Dog Insurance

[SophieBlueRoanLover]

I'm also with Axa but pay £27 per month (in London) for a young dog. Prices vary massively - but then again so do vets' fees. If my insurance only goes up £10 next year (for the whole year) after two claims (£455 refund - so far) then I'll be very happy!

[rachel1269]

Hi
Just had my insurance renewal through for Oscar we are with M&S Premier cover we were paying £32 a month for him it has now gone up to £40    I'm thinking of changing, but not sure who to go with?? any ideas??

[piph]

Hi
Just had my insurance renewal through for Oscar we are with M&S Premier cover we were paying £32 a month for him it has now gone up to £40    I'm thinking of changing, but not sure who to go with?? any ideas??

I'd shop around as there is a huge difference - just make sure you get lifetime cover, and of course, the new insurers won't cover any existing conditions or anything resulting from a previous condition - for example, if you dog has hip dyspasia, arhtritis in the hips in later life won't be covered.
We have been with Pet Plan for our previous dog and for Ozzy - not the cheapest, but we were paying £47 a month for Cassie (our previous GR, who went to the bridge last July) as she had epilepsy, but we were claiming over £260 a month for her medications, we paid £90 per condition per year in addition to the monthly premium.  We never had a single claim rejected and they always paid up promptly.  They even paid us their max death payout (£500) when she had to be PTS after an accident.

[debbiedaywalker]

I've just changed to AXA for my two, it's just under £30 per month for £7000 vet's fees per condition with lifetime cover, for both of them  I would highly recommend going for the best cover you can get. I wish that I had gone with them last year, I paid the same for much less cover with Sainsbury's. When my puppy had to two operations for elbow dysplasia and have £4200 of treatment, I only had £3000 cover per condition  I had to find the £1200 and I will never be able to get cover for his elbows again.

[LurcherGirl]

I'm with M&S and AXA, all lifetime cover up to £7000/year.

My 11-year old lurcher pays £159/month with M&S.
My 8-year old saluki pays £63/month with M&S.
My 6-year old American cocker pays £38/month with AXA.
My 2-year old English cocker pays £18/month with AXA.

[Kay87]

I pay £26 a month with petplan, which is 7k of cover and a lifetime policy. Heariing what everyone else has said it would probably be cheaper to look at axa, however it just sounds so easy with petplan as my vets will claim directly from them! Touch wood Belle hasn't had any vet trips other than routine ones yet!

[piph]

I'm with M&S and AXA, all lifetime cover up to £7000/year.

My 11-year old lurcher pays £159/month with M&S.
My 8-year old saluki pays £63/month with M&S.
My 6-year old American cocker pays £38/month with AXA.
My 2-year old English cocker pays £18/month with AXA.

Both the M & S insurances seem really steep!!!

[Toni-UK]

Our renewal has just come through from Argos,it's now £50>month for Ruby who is 5.

We can't change insurers as she has a pre existing eye condition,which we claimed a consultation fee for appox 2 years ago and haven't claimed since.Thieving g*its  

[LurcherGirl]

I'm with M&S and AXA, all lifetime cover up to £7000/year.

My 11-year old lurcher pays £159/month with M&S.
My 8-year old saluki pays £63/month with M&S.
My 6-year old American cocker pays £38/month with AXA.
My 2-year old English cocker pays £18/month with AXA.

Both the M & S insurances seem really steep!!!

They are - VERY! But as both dogs have (expensive) pre-existing conditions that could go into the thousands if they go wrong (again) or get worse, I haven't got a choice but stick with them.    Actually, the £63 doesn't worry me too much yet, but my lurcher's is totally excessive...  

[piph]

I'm with M&S and AXA, all lifetime cover up to £7000/year.

My 11-year old lurcher pays £159/month with M&S.
My 8-year old saluki pays £63/month with M&S.
My 6-year old American cocker pays £38/month with AXA.
My 2-year old English cocker pays £18/month with AXA.

Both the M & S insurances seem really steep!!!

They are - VERY! But as both dogs have (expensive) pre-existing conditions that could go into the thousands if they go wrong (again) or get worse, I haven't got a choice but stick with them.    Actually, the £63 doesn't worry me too much yet, but my lurcher's is totally excessive...  

Phew - I'll say!!!  I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but if anything were to go wrong at that age, I think the kindest thing would be to let her pass away peacefully - I sometimes wonder if it's fair to put them through too much treatment at that age.  But then, I couldn't afford all those insurance payments, so I would probably have cancelled it by now anyway.  I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday who has two dogs, both in middle age, and she said that when their insurance started getting expensive (but nowhere near as much as yours  ) they cancelled it and started to put the money into a savings account instead.  The amount saved has well covered any vets bills so far.  I sometimes wonder if that would be a better idea when dogs reach a 'certain' age! 

