Does anyone have an alternative to taking out insurance?

[Lily Freya]

We have been mulling over the idea of starting a 'doggie account' for our three, and putting the amount we spend on insurance into it each month.

Ours reasons are because we are sick to death of making claims and being told that we can't be paid on this occasion for this, that or another reason.

Do you think it is taking too big a risk with three........?  Or does anyone else do this?

[Crazy Cocker Gang]

Can i ask who you are with? I have never had a claim denied and have made a few 

Just for an example Seths eye problem was first seen by the vet on a thursday and by the Saturday I had handed over £2411 (which im claiming back)
so bills can really rack up quickly.

One thing i would absolutley do if not insuring them is to take out public liability insurance, i think the dogs trust offer this.

[Lily Freya]

Can i ask who you are with? I have never had a claim denied and have made a few 

Just for an example Seths eye problem was first seen by the vet on a thursday and by the Saturday I had handed over £2411 (which im claiming back)
so bills can really rack up quickly.

One thing i would absolutley do if not insuring them is to take out public liability insurance, i think the dogs trust offer this.

We have Freya (our 9 year old) with Saga as she has always been with them.  The two boys are with Petplan.

Freya has an ongoing problem with thyroid, and she has dry eye.  But, when we first took out the policy it was not a policy where they will cover things for life.  So, we are between a rock and a hard place.  We can't really change her insurer because of pre-exisiting things.

The boys, sadly, came to us with a virus similar to parvo..............and we nearly lost them both.  They were covered from the breeder by Petplan, and luckily all was paid.  However, if they get anything that can be linked to this dreadful illness.............like tummy problems, the insurer will not pay out.  We get part payments, but they are never substantial.

[Lily Freya]

Can i ask who you are with? I have never had a claim denied and have made a few 

Just for an example Seths eye problem was first seen by the vet on a thursday and by the Saturday I had handed over £2411 (which im claiming back)
so bills can really rack up quickly.

One thing i would absolutley do if not insuring them is to take out public liability insurance, i think the dogs trust offer this.

Yes...........I agree with you here.................we would have to take out public liability.  Oh, it is so hard to know whether to change the present situation or not.

[Crazy Cocker Gang]

Freya has an ongoing problem with thyroid, and she has dry eye.  But, when we first took out the policy it was not a policy where they will cover things for life.  So, we are between a rock and a hard place.  We can't really change her insurer because of pre-exisiting things.

If the insurance are not covering her treatment anyways it wont make a difference if you change. Any new insurance will not cover the pre existing conditions but will cover new claims.

[Lily Freya]

Yes that's a point.  Maybe we can find an insurer who will give some kind of discount for three.

I would hate to be in a situation where we could not afford treatment for any of them.  But, lately we just seem to be paying out and paying out irrespective of paying £96 in insurance each month.

I don't resent paying for their treatment at all, they are our first consideration, but it just gets to the point where you start to think that you might do better to make a plan of your own.

[*Jay*]

I stopped our policies once the premiums and excess more than doubled a few years ago....it will probably come back and bite me on the bum but it's the chance you take    In saying that, I did pick up a leaflet for a Sainsburys policy while doing my shopping and have been meaning to get a quote.

My vets do a savings plan where you can either set up a standing order to them each month or you can just pay money in to your account as and when you want. This is what I do and I don't use it to pay for regular prescriptions or routine visits - that way there should be a nice cushion to soften the blow should anything unexpected happen that results in a huge bill. I only started doing this after losing Vegas - his bill from being admitted on the Tuesday am to being PTS Wednesday am was just under £700. If we had managed to stabilise him and continue treatment, I can only imagine how quickly that would have risen into the thousands   It wouldn't have been a problem as I had the proceeds of my house sale tucked away for putting towards a new house so I just used that (he timed it well  ).  The savings plan will probably be good to cover something for a few hundred pounds but it would be difficult to save enough to cover anything really substantial which is why I'm toying with the idea of insurance again - and of course, the more dogs you have, the more chance of encountering a huge unexpected bill along the way. 

[Maria n Dennis]

I would never cancel my insurance for mine , i had thought about putting money aside each month for them and im glad that i didnt because it would never have amounted anywhere near the 5 1/2 thousand that Dennis has just cost and i wouldnt have been able to pay for his treatment. I pay £15 per month with greenbee Dennis isnt even 2 yet but if he was and i had 24 payments saved it would still only be about £360. I know that my monthly payment is going to go up but Dennis is still here so to me its worth it.

[Lily Freya]

I would never cancel my insurance for mine , i had thought about putting money aside each month for them and im glad that i didnt because it would never have amounted anywhere near the 5 1/2 thousand that Dennis has just cost and i wouldnt have been able to pay for his treatment. I pay £15 per month with greenbee Dennis isnt even 2 yet but if he was and i had 24 payments saved it would still only be about £360. I know that my monthly payment is going to go up but Dennis is still here so to me its worth it.

