Thank god for Insurance.....get yours now!

[R1gtr]

Hi, basically a quick post to remind any potential new owners to take out insurance as soon as they get a pet, especially Cats and Dogs.
We have two lovely Boxers, both rescues and thankfully we took out insurance on each dog when we rescued them.
We have had Daisy 2 years and Ava 1.5 years, without insurance I think we would be close to 5k in vet bills.
Daisy had problems with her eyes just after we got her, she blinked a lot and would get swollen eyes now and again, vet diagnosed Intropia, two operations later things were worse as vet did not do best of jobs, she developed ulcers as a result and had to get an emergency operation on Wed by a specialist(thankfully our new vet just won vet of the year) and it appears to have been successful tho she is scheduled in for another op in 6 weeks, costs so far with daisy approx £2500.

Ava was in kennels for a while before we got her, not long after tho we noticed she was awful thin and always had runny poos but thought it was down to changing from kennel food, however it got worse with blood appearing in her poo's, a quick visit to the vet diagnosed severe colitis, treatment was expensive and she still needs medication, also needed special food at £75 for 14kilo bag, she is doing much better now and is a settled weight.
Just when things were going well, we discovered mast cell tumours on her leg, tests and an operation later she is doing great but costs so far approx £2250.

We are in insured thankfully, if we were not I honestly dont know what we would have done.

Insurance for a dog will cost you about £130-£170 a year, if you can not afford that you can not afford a dog.
Please make sure your pets are insured.

[Simpo Two]

R1gtr said:

Insurance for a dog will cost you about £130-£170 a year, if you can not afford that you can not afford a dog.

You were lucky; insurance compaines rely on people not claiming to make their profits.

I've had three cats over 23 years and none has been insured. The premiums I've saved are in the piggy bank.

[R1gtr]

Simpo Two said:

R1gtr said:

Insurance for a dog will cost you about £130-£170 a year, if you can not afford that you can not afford a dog.

You were lucky; insurance compaines rely on people not claiming to make their profits.

I've had three cats over 23 years and none has been insured. The premiums I've saved are in the piggy bank.

Sounds like we have both been lucky

[monkey gland]

Especially sensible for owners of pedigrees who, due to terrible breeding practices, suffer all kinds of serious health complications as a result.

[rudecherub]

It's a hard thing to say, but 5k on a dog is a lot of money. I also shy away from extended treatment for animals.

Not only as % lifespan - but - animals can't understand the pain / discomfort of treatment.

If I'd spent upwards of 1k on a pedigree, and or it was a working dog,.. but a rescue animal, well there's always dozen more in need of good homes.

[Turn7]

rudecherub said:

It's a hard thing to say, but 5k on a dog is a lot of money. I also shy away from extended treatment for animals.

Not only as % lifespan - but - animals can't understand the pain / discomfort of treatment.

If I'd spent upwards of 1k on a pedigree, and or it was a working dog,.. but a rescue animal, well there's always dozen more in need of good homes.

I wont get into a drawn out discussion on this one, but if your child needed £5k to make her/him healthy, you wouldnt hesitate ????

We dont have kids, but we do have dogs.....

[R1gtr]

rudecherub said:

It's a hard thing to say, but 5k on a dog is a lot of money. I also shy away from extended treatment for animals.

Not only as % lifespan - but - animals can't understand the pain / discomfort of treatment.

If I'd spent upwards of 1k on a pedigree, and or it was a working dog,.. but a rescue animal, well there's always dozen more in need of good homes.

I see where you are coming from, thankfully both dogs are doing well, Ava is perfect, Daisy is fit as a fiddle apart from the eye problems, if it was not for insurance I tell myself that we may have had to put them down or given away but the reality is I would have sold both cars,motorbike,a kidney, anything to pay for their treatment, got pretty attatched to them.

[rudecherub]

Turn7 said:

I wont get into a drawn out discussion on this one, but if your child needed £5k to make her/him healthy, you wouldnt hesitate ????

We dont have kids, but we do have dogs.....

A child - I wouldn't hesitate, but an animal is a different proposition for the reasons already stated.

[Turn7]

rudecherub said:

Turn7 said:

I wont get into a drawn out discussion on this one, but if your child needed £5k to make her/him healthy, you wouldnt hesitate ????

We dont have kids, but we do have dogs.....

A child - I wouldn't hesitate, but an animal is a different proposition for the reasons already stated.

My last post on the subject.

[Simpo Two]

R1gtr said:

Sounds like we have both been lucky

Good summary!

As for the child/pet thing, humans have the NHS.

