, her pancreatitis is now well managed as we know the triggers and early warning signs.

So my question is... does anyone else do this, and has it come back to bite you in the arse, so to speak?

The premiums and claims have been as follows:

2014 £338.04 pa
2013 £266 pa
2012 £205.45 pa
2011 £152.46 pa
2010 £144.10 pa
 
Claims:
Acute pancreatitis...  Oct 2012 £509
Eating lots of chocolate...  Oct 2010 £413
Grass seed removal from ear...  Aug 2010 £161

[JohnK]

Sounds a good idea, as long as you don't use it for other things! We did similar when we had our first two cockers, but vet fees are so much higher nowadays

[Patp]

Does your vet do an accident plan?

Ours does a treatment plan for £11 per month to cover all flea / worming treatments, 2 checkups a year and boosters, as well as 10% off all bills.

You can top it up with an additional plan for another £10 which covers any accidents (the cost of repair to your dog can run into £1000's with x-rays, scans , surgery)

I am not sure if you can do the accident plan without the treatment plan, but it might be worth asking your vet.  You could then put another £10 or so away each month to cover illness.

[MrsOmalley]

Many years ago we had three dogs and four cats and chose to put money away each month to cover vet bills as insurance costs would have been huge. We continued this for many years as animals came and went.  We had two cats who were on long term medication but it was still more beneficial than an insurance plan.  When we got the girls we did briefly consider insurance then decided against it, the girls have their own bank account, currently overdrawn! which has money paid in each month and is supposed to cover all vet bills and other things like new beds! They seem too have had too many new coats, leads, beds etc recently hence the reason they are overdrawn.  Our vet offers a practice plan for £11 a month with a small reduction for second dog which we do as it spreads the costs over the year this covers fleas, worms, annual boosters and 10% off treatments.  We are aware that we could incur some heavy vet bills but our method works for us.

[Sheryl]

I was caught out when my uninsured dog developed AIHA. It cost us thousands in tests and medications over the years. After that I decided that my dogs would always be insured. Which is just as well as Lyla had a disc op aged 4 which cost upward of £5000. To me, insurance is about the extras too, we could have claimed for accommodation whilst Lyla was in Fife (but didn't) but we did claim mileage allowance. If she had needed hydrotherapy or acupuncture or physio we could have had that within the policy. I'm always mindful that if either of them caused an accident, I wouldn't have the money for compensation if we were to be sued. Which is, of course, highly unlikely but then I thought that about a disc problem too.

[Patp]

I'm always mindful that if either of them caused an accident, I wouldn't have the money for compensation if we were to be sued. Which is, of course, highly unlikely but then I thought that about a disc problem too.

Some household insurances cover Public Liability for damage caused by household pets to third party's

[Mudmagnets]

I think with the rising insurance prices, many are going to face  the unnerving prospect of choosing whether to insure or not.

I didn't have Smudge insured and although any extensive treatment  would not have saved him, I wonder if it had been something that could have been treated like say a broken leg etc., how would I have coped with that.

So when it came to Minstrel I decided that as my bank account was at a point that I could not have covered any major vet bills, it was better to make sure he was covered.

[JennyBee]

My last cocker wasn't insured and had a chronic eye condition - we were very lucky to have a good vet who cares more about his clients than money. And that he never developed any serious health problems.

I seriously considered cancelling Brodie's insurance at one point, but would never consider it now. Brodie's bout of pancreatitis came to £1000, and in the same year she had chronic ear problems - three appointments with a specialist alone were another £1000; I wouldn't like to add up how much the constant visits to my own vet have cost. She has further ear problems which is going to cost more and could be something that needs treatment for the rest of her life.

My aunt's experience also put me off. She went through almost £7000 in seven weeks when her nine year old cocker was diagnosed with cancer, and it would have went much higher but unfortunately poor Bliss had to be pts after it spread much, much faster than expected.

The vet plan is one thing to consider, ours is quite good although I can't remember the details offhand... If you do go ahead it is important to make sure your dog is covered for third party insurance. I know of one dog who caused thousands of pounds worth of damage in a car accident

[Cockertime Blues]

This is a subject near and dear to my heart Lucianne.

We've owned dogs for 40 years and have never had insurance and only had minor expenses in the past.  We were always working so could have re-earned a few grand.  Then we retired 5 years ago and finally 2 years ago decided to take out insurance on our 2 dogs as, if they incurred major expenditure we could never make the money back up.  So 2 years ago we insured the 2 dogs under Pet Plan at a premium of £48/month for lifetime coverage.  After one year without claims the premium went up by 25%, so we decided that wasn't right and we'd knock it on the head.  We also bore in mind that the one pet most likely to have an accident/injury was our cat and we had not covered her.  And our major expenses, ie. vaccinations, MOT's, etc., were never covered anyway.

