To change insurance or not - need advice....

[amanda9586]

We have Poppy insured with Petplan and the quote has just come through for renewal at £352.00 or around £29.00 per month.   We have her on the "insured for life" policy but have never claimed anything (she is now 3).

I've had a quote from Marks and Spencer for £209 per year (with another 15% off if I order on-line).

The issue is that Poppy has to have her anal glands emptied every 4-6 weeks at the moment.  We are trying her on a different diet now to see if that helps but when I spoke to M&S they said that would be classed as a pre-exisitng condition and therfore anything that came from this would not be covered.

Should I stay with Petplan or move?  How often do anal gland issues turn into something more nasty than having them emptied - she has not had any infections in them at all.

I'm not happy to pay the pet plan rate but I would be for peice of mind - I just dont like to be ripped off which I feel like they are at the moment......  Any advice?

[ollie nathan's mum]

How much would your vet charge to empty anal glands? I would move from Pet Plan, have you looked at Sainsburys?

[MegandMolly]

My vet charges £10, so if you were going 6 weekly that's roughly another £80 a year assuming there's no other related treatment

HTH

[Helen]

I think you'll be in the same situation come renewal in 2011 - the M&S policy will go up just as much    Jarv's with M&S and his has gone up to £29 per month this year  (although that's only a couple of quid more expensive per month than last year, wasn't a massive increase)

[amanda9586]

The vet does not charge much about £7 I think but I'm more concerned about it turning into something more nasty that we would not be covered for. 

WOW Helen I cant believe M&S charge you the same as PetPlan - it must be a new customer only offer 

[MOO-MOO]

I'm with Petplan and my Moo-Moo had problems with his anal glands so much that they had to be removed  .
Moo made a complete recovery from this operation and Petplan paid for the lot baring the excess.

I cannot remember for the life of me though, if they calculated back the visits we made to have them emptied and paid up for those visits too..........within that policy year.

(Going off-topic..........Petplan did pay for all his visits and medication within the last policy year when he had poorly ears minus the excess.)

I've got 3 dogs insured with Petplan, a total of over £100 per month, much as I'd like to change, they all have pre-existing conditions, so really I'm snookered.

[Maria]

I would suggest you avoid M&S - when your dog gets older / has a pre-existing condition they really pump the price up.....Boysie's insurance doubled every year since he was 9 (and then they upped the excess and added a percentage), and this year his renewal came in at £121 a MONTH  
He is 12ish , and was diagnosed as hypothyroid last year, but I discovered (by getting an online quote for a dog his age and living at this postcode ) that they had inflated his annual premium by roughly the amount it costs annually to treat / test for his condition   When I rang to query they said they were starting to 'personalise' quotes based on claim history - so effectively they had added the cost of his treatment to his premium - except when you took into account the excess and percentage, they were charging more  
We decided to bear the cost of his thyroid treatment and moved him to Axa, which has worked out cheaper than staying with M&S.

[Helen]

The vet does not charge much about £7 I think but I'm more concerned about it turning into something more nasty that we would not be covered for. 

WOW Helen I cant believe M&S charge you the same as PetPlan - it must be a new customer only offer 

I know    Remember he's a male dog and because they all fight (*cough*) they are at greater risk of injury and requiring vet treatment (or so I was told   )  Next year we'll be shopping around as Jarvis will be 6 and I bet they'll triple it  

[amanda9586]

Well I think for now better the devil you know and I'll stay with Petplan - I did ring them and tell them I was going to switch and would they not be prepared to match and they offered me £2.50 per month off     Better than nothing I suppose.....