How many of you insure your dogs and how many have a fund instead? I currently insure mine but I’m considering paying those premiums into a dog bank account. Obviously there is the problem that it will take a while to build up and then it would be Sod’s law that one of them hurt themselves or got sick the day after I cancelled it!

Opinions greatly received.

I have always had insurance for all of my animals .5 at one time
For some reason my lot seem to love creating a claim and ive definitely had my money back over the years .
I wouldn't have been able to afford some of treatment that I have chosen to take for them without insurance and would of had to make so very hard choices otherwise. 
Insurance all the way for me

I don't Insure, rely on Savings with Credit Card as back-up, and have a reasonable Credit limit.

My Three dogs in last year have cost some £350 full bloodwork and broken incisor removed on 12 year old.

£960 for 12 teeth on a 13 year old followed by £150 dealing with gum infection and abscess.

Euthanasia of 5 year old, and disposal. £250.

My friend has just had a renewal quote, lowest level on her Labrador just turned 8, Insured since Puppy, no claims £120 a month

This is my worry furriefriends, that I won’t have enough to cover full treatment. I’ve luckily not had any issues yet (touch wood) and it’s just crossed my mind that maybe I would be better off going the other way. Carrot is 5 in April, the other three (Spud, Sprout and Pea) are all under 3. Tilly the cat is 5 this year too and no trouble with her yet either. Such a difficult decision.

> My Three dogs in last year have cost some £350 full bloodwork and broken incisor removed on 12 year old.<br /><br />£960 for 12 teeth on a 13 year old followed by £150 dealing with gum infection and abscess.<br /><br />Euthanasia of 5 year old, and disposal. £250.<br /><br />My friend has just had a renewal quote, lowest level on her Labrador just turned 8, Insured since pupoy, no claims £120 a month

I was going to ask how much you felt was a good amount to have stashed to cover things. This breakdown really helps Thankyou.

£120 a month! Ouch!

I would always go for insurance  The highest amount I choose to pay in one go was nearly £6k there was no way I could have done that with a savings plan .
The other option could  be a credit card as a back up if u can find one with a reasonable interest rate

To be fair mine is a pretty healthy breed and visiting the vet for anything more than something like a hotspot, infected cyst or breeding related things that are not covered would be rare.

In old age teeth would be most likely, maybe suspicious lumps.

I have £4500 Credit Card limit plus Bank Overdraft.

I think if you can save the monthly premiums of 3 dogs, that would probably cover your Credit card repayments.

I have a separate ‘dog account’ where I put a bit aside each month, I don’t even notice it when it leaves but it does add up - when I first started I was surprised at how much I was able to save...this was a few years ago when I was in between jobs so wasn’t putting lots aside either! I also have 3rd liability insurance though, which hopefully I’ll never have to use, but that comes with a dogstrust membership (I think) or something that I pay to dogs trust that in turn gives my 3rd liability. I’m not sure I’d even use it but it’s good to know it’s there, and that I’m helping a charity out in the process.

Sounds about right brainless. Brookes at 9 is £103 on . 2 cats £60
Just had to claim £200 for brooke for bloods fluids and poo samples to lab and a day at vet .
Cat claim this premium year has been £2500 for renal and cardiac problems.

I also have dogs trust membership too . imo is imperative if u don't insure as for about £12.00 pa if gives u the 3rd party cover u need. I was also advised by Trevor Cooper dogs trust policy was one of the ones to offer pretty much the best cover for 3rd party.

Ditto re third  party Insurance wit Dogs Trust.

I insure dogs until they are about 10-11yo. After that I figure that I wouldn't be them through a major surgery anyway and I can afford to pay for medication for their last few years if needed, plus the cost of insurance sky rockets as they get elderly, so I stop the insurance then.

I always use petplan and have to say they are brilliant. Our retriever who sadly passed away last year after lymphoma cancer they ALWAYS paid up.

Over the years he had a few problems... teeth, nasty case of campylobacter, hot spot dermatitis and eventually the cancer. When he was 11 the premium was around £60 a month. However I worked out over his lifetime we had claimed more in insurance than we paid.
Yet our lab who’s nearly 3 not been to the vets once yet!!!

As I've written before, we only ever insured our first hound.  As our numbers increased, and as we happily had comparatively few emergency vet needs we carried no insurance.   Down to just two I did take some quotes and given one of mine is an uncomplicated breed, nearly died at what most came in at.   I wanted insurance, not to buy the companies.  What finishes it for me is the excess.   Of course insurance companies base that on the average cost of a non emergency vet visit.   So you end up paying the vet billl AND the monthly premium.   No thanks.  If we ever had a bad period, the vet we were with for the longest time would let us stage pay as she knew us and that we'd pay her as fast as we could.    Once we had an inheritance, and so some Savings, we used that for higher bills - with the CC!    I am concerned about the lack of interest coming into our Savings these days, so higher vet bills (always increasing) are a worry.

I still prefer to keep my money on Savings and not propping up insurance companies although hindsight tells me I should have insured Frankie as over his life, his vet needs were astronomical - something I'd not expected given his breed and my experience with my home-breds which he wasn't.   Teazel (Whippet) had a skin tag removed after it started bleeding and a dental which came to well over £450. and was a bit of a shock to the system I have to say, but over her years, she'd not cost me much, other than to hull her corns, so I felt she deserved it.

