Having just had a clain refused I am wondering how you all afford to pay vet bills>

I've been paying almost £40 a month for two dogs for £3000 of cover , and now I have to pay a £300 vet bill on top of it. So I a thinking what is the point of paying almost £500 a year insurance plus the full cost of my vet bills!

So how do you manage especially if you have more than one dog as the insurance costs now seems so high. Do you bother with insurance or do you find other ways to meet the bills. If I set up a SO to pay the £40 each month into pet account  I'd have £1500 in the bank now for paying that £300 vet bill!  Or is that a bad idea?

I don't have funds set aside right now which is why I originally went for the option of insurance. With two or more dogs it might not be the most cost effective option.

My dogs are perfectly fit and healthy so they should be low risk.  But they are very active and do agility but being fit and agile should again make them low risk?

I have no insurance for any of my animals.  I pay a set amount a month into a savings account by DD and use that when I need to pay the vet.  I don't want to tempt fate :d but it's a fair amount now and I've never had to use more than half of it.

Debs

This is what I was thinkig of.. I had origionally tossed up between doing this or getting insurance. 

I do that for my car ..for tax, MOT and repairs so I could add the dogs to the car savings account.

And it is too easy to get credit or  loans if I needed to, as well as this our vet accepts payment by weekly installments.

I have my two insured with pet plan at a cost of £55 per month.  It is a lot, but living in a Greater London, vet fees are astronomical.  Only last week I paid just under £700 for 6 xrays to be done, including sending them to the orthopedic specialist, oh and some rimadyl.  I'm not sure if it is cost effective in the long run, but it does give me the peace of mind that I don't have to worry about whether or not I can afford treatment if needed.

I would add that I've never had any payment refused, so not sure how I would feel about it then.

>it does give me the peace of mind that I don't have to worry about whether or not I can afford treatment if needed

Ditto ... although I'm in Berkshire, could not afford not to be insured. A split ear on a Sunday cost me around £800 (I told the insurance company I thought this was obscene and they ought to query it), a stick down the throat cost (ooh, tried to blank it from my mind), but about £1800. A broken jaw recently has been around £500. A split pad was another couple of hundred by the time they managed to get it healed.

I'm sure there are also other bits, but these are the major ones. I have definitely reclaimed more than I've ever spent.

All of these are within the life span of my current dogs, the oldest of which is 7. My dogs are healthy but very active and apparently accident prone, although none of these are through carelessness - the stick was a lesson learned hard, which has never been repeated.

I also assume that that vets do use more treatment and the bill is more expensive when they know the animal is insured, but I'd hate to find out the hard way that this assumption is wrong!

M.

Don't bother with Insurance, have a line of credit in an emergency of £3000 and £500 overdraft facility.  Also put money into an account.

If treatment was likely to come to more than this I would sadly have to consider if it should be undertaken, how much time and quality of life would it bring.

I have never except this last year spent as much as it would cost to Insure my four or five dogs of 0 to 13 years.

Over the last year I have spent nearly £1000 on two dogs.  One woudl not ahve been covered by Insurance as it was a breedign risk (Mastititis out of hours on Boxing day), she also needed a gum growth and tooth otu recntly (nearly £200).  Some Insurance won't cover anything dental.  Lexi's ongoing ear Infection was the worst at £535.

In the past none of my dogs in their lives have had enough treatment each to cover two years Insurance for one dog.  My 10 year old has only ahd to have a tube of Ointment for conjunctivitis as a pup, less than the excess for most Insuarance.

> If treatment was likely to come to more than this I would sadly have to consider if it should be undertaken, how much time and quality of life would it bring.

While I understand your point of view and agree to a certain extent, but £3000 wouldn't go very far for a more serious condition where I live.

Edited to add:  I do intend to get my younger one hip and elbow scored when old enough and if no problems, then I may well consider doing as you suggest.  Unfortunately, the older one has HD and although no problems at the moment, I don't feel I can afford to let his insurance go because I have no doubt he will need treatment at some point.

Unfortunately, the older one has HD and although no problems at the moment, I don't feel I can afford to let his insurance go because I have no doubt he will need treatment at some point.

