Can some body help me please! I am wanting to buy pet insurance ,after my pup recently contracted a horrible infection at the vets.(After his castration).We were stung with a large bill.I had been advised that there were so many hidden clauses that affected payouts that it wasn`t worth it,but i`m sure we could have reduced the bill with a plan.Has anyone got any ideas or great company to promote?We have a staffie, will that make any difference to the company/policy we use?Cheers for any advise given.

Staffies are catered for of course ( I am puzzled as to why you think they may not be??   )
Most insurance companies will not pay out for a known problem that is being treated prior to taking out the insurance but most other things are covered.
Our Staffy is covered by Argos Gold Cover and our adopted stray moggie is covered too.
Fingers crossed we havent used them yet and it is buttons to pay out each month to cover a potential high bill in the future.
Think its about £4 for Noodle (cat) and £8ish for Gus
Lel
There are LOTS of insurance companies now and personally I would go by RECOMMENDATION from others on the Board

This subject has been covered extensively on this forum. Go to search & type in insurance & you'll see a lot of other people's experiences

Lel - that is cheap! I'm paying more than twice that for Dizzy (although I suppose she's more than twice the size ;) )

Is there a website so I can go and compare? I'm with More Than, who weren't the cheapest but did cover death due to illness and a couple of other things that I didn't see on some other companies :)

They also cover things like people claiming against your dog for any damage that has been caused ( third party liability etc) and if you need to pay for advertising if your dog goes missing for example or if you have to go into hospital after an accident and the pet needs to go into kennels but I am pretty sure they all cover the same sort of things .
The thing is you just never know what is going to happen and its better to have some sort of cover then be hit by a Huge bill.
Lel

Hi Wishfairy!  I had a rather expensive quote from more-than, it is due to breed and postcode.  I ended up going with Animal Friends Insurance after much research only to find that they are under-written by E&L which I was really annoyed about especially so because they are already playing up!
Sarah

we are with argos as well,its just on http://www.argos.co.uk i think you need to type insurance into the search box as you will find it quicker this way
mel :)

Must say after years of insuring my dogs I got fed up with the cover going down whilst the fees went up, have continued my pups free insurance for the first year but will probably stop it when the next renewal becomes due. I now put the amount I would spend on insurance into a saving account.

I wouldn't be without my pet insurance. I'm with Pet Healthcare insurance Services. I think the most important thing to look for is a company that doesn't exclude a condition after 12 months.
Kat

we have our dogs insured with Petplan (we pay £21 a month on each dog - with a £55 excess) which seems really expensive but as I understand it, the standard of cover is very good......hopefully we wont have to use it too often ;)

Hiya,
  We use Tesco's pet insurance.our monthly payments of £18 covers both my dogs, one A belgium shepherd and the other a yorkshire Terrier pup.
  Thank the lord for insurance as Roxy(the belgian) needed urgent cruciate ligament surgury on both back legs costing somewhere in the region of £1,500.
  Right on Christmas was not the easiest time to have to find the money-but we did and here we are at the begining of January,Tesco's paid promptly and Rox is making a slow but steady recovery.
Top Marks for Tesco's...

I have my two insured with Pinacle.Its only the second year I've ever insured them.Im not going to bother again.
My dog who is 8 years old now.He slipped three years ago on slime on flags just when we moved here.And tore a muscle in his bum.He had to have an operation .
We where not insured at the time.
The cover I have does not insure him for arthritis in his back legs because of the operation.
I wonder if he got arthritis in his back and front what they would pay for.
I've decided I will foot the bills as I have done in the past.
Chow

Sorry, but I can't agree with anyone here who isn't going to insure their dog. My last GSD racked up somewhere in the region of £10k in vet treatment in her life (she DID have a lot of probs). I hope I never have to use it for the pup, but at least I know that whatever she may need, she can have.  If we hadn't had insurance we could never have covered that amount of money for my last GSD - well we would have done, but would have gone broke in the process. I always think, what if an operation for something was available and I couldn't afford to have it done. How would I feel? If you can't afford top range cover, at least have a basic cover. I pay monthly by direct debit, and so don't even see it go. My old mongrel has had both cruciates done, and is also permanently on Metacam, so my insurance regularly pays for itself.
Kat

