Keep insuring - or not!?

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Ive never insured anything.

hmm. Not sure on that. Injury is a chance, it can happen or it can not. Ive never insured any dog ever and the only time i have ever had to pay money was when my staffy was hit by a car and dislocated her hip. £500 later she came home. I dont think its quite fair to say if you can't pay 3k for something outright, you should not have it. You can still afford to look after an animal perfectly well without paying the money to insurance for something you may never need.

I didn’t mean to suggest that you should be able to pay that sort of sum outright 😊 in my experience most vets will allow a payment plan for large bills, hence ‘managing’ the situation

It would cost me over £1k per year in premiums to insure my lot, in the past 12 months I’ve had a bill for £250 for stitching up one of them which would be the only thing I could have claimed (all the rest was dentals, vaccinations etc that wouldn’t be covered) so I’m very much of the view that it isn’t worth insuring all of mine on balance

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Ive never insured anything.

hmm. Not sure on that. Injury is a chance, it can happen or it can not. Ive never insured any dog ever and the only time i have ever had to pay money was when my staffy was hit by a car and dislocated her hip. £500 later she came home. I dont think its quite fair to say if you can't pay 3k for something outright, you should not have it. You can still afford to look after an animal perfectly well without paying the money to insurance for something you may never need.

I’ve aready enumerated the costs I’ve had to fork out for accidents with horses/dogs, so I won’t repeat them, but I don’t really understand what you’re saying here. Yes, you can look after an animal perfectly well, but in case of an accident and you want to keep the animal alive/pain free, it may need expensive treatment which you might not be able to afford (as per my colleague) If you’re not insured and the treatment is over £8k but you don’t have this, what do you do? (Y/O’s wife has paid this recently)

 

[CorvusCorax]

That's one of those procedures (femoral head) I'd question having done on my own dog TBH, insurance or not, with no offence to anyone who has gone ahead with it.

 

[Winters100]

It depends on whether you can afford a major surgery if one is required. Obviously premiums are calculated in such a way that overall the insurer maks a profit, so statistically speaking the answer would clearly be no, don't insure. If however you are not in a position to cover the costs in case of a major accident / illness it makes sense.

 

[PippiPony]

My premium came through this year for my 9 yo greyhound. I have never claimed int he 4 years we have had her £1200!
So i decided to keep that money in an account for vet bils and scrap the insurance. If she needed major surgery I have enough to pay for it - but at her age I would think long & hard about what surgery I would put her through anyway.

 

[blackcob]

^^ This is exactly the situation I find myself in this year - the big dogs are turning 10 and their premiums are going up and up. I've claimed plenty for both through the years but I wouldn't consider drastic interventions now they're older, and for the first time I am in the privileged position of being able to pay for anything like that if it came up anyway.

I have still flapped and flapped over cancelling it and the puppy will remain insured for a few years yet, despite a generous staff discount on vet bills.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

That's one of those procedures (femoral head) I'd question having done on my own dog TBH, insurance or not, with no offence to anyone who has gone ahead with it.

I looked into it briefly when we realised Zak has hip dysplasia but I was a bit sceptical. Thankfully Zak is managing fine, kept slim, does lots of swimming, isn’t pushed/allowed to do too much etc. The owner told me the muscle replaces the ball head, not sure on this, I haven’t done enough research. The options bar a full hip replacement don’t strike me as too stunning.

 

[MurphysMinder]

That's one of those procedures (femoral head) I'd question having done on my own dog TBH, insurance or not, with no offence to anyone who has gone ahead with it.

I had it done years ago on a Jrt and it was very successful , I imagine the recovery would be a lot more of an issue in a large breed. Luckily (if that is the right word) the 2 GSDs I have had with bad hips (high scores) never showed any clinical signs.