Please get pet insurance

piperh

As my title suggests i would urge everyone to get pet insurance.

We've just come back from the vets and while we were there a woman had bought in a dog and i will be honest and say i don't know what was wrong with him but whatever it was she came out crying saying to the following vet she'd have to have the dog put down. He was trying to explain that the dog was only 5 and had every chance of a happy life once done. It ended up with him saying they would sort something out now if she'd have taken out insurance she would have had no worries other than her dog.

This week alone i've had xrays and a ct scan on one of my dogs and today one had a lump biopsy, insurance is a godsend.

softmee

Yes and its only 15eu a month.

Themadhouse

If you have a couple of pets it can be a brilliant investment.
We have one dog and 9 indoor cats and at one point had all of them insured which was working out to be a fortune. 2 of the cats are breeding cats and the insurance covers nothing to do with pregnancy etc.
We pulled all the cats off and left the dog on. Instead we now put an allocated amount by every month for vet stuff. With our circumstances thankfully this works well for us.

Chris_Heilong

Just put money aside in a seperate account for your pet, insurance of any kind is a scam and except for House and Car insurance I have never had any.

andreac

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Just put money aside in a seperate account for your pet, insurance of any kind is a scam and except for House and Car insurance I have never had any.

It certainly isnt a scam. I couldnt manage without pet insurance.You can claim for all illnesses/conditions once its not pre existing before you take out the policy, so thats why its best to take it out as young as possible.

It just doesnt cover routine things like neutering and vaccinations.

I have def got great use out of my policies since ive take them out for my dogs and i claim a couple of times a year usually so it has been of great benefit to me and i wouldnt be without it.

piperh

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Just put money aside in a seperate account for your pet, insurance of any kind is a scam and except for House and Car insurance I have never had any.

Great in theory Chris however i've had my pups 3 1/2 months so if i'd put the €20 an month aside that i pay for insurance i'd have €70 by now. The xrays cost €212 on their own, and as the ucd and the vet applied strait to the insurance company for the cost of the CT scan and todays biopsy i don't know how much it'd cost but i'd guess the CT was a lot more than the xrays but I'd be well out of pocket and eating beans on toast until payday Or if somebody hadn't the money then perhaps they'd have waited the extra few days until payday to take their pet to the vets and in some cases this delay could be heartbreaking.

Shanao

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Just put money aside in a seperate account for your pet, insurance of any kind is a scam and except for House and Car insurance I have never had any.

Sorry but i had to laugh cos this just reminded me of the year my family were considering cancelling the health insurance. I got cancer that same year. Suffice to say, we've all stuck with the insurance since though I'm pretty sure I used it all up.

I'm currently in the middle of deciding on which pet insurance to go with; two big dogs and two big cats means I want to get the very best policy in case anything ever happens to them. The bigger they are after all, the bigger the problems.

teacherspet

I had a German Sherard who got an auto immune disorder. I had pet insurance. Her tablets for 6 months cost me 2,000 euro. Thank god I had insurance. I now have a minature poodle, 2 years ago, she broke the 4 tendons in her back leg. She needed surgery or have the leg amputated. Had insurance, cost of expenses 3,500 euro. I will never be without pet insurance.
Myself and the husband have no health insurance. LOL the dogs come first.

hdowney

unfortunately with my two dogs, they are both over 8 and stuff, that insuring them was going to cost us an awful lot (i don't know why, my mother made the decisions at the time). so i am hoping my poor doggys stuff doesn't cost a fortune. she has to go back to the vet cos the painkillers don't seem to have fixed her problem. so she has to presumably have xrays this week. hopefully (and not from a cost standpoint, from a poor baba standpoint) she hasn't broken/torn anything.

i think she has arthritis, although i don't know. so we shall see when she goes back tomorrow

The Sweeper

I have all seven of my animals insured. It costs a fortune, but last year I claimed enough back to cover the cost of the policies for four of them. I will continue to pay for it.

My only caveat is you need to check with your vet whether they'll bill the insurance company directly. If they won't, and you have to pay them and then reclaim, well you'll still have to come up with the vet bills, even if you'll get most of it refunded after a few weeks.

slashygoodness

We are SO glad we have our 2 dogs and 2 cats insured! The cats are rescues, one 7yr old and one 1yr old.
Both were put on insurance the day we got them (Allianz) and so far we have claimed FAR in excess of what we have paid as the 7yr has 'urinary' issues.

As for the doggies they too have claimed WELL in excess, when they were 6 months we asked to get them x-rayed whilst they were being spayed, and we discovered they had severe hip dysplasia - the insurance covers most of their treatment including the hydrotherapy...

