Is your dog insured?

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GinaB

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The post below got me thinking...is your dog insured? I hold my hands up. The Beast isn't. We have never insured any of our dogs, including the gundogs (once of which had to have a serious op after getting shot and getting lead poisoning!) Although I know, if needed I have relatives who would give me any amount of money to help Beastie out.

Although the more I think about it, the more I think I should, so can anyone recommend a company to go with?
 
More Than Pet Insurance - cannot recommend them highly enough not a single quibble on her treatment (over 5,000 so far) - they saved Bumble Dogs life without bankrupting us - and yes we would have paid to have all the treatment she is having if we did not have insurance!!!!

PS Quote Bumble Dog as a referal and we get M&S vouchers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (nothing like being cheeky!)
 
mine is insured with m&s insurance - is really good, would recommend it.
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You get cover for the life of the condition (if that makes sense) rather than annually... so as I have a lab - I thought that would be important!

ets: m&s insurance came recommended by lots of other doggie people too xx
 
No.........I work at the vets.....so my bills are titchey....but if I needed specialist care i.e fracture repair which I have done in the past totaling over £2000 I would have no problems paying.....even if it meant a loan or the old credit card.

If I did not work in a vets I would definatley without a doubt have insurance.....Its really not worth the chance
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When I bred GSDs and had 4 or 5 I had them all insured. But the company started putting higher excesses on GSDs which annoyed me so in the end just had the one bitch I was breeding from insured. After her last litter changed her insurance to Tesco, and they were fine and quite reasonable, had quite a few claims and they paid up Sadly lost her last year. Have her daughter who is not insured, kept thinking about it and had even picked up a proposal form but did nothing. Then she became quite ill with what we think was a auto immune reaction to her booster. I told the vets at the start that she wasn't insured and I would have to pay in instalments, they were great (I've been with them a long time), and so far bill is about £500, treatment still ongoing but fingers crossed she is on the mend. As insurance premium would probably have been about £15-20 a month, it might have been worthwhile. But as this has been her first problem in 6 years I would still have paid out more in premiums had she been insured all that time. I know vets like us to have insurance so they can treat with confidence but I think it is up to the individual. I know that no matter how high the bill I would always go for the best possible treatment for my dog, even if I had to sell something (like a child lol) to pay for it. Sorry, bit of a ramble there which probably didn't help you much. If your premium would be quite low then I would go for it. Or alternatively a friend of mine didn't insure her dog but put the amount she would have paid in premium away each month as a sort of back up fund.
 
I know a few people who don't insure their dogs/horses but put the same amount they would pay on premiums into a seperate bank account to cover any vets bills - seems like a good idea to me if you are strict enough with yourself that is! My dog is insured, but I may look into doing this next year.

Having had a £3000 insurance claim on a horse recently I am only too aware of how quickly these bills can mount up, I'd be too terrified not to have insurance or money in the bank to cover.
 
All mine are insured with PetPlan who are great. They pay with no problem and if it is a chronic problem (Holly our Rottie we lost last July had one) they pay for life. Horse is insured with them too.
 
All my dogs and horse insured. I can find a few quid a month to cover the premiums but would find thousands of pounds difficult to lay my hands on. After a small hock wound ended up over £3000 last yr for my horse I wouldn't sleep if I didnt have insurance!
 
Mogan is insured and has been since we first got her. I stopped Wurzel's insurance once she got to 14 because it only covered a minute amount of any vet bills, and if she was going to need major surgery at that age I would have no intention of putting her through it. We are with Tesco, but there are many excellent plans out there. Have used Pet Plan and Moggies & Mongrels.
 
Mine are all with Tescos and althought they pay out quickly and the premiums are reasonable they only cover any one condition for a year so I'm thinking of changing. Roughly how much is the m & s premium a month?