You wouldn't do a hip replacement on an old dog though, would you? And I also think at least some insurance companies don't pay up for HD unless both parents were hip scored within breed average.(It mentions this in PetPlan's smallprint.) I have an old dog with severe HD  (score of 96) and he's costing me £5 month, that's all. He was on Rimadyl for a few years, that wasn't all that expensive but around £40 I a month seem to remember, then that stopped working and now I just buy human grade Glucosamine with Chondroitin (won't pay the silly prices the pet ones are when it does the same job) and always buy on special offer and a fiver a month is all his treatment works out at. So I don't really see why having HD would mean insurance would be needed. :)

None of my animals are insured. Our vets bills are around £3000 a year I'd say.Not counting vaccinations, we usually see the vet twice a month on average. Our vet always lets us pay when we can afford to so it never has to be on the day. We get the money from wherever we can, and often it's when a kitten or puppy has been sold (although I don't have pups every year) then the money goes straight to the vet. (The cats always need much more vet treatment than the dogs I have to say, I don't think the dogs even come to £500 a year -unless we need to hip score- and we have 12.)

> And I also think at least some insurance companies don't pay up for HD unless both parents were hip scored within breed average.(It mentions this in PetPlan's smallprint.)

Yes, both his parents were.

My neighbour pays over £50 per month for rimady/metacam (can't remember which) - and nearly as much again for glucosamine (although I try to persuade her she can get if much cheaper).

My vets charge over £40 just for a consultation, and there is no flexability on payment - except with my own vet who, against company policy, does bend the rules and will claim directly from the insurance company, but only once treatment has started and ongoing treatment is required.

I am not sure where I would be without insurance.

My last dog has severe problems with this ears and needed 5 operations one of which was done by a specialist as it was too close to nerves in his ear. Over the 8 years I had him pet plan must have paid out over £6000. As a cross breed, he cost about £200 a year, After he reached 10, I had to pay for the excess plus 20% but he was worth every penny. I did every thing I could to find out what was wrong with him in the end.

Breeze's insurance has now rocketed to £400 per year and because we have claimed on her, we can't really move anywhere for the time being. Saying that, M+S have paid out nearly £2000 in 2 years for her.

My husband did not insure Sam (staffie), but when he got ill a few months ago, I learnt from the experience of Barnie and said that we would do the basic tests and drugs, we may need to consider ending his misery with some dignity.

I think insurance is good when they are young, but not once they reach a certain age. (My cats used to be insured too, but I have now cancelled that).

My insurance has definately paid for itself several times over.

have a line of credit in an emergency of £3000 and £500 overdraft facility.
thanks. I arranged that now.

I suspect vets over treat dogs a lot now when you have insurance. it is too like giving them a blank cheque.

I think it depends on your circumstances, how good you are at saving (I'm pretty useless - being a single mum with lots of other commitments, I'm often living hand to mouth so prefer to know I have the backup of insurance), the cost of vet fees where you are and what sort of cover you have.   Looking at your other post, I think you will find that all insurance companies would exclude any pre-existing conditions, or anything remotely related to any condition seen before.

Yep once you exclude any forms of accidents  it makes the dogs uninsurable!

My dogs have never been ill.

but my girl  is possibly now uninsurable simply because I previously had her checked out to make sure she was okay. So that should make her more insurable not less insurable! 

Because my dog has never had any condition or ever been diagnosed with any ill health or ongoing medical problem my vet is actually contesting the decision of the insurance company.

One time as a pup my boy dog  had a limp so I took him to the vet o have his leg checked and he was checked over and the vet said he was perfectly fine.. he needed no treatment and just got better..probably just pulled a muscle.  but even though that was something of nothing and there is no exclusion on his policy the insurance company could decide to refuse to pay out for any future joint related conditions.. but for no actual valid reason.

