Pet Insurance Sky High Prices!!!
Other
I have just had a renewal quote for my 14 year old cats insurance and as I always do. I went onto quidco and searched for new one. They either don't insure cats over 10 years old or the price seems to be double what my renewal quote is!!!! Never in all the year of having pets have I stayed with the same co.pany two years running as normally it is so much cheaper to move. What is going on - are companies finally rewarding loyalty to stay with them?
I have had many pets over the years and never insured any of them. My cat had an accident once so it worked out cheaper for me to pay the vet then if I had had insurance all her life. My dog became ill but if I had had insurance it would not had covered her situation. So all in all I was better without insurance and saved money.
I know a few people who have done this, one friend has a separate bank account she pays £20 a month into as a reserve for any pet illness.
vixe80 My daughter has three dogs and she does the same, putting money aside just for the dogs. Works for her.
My dad had terrible trouble with insurance for his dog when he got older and had health issues, I think he ended up paying around £80 a month. My aunt never insured her dog and instead put money into a separate account which she let build up but used for vets trip etc which seemed to work well for her.
I like the idea of what your aunt has done, friends of mine have too. I would just worry until a bulk amount is in that account!
I've always had vet insurance. To be fair we've always had cats with issues. So the insurance has covered it. They went to the vets regularly.
While I've been lucky (don't think this cat has ever needed to vet to vets for illness/injury) my last cat did and it would of cost a fortune.
One had diabetes another had liver problems and another went blind and was anorexic. Another had skin issues caused by food allergies and another had cat flu, and other issues caused from an awful start in life
I would worry without having insurance .
I had a Scottie dog and at 11 months old was found to have cancer in her nose. It was quite s as bop to have it removed &
I ditched paying a fortune for pet insurance because each year of their life saw more and more ‘pre existing conditions’ exclusions being applied and the annual premium going up by a third as much on each renewal.
We have lifetime insurance for our dog. She is covered for life and if she gets any condition during that time it is covered by the insurance. She needed emergency surgery a few years ago and it was covered by the insurance.
As animals get older they are more likely to get ill, so this is reflected in the insurance premium. With our lifetime insurance it says the same, it doesn't rise, so she costs the same now as she did when she was a puppy.
Who do you have this insurance with? Iv had to stop my dog insurance with Petplan after 7 years insured for life as she had an operation early on (which yes cost a hell of a lot of money) since then it's gone up around £12 - £24 a month each year was paying £124 a month in the end. So having to put money away instead now.
We are with Petplan. Her operation put her insurance up £10 a month, but it hasn't risen since then. She is £49 a month.
We were with ASDA with our dog, he had to see specialists hours away and have around a £7,000 operation when he was fairly young (and that was probably around 15 years ago now) sadly my parents wouldn't have anything but pedigree (not sure their reasons!) He had awful health conditions, which lead to more issues. If he wasn't insured my parent's wouldn't have been able to afford it all.
I'd always want to insure a cat or dog if I can, some vets also have extra plans to help manage costs.
With rabbits and guinea pigs I'd consider it but weigh up the options, I may opt for the Vacs for life for rabbits or some vets have their own care plans, like percentage off any operations and neuters, free nail trimming and regular flystrike prevention etc. which might be more worthwhile for some owners if they don't do some of that stuff themselves.
I'd like to have a couple of thousand behind me for emergencies, but you also have to weigh up if some treatment or operations are worth it, for the quality of life your animals may live afterwards.
I've had lots of hamsters, I've never insured them, there are some insurers that will. I love them as part of the family, I don't care what anyone else thinks, I give them larger enclosures that the usual shop bought ones etc. but I often take them in from homes that no longer want them and they usually only live 2-3 years and it is often tumours that sadly get them in the end and if the tumour gets too bad, it doesn't cost much for a vet to help them cross over to rainbow bridge. I'd much rather pay than allow them to suffer. I know some people wouldn't take a hamster to a vet
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