Does a dog become too old for insurance?

[White Bryony]

We have received the insurance renewal for the dogs today, Maddies has gone up to £29 and Woofies to £56.

We have been saying Woofies is too expensive for a bit today and I was ready for OH to hit the roof and say we couldnt afford to pay it.  We have spoken in the past about what age to stop his insurance (he is 12 now) and I thought OH was going to say that this was it.  So I said to him, if we couldn't afford it then before stopping the insurance I wanted to take Woofie to the VET for a full MOT and make sure he was ok now.

However we started discussing Woofies quality of life and both agreed if he got something terribly wrong with him (god forbid!) that we would still want to treat him aggressively whatever the cost as Woofie is still so very very active.  OH agreed that we continue to pay for the insurance (which, to be honest, I was quite amazed at).

What would you do?

[MaggieR]

I think to be honest I'd take the same approach as yourself. If I had a very fit dog, still in good health - the chances are that, barring it being something "incurable", they have a good chance of making a full recovery and as long as I could afford to pay it I'd continue.

Having said that - in my case, with Maggie's joints/back being the mess they are I should look now at having an account set up just for this eventuality as I can see her premiums rocketing as the years go by.... given me something to think about. 

[waggytails]

When we still had Millie, i did keep the insurance going but i also reduced the cover to keep it less expensive, i went with the thought that as she was getting older (15 yrs ) when she died, that if she did have anything major go wrong i would not wish to put her through anything that would just prolong her life with not much quality, but i did want some cover so if it was something that could be cured or help make her comfortable then i would not have to think twice over the cost.

[JeffandAnnie]

I think I may have replied to this elsewhere, but have had another thought - could you just insure for vet fees and not the value of the dog?

[waggytails]

I think I may have replied to this elsewhere, but have had another thought - could you just insure for vet fees and not the value of the dog?

With the insurance i had, you did not get the value of the dog when they reached a certain age, not sure but think it was around 9 years old.

[White Bryony]

The value of the dog isn't included after a certain age on the policy we have which I think was about 9 or 10

[MOO-MOO]

I have 2 'oldies'  Truda  12 and half and Chloe  10 yrs old last September, insured and the renewal for them both has just come through - from £32 odd to £38 odd for Chloe which, when I enquired to the insurance was because of her age and from £36 odd for Truda to £38 odd. Both have £115 excess and 20% of vet fees to pay.

I currently pay £32 odd for Moo-Moo  who's 6 yrs old but his level of cover is higher and a £90 excess..

I daren't NOT have them covered cos you never know what is around the corner.

[seaangler]

As we are with More than And are Cindy is now 11 the insurance has staid at 20 pounds P.M...But the final bill has a 20% extra charge to it....Plus the 70 pounds excess So the answer is yes but no)Only the excess and gone up by 10%

[kalami]

Although bella's only 4 we have found that prices for pet insurance differ hugely. Have a shop around and see if there's anything cheaper, might need to use different companies for maddie and woofie. Hubby just changed bella's over to 'john lewis' (strange but true) and I think mollys is with RSPCA.

[jann]

The premiums went up quite a lot for my two this year with Greenbee,now John Lewis.   so I phoned up to find out why.  I've had numerous claims for both of them including life cover for Flo's thyroid treatment and several continuation claims for Barnaby's wart removal ops.  they are now 8 and 9 and wondered if this was the reason, but it wasn't.

 They couldn't have been more helpful, checked through everything with me and ended up reducing it considerably.  (Haven't got the figures to hand at the moment )

I would advise you to phone your insurer   can't do any harm  

[cockers mum]

Hi Try the RSPCA pet insurance they insure my two 12 year old cats for £15.00 each and a 8year old cocker, 7yearold and 5year old for a total of £60.00 a month I do not think they have a age limit.

[siam]

You have definitely made the right decision in continuing to pay for the insurance. I had a very fit and active blue roan cocker Jake who developed mild arthritis aged 12yrs. He was put on Seraquin and Metacam. Had I known the possible side effects of Metacam I would have held off as he didn't seem to be in pain. 6mths later he was diagnosed with renal failure and had several bouts of pancreatitis, as the Metacam didn't agree with him. He soldiered on with 5 different listed conditions and medicines and had a good quality of life until he lost the battle at 13 and a half. I was so glad that we had insurance cover (with Pet Plan), as every time there was a new problem with him, we didn't have to think twice about the expense as it was all covered by the insurance, although I appreciate by the time you pay the premium, excess for each condition and one 5th of the bill it still mounts up.