Joys of an aging dog.

[Karma]

Ouch.
Honey's insurance premium is set to shoot up to £60 a month.... she's 8 now.

I'm seriously wondering if we're better not paying insurance and taking the risk - because of her behaviour issues if she were ever to develop a serious illness, we would like not pursue prolonged treatment (pain/illness makes her much more prone to guarding, and I can't managed that around 2 small children, one with additional needs - and it's also an illustration that Honey isn't happy herself...).

I can't really shop around, as they would exclude all skin conditions, as she had some skin issues last year, and early signs of arthritis have also been noted by the vet, so that would be 2 major exclusions from preexisting conditions...

We have credit cards available that could pay for emergency treatment should we need it.

But the thought of not being insured doesn't sit very well with me... :/

[fionad]

When my dogs become expensive to insure I put what I can reasonably afford into a savings account for them. This has paid for bills when needed. I was lucky, both previous dogs lived to a ripe old age before they needed treatment so enough money had accumulated in their account.

[Mudmagnets]

You could always treat your credit card as your insurance policy, or take a savings account and put away so much each month that you would spend on insurance with maybe half of the hefty hike added, so if there is an emergency you have cover two ways.

[zenon_bass]

About 2 years ago, Millie's premium shot up to £50 per month, with a feature of just receiving 70% of the claim in return.   Vets advice was taken to put ££ in a special account; she said it would probably pay for any medication Millie would need.  In fact it paid for a burst histiocytoma operation. So glad I did this.

[aljeana]

Gosh that seems a lot

I have  a 5year old with long standing health condition that they have already paid out 4K for plus thyroid issues & Jodies insurance is £22 per month of £7k per condition she is one I cannot move or afford not to insure.

Amy is 11yrs going 12 so I have to pay £75 excess + 10% due to age  per claim for 3k cover & she is only £26 per month.

There are big differences with insurances even with people using the same company

my 2 year old shot up from £18 per month to £26 I asked why they explained it was because she had lost her discount from her first year I said I could not afford it customer service lady was really good she re applied Jaz again as no claims & came in with £15 per month 😳 she was shocked but says that's how the computer works picks up offers each time they go in can be different.  All came through same cover for less than 2015 🎉

May be worth seeing if there are things you can trim off the policy like over seas travel, even death cover new policies you add them on but if you are running on an older policy they included them as standard so you may be able to trim it down

[PennyB]

Mind you a cat of mine wasn't insured for something this summer and the bill is over 3000, which I didn't have, but thankfully both my own and Langford vets are allowing me to pay it off in installments over a year. Both sets of vets were aware of the issues but I guess they trusted me enough to pay up.

[Jaysmumagain]

Have to admit I didn't make a claim when Ollie was recently ill, after the £69 excess I would have claimed about £75 and as he is 8 years old vet suggested might be best to not claim as premiums could rise.

I have never made a claim - never so really the insurance are on a good thing, it went up £2 a month from this December, OH thinks I am stupid and should have claimed, not sure what to think

One thing vet did say was my insurance company had bad press about not paying a claim for emergency care, so I checked policy and sure enough, if you were to go to out of hours vets and it is deemed as not an emergency they will not pay......

How to you clarify an emergency in my eyes if Ollie was ill at 2am and I felt the need to get dressed and drive 8 miles to emergency vets - it would be an emergency to me.

Julie