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

[Archie bean]

I did this with my last cocker. I started with a lump sum and kept adding to it. He had his own bank account and card (nurses at the vet loved it!). His pancreatitis was costly but other than that he had no problems. I was advised against treatment for the anal gland cancer that eventually took him from me. I could have tried surgery which would have been a minimum of £3000. His account didn't have enough for it but if I had thought it would be worth trying I did have other savings. I sometimes wonder if I would have gone ahead if he had been insured. Three different vets told me not to put him through it though.
Vet bills are getting higher and higher so I decided to get Archie insured. His complications after castration have already meant it has paid off. I have kept his savings account open though. I use it for routine vet trips, worming etc and minor trips that are not covered by the excess. It's a relief to know it is there. He even has his picture printed on his bank card now!

[JennyBee]

I did this with my last cocker. I started with a lump sum and kept adding to it. He had his own bank account and card (nurses at the vet loved it!). His pancreatitis was costly but other than that he had no problems. I was advised against treatment for the anal gland cancer that eventually took him from me. I could have tried surgery which would have been a minimum of £3000. His account didn't have enough for it but if I had thought it would be worth trying I did have other savings. I sometimes wonder if I would have gone ahead if he had been insured. Three different vets told me not to put him through it though.
Vet bills are getting higher and higher so I decided to get Archie insured. His complications after castration have already meant it has paid off. I have kept his savings account open though. I use it for routine vet trips, worming etc and minor trips that are not covered by the excess. It's a relief to know it is there. He even has his picture printed on his bank card now!

It was anal gland cancer that my aunt's girl Bliss had. She was given a prognosis of a year with treatment, and the specialist was incredibly surprised when it spread so fast and went into her spine. Seven weeks from initial diagnosis. It has made me (as well as my aunt) question what I would do if something similar happened in the future, I know Brodie wouldn't cope very well with such a serious illness anyway as she is such a delicate little girl. With or without treatment Bliss wouldn't have lasted long at all, poor wee girl, but sadly at the time there was no way to know that .

I think with the vet's advice at the time and her own personal knowledge of Bliss, my aunt at the time would have went ahead (somehow) even if Bliss hadn't been insured. She was so healthy in herself (only 9) and the treatment had given good results in other dogs. I guess it is one aspect (or dilemma) of treating serious illnesses that insurance has brought us.

[Pearly]

Just had the bill for Pearls anal gland removal (a very modest £549 given the procedure IMO) if I had set side the amount of premium per month, since she came home, I would be about £1000 in the red given the pyrometers, Sweetcorngate, teething infection, UTIs and stress (didn't claim for the last couple mentioned and have accounted for these plus the excesses paid per condition) 

Current tally is (4 cats 1 dog, total age is 25.5 years) just over £50,000 in claims, excluding premiums including excesses (and a £5,000 house insurance claim for the haemophiliac cat bleed deep clean/fix!)

I have insurance for all 3 (Chester and Harvey are no longer here) and really hope I never have to claim again......

According to my Vet I've just been unlucky 

[Archie bean]

Just had the bill for Pearls anal gland removal (a very modest £549 given the procedure IMO) if I had set side the amount of premium per month, since she came home, I would be about £1000 in the red given the pyrometers, Sweetcorngate, teething infection, UTIs and stress (didn't claim for the last couple mentioned and have accounted for these plus the excesses paid per condition) 

Current tally is (4 cats 1 dog, total age is 25.5 years) just over £50,000 in claims, excluding premiums including excesses (and a £5,000 house insurance claim for the haemophiliac cat bleed deep clean/fix!)

I have insurance for all 3 (Chester and Harvey are no longer here) and really hope I never have to claim again......

According to my Vet I've just been unlucky 

It certainly adds up over time doesn't it?! I'm surprised the haemophiliac cat story hasn't made it onto one of those "top ten strangest insurance claim" websites. 
(Archie is looking lovingly at you in that pic on his debit card. Your foot is also on the right hand corner!  )

[Lucianne]

Thanks so much for all your replies and experiences. It's such a difficult decision! I'm going to re-read all these posts and also show my partner this thread.

I thought that Crufts might drop the premium when I said I wasn't going to renew, but they didn't.

I think this scuppers our hope of getting another dog this year too.   

[LurcherGirl]

My feeling about this is that unless you have around £10,000 at your disposal at any one point, I would not risk not insuring a dog. It's not just accidents that can become very expensive very quickly, but kidney, liver or heart trouble for example where medication can become very expensive, degenerative cruciate or disc disease which may result in surgery, etc.

I am in the lucky position of being able to put such a sum of money away next year after the sale of my house and I will also add some every month (probably around £100) and cover smaller bills from my "own pocket" rather than from that fund. Only once that fund is set up will I cancel my dogs' insurance policies and replace them with cheap accident only or 12-month limit policies (and become a member of the Dogs Trust to get third party insurance cover). After the thousands and thousands of pounds of claims that my lurcher and saluki managed to rake up over the years, I wouldn't be prepared to risk it without it.