So my advice would be the day you bring your new bundle of fur home - GET INSURANCE, we could not afford, to NOT have it!

tk123

My guy had loads of xrays, visit to ucd and an operation in Cork all covered. The op alone cost 2k so the insurance has more than payed for itself.

hadook

Get insurance immediately i.e. before you bring them for their first vet trip.

We didn't and the Dane ended up with a list of preexisting conditions that meant insurance was a no-go. Course she then developed some 87 million different ailments, including but not limited to - a heart condition, arthritis and two episodes of bloat (a single bloat surgery ~ 950 quid and that's with a relatively cheap vet) leaving us on a beans-on-toast diet more than once.

sambuka41

hadook wrote: »

Get insurance immediately i.e. before you bring them for their first vet trip.

Can you do that?

Similar thing happened with my cat, he was a stray that i took in, on the first visit he had cat flu, asked the vet about insurance and he laughed, said it would end up costing a fortune now cause he's likely to get the flu every time he gets sick or has an operation. And he does.

Rang one of the insurance place,can't remember which, they were quoting €40 a month :eek: thats what I was (over) paying in life assurance!!!! So it can work out expensive if you dont have your pet from a young age and there have been previous conditions.

kippy

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Just put money aside in a seperate account for your pet, insurance of any kind is a scam and except for House and Car insurance I have never had any.

You've never had house or car insurance? Are you for real........
Do you have a mortgage on your house?
Not having car insurance is potentially effecting all of us here if you were to have a serious accident.



I think in these lean times people cannot afford to have certain types of insurance or indeed pets.

EDIT - missed the except part.

koneko

I don't agree with him, but he does specifically say he thinks insurance is a scam except car and house insurance....

superfish

mines only 69 euro for the year with 123.ie thats for a german shepherd pup and vets fees up to 2000 euro unfortunately they wont insure my shar pei hes old now though

kippy

koneko wrote: »

I don't agree with him, but he does specifically say he thinks insurance is a scam except car and house insurance....

Apologies. Completely missed that.

Daisy!

Right I've kept putting this off. I have to get it before anything God forbid happens.

I have a 3 year old male JRT. No previous injuries or conditions. His only Vet trip has been to get neutered. Could anyone recommend a pet insurance that might suit us? I don't know where to start! Thanks.

Zapperzy

Really regret not getting insurance. I was considering getting insurance ages ago for both the dog and the cat but between one thing and another it kept getting put on the longfinger, wasn't too gone on bothering for insurance for the cat either as she is an indoor cat and my thinking was that she is an indoor cat how much could go wrong. How wrong was I. €161 she's cost me so far in this one bout of cystitis, and that's not including the latest test Iv sent away (about another €50) and also they have stopped charging me for the multiple dipstick tests she's had done. Thats also not including the multiple (about 6) duvets (and 1 sleeping bag) Iv had to throw out because she's pee'd on them, or the zylkene, feliway or water fountain Iv bought her recently to try and combat this (although I am aware insurance won't cover for things like this but unfortunately I'm left very broke as I'm a student).

Thankfully in 3 years the dog has only had to go to the vets for vaccinations.

Discodog

I know people who have cancelled their pet insurance because their renewal premiums have rocketed. One person made claims to the value of €2000 last year & their premium has now gone up by 400% :eek:. I know someone else who claimed €1200, so hardly excessive & their insurer has refused to renew.

So which company is the best for 2 or 3 dogs ?.

star-pants

We didn't renew our pet insurance after they hiked it up, after we had a small claim. Their argument was, 'you claim, your insurance goes up'. And not like 20 or even 50 quid. And they'd tried to charge our vets twice.
If we just put away the money we'd have paid for the insurance then we have money there for them. If there wasn't enough put aside, we'd get it from somewhere, not like we'd let them suffer or anything.

Problem is there isn't a whole lot of competition in the pet insurance line, there were supposed to be new companies this year, like Argos I think but I don't think they went through with it.

It is probably better to have insurance if it works out and we may reconsider (I know about pre-existing conditions) but we have decent money aside for them.

Teyla Emmagan

I've had it since the cat hurt his leg a few years ago. It cost me €1500 to get the little fecker back up on all four paws. Of course he has been as right as rain since, no call for the pet insurance to be used since. It was still money well spent though (albeit horrific money), five years later the bad leg is still sound. I have a GREAT vet!

TooManyDogs

I cancelled the pet insurance for my dogs when the premiums kept going up regardless of the fact I'd never claimed in few years I'd had it. Also they said that when renewing my older girl (8 at the time) that she wouldn't be covered for anything related to her age. When I asked specifically what that meant I was told anything that could be put down to her age, eg if she got knocked down she'd only be covered if her eyes and hearing were absolutly perfect, otherwise they'd put it down to age and not cover her :mad: Policy cancelled

So I put away the money I used to give the insurance company, now have nearly €1500 saved and I've already paid out for a damaged eye, crutiate ligament damage and broken tooth operation. I also have an agreement with my vet to pay by installments if necessary. Much happier saving myself.

