Darcey is uninsured. Is now insured :)

[karen488]

[hOH has being going bonkers about cost of insurance (maybe I shouldn't have gone super duper premium at pet plan £50 per month). I've cancelled at his insistence. He promises to pay for anything that comes up (and he will bless him  ) but I'm really worried about it. She's a young, healthy dog. My question is are any of the cheaper ones (animal friends???) worth it. Has insurance saved you any money compared to what you've paid in premiums??

[Ebbysmum]

I have just done Mum's Lexi who is 4 at £9.07 a month for premium cover £7500 lifetime etc with protectyourbubble.com. i'll be changing Eb's and Maddie's too when theirs is up for renewal. Try them?

[Geordietyke]

I renewed Odie's in May with Argos Platinum for £198.  This is a 'for life' policy and £7,000 per year which is decent.

TBH, it's not so much about health issues (although I'll be glad I've got it if something does happen), I'm more concerned about liability in case he, for example, runs off and causes an accident.  If someone sues, where would I get millions from?  It's worth it for my peace of mind....

[karen488]

I renewed Odie's in May with Argos Platinum for £198.  This is a 'for life' policy and £7,000 per year which is decent.

TBH, it's not so much about health issues (although I'll be glad I've got it if something does happen), I'm more concerned about liability in case he, for example, runs off and causes an accident.  If someone sues, where would I get millions from?  It's worth it for my peace of mind....

Has that ever happened to anyone?

[Geordietyke]

No-one that I know of, but it'd be s*ds law that it'd be Odie who caused an accident to someone in a merc or bentley   £198 isn't much a year for my peace of mind

[Darwin]

We had only had Darwin 4 weeks and we had vet bills of £900, so I was really thankful we had the free 6 weeks cover with Petplan they had no problem paying out.  I've not need to make another claim since and Darwin is now 2 1/2yr.  The following year I switched to More Than without a problem, they had a really good introductory offer,  but when it came around to renewal they wouldn't price match. This year we're with Sainsbury's.   

As long as I've shopped around to get the best value I can my OH won't complain at the cost, as we don't feel it worth risking not being insured.   

[Maria n Dennis]

I would get her insured asap to be honest. A year ago i had a healthy 21 month old spaniel who had never had any health problems , i myself was thinking of cancelling the insurance as money was a little tight , luckily i didnt get round to it, as very unexpectedly Dennis callapsed , it turned out to be a disc in his back. He had an MRI scan, spinal surgery , two weeks in doggy hospital . The total was just over £6500. I personally wouldnt have even been able to afford his MRI scan which was around £1500 i think. Luckily for me they contacted my insurance company (before they would treat him ) and they confirmed he was insured upto £7500 per year.
Dennis is insured with Greenbee (i think its now john lewis ) and it is £16 per month. I was very surprised that it only went up a £1 this year even after the big claim. Douglas is insured with PDSA and his is about £11 per month.

[The crazy hut]

Our Ambi dog would have cost us in excess of £5k in the first year we had her if it wasn't for insurance  

She inexplicably went lame which turned out to be a luxating patella and her knee was wired into place then she required a femoural head and neck excision!

She also got loose once and was hit by a car (no damge to car or driver thankfully, and she was fine) but that was another overnight at the vet, xrays, fluids, painkillers etc....

Thank goodness for insurance  

[karen488]

Will show OH your comments later. It's not actually about the money but the probability he feels that we won't get a big bill against the cost of the premiums. Admittedly I was on an expensive deal but have already shelled out £350 in premiums in 7 months!

[Darwin]

Maybe other COL's can help fill some of the figures.  As it would be interesting working  it out.

Say just £250 per year for insurance  x 10 years.   = £2500

How much vet care can you get for £2500 ?

Cost of an x-ray ?

Cost of an overnight stay ?

[*Jay*]

I think you would be able to get adequate cover for about half that monthly cost so you can still have insurance for her but save some money - meet in the middle and everyone should be happy  

I have Disney insured with Axa for just under £18 a month - I didn't want an all singing all dancing policy as there are lots of aspects that I wouldn't use such as holiday cancellation, reimbursing the cost paid for him should he die etc I don't need cover for alternative therapies either as most of them are offered by my practice so there would be no expensive referral fees. His policy probably still offers more than we need but it has a high level of cover for vet fees for illness at a reasonable monthly premium and that's really all I'm looking for.

[supergirl]

I would get some insurance, even if its just some basic cover.

My first cocker was diagnosed with kidney failure at a year old - once she was admitted to the vetinary hospital the fees went up £4.5k in just one week which I would never have been able to afford without insurance.

At the moment the dogs are insured with Sainsburys - I have their top level which costs approx £13 per dog per month with cover of £7,500 per year per condition - also a lifetime cover as well.

A lot of pet insurers do lifetime cover at a more reasonable price than Petplan.

[kalami]

Hubby recently shopped around and changed our m&s policy to 'john lewis'. My dogs are young too but I'm more concerned about any accident they might cause / be involved in I.e jumping up and knocking someone over - tripping someone up, if someone broke something could be liable.

[catcmartin]

I agree with Maria.  Our Charlie was 1year old before we insured him (didnt know any better then)  When he was 6y/o he went down with a couple of disks exploding in his spine.  MRI, spinal surgery, stay in vet school.  The insurance company paid all the bills.  BUT I bought the wrong type of policy in that for any one illness he is only covered for that first year by insurance company.  I know better now too late insurance company have paid for his heart murmur meds etc now the year is up we have to pay and also maintain his insurance every month.  

[Jan D]

Morethan were cheapest for me (about £12 a  month for Roxy at 14 months old). I went through Quidco though and got £40 cashback so worked out very reasonable