If I had only one dog, then yes, I would probably insure. But with 4, the premiums would be more than my weekly housekeeping money! So I put the premium for one dog into a savings account every month - then any of them can draw on it.
:)

hi fatdogroxy, that is nice to know,  i took out pet insurance with tesco, so far havent needed to use it but it is nice to know they where there when you needed them, glad roxy is ok,
best wishes
Heidi

Hi I'm with Tesco now for my two as well, the premium's £28 a month. I already had Baillie with them, and he cost me £10 a month, but when Diesel was added to the policy, it took it up to the £28. But touch wood, I've never had to use it for either of them!!
Sharon
X

Ssitti 5 x £120 minimum for each in Insurance is a heck of a lot more than I would expect to pay out for recoverrable vet expenses.  You have to normally pay first £40 or £50 of eacb claim anyway.

In 2002 I had a fatty lump removed from one, and had a tail repaored on another, and a wound needed antibiotic ointment.  Total £300, and that was a bad year.

I have just taken out insurance with Llyods TSB and they seem pretty good as they charge the same price regardless of the breed of dog or postcode and they cover loss, advertising, boarding, 3rd party liability etc as well as vets bills (£3,000 a year) and i have just paid £118 odd for a year or its about £9.66 a month. Pretty good I thought

I feel happy paying health insurance for my dogs because you never know whats lurking round the next corner.  I'd be gutted if I had a dog with an illness like the one that "Chinablue"s suffered, because I know that we wouldn't be able to shell out the 10k she needed to give her dog the very best treatment and as China says fortunately she had pet insurance - It would be absolutely heartbreaking to have to say to the vet "sorry, I can't afford to pay for her treatment".  I know it's expensive (and I do believe insurance companies clobber us on whatever we are insuring) but I still wouldn't be without it because it gives me peace of mind. ;)

Last year I looked into my dogs insurance and found that over the years I had been insured with the company the premium had gone up way above inflation and at the same time the benefits had reduced and the excess had increased. So I looked at other companies and found that most would not take on my older two dogs, some would but the cover was poor.

In the end I decided to open a savings account for my dogs Vet care, if I insured them it would cost me between £80 and £100 per month so I decided to put £50 per month away and except the fact that I could be unlucky and have to find up to £1000. should something unforeseen happen. Well up to date I have had no trouble keeping up with the fees I have had to pay the Vets, and have used the funds to pay all fees including flea and worming treatment and the first £50 which I would have paid anyway, £80 and £100 on my oldies. So to date I recon I am well in pocket.

Have just got a new puppy and decided to let the KC insurance run on for the 1st year, experience tells me that it is within the first year that dogs cost the most either in accidental damage to themselves of things like pano and minor but long lasting infections. So far, touch wood, he has been ok and I will decide when the time has come to drop the insurance on him, probably about 12 to 18 months.

Hi Chinablue,
I wonder how long ago your "old mongrel" had the Cruciate op's,how long between op's
and how he/she's recovering.
How well is he/she expected to recover?
What breed is it and how old? you say you will use Metacam
forever,is that for the Cruciates or for Aurther?
Hope you don't think i'm being to nosey,i'm getting as much
info as possible of other peoples experiences of this particular injury.
Hopefully this will enable me to help Roxy make the best possible recovery
after the trauma she has suffered.
As she was a rescue dog we do not know her age or any history on her but my vet thinks she's about 9yrs young,probably had some sort of injury to her back legs at some stage-perhaps been knocked down by a car and maybe the injury was not treated properly at the time so has cropped up again now she's old and overweight.any advise?
  Regards Jo.

I use Pinnacle and pay just over £11 a month for my cross breed, Jake.  I would not be without insurance, it was something that we kept meaning to arrange and I did not have Jake insured until the beginning of August last year.  Thank God that I did as he fell ill in the end of October and had to undergo an operation on his spine & spinal chord which came to a total of just over £4200.  I had only paid three months worth of premiums to Pinnacle and although they seemed to drag their heels slightly over paying I was paid the full amount just before Christmas. As stated in a post above we dont know what we would have done if Jake had not been insured

Think if you only have one or perhaps two dogs then insurance is a possibility but if you have more it is just too expensive. Most of the cheaper insurances will only pay once on each condition, so if there is a reoccurrence or an associated condition or if say your dog gets arthritis and require ongoing treatment they will only pay for the first year and not after that, the condition of arthritis becoming an excluded illness.

