Pet insurance - any suggestions?

[Québec]

Just cancelled our Saga Pet Insurance for our 9 year old miniature schnauzer. We've been with them for c. 7 years (Pet Plan before that). It went up from £500 last year (which we thought was exorbitant but paid it)to almost £800!!. When I rang them to say I was thinking seriously of cancelling and could they perhaps do a better deal I got a "We're not going to budge on it, and if you want to cancel go ahead". Clearly Saga aren't interested in holding onto previously loyal customers.

 

So....any suggestions?

 

Thanks

 

Paul

[Lady Muck]

I'm wondering if they've all gone up - mine (M&S) has doubled in price in three years! I agree, it's time to switch!

[FredDrift]

We went with MoreTh>n this year. £138 for the the year for a 4 year old border terrier. There is a £70 excess + 10% of the cost of the treatment but with a good level of cover including the continuation of any insured treatment underway at renewal time.

 

I suspect that like motor insurance they use a low first year charge to draw you in but heyho - next year we will look round again if needs be. Loyalty counts for little these days it seems.

 

HN

 

 

 

edited to add to the excess details having looked at it again

Edited January 19, 2011 by happynomad

[tillergirl]

Actually unlike car insurance - with pet insurance the older the pet the more you pay. We're with esure at the moment and before that was with healthy pets who will insure older pets before that with our old collies we were with e and l. Some pet insurers wont insure a pet over 8 years old!! Currently we're paying around £11 a month for 2 dogs - hope this helps.

 

Do a google: pet insurance for older pets - but ignore the more well known names............

Edited January 19, 2011 by tillergirl

[Guest]

I've expressed views on here before on this subject and not everybody has agreed but hey ho...

 

To cut a long story short as you asked for suggestions -

 

Mine would be do not bother and stick an equivalent monthly payment into a savings account to cover any pet illness.

 

Pet insurance companies are the best example of legalised robbery ever invented, they are masters of placing so many limits on what you can claim for in terms of excess and requiring contributions to each claim.

 

Add together the premium and what you have to contribute and it's frankly a joke (or it would be if it was funny).

 

This will be my last word on this subject.

[alan_fincher]

Not a definite recommendation, because I think it's a very difficult area, particularly if you start to read the small print.

 

For Charlie we found the rather naffly named ProtectYourBubble gave us a quote at reasonable cost without any obvious gotchas.

 

Mind you Charlie was little over a year old at the time. I have no idea if they would be competitive for an older dog.

[Bodkin]

Actually unlike car insurance - with pet insurance the older the pet the more you pay. We're with esure at the moment and before that was with healthy pets who will insure older pets before that with our old collies we were with e and l. Some pet insurers wont insure a pet over 8 years old!! Currently we're paying around £11 a month for 2 dogs - hope this helps.

 

Do a google: pet insurance for older pets - but ignore the more well known names............

 

I can second that, the older the pet, the more the insurance. I used to have our cat insured and I think it was when he got to 8 that it jumped about £3/4 per month and then something like another £5/month the year after that. I guess it's because animals are more likely to get ill the older they are (would imgine it's the same for life insurance for humans).

 

I cancelled the cat insurance in the end as we're fortunate enough to be in the position that if he's ill then we will pay the vets bill if he is going to continue to live a fulfilled life (this is based on how much it cost when he got knocked down).

 

Our 14 month old springer spaniel IS however insured (with Directline, £16/month) - we claimed within the first 6 months as he's turning out to be rather accident prone!!!! I also think that vets fees for fixing dogs are a lot more that for cats (in my limited experience).

 

I know others on here (different threads) have suggested putting the monthly equivilant of the insurance into a savings acount so it's there to pay for big bills if something happens but obviously that would take some time to grow into a decent amount.

[mrsmelly]

I've expressed views on here before on this subject and not everybody has agreed but hey ho...

 

To cut a long story short as you asked for suggestions -

 

Mine would be do not bother and stick an equivalent monthly payment into a savings account to cover any pet illness.

 

Pet insurance companies are the best example of legalised robbery ever invented, they are masters of placing so many limits on what you can claim for in terms of excess and requiring contributions to each claim.

 

Add together the premium and what you have to contribute and it's frankly a joke (or it would be if it was funny).

 

This will be my last word on this subject.