JustAThought

I now have pet insurance and would never be with it; you can be so unlucky with a pet; broken glass ( sliced open tendons), tin can in river( sliced open foot), careless BBQ users ( tinfoil tray from stomach extraction), not to mention diseases ( parvo what are the odds) and any other madness. Really, it's money well spent even if you gave a preexisting condition.I situated before getting mine because I was comparing them; to my cost; a e600 vets bill followed . Allianz is the best as once you re covered even with an exclusion, they won't refuse to cover you the following year. With pet plan if your pet gets sick they ( allegedly!) will refuse you the next year which they are within their " rights" to do, and then you won'tbe covered with continuing insurance for that um- pre existing ailment ; if you follow me!!!
It was the girls behind the counter in the vets who urged me to take out insurance when my pet was a pup; they see so many people having to make harsh decisions based on finance and obligations to their families rather than whY could be done for the pet to save it if it only had been covered. Make that call. It's worth it.

JustAThought

Situated=dithered, sorry!

Sigma Force

3 dogs can't afford pet insurance, can't even afford health insurance for the family. It's a gamble but if something happened then the Credit Union would be the first port of call if I really was desperate. Pet insurance is a good idea though if you can afford it, have had it in the past but most of my vet bills, would be for small things that cost under 70 euro and so that wouldn't be covered by insurance anyway would still have to pay out.

I had one insured when he was a pup (and have had dogs randomly insured before) for the first year because pups can get themselves into all sorts. Turns out he didn't he had two minor problems over that time and the insurance didn't cover either becaus both were under €70.00.
I was going to insured the 3 of them once his was due to be renewed but the insurance had gone up by 200 quid and to insure the lot of them would of cost a fortune.

Insurance is no good to me if it doesn't cover minor things like split nails, tummy infections etc. all the minor stuff that happens to dogs in their day to day goings on.

JustAThought

OMG I meant to type would NEVER be WITHOUT it : so sorry!

ABajaninCork

I guess the question you need to ask yourself is:

"If the worst happens, can I afford to pay for it outright/replace it?"

The question applies to ANY kind of insurance (except obviously house/car since they're obligtory)

If the answer's NO, then you know what you need to do!

JustAThought

I had to pay the first e40 with Allianz everything was covered bar inoculations and spaying.only after a year of disasters where I ended costing the insurance company THOUSANDS did my premium go up by about e40 for the year, and my threshold went up to e70 for me to pay per condition but it's still worth it!!!! All you need us one disastrous bill and you will never look back!!!! You could be lucky forever and never need it, but when it comes to it do you want to have to make that decision to have to really go through mega hardship or have to put your pet down because you can't afford treatment. good luck!!!

Discodog

Chris is right in that the insurance companies make huge profits because the majority of claims are well below the amounts paid as premiums.

andreac

galway23 wrote: »

Sorry, didnt even realise i was using it

No worries:D

Let us know how you get on with the insurance company. I wouldnt let this one lie and keep on at them about it. They are probably chancing their arm hoping you wouldnt put up much of a fight so then they get away with not paying out.

Chris_Heilong

Discodog wrote: »

Chris is right in that the insurance companies make huge profits because the majority of claims are well below the amounts paid as premiums.

Thats what I was talking about, the companies just cant be trusted. Insurance is also the reason that those who choose not to use insurance will always have to pay a premium as the service price is taylored to the fact that they can over charge the insurance companies a little. Same for any kind of insurance.

Discodog

I am certain that insurance is one reason for the increase in Vet practices & it does put an onus on Vets to not load the policies.

But it could be short lived if the premiums keep rising especially in a recession. For every person that has found their insurance to be a life saver there will be ten others who have paid out a fortune & never claimed.

€20 per month may not sound a lot but it amount to €3500 over the average life of a dog & with increases that figure will be much higher. Given that routine expenditure is not covered many owners will of paid out & got nothing.

Bettyboop

Have my 4 dogs and a cat insured costs me best part of $800 p.a. had a dog who had a heart scan which cost over 600 another had an eye removed almost 1000 in vet fees.However the downside is that they wont insure anymore eye complaints on that dog.Once dog is over 10yrs premium and excess go up a lot this is when you really need insurance my excess is 75% on my 13yr old shih-tzu
Another problem is having to pay out on the vet bills at the start and wait for insurance to compensate you.Wish the vets would wait for insurance cheque as it would help.Had emergencies with 2 elder dogs I had and 1 had to be admitted to UCD for 3 days cost was shocking and had to beg borrow and almost steal:D to get money together.But at end of the day insurance is worth it an MRI scan can cost 1000 and you never know whats around the corner:)

watna

I swear by pet insurance. Our cat got hit by a car last month and needed three surgeries. $2000 later, he is on the mend but thank god we had insurance. We pay $17 a month and we've had the insurance for 18 months - so that's $306 we've paid. The vet was very relieved we had the insurance, she said she tells all her clients to do it and has it herself for her pets. We would have been able to pay if we really had to if was just a huge pressure taken off at a time that is already extremely upsetting.