Oh thanks.................I am thinking that we should carry on as we are. 

[fionad]

I pay £8 per month for Zara and £10 per month for Lexi. I think you need to shop around! Zara claimed £1200 in her first year and Lexi claimed £450 in her first six weeks!

My premiums have not gone up very much at all. We are with E Sure.

When Penny and Sophie were young I could not really afford insurance for them, but when Penny got to about 10 I decided to open a savings account for them. The amount I saved paid for all Penny's treatment in her last year. Sophie is in credit!  I was lucky that the two older dogs were healthy in their younger days. Insurance is really good if you have an unexpected claim. I was very glad of it for my two little ones.

[Lily Freya]

I pay £8 per month for Zara and £10 per month for Lexi. I think you need to shop around! Zara claimed £1200 in her first year and Lexi claimed £450 in her first six weeks!

My premiums have not gone up very much at all. We are with E Sure.

When Penny and Sophie were young I could not really afford insurance for them, but when Penny got to about 10 I decided to open a savings account for them. The amount I saved paid for all Penny's treatment in her last year. Sophie is in credit!  I was lucky that the two older dogs were healthy in their younger days. Insurance is really good if you have an unexpected claim. I was very glad of it for my two little ones.

Thank you so much for telling me about E Sure.  I can't thank you enough.  I have just been on to them and they have set up policies for all three dogs, obviously with exclusions for Freya being older and having pre-existing things wrong............but the whole cost is only £39.41.  We were paying nearly this amount for Freya alone (£28.80).

[Black Red + Yellow]

I know exactly what you mean - Willow's cancer will only be covered until August next year - after that point, we will not only have to continue with the insurance incase of anything else, but will have to put away a little every month to cover her in case the cancer returns - and the type of cancer she has is around a 50% chance

[Crazy Cocker Gang]

I pay £8 per month for Zara and £10 per month for Lexi. I think you need to shop around! Zara claimed £1200 in her first year and Lexi claimed £450 in her first six weeks!

My premiums have not gone up very much at all. We are with E Sure.

When Penny and Sophie were young I could not really afford insurance for them, but when Penny got to about 10 I decided to open a savings account for them. The amount I saved paid for all Penny's treatment in her last year. Sophie is in credit!  I was lucky that the two older dogs were healthy in their younger days. Insurance is really good if you have an unexpected claim. I was very glad of it for my two little ones.

Thank you so much for telling me about E Sure.  I can't thank you enough.  I have just been on to them and they have set up policies for all three dogs, obviously with exclusions for Freya being older and having pre-existing things wrong............but the whole cost is only £39.41.  We were paying nearly this amount for Freya alone (£28.80).

I just looked at the policy and thought it was really good until I noticed when your dog turns ý on top of the excess they also want 20% of the claim. A lot of other insurance companies don't impose a % per claim until a dog is 9.

[rubyduby]

I think we are with Argos insurance but no idea how they will pay out, they are one of the cheapest but.....We may decide once the girls are spayed (biggest problems we have had with Cockers)to just bank the money and have a seperate vet fund.
We have never insured our dogs before and have had no problems till the latter years till Mammary lumps, Pyometra and Cancer reared its head, but I still think with the cost of the ops(the most expensive being a Mandiblectomy which cost £1700) we were still in pocket collectively.
I do wish something could be done about the cost of veterinary treatment AND the ripoff of Insurance comapnies (via us)

[supergirl]

I pay £8 per month for Zara and £10 per month for Lexi. I think you need to shop around! Zara claimed £1200 in her first year and Lexi claimed £450 in her first six weeks!

My premiums have not gone up very much at all. We are with E Sure.

When Penny and Sophie were young I could not really afford insurance for them, but when Penny got to about 10 I decided to open a savings account for them. The amount I saved paid for all Penny's treatment in her last year. Sophie is in credit!  I was lucky that the two older dogs were healthy in their younger days. Insurance is really good if you have an unexpected claim. I was very glad of it for my two little ones.

Thank you so much for telling me about E Sure.  I can't thank you enough.  I have just been on to them and they have set up policies for all three dogs, obviously with exclusions for Freya being older and having pre-existing things wrong............but the whole cost is only £39.41.  We were paying nearly this amount for Freya alone (£28.80).

I just looked at the policy and thought it was really good until I noticed when your dog turns ý on top of the excess they also want 20% of the claim. A lot of other insurance companies don't impose a % per claim until a dog is 9.

This is what happened when I was with More Than.  When Indie my first cocker was ill, her bill was just short of £5k in just 2 weeks and then my excess was 15% and even though they paid out really quickly there was a bit of sting in the tail.

At the moment I'm with Healthy Pets and pay £32 a month for all the dogs (on their Silver scheme), thankfully I haven't had to claim for any of the dogs.  I'm reluctant to take the dogs to the vets (not because of the cost), but because any trivial thing can be classed as a pre-existing condition in the future.