Pet Insurance

[Ralph Claydon]

I have just received the pet insurance renewal for my 10 year old Jack Russell the premium has gone up by 50%, to £36 a month! With Tesco.

This is for a dog that has never had anything wrong with it, yet an insurance claim!

Do you know of a cheaper insurance?

[Nightwatch]

I do know premiums go up with the age of the dog, but that's seems excessive.

 

We are with M&S for our two JRTs. Not sure who the underwriters are. From memory it may be Sun alliance.

 

I think, you may find that any premium may be similar in cost for a ten year old. But do shop around.

I have also found that to ensure illness for life is crucial and read the small print. Try asking your present insurer to reassess their costs. You never know.

[Guest]

I have just received the pet insurance renewal for my 10 year old Jack Russell the premium has gone up by 50%, to £36 a month! With Tesco.

This is for a dog that has never had anything wrong with it, yet an insurance claim!

Do you know of a cheaper insurance?

I think a lot significantly hike the premium when they get to around 9 or 10 years old. Some also curtail the level of cover for older dogs, particularly 'death' cover.

 

Simon is a JRT but is only just under two years old and costs around £12 pcm. It went up from around £9 for his first year. This is with More Than (Royal Sun Alliance) We did claim from them for a previous dog and (A minor admin. error aside) I was happy with how they processed the claim.

 

Try them for a quote but I think with a dog of that age you may struggle to get much better, happy to be proved wrong though.

 

(BTW cheap and good insurance are often mutually exclusive)

 

http://www.morethan.com/pet-insurance-quote?rw.cm=Google,PPC&keyword=more%20than%20pets%20insurance&matchtype=p&gclid=Cj0KEQjwgLGuBRCqptLsnJCvh-wBEiQAiNRjsa08TOpzuveUN38o-QL1zsc1J34_-wQ2U999L9dJF2oaAuub8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Edited August 13, 2015 by MJG

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Shame there isn't a pet section for posts like this, Then others could maybe ref it easier in the future !.

[cuthound]

I have taken out More Than pet insurance for Zeus.

 

You get a 20% discount if you buy it via https://boughtbymany.com

 

Also read their article on pet insurance reviews 2015.

https://boughtbymany.com/news/article/best-pet-insurance-for-dogs-2013-uk/

 

Edited to include the review article.

Edited August 13, 2015 by cuthound

[Southern Star]

Seems a lot of money, especially for a breed which is known to be hardy and largely free from the genetic faults which affect many breeds.

 

As an aside, my own JRT died about 18 months ago, aged 16. Apart from jabs she never once had to visit the vets.

[Guest]

Seems a lot of money, especially for a breed which is known to be hardy and largely free from the genetic faults which affect many breeds.

 

As an aside, my own JRT died about 18 months ago, aged 16. Apart from jabs she never once had to visit the vets.

Whilst that is true it is worth remembering that they are not problem free.

 

http://www.dognotebook.com/13-most-common-diseases-found-in-jack-russell-terriers/

 

It is also worth remembering that good pet insurance covers not only for diseases but injuries too. It is amazing how many Jack's get themselves into trouble and injure themselves whilst out and about or ingest something they shouldn't.

 

In the short time we have had Simon he has been to the Vets a few times, once after he ingested a large bowl of grapes, once for a cut paw which became badly infected and twice for infected/sore ears. Each visit was below the threshold for making a claim though, but if they had developed into something long term and expensive we would have been covered.

 

Further - good pet insurance covers you for third party liabilities too, such as the consequences of an accident they may cause or if they unexpectedly injure some one by biting them.

 

Dennis our previous JRT rarely if ever visited the vets for anything other than his jabs. He was however a less adventurous and inquisitive dog than Simon. I was once never a big fan of pet insurance and have said so on here in the past but after our experience with More Than when Dennis was ill and died in January 2014 my opinion changed considerably.

[Ralph Claydon]

Thanks to cuthound i have just got a quote of £19.30 from more -than using Boughtbymany.com same cover as Tesco except excess is £150 where as tesco is £60.

Thats £17 per month cheaper!!

 

Thanks for your help

[Richard10002]

Thanks to cuthound i have just got a quote of £19.30 from more -than using Boughtbymany.com same cover as Tesco except excess is £150 where as tesco is £60.

Thats £17 per month cheaper!!

