I've always insured my dogs.  But the premiums seem to be rising so much and the excess is also raised.  I'm thinking of paying a set amount into an account each month to use if necessary and cancel the insurance.  I know if something awful happens I could be worse off, but I just wondered if anyone else is doing this.  Also with three dogs I'm paying an awful lot of insurance.  Also I believe we are covered for indemnity on our household insurance - not sure on this one though.  Any thoughts on this subject.

well from oct 2002 t0 oct 2004 my vet bill was over £7.500.00 with six dogs there no way i would of save that money thank god they were all insured,
the dogsare insured with m/s and pinnecles. the two that die were with pet plan.
all companys paid out ith question.very good.

You had a very unlucky year, and that is what Insurance is based on that most of us will pay in more than we claim so that they can pay out for those like yourself and to pay the staff and maek money for the compnay.  This means on average we will always loose out on any Insurance, it is a safety net if something happens.

Personally I would prefer to pay back interest on credit of that one off amount rather than pay insurance.

My oldest dog is 13 next week.  In her lifetime she ahs had 3 Operations (a lumpectomy for a mammaary tumour, a partial mamary strip, and excision of a benign fatty lipoma) and also been spayed.

Now these will have cost less than 3 years insurance, so I have saved on 10 uyears worth of premiums.

Dog number 2 now 10 years old has had two ops for a plasmacytoma on her pastern last year (they went in a second time to taek more tissue), cost around three years premiums.  Other than a C section she has never had any other claimable vet tretment.

Dog no3. has to date had no claimabel treatment, adn is 7 years old.

Dog 4. had an op to stich thrid eye lid over an eye ulcer that wasn't healing, whcih turned out to be cause by a hair growing through her eyelid (Ectopic cillia), which the vet failed to find, even though I suggested checking for that or Disticiasis (excess misplced eyelashes).  they couldn't seem to understand there are other things other than entropion (which she didn't have) that can cause this, so ther couldn't be anything!!!  I changed vets, and after turning her eyelid inside out(as he too couldn't find anything) he dound the ingrowing hair.  The whole debacle cost about 2 years Insurance premiums, and she is now 5 1/2 years old.

Dog 5 is only 18 months old, and has had no problems yet.

I would always say if you can't borrow the money then pay the Insurance, especially if it is for one or two dogs, but any more than two dogs and you will be very unlucky to be pauing out more ech year at the vet than the £450 or more it would cost to insure 3 dogs.

I have a line of credit for £3000 at the Bank.  I use this to fall back on if something big is needed for the dogs.  There is no way I could spend £150 a year or more each for 5 dogs in Premiums.  Teh only one of mine Insured is the dog owned by myself and 3 freinds in partnership.

It would have to be a very bad year for me to spend at the vets what my annual premiums would come to, and most of my Vet expenses arte the ones not covered anyway, and small things would normally be below the £50 or more excess.

If you know that in an Emergency you couldn't fin the moeny then insure.  Otherwise you are beter off opening one of those monthly saving accounts with a building society that pasy you a bonus equivalent or more than the normal interest if you don't withdraw more than once a year.

I usually insure mine for their first year on the basis that chronic problems such as allergies are most likely to emerge then, also they tend to be a little more accident prone in their youth :)  After that, like Brainless, I prefer to carry the risk myself, as she says most little incidents that involve maybe antibiotics fall below the excess anyway.  My philosophy is probably very different to some :) but many of the major ops that might be done these days I would not consider for my dogs on the basis that they cause too much acute suffering to outweigh the relief of chronic suffering I would rather euthanase if suffering is too much.  The next likely expensive time is during the old age years when again the premiums become silly and I would rather just cover costs myself.

I insure my two - but think that if I got another it would probably be cheaper to 'self-insure'. A lot depends on your circumstances and whether you could fund a life-long condition or a very expensive operation. I never bother with insurance for electrical products, but feel that with dogs, some illnesses can be open-ended as to cost. No rights or wrongs here - except that for people on VERY limited resources and only one or two dogs - then insurance has to be the safest way to go IMHO :)

Daisy

I thank my lucky stars that we were insured this year with pet plan. We have had bills of £1417.70 so far with our GSD over 2 illnesses, skin and bladder. Out of this amount we have had to pay £140.00 in excess. The full year is not up yet and she is still having treatment. We have had dogs in the past that never had more than the routine boosters with no insurance cover.We gave it a lot of thought before insuring this one. Thank goodness we did. I am a pensioner and dread to think of how I could have afforded the care she has needed.

I don't have pet insurance and haven't had for some years, the premiums are out of this world for mine When I think what I've paid in car and house insurance over the years, I could never claim all of that back if I tried.

A few years ago I took out an interest free loan and deposited the funds into a high interest savings account. Now thankfully, I have never had to touch these funds in 3 yrs and the interest that I have earnt on top of the original deposit has come to quite a good few quid ;) I paid the loan off in the first year so now that money is just sitting there earning interest and hasn't cost me a penny.  And I'm also reassured, that god forbid, if anything should happen to any of my dogs, or even 2 or 3 at the same time, I would be covered :)

I don't think that some people give enough thought to the possible costs of having a dog. Friends of mine have a lovely GR who, at the age of about 4 developed problems with her hip/knees (can't remember which) and HAD to have 2 operations, each £3000. She had been in a lot of pain and had they not had insurance , they would have had to have her PTS. The family just would not have been able to afford the operations as they had 3 teenage children and no spare cash for that sort of thing :( Thankfully, she is now fit after lengthy rehab and is now running around as she once did :)

Daisy

I have never had insurance and yes I have regretted it on some occassions but my own personal view is it just encourages vets to charge exorbatant fees.  When purdy did her ligement the first thing they asked was was she insured and when they found out she hadnt they said we will keep the costs down as much as possible.  Still cost me £1500.00 with a consultation fee of £92.00. 