 

And my reply to this is. We insured our puppy only a few months ago, we went with sainsburys after the usual obvious choices where very expensive. Sainsburys offered cover at ab out 10 quid a month and for about 15 quid the cover was upped to 7,500 per condition and other benefits. We have paid only about six premiums 90 quid.

Our puppy developed a limp a month or so ago a vist to the vet was nearly 200 quid and we were reffered to an orthopedic specialist which we attended at Solihull yesterday. The puppy has a very very rare condition and the bill for yesterdays referal with a ct scan and vat was TWO THOUSAND QUID. We have to take her for an op and lots more treatment costing ££££££££s

Do the maths

Now do you think its a rip off.

Yes often you pay for nothing but..............

[stagedamager]

I agree, we are with direct line £40 for 4 cats / month. We got our cats as rescue kittens. when they went to be neutered and spayed, two of them came back and showed signs of illness. after a day or so, we realised they weren't recovering, and took them to the vets. after some tests they were diagnosed with acute kidney failure, due to the combination of drugs they had.I had to rush them to the Royal Vet College hospital's Intensive care unit near South Mimms, with a 90 - 95% chance they wouldn't make it.

Thank god they survived, and are now fighting fit terrorising the neighbourhood again, but i would have been left with a £3500 bill which i didnt have at the time. So as much as i can see why people wouldn't want to pay for it, my personal thoughts are do it, you never know what is going to happen, and how severe it may be.

I hope you get it sorted!

Kind Regards

Dan

[ionadragon]

Pet Insurance isn't any more of a rip-off than any other insurance, providing you avoid the companies that won't re-insure for a condition you have already had treatment for, ie ongoing diseases like diabetes or skin disease. There are now more Veterinary Referral Centres, with specialists who are always likely to charge much more than your own local practice. Many owners want operations and treatments for their pet that wouldn't have been considered a few years ago. Most Insurers won't take on an animal over the age of 8, but you could certainly try an online search. Some Veterinary Practices run their own insurance scheme for their clients, but that is not much use if you are continually on the move. Perhaps the idea of starting a piggy bank for your dog is the best thing, plus keeping it slim and fit.

[alan_fincher]

Perhaps the idea of starting a piggy bank for your dog is the best thing, plus keeping it slim and fit.

To have enough to pay for some of the rarer or more expensive treatments, wouldn't you be better off keeping the piggy bank fat and over-weight ?

[weeble]

And my reply to this is. We insured our puppy only a few months ago, we went with sainsburys after the usual obvious choices where very expensive. Sainsburys offered cover at ab out 10 quid a month and for about 15 quid the cover was upped to 7,500 per condition and other benefits. We have paid only about six premiums 90 quid.

Our puppy developed a limp a month or so ago a vist to the vet was nearly 200 quid and we were reffered to an orthopedic specialist which we attended at Solihull yesterday. The puppy has a very very rare condition and the bill for yesterdays referal with a ct scan and vat was TWO THOUSAND QUID. We have to take her for an op and lots more treatment costing ££££££££s

Do the maths

Now do you think its a rip off.

Yes often you pay for nothing but..............

 

I think this lends me to believe that Vets are an even bigger rip-off than the insurance companies. On the whole I agree with Martin, insurance is a gamble with the odds in favour of the insurance companies (after all they're the ones making money out of the deal) and unless you are very unlucky you're better just putting money aside.

 

BTW, I live next door to a veterinary practice and the tales I hear of the rip-off charges they make for the work they do in my view puts them second only to bankers!

 

I do however have a pet liability extension on my domestic household policy in the event that the dog knocks someone off their bike etc.

 

Weeble

[RichardN]

Some years ago Petplan would not pay out for a small claim on our old Lurcher, I thought they were quite ignorant. I took offence at that and cancelled the policy. She later got kidney failure, our vet costs were huge and uninsured.

 

Our current herd of greyhounds are covered by M&S and Admiral. M&S have been very good on paying out. We had a monster bad year in 2010 with one greyhound dying with a brain tumour and a nasty growth in his spinal cord, another being suspected of spine cancer so MRI scans and all. Costs ran into the thousands, all paid out with minimal fuss. The oldest dog's policy now costs over £1000 a year. After last year I gladly renewed.

