Had an odd experience the other day ... I'm getting a pup in two months time so have been ringing round the local vets to get some info on the type of vaccines they use (ie live/killed, multi etc).

After having asked my query I was given the hard sell for one particular pet insurance company. Was really taken aback! Explained to the veterinary nurse (politely) that I was capable of researching the various options on offer, and that I didn't really think it was appropriate to give me the hard sell when I'd just rung up for some basic info.

Is everyone trying to sell something these days?

Just thought I'd have a quick rant. :)

Jo

Jo, by encouraging insurance, Vets can hike up their charges!! Not for much longer though if the article in last week's Dog World is anything to go by!
Having said that, because Vets' fees are soooo high, if you don't have a good basic knowledge of veterinary matters, then insurance is a good idea, at least for the first year of your pup's life.

I really feel that veterinary insurance has been a golden egg to the veteninary profession. I also feel that they are killing the goose who laid it. Fees are going up and up and are being matched by increased insurance prices. The way it is going the ordinary person will soon not be able to afford it and where will the vets be then?

Best wishes, John

Just for info, I will be taking out insurance - mainly because it gives me peace of mind but also because I think in this day and age it's essential to have some liability cover. I do agree with you totally though John - at the end of the day, insurance is clearly a very lucrative business - or there wouldn't be so many pet insurers around! I just think that it takes the biscuit when I ring up the vets for some technical information about the vaccines they use, and before I've even made an appointment they try to sell me insurance! Grr.

Jo :)

Jo,

I would be willing to bet that some of the pet insurance companies pay a commission to vets either for selling the insurance or allowing their brochures to be displayed in the surgery.

Petplan brochures were in my general vet's surgery and also in the specialist I had to take Abby to in order to mend her broken leg. I did take out Petplan, by myself at their Web site, based on recommendations from pet owners. The specialist vet told me that Petplan gives him the least problem, he said they know what diffferent procedures cost while many others do not. Perhaps that could be a motivation as well, since vets do not want extra administrative burden dealing with insurers. (Petplan have been brilliant in paying out, and quickly, for Abby's leg.)

Anyway, I would stay away from any surgery that tried to give me a hard sell on pet insurance. Even my general surgery, which displays the Petplan brochures, only asked if I had insurance or not. They really did not seem to care one way or the other.

Stacey

Hi Jo,
I hate any hard sell!
Pleased to hear that you are going to insure, I'd recommend everyone does. When we bought our Chihuahua puppy, he came with 16 weeks insurance, when it expired, I chose to go with Petplan. Was, I glad I did, at 8 months he needed a patella repair, congenital problem, the bill was £996!! His other knee may need attention at some point but it's good to know that cover will continue whatever.
Barbara

I decided not to reinsure this year as premiums were almost doubled
I wrote and asked why it was raised so much when i had not used it .
Surely it should at least stay the same if not called on. I got reply saying sorry we cant help you but if you should change your mind feel free to do so
So i have put 20 euros away each week instead . I just could not see how they could justify that much of an increase .
Mari

Hi, once my new puppy reaches 2yrs of age I will no longer insure him.I intend
to find just third party cover and I find any vet fees myself.
I know of alot of breeders do this because of the rise of insurance,it's just mad that
the insurance companies can do it ,the vets hike up their fees and the ones who
suffer is the customer.:-(
Thank goodness something may be done now and not too soon.

Briony :-)

I'm also putting away a bit a month, the insurance for Tilly is priced at around a tenner a month - we decided to put away a tenner a month into a seperate account. The way i see it is, if tilly is well apart from maybe the odd 'little' thing until she is say 8, we will have hundreds saved up for any big ops or treatment - if she never gets really poorly, the money is still ours - if i pay it to petplan, i'll never see it again unless she happens to be really ill. It's a risk but if she needed treatment before we had enough saved, i know i can find the money from somewhere. Her being a mongrel i'm not too worried about some of the problems some of you have with purebreeds, more about old-age related illness and of course accidents.
Lynz

If she is a GSD collie cross she could still have Hip Dysplasia, and possibly Eye disease. Being a cross does not preclude this. The eye problems are less likely in a cross like yours as the problems are usually recessive, and the chances of the GSD parent and the Collie both carrying the sma problem is small, but HD is still just as likely as in either of the parent breeds.

I agree with you over the Insurance. If you know you can access a line of credit, then saving the equivalent of the Insurance premiums will probably see you right.

I have four Pedigree dogs (but a pretty natural breed) and one has never had to visit the vet in 8 years other than routine preventative stuff, and a C section for her last litter.

Her Mum had smal mammary tumour at 5, which regrew at 8, and then to be on the safe side, has had two benign fatty lumps removed, and she is now 11. That makes four operation totalling around £600, but that is a lot less than her Insurance would have been for 11 years.

My nearly 6 year old has only ever had some conjunctivitis as a pupo, and the youngest at 3 had to have a third eyelid sewn over an eye ulcer, and recently an infected bite. so she has cost about £200.

When you bear in mind that each condition will have an excess??

Obviously premiums are set at such a level as to make the companies money, so on average you will pay in more than you get out, and this is even more apparent when there are multiple dogs.

Insurance for my four would be in the region of £600 a year. I have as yet not had an annual vet bill of this in any year!

You must know that you can get the money sdomehow though. I feel I woyuld rather pay the interest on a loan/credit, than fork out the premiums.