It seems expensive when you shell out every month for nothing but 8 years ago my cat had to have an eye removed and long term treatment at a cost of £390 and I was skint and uninsured. Eighteen months later he was hit by a car and suffered brain and nerve damage, had to have a specialist diagnosis, a front leg removed and a 3 week stay at the vets at a cost of £940, but luckily I had learnt my lesson and it only cost me the £40 excess.

For me it gives such peace of mind and you never get into the situation that Lulus owners are in.
 
My dog is not insured either I know it sounds
bad but I just havent got round to it
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Also in the process of buying a house so would definately not be able to afford to shell out thousands on vet bills(although would do anything to raise cash if it meant saving my dog!)
Am going to look into M&S now as so many of you use them!
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M&S are very good at paying out, they have a higher premium than most insurers but at the moment they dont charge an excess, though this is possibly going to change soon. Petplan are also very good. Most insurance companies will put higher premiums on various types of dogs that are known to develop problems such as mastiffs, shar-peis etc. Try talking to someone at your vets as they will know the most reliable companies.
 
Yes with petplan from when we brought her home as a puppy. Good thing too as she has a genetic skin condition that would have costs us thousands. Petplan paid out straight away and continue to every month. Can't recommend them enough!
 
yes my dog is insured with tesco, got a quote with pet plan but they would not cover my puppy when it came to work with me. tesco had no problem with this. very odd
 
No, but only because the pet insurance companies over here are dreadful, and cover barely anything.

However, I would gladly pay whatever it took to get my pooch back up and running if, god forbid, she ever got really sick.
 
Mine isn't insured, but that is because I know we have the resources to find the money if she needed really expensive treatment - if the worse came to the worse we would stick it on the mortgage! Same goes for the horses!

However, if circumstances were different then I would definitely get insurance - must be horrendous to be in a situation where you can't afford the treatment needed to save your animal
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No, but only because the pet insurance companies over here are dreadful, and cover barely anything.


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We pay about £8-£15 per month for £2000-£4000 worth of cover. How much is it over there?
 
Boris is insured and had been since he was 12 weeks, with Direct line.

My horse isn't insured anymore as he is 18 now and there is not much point of covering just for 3rd party.. he is damaged goods (joking) and most of his old injuries (ex racehorse) is invalid to insure... if worst case scenario he'll be PTS as i think he had suffered enough, i have savings which is premiums i would have paid, for his treatments on minor cases for rest of his life if he needs it.

The cat isn't and i am meanie!!! LOL... touches wood, she's 13 and haven't had day illness in her life.... hope that stays for few more years... (we never insured our cats and have been very very lucky that they all lived to very old age)
 
with 7 dogs , several over the age of 10 which often means punitive clauses on the usual insurance contracts , we put £25 per months into a savings account to cover any unexpected vets bills - luckily mine is a healthy breed and we rarely have to dip into the account -
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Everything of ours is ensured with NFU, but some people we know had a good point: it will cost us £200 or more pounds a year to insure our dog, we could buy a new one for that.

Haz
 
Dog is insured with direct line
Cat's aren't insured, anything small and I would fund myself, anything major and they would be PTS
1 young horse insured for vets fees only via KBIS
the older horse is now not insured, smaller things I would fund myself, anything major and he would be PTS
BHS membership to cover 3rd party.
 
My dogs are insured with PetPlan and they've been great. My springer spaniel has a chronic stomach problem and will be on expensive drugs for life as well as regular blood tests etc, and they have never quibbled any of his costs which must now run in to thousands!
 
the best ones are those that give lifetime insurance rather than just annual insurance. this means that if your dog is diagnosed with arthritis or diabetes, for example, the company will pay out for the condition for the rest off the dog's life (and insulin is very expensive!), whereas an anual company will make an exclusion on that condition after the year. Altho some companies may seem better value for money, it is def worth paying the bit extra for lifetime cover. A couple of companies i know to do this are petplan (my personal fav) and petprotect. I work in a vets and petplan are always very reliable for paying out (other companies are too, but not all! i could gladly name one particular company we always seem to have trouble with, they are hurrendous - but im not allowed!)
 
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