 

OT: We get an appointment to see our Vet same day if it is urgent. A specialist referral can take place within 1 day, MRI scan within a few days, major operation if required within a day or so. Now if I ring up to get an appointment with my GP I get offered something next week if I am lucky and the receptionist thinks I am worthy. The last lot of GP reforms made things far worse (wait times, cost of the service). And guess what they are going to meddle with it again. I wonder if my Vet is willing to treat humans.

[tillergirl]

We've been gtateful of our pet insurance over the years.. our last female collie developed a funny scabby nose at 6 years old - 2 years later after various tests, biopsies by Liverpool Vet College she was diagnosed with a nasal tumor. Insurance paid out with no problems. We wouldnt have been able to afford anything after the inital consultation but all we paid was the £75 excess.............the final costs for her was well in excess in £2.5k I do think even basic insurance particularly for dogs is important especially the TP liabilty!

 

On the other side -several years ago - young cat no insurance fell off the pagola whilst koi spotting - broke a leg in two places and had to have it pinned and cost us £400!!!! paid in installments..........thank you Mr Vet!

 

Both cats now are quite elderly one 16 the other 13 both from dubious parentage - feral - so am afriad we're winging it now with them...........our vet though has never vaccinated them for feline leukemia - said he wouldnt take my money as they are both from feral parentage and most probably will have it anyway. So they just get the standard jabs to allow us to put them in a cattery whilst we're away.

 

I do shop around though like I do with all our other insurance...............

[purplehaze]

Its all a bit of a gamble, had a cat, Biggles, no insurance, did have a couple of expensive issues (thyroid needed to removed and once knocked by a car) but he lived until he was 19 and any insurance costs would have far more than any claims that might have been made.

 

Had a dog, lovely golden lab called Oscar, did insure him and thankgoodness we did, he was epileptic and the medication alone was over £200 a month plus he was the most accident prone dog we have ever owned, how many people do you know that when they ring the vets they know immediatley who you are by your voice alone (and its a big practise!!)Plus we once asked for a print out of his records it was the size of a small book.

 

BUT it is also not a good thing we had a cat who due to it being insured went through the mill in an effort to find out what was wrong with it, turned out to be something nasty which could be sort of treated but not cured, with hindsight the poor little chap should have been put to sleep long before I made that decision, if we had not had insurance that would have happened, still feel guilty and very cross that the vet thought it ok to keep trying. This was a specialist my own vet agreed with my decision, rest in peace Jasper.

 

Also you need to be very aware of policies that will not continue to treat any problems that have happened in the previous year, they may be more expensive but with Oscar that didn't matter, we were paying £15 a month and claiming at least £200 a month, bargin. I would also state that in general people have no idea how expensive drugs are, perscription charges are a really small percentage of the real cost, people are looked after by the NHS, animals have nothing like it.

 

Julie

[Lady Muck]

Some years ago Petplan would not pay out for a small claim on our old Lurcher, I thought they were quite ignorant. I took offence at that and cancelled the policy. She later got kidney failure, our vet costs were huge and uninsured.

 

Our current herd of greyhounds are covered by M&S and Admiral. M&S have been very good on paying out. We had a monster bad year in 2010 with one greyhound dying with a brain tumour and a nasty growth in his spinal cord, another being suspected of spine cancer so MRI scans and all. Costs ran into the thousands, all paid out with minimal fuss. The oldest dog's policy now costs over £1000 a year. After last year I gladly renewed.

 

OT: We get an appointment to see our Vet same day if it is urgent. A specialist referral can take place within 1 day, MRI scan within a few days, major operation if required within a day or so. Now if I ring up to get an appointment with my GP I get offered something next week if I am lucky and the receptionist thinks I am worthy. The last lot of GP reforms made things far worse (wait times, cost of the service). And guess what they are going to meddle with it again. I wonder if my Vet is willing to treat humans.

 

It was lurcher link who told us to use M&S. I agree they pay out no quibbles (have claimed twice). My dog is such a daredevil, I see it as stunt dog insurance. My last vets bill was £700. My dog ran into the end of a sheet of steel (which had a sharp corner) at full pelt. That would have been expensive had I had to fork out for it. Last time we saw a financial advisor it was pointed out to us that the dog has better cover than we do!

Edited January 19, 2011 by Lady Muck

[Keeping Up]

You may find it difficult to get new insurance on a dog that is 9 years old.