Hi

I would definitely not take the risk of having no insurance with a dog especially since my westie Hamish has had considerable treatment running into thousands at the moment for which petplan have paid up with no problems i cannot fault them at all, i know it is unusual for such a young dog to have to have the amount of treatment he has had but if i had not had insurance my poor dog would have had to have been PTS a long time ago.
At least when you have insurance you can give them the best possible chance of survival and get them the best treatment possible.
This is just my thought on the matter and i know many people on here think differently but i would never take the risk of having no insurance after this episode with Hamish

Helen

But if they didn't pay up it would not be very good value and would not have helped you much.

My problem is I have forked out for insurance but they have failed to pay my claim so with the £40 I still have to pay my full vet bill. 

They should at least refund all my insurance payments! I don't think I have any rights though to claim  anything back.

I had Pet Plan in the past for a cross breed and they were always good. Unfortunately I couldn't afford them for two pedegree dogs so went through a pet insurance broker instead.

If you know the insurance company will have to pay out it is still expensive to insure a dog but if added to that they don't hve to pay out you are leaving it to luck as to if you can pay the vet bills or not...so they are not trustworthy so bad value.  At keast if you save up instead you know you have the money and no one can take it from you.  So I swing towards the advice to save the money each month.



But I think Pet Plan always pay out..they have a good reputation . 

I have heard it said that a Pet Plan rep when asked at a talk said that on balance it was not worth Insuring on average more than two dogs. 

I always advise Insurance for new puppies as Young animals are most accident prone, and if there is likely to be an ongoing condition it will hopefully manifest during Insurance.

Once most of your dogs are over Veteran age it really becomes expensive to Insure them

Mine are all insured and always will be, unless I get that lucky ticket...

I'm not in a position to pay whole bills, I'm not earning enough to pay my normal bills at the moment.  But even when I've got a job that pays those, I'll keep the insurance - it's worth it in case of something big.

Two if mine will soon be with Healthy Pets, one is Argos and the other PetPlan, altogether it'll cost £50 odd a month.

The way I see it, a dog can be fit and healthy as you like but accidents can still happen - last week is a prime example.  I took all four to the woods and let them off, they always go charging down a little hill to start with but this time River turned round, just as Soli went barreling into her at full speed (River is a 20kg lean crossbreed, Soli is a 40kg dobe).  River screamed - literally - and hobbled over to me, dragging her leg still screaming.  I honestly thought she'd broken it, and I was in a panic - she wasn't insured, and there was absolutely no way I could pay for an op.  Luckily she's fine, but it gave me a boot up the behind to sort it out.  She's my fittest dog - if she can get injured, any of them can.

i have insurance for my two dogs (akita/chinese crested) with sainsburys i pay about £40 a month. My chinese crested fractured her foot in oct-id only had her a week. The costs was £500 for bandages, xrays, medication. Unfornatly it didnt heal properley and last week she was referred to a specialist and they put a plate in- cost £1400. (you can read in my other post to see what a nightmare that was!)

I have just found out my insurance arnt going to pay anything as it happened in the first 14 days of taking out a policy, and they wont pay on the plate operation as it was linked to the fracture which happened within the first 14 days of the policy. It does say in the policy documents they wont pay on an illness showing signs within the first 14 days but this was an accident. I am appealing but dont expect much!
They take my premiums in the first 14 days and they continue to take them when they refuse to pay out!

Its a difficult decision wether to insure or not! Am thinking along the lines of putting money away each month. Especially if you have insurance and have to pay the bills anyway.

Thats a nightmare about your cresteds vet bill. I can see though why the insurance companies have this policy, it would be too easy to just take out insurance when your pet became ill otherwise. If your girl was kc registered you should have got 6 weeks free insurance to cover the transition period?

Heck! That's awful! I thought they covered for accidents straight away but not for illnesses. Because a dog may already be sick before you take out the policy but if so two weeks would be a long time to wait fir treatment..either it would recover or become an emergency case before the two weeks were up. I'm sure I remember being told by most companies accidents were covered straight away but sickness wasn't fir 2 weeks.

An accident can happen any time..insurance companies should have more heart..the welfare of animals should be more rooted in their  company ethos.

This is the problem I am having... the confusion is in them making the distinction between an accident and an illness!