So last year we opened a bank account for the Pets.  We put in £5000 from savings and a direct deposit for £600 per year goes into it.  If we've no expenses at least the money is still ours after the pets' lifetimes but we realise this strategy could well come back to bite us in the arse.  But at the moment we think we're doing the right thing.

ETA:  I think the less money a person has, the more they need insurance but, as a general rule I'm not keen on insurance of any kind because whatever happens, chances are you won't be covered for some daft reason - that's been my experience anyway.  Also, isn't damage by your dogs covered by house insurance?

[Nicola]

The issue I'd have with this is that you just don't know what is going to crop up; you may be lucky and nothing will happen but a few hundred pounds a year isn't going to cover much in the event of a major or ongoing illness or a bad accident - Rodaidh had relatively very quick and simple surgery to remove a grass seed from his paw in September and that cost £260. The only way I would consider not having insurance for the dogs is if I was absolutely certain I had access to quite a few thousands of pounds that I would be able to use for vet bills if I had to AND replace if/when I had to use it up - I have 3 dogs insured up to £7k each so I would need a significant contingency fund in place or I could be left unable to afford treatment which insurance would have covered, or in case, god forbid, 2 or more of the dogs got sick or injured in a short space of time.

Illnesses and injuries can come totally out of the blue and bills reach astronomical amounts - Tilly's IBD diagnosis and initial treatment hit very suddenly and cost well over £5000 in less than a year (multiple scans, x-rays, an intestinal biopsy, specialist referrals, an endoscopy, constant blood tests, stays at our vet and nearly a week in intensive care at Edinburgh University vet hospital, endless drugs, specialist diets), and the set of diagnostic x-rays for her osteoarthritis were over £800. My friend's Collie ruptured her cruciate ligament on a walk a few months ago and has needed two lots of surgery as the first one didn't hold; last time I spoke to her the bill was over £3000.

I would never want to be in a situation where I couldn't pay for treatment the dogs needed, but I likewise get the frustration of insurance costs - my lot's premiums cost me over £100 a month and I have to fork out a £120 excess plus 20% of the bill for 2 out of 3 of them because they're 7 or over, but overall I still wouldn't risk not having it. Maybe with one dog it'd be more realistic but with 3 - 2 working dogs and another chronically unhealthy one - if something major happened to more than one of them at the same time I'd be totally up the creek.

[Cockertime Blues]

Problem is, Nicola, most people with multiple or older pets can't realistically afford insurance, especially if they're greyhounds or rescues with an ongoing condition.

[Mudmagnets]

I think too, what does not always get remembered is that insurance covers more than vet bills, mine (petplan) covers if the dog is lost/stolen, or in the unfortunate event of a pet dying - I realise this would not be at the top of an owner's priorities at the time - the insurance will cover the cost of the pet purchase price, not a nice thought I know  - but it does have to be considered when weighing these things up.

[Nicola]

Problem is, Nicola, most people with multiple or older pets can't realistically afford insurance, especially if they're greyhounds or rescues with an ongoing condition.

I have all of those except the greyhounds - multiple dogs, older dog, rescue and chronic illness - and it is very expensive but I factor it into the essential 'running costs' of having the dogs same as food and everything else. Insurance/vet costs are a major factor in the number of dogs I can own at any one time - I would love to have another couple of dogs but at the moment I couldn't easily afford to pay 2 more sets of high insurance costs every month as well as everything else. Definitely each to their own though, a lot of people either have enough contingency money in place or they are ok with taking the risk but I'm not in either of those camps - I have savings but not enough to cover 3+ dogs for life and unfortunately definitely not instantly replaceable - if only I am however considering decreasing Tilly's level of cover based on her existing conditions because if anything else major happens to her I am not going to put her through extensive treatment or major surgery, but I will still keep some level of cover for routine treatment, 3rd party and accidents - she had to have a thorn removed from her eye earlier this year which was nearly £500. My dogs are terrible though, between Tills' catalogue of illnesses plus her and Caoimhe with their eyes this year and Ro who is a magnet for sodding grass seeds they are pretty much single handedly keeping my vet's kids in college, they should have a statue in the car park

[Cockertime Blues]

I think that's a very sensible decision re Tilly.  (You might want to consider goggles for her though  )  We're all responsible adults and make the decisions that are right for us and hopefully best for our pets.  I'm wary of taking Alfie to vet again though cos last time he went I came home with a cat 

[Nicola]

  Crikey, I thought between them my lot had covered quite a range of illness and accidents but none of them have been prescribed a cat yet

Don't talk to me about goggles, Helen was designing a suit of armour helmet with a visor for Rodaidh after Caoimhe and then Tilly had their thorn/eye incidents