Pet insurance - is there value I can’t see...?

[anonymous-user]

The numbers being quoted on this thread are f mental.

[brickwall]

pingu393 said:

brickwall said:

but choose not to because
- I don’t want to face the emotional decision of £££ or the dog. I want to always do what’s right for him, without thinking about the money side. I’m willing to pay a price for someone else to take this risk.

I asked a vet what happens with insurance once the money runs out. He told me that the cover stops, so you will still have the emotional turmoil - unless you can pay the extra.

That’s one of the reasons I have pretty high levels of cover (I hope it won’t run out!)

[jmsgld]

ChocolateFrog said:

Interested why the extra slush fund for a GSD?

Hips?

I've had a bad run the last few months with GSDs and am probably a little jaded.

GSDs are predisposed to a huge number of diseases, they have been massively over bred in the last 50 years. Some remain healthy, but others just seem to collect expensive problems in quick succession. I referred a 3 year old GSD with severe hip dysplasia just before xmas for bilateral (staged) hip replacements, probably about £13k when all is said and done. Last week I had another GSD with some obscure autoimmune disease to add to his collection of of other problems. Boring skin disease accounts for the highest costs to insurance companies, GSDs are also prone to these. Because of GSDs size, drugs are more costly too.

The main reason for eye watering vet bills is poor breed choice / poor breeding, poor diet, obesity. A lean farm Jack Russel mongrel is probably the least costly dog medically, small lurchers (what I have) do well at avoiding large bills, but often need stitching up. Cockers (often snappy), springers and labs are good choices. Labradoodles and cockerpoos are often a PITA to train and seem to suffer with skin and cruciate injuries. Non KC registered brachycephalics are reliably expensive, GSDs and giants often go horribly wrong. Runts are often runts for a medical reasons and regularly get expensive. Insurance cost is based on large data pools, and a reliable indicator of average medical costs.

Get a sensible dog, feed it something decent, regular exercise, train it, avoid obesity, and you are unlikely to really need your insurance.

People complain about vet fees, but it's largely out of ignorance.

[Gary C]

jmsgld said:

People complain about vet fees, but it's largely out of ignorance.

Or anthropomorphising.

[The Mad Monk]

On the 'Yorkshire Vet' TV programme, no one ever gets a bill, or mentions money? Why is that? Is it all free if you agree to be featured in the programme?

https://www.channel5.com/show/the-yorkshire-vet

Someone of my acquaintance has just had a £7,500 bill for back surgery on a Dachsund.

[topcat1]

brickwall said:

I pay about £450 a year for fairly gold-plated cover for my Golden Retriever. I think the limit is £15k per year, with European cover too.

Out of interest do you know how long your premium will stay at £450?

One of the reasons I hate this type of insurance is the cost rises rapidly then you begin to consider cancelling, inevitably if you do so there will be a problem shortly after and all the money you've spent is wasted!

We've not insured before and our jack has been very good, 11 years and only a few teeth out. Ultimately you can't get a pet without knowing there will be heartache at some point, I do think that some breeds are far more likely to need attention though, like some of the fashionable dogs that don't seem to be able to breathe at the best of times...

[Ken Figenus]

Fly on the wall TV docs would never cover the cost of treatment.

Here's an interesting article - despite the VC denials! https://www.vettimes.co.uk/news/corporates-fight-f...

Here's a very commercial pdf on maximising profits. I make no judgement as that might be hypocritical (well maybe not monthly flea/tick prophylaxis) - just sharing: https://www.vetoquinol.pl/sites/plcountry/files/5-...

[hotchy]

I can only go by my dads experience with insurance but his first dog developed kidney problems when 2. He lasted until 3 years old and cost a good 2-3k in bills. No insurance.

Got 2 more dogs and insured both. £70 ish a month for both. Year 1, and one got off his lead and hit by a car. He survived luckily but 4k bill. Insured so cost £70.

The other developed eye issues, covered the first year only and all initial treatments etc so left with £40 a month for life on eye medicine. The insurance won't cover anything covered before. They are now 12 and tbh the insurance is at a point its barely covering a thing. Teeth? Nope. £700 bill. Has a fit? Nope. Used when 1 year old for a fit. Overall probably broke even though.

Treatment seems to be cheaper when insurance isn't involved either. Strange that.

[pingu393]

Is a constant squeeze of your groin better than a kick in the plums ?

I opt for the swift kick, but I use the cricketer's box of having spare cash to draw from.

If I didn't have spare, I'd either have to be very hard-hearted or pay for insurance.

I've had to draw the line and it was one of the worst days of my life. I don't know if it would have been worse if it were the insurance that ran out of money, or me deciding (with the advice of the vet) that enough was enough.

I pay £15 per month for a pet club. That covers flea treatment, and discounts off treatment and micro-chipping and a few other things.