[R1gtr]

I was not wanting to preach to people but my partner is a volunteer for a Boxer rescue where we got one of ours from and too often they re-home a dog with a condition that the dog is insured, then a few months later dog has illness, breaks leg, tears cruciate etc and owners who have not taken out insurance want to return dog as vet bills will be too expensive, im a calm person but this really boils my P**s.
Ok,rant over, get insurance

[66comanche]

rudecherub said:

It's a hard thing to say, but 5k on a dog is a lot of money. I also shy away from extended treatment for animals.

Not only as % lifespan - but - animals can't understand the pain / discomfort of treatment.

If I'd spent upwards of 1k on a pedigree, and or it was a working dog,.. but a rescue animal, well there's always dozen more in need of good homes.

I suppose it depends on 1) how you view the dog - is it something to guard the house/walk companion, or is it a treasured member of the family? 2) your personal financial circumstances - I would spend £5k on my dog as in the bigger picture, it isn't going to be catastrophic financially. However I won't need to as our dog is insured, I go along with the sentiment that if you can't afford insurance, you definitely can't afford big vet bills so shouldn't have a dog.

[Trophybloo]

I would echo the 'get insurance' sentiment. Our 2 retired greyhounds have had in the space of 3 years:
Cancerous growth cut off tip of one ear (£400)
Blocked follicle over eyebrow we thought was another growth on the same dog (£400 and we now make sure he exfoliates)
Emergency operation for our second dog, and after care after severe mauling (described on the Retired greyhound thread (£2500).
Yes there are plenty of other greys requiring homes but once you have been picked by a dog (and it is that way round!) then there is an unwritten contract between you and them - Unecessary suffering no, best endeavours to care for them yes. Remember a dog isn't just for Christmas but can be enjoyed on any other festive occasion (Korean bumper sticker)

[Moo27]

rudecherub said:

It's a hard thing to say, but 5k on a dog is a lot of money. I also shy away from extended treatment for animals.

Not only as % lifespan - but - animals can't understand the pain / discomfort of treatment.

If I'd spent upwards of 1k on a pedigree, and or it was a working dog,.. but a rescue animal, well there's always dozen more in need of good homes.

I would hate to be a pet of yours i really would.

[Ewan S]

I always figured with my bengal cat (a rescue incidentally) she would live without any serious illnesses or injuries as she's a complete wuss. So no insurance as I always figured if something did happen, she would be so unwell it would be best to have her put to sleep.

Then she manages to injure her tail and of course it's not a life threatening injury. The vet then charges me £600 to patch her up and amputate the tail. So she's now insured.

She does have gungy eyes every so often, but I've been told the only fix is to put eye drops in. Yeah, ok - put eye drops into the eyes of a cat that freaks out if you even try and pick it up. I've still got the scars from last time I put her in the cat basket for a trip to the vet.

[rovermorris999]

I've had dogs all my life and never taken out insurance. I reckon I'm a few grand up at the moment but I've always had rescue dogs, usually greyhounds and lurchers which are thankfully not inbred like so many pedigrees are and don't suffer many ailments. In fact, the only long term problem I've ever had was Cushings with a pedigree whippet who was the last one left and the breeder more or less gave him to me.
If I had just one expensive pedigree dog then maybe but otherwise effectively self-insuring has worked for me.

[rudecherub]

Moo27 said:

rudecherub said:

It's a hard thing to say, but 5k on a dog is a lot of money. I also shy away from extended treatment for animals.

Not only as % lifespan - but - animals can't understand the pain / discomfort of treatment.

If I'd spent upwards of 1k on a pedigree, and or it was a working dog,.. but a rescue animal, well there's always dozen more in need of good homes.

I would hate to be a pet of yours i really would.

Anthropomorphism isn't helpful

[Moo27]

rudecherub said:

Anthropomorphism isn't helpful

Neither is sarcasm.

[therealpigdog]

Our various pets aren't insured, but we are in the lucky position that we could probably pay for any vets bills (and like others, I'd sell a kidney if I had to). I reckon we are 'up' on premiums saved, but know full well that it could all be wiped out in an instant.

It can be hard, but there are financial considerations to be taken into with pets. We had a rat with a lung condition, and tried everything for him (probably spent best part of £500 on vets bills, steroids and antibiotics) but nothing was particularly working. The choice was to keep paying out, and whilst it would extend his life he couldn't run around with his brothers, or to have him put to sleep. The financial implication did play a part in our decision, but wasn't the overriding factor.

[russ_a]

The insurance for our boxer is £400 a year. We are still up a few thousand.