 

Our first two dogs we didn't insure, and we were lucky. Since then we have insured them and most of them have incurred bills which were much higher than the premiums we've paid.

 

One thing to watch out for, many insurers effectively issue a new policy each year and refuse to cover pre-existing conditions, so any illness is covered for somewhere between a maximum of a year or (if your unlucky) only one day.

[starman]

You can always try one of the comparison sites like confused.com. Most do pet insurance comparisons. We got a cheap deal from Tesco last year and when they jacked the rate up on renewal found an even cheaper one elsewhere.

[Richard10002]

Just cancelled our Saga Pet Insurance for our 9 year old miniature schnauzer. We've been with them for c. 7 years (Pet Plan before that). It went up from £500 last year (which we thought was exorbitant but paid it)to almost £800!!. When I rang them to say I was thinking seriously of cancelling and could they perhaps do a better deal I got a "We're not going to budge on it, and if you want to cancel go ahead". Clearly Saga aren't interested in holding onto previously loyal customers.

 

So....any suggestions?

 

Thanks

 

Paul

 

Have you actually cancelled? If not, I wouldnt do it until you have confirmed cover elsewhere. At 8 or 9 years old, many insurers wont take on new risks. Existing insurers tend to continue to insure over these ages, but up the premiums, up the excesses, and up the share of each claim that you have to pay. You might find it costs just as much, or more, with other companies, if you can actually get cover.

 

Good luck, and be sure to let us know how you get on.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard

[johnmck]

 

Hi.

 

Our dog is now nine and has had a thryoid condition since he was four. We have been with Tesco's for many years until the renewal last autumn. A hike of 25% caused a rethink and we came up with this provider.

 

http://www.animalfriends.org.uk/pet-insurance/compare-pet-cover/

 

Have had not to claim (as yet) but considerably cheaper than the competition. Yes, insurers and some vets rip you off, but the peace of mind for cover for the unexpected does mitigate a tad.

 

John

[Québec]

Thanks everyone....still considering the options, complicated by the fact that our dog has a pre-existing allergic condition which means c. £300 year for the special vaccine which we have to inject her with once a month.

 

Sod's Law dictates that if we do insure not much will happen, and if we don't something will!

 

re: Insuring older dogs, came across this useful website which provides information on pet insurance and gives a list of companies that have no restriction on older dogs.

 

http://www.pet-health-insurance.org.uk/caring-for-older-dogs.html

 

They recommend ASDA, so we went and put in our details online. Value policy=£260 Standard=£325 Superior=£428, with £65 excess for all of them. You can increase the excess and thus reduce the premium.

 

Liverpool Victoria works out at £175 for Basic or £275 for Standard

 

Choices, Choices......

[Radiomariner]

Same story here.

I have two Springer Spaniels. One ten years old has been totally blind since she was 3 years old and is insured at great expense with the Kennel Club, no other insurers. will touch her. The other, nine years, presently with "Protect your Bubble" has changed insurers three times in three years because of escalating premiums.

Pet insurance alone amounts to nearly one sixth of my total annual income!.

 

Edited to add :- And non of them cover tooth and gum treatment!

Edited January 20, 2011 by Radiomariner

[tillergirl]

 

Edited to add :- And non of them cover tooth and gum treatment!

 

Yea and when we had Old Jakes mouth descaled etc etc it cost us £198!!!! Still I suppose thats what you get sometimes for taking in rescue dogs who haven't had the best start in life the mopping up of other peoples neglect. A diet of horse manure doesnt really make for healthy teeth and gums

[LEO]

Hi,

 

It's worth seeing if your vet runs their own scheme. Our's does and it works out at a very competitive rate (£13.50 per month) for our cat, Been with this scheme for about 14 years and have made several claims. You have to pay the first consultation fee and there are discounts for annual injections and dental work.

 

If your pet is taken ill while away from home the scheme will pay for consultation/treatments by other vets.

 

No insurance company to take the profit and the vet knows the pet well.

 

 

Leo

[Guest wanted]

Sindbad the cat is insured with the rspca gold cover. About 13 quid a month with upto 3grand cover per condition. As an aside,if you are buying regular drugs for your pet it's worth checking out the actual name of it and see if you can get it eleswhere. Many 'pet' medicine can be bought at a standard chemist under its generic name. Handy having a vet nurse for my sister!

Edited January 20, 2011 by wanted