For instance one of my hound had to have treatment for a cyst and I found on the renewal notice any further treatment for cysts was excluded. So as the animal gets older the more things it is not covered for and the more excess you have to pay.

Hi Jackie H
That's why I said in my original post you need to find an insurer that doesn't exclude after 12 months, or penalise older dogs, which mine doesn't. It took some searching to find them though. It's one of those situations that when you are faced with the kind of problems we had with my lovely girl Blue, you have to become an 'expert' in certain areas! Reading the small print on pet insurance became one of mine.
I do sympathise with people with several dogs, but isn't that even more of a reason to insure them!?
Kat

Forgot to add (especially in response to Brainless's post). I lecture my husband about leaving stuff around the house that our pup might chew. His frequent response is 'she never has yet', my answer is just because she hasn't yet doesn't mean she never will! I feel the same about insurance, in fact the definition of insurance is 'guarding against something which 'might' happen'. Granted it's swings and roundabouts some people never have to claim, others like me, far outweight the expense of insurance by their claims to the company. But for me, I will never take the chance.
Kat

I'm with Petpals (underwritten by domestic and general).
I pay £10.47 each for my three, every month.
They paid up within two weeks of me making my claim, and didn't quibble. They also don't exclude, which i'm so relieved about as one of my three has just had very expensive surgery in November, and it looks like he might need it again. They insure you for upto £3000 or £6000, every year. £40 excess for dogs.
I really wouldn't be without it. If i was, i would be very much in debt.

Snoopy can you give me a contact for Petpal insurance, it is very cheap. I was with DBI and they were underwritten by the same people and as I have said it became far too expensive and the cover almost non existent after a few years.

Yup Petpal sounds good.   I second the 'can I have the contact details!.'  I am with E & L at the moment and have heard nothing but bad things so I want to change.  So far Direct Line look good with £6000 limit per condition and no yearly maximum but I am still looking.

Jayne

I use Tesco for my 2 staffies and it costs me £17 per month for both.  I would never be without my insurance.  It covers me for loss, advertising & third party liability upto £1,000,000.  It doesn't cover for any vet care in the case of castration/spaying or problems arising from pregnancy.  No yearly maximum and a total of £2,500 per condition.

Hi all

I have just checked out the sainsburys bank insurance and it seems really good. It is about £17 a month for my 8week old lab. It doesnt penalise against age although the dog has to be insured for the first time before age 8yrs.
It will pay £6.500 per condition and there is no time limit. It also covers taking your pet abroad, loss of pet, death of pet through illness or accident. third party ect.

I live in london so my monthly payments are a bit higher than someone who lives outside london.

Debbie.

PS. I think that this is the insurance that i will take out for Buffy.

Sorry, i missed this.
Telephone no. for Pet Pals is-0870 2401913
Apparently Domestic and General have just bought Pet Protect as well, so both are being run by Pet Protect (because they have more pet insurance experience, alledgedly).
Can't fault them though. Dillon's just been hospitalised and they're going to get another hefty bill for him. But thats why i pay for my pet insurance.

Reply for Jo (fatdogroxy)

Hi Jo. My old girl is now 11 and a bit. She had her first cruciate op about 4 years ago now. The other one went about 9 months later. (Happens a lot apparently).

She is an out and out mongrel! She had a problem with her first cruciate. After the op some cartilage became trapped in the knee joint which caused terrible pain, and it had to be re-done and the joint was inflamed and had to be scoured out. She recovered well from both ops, but has arthritis in both joints as a result (especially the one which became really inflamed), and that's why she is on the Metacam routinely. She is absolutely fine and undertakes good walks. She long ago gave up tearing about like a lunatic (but that's just because she got lazy in her old age) but she trots and runs and swims quite happily. I'm quite certain that she would not have any difficulty keeping up on a 5 mile walk if I was energetic enough to do one ;). So I've never been worried about her knees since. The recovery time with cruciates is long. Three months, with minimal exercise gradually gradually increasing. She does have a little difficulty with stairs now, but still gets up them if she really wants to.

As Metacam is not steroid based, it doesn't have a cumulative detrimental effect as would steroids, so I'm quite happy for her to stay on it - especially as I'm insured :D

Hope this helps, and no you're not being nosey at all, I'm sure everyone is happy to share this kind of information, knowing that it might help.
Good luck with Roxy

Kat