I can't understand why you wouldn't, tbh. A number of our friends bought it after our experience.

Bullseye1

Remy my previous dog had a heart condition for the last two and a half years of his life and was on heavy medication which ensured he had a comfortable life but he did have two visits to UCDs facility. Between medication and vets bills we spend close to €5,000. If only we had maintained his insurance.

And our current girl had a floating patela which required an operation AR a cost of €1,000. You can be sure we have her insured.

CruiseH

I've got Pet Assure. (I'm in America.) It's a lifesaver! It's 25% off every vet bill. I don't know how I would care for my pets otherwise.

JustAThought

Can't believe you re in the US!! That's mad!! 25% off sounds good; nothing like that here; thou when you think about it we pay the excess; e50 or e70 and the insurance pays the rest so that's a pretty good deal if God Forbid the bill is high or the problem is a serious or ongoing one. Was in the states last year At Halloween and had great time looking in the pet shops; real fun stuff there!!!

The Sweeper

Out of hours gastro emergency: $276. (had to go in in case of blockage or pancreatitis). With pet insurance, $176 of that is coming back to me.

Chris_Heilong

The Sweeper wrote: »

Out of hours gastro emergency: $276. (had to go in in case of blockage or pancreatitis). With pet insurance, $176 of that is coming back to me.

What...you mean the insurance does not cover the whole thing. Thats Mad. Sorry for late post, In China at the moment and getting online can be a...problem. At least Boards.ie is not blocked yet.

The Sweeper

No, as with virtually all insurance policies there is an excess. Mine is $100 per condition (not per visit, so if we go multiple times for a condition I only lose the excess once.)

andreac

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

What...you mean the insurance does not cover the whole thing. Thats Mad. Sorry for late post, In China at the moment and getting online can be a...problem. At least Boards.ie is not blocked yet.

All insurance companies, car, home pet etc all have a an excess on it, so your insurance will never cover all of it.

willjc

Tesco have just launched Pet insurance now too. I got a pretty good quote of them this morning so check them too http://www.tesco.ie/finance/pet-insurance/

carwash_2006

I actually canceled my pet insurance there recently after 6 years of having my dogs insured. I got my renewal notice and on reading it discovered that not only had the premium gone up by about €60, but the excess is now €100 and I have to pay 35% of every claim anyway!

I could count on one hand the amount of vets visits over the years bar one of them last year having auto immune hemolytic anemia triggered by the vaccination ironically enough, which I did claim some money back for. However the amount I got back came to less than 2 years premiums, so ultimately the insurance company have made a huge profit off me already. Now thankfully they are not a breed that are likely to develop much in the way of hip problems or anything, so I have taken a chance and instead of paying the money to the insurance people I will save it towards potential vets bills.

boomerang

I'm going to cancel my insurance for my dog, too, Carwash. It costs €18 a month. The excess on any claim has gone up to €100 and now that she's turned eight I have to pay a third of the remaining cost on any claim myself. I just don't think it's worth it anymore. That said, she did benefit from it up to now, but they really make you pay for it as your dog gets older.

watna

I thnk our pet insurance only goes up to when the pet is seven - or like the posts above we'd have to pay 35% of the claim. Still, that's a while off.

We just got all the money back for our cats surgeries yesterday - minus the $100 excess. It was very happily received!

Cookie_Monster

piperh wrote: »

As my title suggests i would urge everyone to get pet insurance.

cat and dog insurance you mean...

I think it's false advertising that they are even allowed call it pet insurance when they only cover cat and dogs and some do rabbits also. It's disgraceful that other animals are not covered

Dyr

I have pet insurance and tbh I'd be better off cancelling, its a scam. Take the money you spend on the insurance and save it into a warchest for the animal should you ever need it.

At least you know that you'll have it when you need it :mad:

JustAThought

My dog got hit by a car : as I was carrying her to the car to drive to the vets all I was thinking was thank God she's insured I don't have to worry about cost

watna

Bambi wrote: »

I have pet insurance and tbh I'd be better off cancelling, its a scam. Take the money you spend on the insurance and save it into a warchest for the animal should you ever need it.

At least you know that you'll have it when you need it :mad:

How is it a scam? It's the same as any kind of insurance. Would you make the same argument about car insurance? As I've said here, our cat got hit by a car, insurance paid for everything except the $100 excess. How were we scammed?