[PennyB]

I'm with M&S and AXA, all lifetime cover up to £7000/year.

My 11-year old lurcher pays £159/month with M&S.
My 8-year old saluki pays £63/month with M&S.
My 6-year old American cocker pays £38/month with AXA.
My 2-year old English cocker pays £18/month with AXA.

Both the M & S insurances seem really steep!!!

Blimey yes - my insurance is about £37/month for an 11y old cocker with Petplan (I then pay 20% of all claims because of her age but still worth it)

[JennyBee]

I'm with M&S and AXA, all lifetime cover up to £7000/year.

My 11-year old lurcher pays £159/month with M&S.
My 8-year old saluki pays £63/month with M&S.
My 6-year old American cocker pays £38/month with AXA.
My 2-year old English cocker pays £18/month with AXA.

Both the M & S insurances seem really steep!!!

Blimey yes - my insurance is about £37/month for an 11y old cocker with Petplan (I then pay 20% of all claims because of her age but still worth it)

Wow and I'm £40 a month with PetPlan and a five year old dog! I wonder how they decide their prices. I have tried to contact them about that 20% but never heard back from them... Still, feel slightly better after reading some of the amounts here .

[elaine.e]

8 year old William is £45 per month with NFU, lifetime cover, max. £3,000 per condition per year (not £3,000 in total for all conditions each year). William has lumbosacral disc damage and Dry Eye, both diagnosed a few years ago. I claim about £200 per year against his 6 monthly ophthalmic check ups and daily Optimmune Ointment for his eyes. When his back problems started I claimed about £2,000 back in one year for a MRI scan and physio.

3 year old Louis is also with NFU and has the same level of cover as William and I pay £22 per month for him. So far I haven't had to make a claim on his insurance.

[LurcherGirl]

I'm with M&S and AXA, all lifetime cover up to £7000/year.

My 11-year old lurcher pays £159/month with M&S.
My 8-year old saluki pays £63/month with M&S.
My 6-year old American cocker pays £38/month with AXA.
My 2-year old English cocker pays £18/month with AXA.

Both the M & S insurances seem really steep!!!

They are - VERY! But as both dogs have (expensive) pre-existing conditions that could go into the thousands if they go wrong (again) or get worse, I haven't got a choice but stick with them.    Actually, the £63 doesn't worry me too much yet, but my lurcher's is totally excessive...  

Phew - I'll say!!!  I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but if anything were to go wrong at that age, I think the kindest thing would be to let her pass away peacefully

I would agree if Dylan wasn't well and was like an old dog (and that was certainly true with my 11-year old Pyrenees at the time when I dropped his insurance cover), however, Dylan could give any 2-year old a run for their money. He is as fit as a fiddle, runs daily for an hour together with my other dogs and you would never in a million years know that he will be 12 years old next month (and that's something I am very proud of)! So there is no way that I would not give him any treatment he could have at this point!

Insured or not, I don't get any unnecessary stuff done on my dogs and always take their individual circumstances into consideration... but Dylan is most certainly not at a stage yet where I would refuse treatment just because he is a certain age!!! Next year might be a different thing and every year when insurance renewal comes up I make a new assessment on the status of health of my dogs and reconsider the level of their insurance cover... this year, it isn't time yet to make any changes in his insurance cover.

I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday who has two dogs, both in middle age, and she said that when their insurance started getting expensive (but nowhere near as much as yours  ) they cancelled it and started to put the money into a savings account instead.  The amount saved has well covered any vets bills so far.  I sometimes wonder if that would be a better idea when dogs reach a 'certain' age!  

Indeed, only if Dylan's other cruciate goes which is a real chance as it was already damaged three years ago, it will cost me several thousands again to fix... no way can I save that amount of money within a reasonable amount of time. And there is no way that at this moment of time, I would refuse him that treatment as he would come through it and recover from it with no problems despite his age and benefit from it for (hopefully) many years to come. So insurance is the only way for me.
I do however also put a small amount away into a savings account that pays for yearly vaccinations and excesses that are not covered by insurance. Any excess then stays in the savings account.

I would probably have cancelled it by now anyway

Not an option for me, I never want to be in the situation where I have to refuse my dogs treatment just because I can't afford it! It has happened to friends of mine, and I couldn't cope with that. So I prefer to go without holidays, smoking, drinking, new clothes and lots of other things to afford insurance and whatever else I need to pay for my dogs!

And here's a video of Dylan - my oldie - taken last week... Why would I want to put this fit and healthy boy to sleep in case of expensive treatment just because of his age on paper? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EykgW43vViY

[elaine.e]

Love the video of Dylan and I totally agree that age alone isn't the only consideration when considering treatment. My first Cocker was still fit enough and enjoying life enough at 14 that I gave the go ahead for some surgery, fairly minor admittedly. He came through with no problems, although recovery took a bit longer than it probably would have done when he was younger.