Please get pet insurance

TooManyDogs

The majority of people I've spoken to who have insurance still have to pay their vets up front, I had to pay my vets up front when I had insurance, I've yet to personally meet anyone who's vet does claim directly from the insurance company. When I asked my vet about them not claiming directly they said they found the companies too difficult to deal with, that they would dispute the vets claims so the vet ended up out of pocket themselves so stopped dealing directly with the insurance companies.

In the majority of cases people still have to find the money in advance, having pet insurance is not a magic solution and not having insurance does not mean people are automatically going to choose letting their pet suffer or get them pts

ISDW

I have 10 dogs and 2 cats, no way can I afford insurance premiums on them, so I put money away, I have done this now for about 10 years, from the time I increased my dogs to 4 and no, I've never had to put an animal down because I couldn't afford to treat it. We have dealt with various cancers, a bad accident to a cat that meant me driving from Sligo to Dublin for emergency surgery, various ailments, all of which have always been treated.

If anybody does agility, flyball etc with their dog, doublecheck your insurance policy, as any injuries from those sports will probably not be covered. Neither will any incidents where you may need to claim on the public liability aspect of the insurance.

piperh

Taltos wrote: »

UCD - I had to pay when I was leaving.
My vet though does not insist on being paid up front... Showing you have insurance helps.

Not having insurance for some people has traditionally meant
> not being able to afford major & costly treatments
so what choices do they have?
a) let the animal suffer
b) put the animal down
c) beg/borrow/steal or do without necessities to pay for the treatment.

I am not saying those without insurance automatically decide to kill their pets - what I am saying is that you don't know what is coming around the corner. Your bill might be only a couple of hundred - or if your pet needs a lifetime of care it can be considerably more.
For the sake of a tenner a month (depending on who you are with) - at least you can have peace of mind that you can take care of your pet to the best of your ability without stressing about those choices later...

I had one of mine at the UCD 2wks ago and i simply gave them my filled in insurance form and didn't have to pay a penny towrds the ct scan.

My vet also claims directly from the insurance company i literally just fill in personal details policy number and sign the form and they send it off. i'm with petinsure.

Blueprint

My dog is in as I type for cruciate ligament surgery. Haven't even asked how much it will be as I have the insurance and I know it's covered, but I believe it is in the region of €1200 or so. I could afford to pay it without insurance, but it is very nice to have it covered! My vets are quite happy to wait for the insurance company (I have claimed for X-rays for this condition already and they paid with no quibbles). I suspect that they would however be quite willing for me to pay in installments if I didn't have insurance, as they've always been quite decent when it comes to paying bills. (My cat died of a heart condition a few months ago and of course got really sick over the weekend, emergency call outs and a night in the vets plus loads of drugs and all he charged me for was one consultation after she died, which was incredibly decent.)

This is the first time I've ever had a condition that I could claim for, as everything else always came under the excess and I did actually consider canceling it last time it was up for renewal, I'm glad I didn't now!

TooManyDogs

ISDW wrote: »

If anybody does agility, flyball etc with their dog, doublecheck your insurance policy, as any injuries from those sports will probably not be covered.

I didn't know that, doubly delighted that I cancelled mine now, 4 out of my 6 dogs do agility...

Cat Melodeon

We've 3 dogs, were quoted €350 each for the cheapest policy we could find. That policy didn't include vaccinations or any of the routine stuff and there was a €50 excess for every procedure - not every incident, but every procedure, so if a dog required 2 xrays we'd have to pay €50 for each one. In all the years we've had dogs, we've never even come close to having to pay €1000 in a year. The setter was hit by a car a couple of years back - out of hours on a Saturday night, kept in for 3 mights, required IV drip, resetting of ribs etc. Whole lot came to less than 400 and because we've been going to that vet for so long we would have been allowed to pay in monthly installments if necessary. For us, it would be madness to pay that much in insurance premiums.

audreyp

I think if you are lucky enough to not have anything happen to your pet it can be a better idea to save. But the first time my cats were sick, were 5 months in with lily poisoning. If i was saving instead of insurance i'd only have had 100 euro towards it. That occasion my vet claimed directly with Allianz.

My vet is amazing thankfully and anytime we have had anything serious wrong with our cats they never pressure us for the money. We are long term customers so we have built up a trust. I'd imagine most vets would be understanding about this though maybe that is a very naive opinion.