With credit available so you pay after treatment rather than before, and the insurance costs being so high so you can save quite a bit in an account each year and the insurance  cover tends to be limited from £1000  up to £6000 anyway depending on the policy it is not a life or death issue these days to have insurance..but on the other hand a £6000 loan would be about £200 a month to repay over 5 years. 

But if insurance can't be relied upon to live up to our expectations then you woud end up paying  the insurance cover premiums all the years  and then the  loan too!  

I hope you are going to fight this. Have you checked out your policy wording. I had a Jack Russell puppy (she now lives with my daughter) I had her only a week but luckily had insured her with M&S when she fell off the window ledge and trapped her leg down the back of the bench under the window breaking it ( her leg, not the bench or the window) She needed an orthopaedic consult as the break was too bad for the vet to fix and it had to be plated together. M&S paid up no problem as it was only illness within the first 14 not covered.

All four of our dogs are insured - and just as well.

Last year, three of them had claims... all of them more than the insurance premiums I paid, one of them almost £1000 (including hydro therapy).

I have never had a problem claiming anything back from them, they are all insured with M&S. They also pay directly to my vet which makes life a lot easier for me too!

I will definitely always have our dogs insured... I would never want to be in the situation where I cannot afford treatment and will either have to let them suffer or have them pts knowing that money/insurance could have sorted them out!

Vera

Ours are not insured, With three Bernese (Two over 5 years) It was an astronomical amount to insure them all this year About £150 a month (We have had a couple of small claims and don't they whack up the premiums!!! ). We have a Building soc' acct and put so much a month in. That way hopefully we will be able to cover the costs. (when I have a litter I try to put a good whack in as well if at all possible) If it's a really big bill I am lucky that I have savings and could cover it. I would have to try and put it back though at a regular rate or else God help me in my dotage, it's the pension fund!
Many of my vet bills are irreclaimable anyway if they relate in any way to breeding costs, prophylactic cover ie jab's fleeing, worming etc. and we just hope that any accidents are small ones (Fingers well and truly crossed ) Having had a GSD in the past who shattered his upper arm and cost over £2500.00 nearly 15 years ago I am only too aware of how expensive the vet bills can be.
I think if you are not in a position to cover any emergencies then insurance is a must even if it seems to be money wasted in many cases. It is never wasted if it saves your dogs life.
Aileen

Even if you don't take out ordinary pet insurance, i would always suggest having the public liability cover. even if the dog is well behaved and of good temerament it is all too easy for accidents to happen and cost a fortune!

True this is the only thing I don't like about not having insurance, however as one of them is classed as a guard dog in connection with OH's business one at least has public liability cover...now which one was it ???

The DogsTrust give you third party insurance for dogs if you become a member - can't recall exact cost of becoming a member but around £20 rings a bell. You  don't have to have one of their dogs - just sign up for membership :)

i think insurance gives peace of mind, one of our old dogs was a rescue who could not be insured due to a small joint problem in a leg. he ended up costing my parents a fortune- treatment for the joint, no problem. then he jumped on my mums glass cold frame and opened up his leg. then he developed a skin condition that involved v expensive specialist shampoo and several £200 a go trips to a dermatologist, then he had a rip roaring ear infection and was int eh vets for ages... poor thing had no end of problems (i think due to poor diet while growing up, was on the streets) and as we couldn't insure cost a bomb. worth every penny though.

I have insurance, personally I could not afford to be without it, my dog was insured, for 7000 per condition, it was no where near enough for her treatment which ended up being thousands more, and where as I do not regret one penny I spent on her (we had another 7 plus years of excellent quality life), I know I could not afford for this to happen again which is why we are now petplan unlimited cover, should god forbid the worst happen again, I would only have to find the excess. This gives me great peace of mind, knowing I can ask for any treatment and also referrals without the worry of paying out loads, saving the insurance money  instead of taking out the policy would not touch the bills I had with bracken so it is not an option for me.  Personally I hope I am wasting the monthly insurance payment ( even though some months it is hard to find) and I never have to use it because that would mean my dog is not sick lol.