I wish I had insured Molly but as most of her bills are under £50.00 then I would still have had to pay that myself in addition to the premium.

At the end of the day whatever they charge I would find the money somehow. 

We pay a set amount to Vet every month, then increase the amount should anything arise.
Sweep

Thats what we do by standing order. We are usually in credit with them :-)  Hope I have not spoke too soon!

I pay £40.00 a month but that also covers jabs, worming, frontline etc

I agree - I have both of mine insured with Petplan and though I have never had to claim for my bitch, our dog ran up a bill of £1500 before he was 6 months old :( . Petplan were very good and paid up in full straight away.

Duplicate post

Isabel I am glad I am not the only one who would not consider some kinds of treatment just because they are possible, doesn't mean they should be.

That's the system I use, and fortunately I've not had to touch it in years. I don't draw on it for boosters etc, or anything else that wouldn't be covered by insurance. There's no way I could afford the premiums for 4, so this works out at about the same premium for a single dog, yet the money's there for all four.

Hairypooch's idea of starting the account with an interest-free loan in a high-interest account is an excellent one!
:)

How did you do that then? Did you all aproach the vets about it, or is it something that not all vets do? I have recently tried to insure two of mine (Third is too old) but no one will touch them as they are not, and never will be, vaccinated. Pet Plan, KC and Scottish Insurance will, but they are really expensive.

Your way seems a lot better.

I pay the insurance premium into a bank account and use this to pay the bills. Only one dog has ever cost me more than I paid in and long term I'm showing a thumping profit!

Regards, John

I started this a few yrs ago when one of my dogs had cancer :-( & I run up a HUGE bill + ongoing tratment costs.

My vet was very good & let me set up a standing order to pay the bill off each month & I paid a bit extra when I could.

When it was paid off I asked him if I could carry on to cover anything else that cropped up - he said no problem.
Allthough doing it in a savings account would be better as you could earn intrest.

I know a couple of my friends do this now as well.

I dont see why any vet would not do it, they would collect the intrest on it after all!!!!!

I'd love to know where to go for an interest-free loan :)

Daisy

My issue with not insuring is that should the very worst happen, I would be entirely grateful for my 3rd party cover from my insurers-each dog is covered for up to £3million.  Any unexpected vet bills I could take care of, but if any of my dogs (in whatever circumstances) caused injury (directly or otherwise) to anyone else, I would be stuck in a very difficult place should any civil case ensue.

Most house contents insurance also covers you for 3rd party claims against your dog.

ClaireH,
I didn't realise that! I pay out insurance for the same reason as spaniel-lover, rather than for vet bills. If either of mine ran into the road and caused an accident, it's peace of mind to know I'd be covered, but I didn't realise the house insurance might cover it. What if something happens away from home? Does that still apply? If so might well be worth changing the way I do things. How do the rest of you go on for the 3rd party bit?
Tracy

My house insurance does not give third party cover so yes, I do pay that. The very real possibility of a big third party claim, to me, makes this kind of cover essential. Again, this is something which gets paid out of my vet bank account

Regards, John 

Thanks John,
Do all companies offer 3rd party only insurance, then? I need to look into this!
Tracy

Mine is Dog Breeders. It used to be really cheap but I think others will now be cheaper. When I started at a dog club very many years ago it was part of the membership fee and I've just continued paying ever since. I'm not at all sure what others are available.

One momentary loss of concentration or a single careless act could result in a dog getting into the road and causing an accident and the claim could run into millions! A risk we just cannot take!

Regards, John

   John
               just a thought Dosent Basc Gundog  Membership give 3rd party cover ?

             Yorker 

Yes it does, but I'm not sure how it functions or how many dogs are covered. Something for me to find out about at Crufts. :)

Regards, John

Thanks John,
I think I could do with changing my system if this is the case - I pay about £25 a month for my two -
full insurance cover - but it might be worth looking into the 3rd party only option

I've had golden retrievers for 25 years and never had insurance but had a savings account just for the dogs. When we had Sam I decided to get insurance because so many people we met out on walks had said how much they had saved by having insurance. When Sam was 10 months old he had a blockage as he had been eating stones so he was at the vets for 4 days and very poorly, he was just getting over that when he had a lump of fatty tissue (Hygroma) on his neck so they had to remove that. He was recovering well and on his second walk off the lead after his ops when he cut his pad badly and had to have stitches for that. He has also had Scrotal excema but thank goodness he is now on the mend. He is only 13 months old!
I am so glad we had insurance. I've actually lost count of how much it has cost probably between £2500 and £3000. Sefa is 2 1/2 and to date we've not had to claim anything for her, we've just had her speyed and thats it. I suppose you could say Sam is unlucky but I shall never be without insurance again it just gives you piece of mind.
Ange