We paid out for insurance for years but eventually, when the premiums got ridiculously high (three dogs and a cat), we decided to stop and bank those monthly payments instead. We set up a DD to pay in to a 'dog' account monthly because we knew that if we did not, that money would get spent! . We also have a credit card safety net. To date the money saved has covered most the costs and I certainly would not go back to paying premiums again. We do have Dogs Trust Membership for the 3rd party cover though.

I remember many years ago when Insurance was around £100 a year with the defunct DBI (taken over by Petplan) an Insurance rep at a seminar said that in breeds with average good health Insuring more than 2 dogs would be better to put the money aside.

Right, here goes.  Years ago interest on savings were really good.  So put into pet savings.  Now there is no interest on savings. So maybe take out insurance.  During lockdown worked out how much I had paid to insurance company.  How much they paid out.  How much they disallowed.  Insurance company won.  So they should they are in it for profit as a business.  So stopped insurance and at the moment I am winning.  Still have enough in pot for broken leg etc.,  I am with Dog Trust for claims against me and my dogs.

> The other option could  be a credit card as a back up if u can find one with a reasonable interest rate

We do have an unused credit card that could be the failsafe so maybe an option.

> mine is a pretty healthy breed and visiting the vet for anything more than something like a hotspot, infected cyst or breeding related things that are not covered would be rare.

Mine is too which is why I’ve been thinking about how much I  spend on insurance! In the last 5 years I’ve spent about £2160 on premiums for 3 dogs. There is now another one to add to the mix. Never had to claim. I’m finding the thought of taking the plunge and stopping really quite scary though...

> I insure dogs until they are about 10-11yo. After that I figure that I wouldn't be them through a major surgery anyway and I can afford to pay for medication for their last few years if needed, plus the cost of insurance sky rockets as they get elderly, so I stop the insurance then.

This makes sense as a good time to stop if I stay with it.

> However I worked out over his lifetime we had claimed more in insurance than we paid.

Definitely was worth it then!

> As our numbers increased, and as we happily had comparatively few emergency vet needs we carried no insurance.

This is what’s made me think, my numbers are increasing. If I just had two I’d stick with insurance but I’ve now got 4 and there’s likely to be more at the some point in the future so I could be spending a lot of money on nothing as they are a hesslthy, robust breed.

> We do have Dogs Trust Membership for the 3rd party cover though.

I think if I ditch the insurance I will definitely be going down this route. A  lot of recommendations for it from posters. Thankyou.

> We set up a DD to pay in to a 'dog' account monthly because we knew that if we did not, that money would get spent! We also have a credit card safety net.

This is exactly what I’m thinking of doing.

> an Insurance rep at a seminar said that in breeds with average good health Insuring more than 2 dogs would be better to put the money aside.

Very interesting and helpful Thankyou Brainless.

> So stopped insurance and at the moment I am winning.  Still have enough in pot for broken leg etc.,  I am with Dog Trust for claims against me and my dogs.

Great Thankyou. Good to see the switch is working!

Really depends how much you have access to and how fast you could recoup if that was wiped out.

Mine are all insured except for the 15 year old. I don’t have insurance for the little things, I have it in case anything goes disastrously wrong, vet bills can add up fast! I work in the animal health industry so I get to see the ones who can’t afford surgery, the ones who put money aside then blow through that with one cruciate and the other one goes and they don’t know what they’re going to do, ones who pay for surgery which they can afford that then fails and they have another three surgeries that they get into a lot of debt for etc etc. If you have access to a load of credit or a load of savings then it might be right for you. I wouldn’t ever not insure without access to a decent amount, say £7k, and just start putting money aside instead.

I do find that some dogs are just always at the vet with stitches/runny poo/itchy skin/weird undiagnosable mystery thing which goes away/dental etc etc... and other dogs I've owned hardly ever see a vet in their lives.

It's hard to know in advance which a dog will be, so I would insure to begin with at first.

Trouble is the little things are usually not claimable due to the excess

Just thought, I did not calculate vet fees nor dispensing costs. Also, for some reason the vet wants to see us for unnecessary visits. Maybe I am breaking even

Vet wants to see you for unnecessary visits? 

In the end its your choice and if you really believe that don't go and consider changing vets

Each time we request a repeat prescription the vet wants to see her and take photographs.  There is not anything else the vet can do.  Medication and dosage is fine.  The dog is well and happy. It is like blackmail, lol.  Cannot go to another vet as we have exhausted all of them in the local area, lol.

I think it's a legal requirement if you are getting prescription meds from a vet, that they see the dog every 6 months or it could be every year - can't remember which. But they can't just give you meds without having recently seen the dog.

Agree but cant rember which. Its  the same  for flea and worm treatments.
Much like us. We need regular reviews before issuing repeat prescription.
I imagine photos are to track changes which for some conditions is very helpful
We have done photos of my gsd with his skin . Might be worth a thought for u 1234 if u arnt doing it anyway .

Pretty sure it's every 6 months

> If you have access to a load of credit or a load of savings then it might be right for you. I wouldn’t ever not insure without access to a decent amount, say £7k, and just start putting money aside instead.

Thanks Tectona. We do have access to a decent amount credit if needed. No idea if I'm brave enough to make the switch though!