 

Thanks for your help

You could ask Tesco what they would charge if you were prepared to accept an excess of £150. You are not really comparing like with like. If you make any claims in the latter years of his life, More Than will cost you £90 a claim more than Tesco

 

Our Alfie, (English Springer Spaniel), started at about £30 per month with M & S at 4 years old. It was up to £60 per month last year at 9 years old and, after a quite big claim, (£2k or so), in January, it went up to £95 a month in March.

 

Poppy, our 4 year old Cocker Spaniel costs about £25 per month at the moment - we wait to see how it rises over the years.

[Bunny]

Have you tried Pets at home insurance . Was about half the price of pet plan for our rabbit ( not many companies insure rabbits ) . Bunny

[Nightwatch]

Bunny Rabbit?

[Loafer]

Bunny Rabbit?

Ho hoooooo!

[comfortably numb]

I think these policies vary so much that it can make it difficult to compare like for like.

 

We're with Sainsburys and are covered for a maximum of £7,500 for any single treatment with an excess of £75. We thought initially this cover was a bit OTT but are glad we did because our 8 year old has racked up £14,200 in vets bills so far (a titanium plate in each hind leg, a spine operation, and recently a melanoma removed from her front leg).

 

Our premium was initially £13 a month but is now £33, a big rise but well worth it considering what she's had done. Mind you I reckon the vets inflate the charges when they know you are insured.

[whitty1]

My two dachshies are insured with Animal Friends Insurance. Pedro is now classed as an "old dog" so his policy has changed slightly. The premium hasn't gone up but we will have to pay 30% of the total bill of any claim.

I agree that it's very difficult to compare when the policies are so different.

 

Having said that, AF have been very helpful when speaking to them directly. Malcolm has had to have a heart scan (thankfully all ok) and it's been noted on his file, but again doesn't affect premiums.

[W+T]

Good thread, we are having a bit of difficulty in getting insurance for our Ziggy who is 18 month old now, we try the online ones but when we get to her breed it wont insure her, she is a cross breed with an American Bull dog so why that matters i dont know.

 

We got a few quotes but cant understand what we get from the policy, all we want is if she gets sick, thought that would be easy.

[cuthound]

There are 3 types of pet insurance:

 

Cheapest = Annual policies up to a certain amount. Problem is when you your pet gets something like diabetes, you claim and then want to change companies, the new company will exclude pre-existing conditions. The old company may refuse to insure you.

 

Middle = Annual policies up to a certain amount per condition. Problem as above.

 

Most expensive = Lifetime policies, up to a certain amount per condition, but in the event of a claim for a lifelong condition the company will still insure, but will increase the premiums.

 

Zeus is the first of the 5 dogs that I have had who has been insured. Maybe I have been lucky, but I have never paid more than a couple of thousand in vet fees per dog.

 

I have only insured Zeus because his breed? GSD's are prone to many lifelong illnesses and his behavioral problems may result in future claims if he behaviour cannot be successfully modified.

[Dekazer]

Our last pet insurer stopped providing it, so we had to shop around last month. I used the Money Saving Expert comparison tool: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cut-pet-insurance-costsThe page also has a good description of what policies include.

 

Do consider, as your pet gets older, whether it's worth taking out lifetime cover. So long as you renew every year, your pet is covered for long-term conditions, which wouldn't be covered (as 'pre-existing) under new policies..

[craftycarper]

Pet insurance is a big rip off, you are better off chucking a tenner a month in a jar, there are so many clause,s and disclaimers, plus as you,ve just found out, the premium goes through the roof, the minute your dog reach,s an age when it starts needing a vet,I have always had multiple dogs, between two and five at any one time, usually three, and none of them have ever cost me even fifty percent the amount I would have paid in insurance,

[Guest]

Pet insurance is a big rip off,

I used to think exactly the same but I no longer do.

 

Or rather it's no more a 'rip off' than any other type of insurance, car, home, boat etc etc.

 

That's a bit like saying car insurance is a rip off because I've never had an accident or had anything stolen.

 

There is an interesting argument for it on the link in Dekazer's post, in short it can mean the difference between having to have a pet PTS or being able to afford to treat it.

[MHS]

Pet insurance is a big rip off, you are better off chucking a tenner a month in a jar, there are so many clause,s and disclaimers, plus as you,ve just found out, the premium goes through the roof, the minute your dog reach,s an age when it starts needing a vet,I have always had multiple dogs, between two and five at any one time, usually three, and none of them have ever cost me even fifty percent the amount I would have paid in insurance,

Not a rip off, but you have to go into it with open eyes.