[linda c]

It seems many take the insurance route for the very large unexpected bill that you could have. I used to always insure my dogs, starting with one then a second. That was no problem as insurance premiums were reasonable, only claimed once in 14 years for an accident when out with the springer, a Sunday morning emergency call out for a dog with a gash in its leg down to the bone, not nice at all.
But even then the bill was less the cost of a years premium.

The problem of paying annual premiums start to come up when you end up with 4 or 5 dogs, it then starts to get a bit pricey. Did this for a few years, which was a good job as one of the cockers developed quite a few on going problems which were covered by the insurance and they paid out over £2,000, that was 6 or 7 years ago so would have been much higher now.
However when his next premium arrived, it had more than doubled. I then decided not to renew any of the insurances and put money away that I would have paid for premiums plus a bit extra.

Over the years this has covered all vets bills, and there is still over £3,000 in the dog fund with payments still going in monthly. So I am happy to keep doing this. But I would say if you only have one dog and can find an insurance policy with reasonable premiums it is worth taking out if you're not financially in a position to cover very large unexpected vets fees.  

[chrisp]

I personally would insure my dog as you never know what is around the corner.  OH and I were going to put away a set amount each month but then thought what if you were faced with a huge bill eg. £3000 and you had only saved £500.  My friends dog is about to have a cataract removed from one eye.  She is only 4 years old and the bill will be around £3000. 

It's a difficult decision as it gets so expensive as the dog gets older.

[jasper_boy]

I have to say that I would never have a dog (either rescue or breeder bought) that isn't insured. Piper is a rescue cocker girl who has always been healthy (apart from an incident where she ate raisins just a week after getting her!) but I kept her insurance up. This year she had what looked like an episode of pancreatitis but after tests it has turned out to be IBD. The amount that her insurance has paid out this year so far is just over 4k 

Jacob is a 4 year old cocker boy with his new hips, scans, xrays, ongoing meds, and his continual rehab treatment, Axa must have paid out 15/20k easily so far.

I also have Vixen here, who is a 8 year old cross breed girl who arrived with SLE, so I (and the rescue) have always covered meds and treatment for that, but I also insured her with Axa. Unfortunately Axa increased her premium by 470% this year so I cancelled, thinking that I could insure her with someone else. Unfortunately every company have declined to insure her so far, Pet Plan even sent me a nice letter saying that they are unable to insure a dog with Vixen's condition (she now also has a metabolic disease which is killing her brain which Axa had been covering, but obviously any new company wouldn't cover pre-existing conditions, but the condition itself manifests new behaviours like increased aggression and the insurance companies just dont want to deal with any potential incidents).

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I started just saving, but I figured insurance was better. Whilst I can afford to still save, I do both.

[JamiesGirl]

Interesting to read the replies to thus post as at the moment jamie has his own little savings account but as I've only had him since April there isn't an awful lot in there. I have savings which I would use if he needed it but have wondered if insurance would be better, bearing in mind he is 8 now

[BobnDot]

Following on a rather costly experience with a previous dog of ours we took out insurance, a 7k lifetime policy, on Milly as soon as we got her.

We also started contributing to a plan at our local vets to cover check-ups, inoculations, teeth etc., then, just to be sure, we started a £50/month savings scheme for her at our bank.

When Chaz came along we did exactly the same for him except for the savings scheme which we upped to £75/month to cover additional costs for either of them. As of last month there was just over £2k in their savings which hasn't needed to be used so far.

Luckily our insurance premiums are still quite reasonable but I'm happy for the savings to grow as it'll be there as a bit of a buffer for any unforeseen costs in the future.

Bob.

[woollypigs]

We almost didn't insure our rescue crossbreed when we got her in September. Four months into ownership and we are very glad we did (to put it mildly!) as she has had to have expensive surgery on her elbows.

Yearly premium with Petplan: £174.30
Amount we will claim this policy year: at least £5000.

 

[Lucianne]

I just wanted to thank everyone again for their input. It's such a difficult decision to make and it makes me  that insurers have us over a barrel like this! I think, on balance, that we'll probably reinsure her this year. I still don't know what to do for the best though! 

[Robbie34]

I have Henry insured with John Lewis, and it's a good job that I did.  Just after Henry's second birthday he had a seizure and was diagnosed with Epilepsy: he also suffered Pancreatitis.  His vet bills have exceeded one thousand pounds and his monthly medication for Epilepsy costs £62.71.  His insurance last year was £287 and increased this year to £332.  His medication alone costs £752 per annum, and he has to have blood tests every six months.  Consequently, I'm well in pocket.  I have also insured Jamie with John Lewis and his premium is £283 per annum, and is also a lifelong policy.

You may be lucky and your dog will not suffer any major illness or injury, but you will have to take that chance.  I had Charley insured with M&S, and when he reached eleven years of age the premium soared to £795 plus I had to pay the first £75 and 20% of the cost of treatment.  Naturally, I cancelled his insurance, and it only cost me about £500 in total in vet's fees for the rest of his life.  He was PTS at fifteen and a half. 

You will have to make a choice, but it could be very costly if your Cocker has health problems.