 

We had 3 black labs and a GSD. When our eldest 2 dogs hit 9 years old, the premiums shot up and the cover plummeted.

 

We cancelled all the policies, and saved the money. 10 years on, we've saved a fortune. Also many vets will drop their prices if you say you are paying yourself.

 

We may have been lucky to have healthy dogs, but it's still an option to consider.

[Guest]

Not a rip off, but you have to go into it with open eyes.

 

We had 3 black labs and a GSD. When our eldest 2 dogs hit 9 years old, the premiums shot up and the cover plummeted.

 

We cancelled all the policies, and saved the money. 10 years on, we've saved a fortune. Also many vets will drop their prices if you say you are paying yourself.

 

We may have been lucky to have healthy dogs, but it's still an option to consider.

I must admit this bit does concern me as I have wondered about this for a while. If vets are doing this then it will only drive up premiums. Our vet has always enquired as to if our dogs are insured when they go go for any treatment. The answer I always want to give is 'Why, what difference does it make?' I have heard it argued it's so they know what sorts of decisions that might have to be taken if they are not and treatment costs are mounting up or any proposed treatments are going to be very very expensive.....I admit to being sceptical on this.

[craftycarper]

I must admit this bit does concern me as I have wondered about this for a while. If vets are doing this then it will only drive up premiums. Our vet has always enquired as to if our dogs are insured when they go go for any treatment. The answer I always want to give is 'Why, what difference does it make?' I have heard it argued it's so they know what sorts of decisions that might have to be taken if they are not and treatment costs are mounting up or any proposed treatments are going to be very very expensive.....I admit to being sceptical on this.

. That bit is very true which also adds weight to the rip off case, when my daughter was doing work experience, for the vet, she was amazed how they managed to max out, on every pet that was covered by insurance,even when there was nothing wrong with them they would keep them in for observation,at a cost of £80 an hour, my daughter is now 28 so quite a long time ago, also find it a bit strange that mhs relates a story, that shows they were ripped off, then claims it's not a rip off? The only time I ever met anyone that got v,f,m from pet insurance, was a guy that used to fish on my lake, who owned three border terriers (all related) and used one policy to cover all three, pretending that it was the same dog, even that is now not possible due to new laws on chipping, dogs, so definitely something I would never consider, although I guess the next step for the nanny state will be to make insurance on dogs compulsory

[Starcoaster]

I'll try to keep this as un-graphic as possible, but if you're squeamish, you might want to skip it...

 

 

On Sunday evening, my friend's bulldog attacked my cat right in front of me. this was out of the blue and totally shocking, he has previously been fine around my cats at close quarters. Neither I nor the dog's owner thought something like this would happen in a million years, and so I don't feel that anyone could have foreseen this happening, and there is no blame to be laid.

 

We could not get the dog to release the cat, which was literally clamped in his jaws being shaken, we were hitting him, kicking him, me trying to get my hands in his mouth, he did't even register us. In the end the dog's owner threw them both in the cut, which really was the only way to even possibly get him to let go- had he not done this, the dog would have killed her on the spot, with us unable to do a thing to stop it. He came back up with the cat still in his mouth.
I jumped in, the dog ultimately released the cat.

I hit my head, and ended up passing the totally limp cat out to people on the bank, and swimming round and through several boats to get the dog out, (still not sure why I even gave a f** to get the dog out).

I got a 40kg bulldog out from under a pontoon where he was standing with front legs on one scaffold pole and rear on another, while treading water, which was just as hard as you might expect and led to further cuts and bruises. I nearly hung up on my necklace when he got a leg through it, until it snapped.

 

The cat went straight to the clinic out of hours, and was torn open from heart to groin.
The bowel was visible and nicked, but other major organs intact. Her abdomen was so chewed up that she was not expected to survive, and only the fact that she was overweight prevented her from being eviscerated.

She has been in inpatient critical care with intensive nursing in my 24 hour clinic since then, due to both risk of infection from dog and canal, and moreso, because if the tissue on her stomach did not reperfuse, it would devitalise and necrotise and then she would have to be PTS.

 

She spent the early part of the week in horrific pain and hallucinating from sedation. She was swollen up like a balloon even with two Penrose drains in place, and didn't even recognise me. She had to be turned over manually as she could not move, and did not eat a bite until yesterday.

I too look like I fought a bulldog (which I did) and leapt in the canal for a fully dressed swimming emergency, I hit my head, had a panic attack in the canal, and battered my knee on the rudder of a moored boat while swimming around boats.

I was scratched, grazed, bruised, aching and sore all over, including a right good rip along my lip, swollen knee, squishy lump on my thigh and weird back thing... Had tetanus and antibiotics myself.

I snapped a gold necklace and lost the pendant in the canal.
I also clawed rows down my own face while screaming and panicking, but they seem to be healing quickly!

Surprisingly, the canal was not at all cold, and I was not at all arsed to be treading water in it on the phone to the vet, although the assorted other boaters who were trying to help with me, dog, cat, owner of dog, us screaming, everyone screaming (well, maybe mainly me screaming to be fair) while on the phone to the vet out of hours seemed to be quite keen I get out sooner rather than later.

 

The cat has improved a lot today and is now eating for the first time, on lower pain meds, and has had the IV line and drains out.

She is not out of the woods yet regarding infection and potential necrotisation of the damaged tissue, muscle and fat, which was as extensive as I have ever seen when accompanied by a decision to attempt care.

They are allowing me to take her home for the weekend to nurse at home- she still can’t really move much.

 

ANYWAY.

My cat is insured with Sainsburys (underwritten by Alliance) up to 7.5k per condition. Her vet’s bill had reached £1,200 within an hour of her being taken in. They agreed right away that they would pay for coverage, should I not be able to get payment from the dog owner.

It means that in the hours I have spent with her in the clinic this week, I could simply say to the head clinician, “I don’t like her breath sounds, let’s do another X-ray.”

The dog that attacked her is insured with Petplan, underwritten again by Alliance. Dog insurance policies include third party liability coverage, and aside from the excess on his policy (which he has paid to the vet himself), the dog’s owner’s insurance are now covering all of her bills, and I could also, if I wish, claim against them for my own injuries, property damage, loss of earnings etc.

Had I been seriously injured as part of trying to get the dog off the cat or the aftermath of all of this, the dog's owner had the legal cover to support my needs.

 

Having my cat insured and the dog owner having his dog insured, essentially meant that during what was probably the worst time of my life, and the worst thing I have ever seen happen, meant that I did not have to worry about funding her care, having to compromise on care due to the costs, or not being able to afford to go ahead with her care due to lack of funds.

My pet insurance policy costs me £25 per month for two cats, and even though I am not well off, this money is something I cheerfully pay each month, and always will.

Policies go up with inflation and the age of the pet (it hiked by almost double when my cats reached nine years old) but the good insurance firms do not raise their renewal prices due to claims.

It is important to remember, if you own a dog, that the dog’s own healthcare is not the only thing that you are provided with; third party liability cover should be an essential thing for ALL dog owners.

 

INSURE YOUR PETS.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Starcoaster

[Guest]

. That bit is very true which also adds weight to the rip off case, when my daughter was doing work experience, for the vet, she was amazed how they managed to max out, on every pet that was covered by insurance,even when there was nothing wrong with them they would keep them in for observation,at a cost of £80 an hour, my daughter is now 28 so quite a long time ago, also find it a bit strange that mhs relates a story, that shows they were ripped off, then claims it's not a rip off? The only time I ever met anyone that got v,f,m from pet insurance, was a guy that used to fish on my lake, who owned three border terriers (all related) and used one policy to cover all three, pretending that it was the same dog, even that is now not possible due to new laws on chipping, dogs, so definitely something I would never consider, although I guess the next step for the nanny state will be to make insurance on dogs compulsory

It still doesn't concern me sufficiently not to have our dog insured though, it's more a nagging concern really.

 

As for committing fraud, like the guy you know in order to get value out of a pet insurance provider, no I wouldn't do that either.

Edited August 14, 2015 by MJG

[Guest]

A shorter but possibly relevant story.

 

When Simon was about three months old I was walking him near our home. He managed to wrap himself around a lamp post and reverse out of his harness and bolted for home.

 

Between where he freed himself and our house is a road that gets quite busy during the school run, which of course it was. No amount of calling would bring him backand was completely ineffective.

 

As he bolted towards the road with no fear of the fast moving traffic (people regularly speed along this particular section) all I could think was -

 

a - I hope he doesn't cause a crash and as a result someone gets injured or worse.

 

b - I hope he doesn't get injured himself

 

c - thank Gawd he's insured (inc. third party) in the event of a and/or b.

 

Dogs can be completely unpredictable.

 

As it happened he literally sat on the middle of the road from where I retrieved him, thanking the all the drivers who had seen what was happening managed not to hit him and stopped.

Edited August 14, 2015 by MJG