Pet insurance

boogieman

I’m sure this has been covered before but nothing turns up in a search. We got some limited-time free insurance from the Kennel Club for our new Lab puppy but need to get proper cover soon. Looking for recommendations. Is it worth paying the extra for lifetime cover? 

Ta. 

skunkwerx

Hmm depends if your pedigrees. 

(Pet agree’s?)... 

sorry... I’ll get my coat.. 

nanoman

We had various non-lifetime (Tesco, PetPlan, John Lewis), when our dog was younger and never made a claim. Moved onto a lifetime policy when he turned 6 and had to claim the max amount last year when he had heart surgery. Renewal went up massively but we will stick with them now as they paid out as soon as the paperwork and receipts were in and we can claim for any re-occurance of the heart problems. Lifetime Pet Cover is the company we're with now.

EricTheWeary

Had this a few times on here but the search facility is a bit crap n’est ce pas.
We’ve never had pet insurance and Sir Smellalot is too old for us to get it now but lifelong is usually recommended. I think it’s possible to get caught out with the others and end up with a dog with an expensive condition that you can’t get cover for. 

digitalscream

Standard answer: ask your vet.

Don't ask who they recommend, because they can't tell you that. Ask an individual vet who they insure their own pets with. That is 100% guaranteed to be an insurer that the practice will deal directly with, which can be hugely important (especially if a lifelong condition pops up which needs lifelong medicine).

Actually, on that score...don't skimp. Get the life cover, not the annual cover; if your pup needs lifelong medication, annual cover will only pay for the first year.

On top of the insurance, we also have a standing order to the vet so that we're always in credit there, and we make sure we always have at least double the insurance excess in the account. When it builds up too much to realistically spend, we just tell the vets to give a bunch to someone who's struggling to pay.

rustneversleeps

I’ve recently insured our puppy.I went on reviews and recommended by  some friends.It’s with “Brought by many”it’s very flexible in what you pay,It’s worth checking out the reviews ;hope this helps.

WezV

Girlfriend recommends petplan lifetime, nothing time limited.   Aim for £15k per year per condition.  Don't skimp

Whatever you get, don't cancel it or change it as anything ever mentioned to a vet before will be exempt from the new policy.  Mention diarrhea to a vet, suddenly no stomach conditions are covered on your next policy.  

She says they are very quick to authorise payment, normally within 48 hours.  Others like KC or direct line can be quite slow to authorise emergency treatment as its more of a manual form filling process.. not what you want in that situation.


She works for a vetinary referral centre(supervet style), dealing with multiple insurance claims most days.

Kittyfrisk

WezV said:

Girlfriend recommends petplan lifetime, nothing time limited.   Aim for £15k per year per condition.  Don't skimp

Whatever you get, don't cancel it or change it as anything ever mentioned to a vet before will be exempt from the new policy.  Mention diarrhea to a vet, suddenly no stomach conditions are covered on your next policy.  

She says they are very quick to authorise payment, normally within 48 hours.  Others like KC or direct line can be quite slow to authorise emergency treatment as its more of a manual form filling process.. not what you want in that situation.


She works for a vetinary referral centre(supervet style), dealing with multiple insurance claims most days.

This is very good advice regarding early starting & lifetime cover.
Over 12 years ago one of of my twin cats developed what I eventually found to be Feline Vaccine Associated Fibrosarcoma.
It cost me £2000 for a single MRI scan just to determine the diagnosis...  
I paid anyway (like you do) without knowing if it would be covered, but luckily it was. The condition was inoperable, but the subsequent meds helped her have a good pain free life.
The major costs were covered under a Petplan Lifetime policy. Not cheap, but it was worthwhile as the premiums did not rise following the diagnosis & treatment. Another worry I really didn't need to have at a very distressing time.

boogieman

Cheers all, thanks for the recommendations. Going to have a look at a Petplan whole life policy I think. 

axisus

digitalscream said:

On top of the insurance, we also have a standing order to the vet so that we're always in credit there, and we make sure we always have at least double the insurance excess in the account. When it builds up too much to realistically spend, we just tell the vets to give a bunch to someone who's struggling to pay.

A wow for that. What a lovely act of generosity.

digitalscream

axisus said:

digitalscream said:

On top of the insurance, we also have a standing order to the vet so that we're always in credit there, and we make sure we always have at least double the insurance excess in the account. When it builds up too much to realistically spend, we just tell the vets to give a bunch to someone who's struggling to pay.

A wow for that. What a lovely act of generosity.

It's really paying it forward - when our Ruby had her accident and we were £10k in the hole and then our other two dogs at the time became ill, folk here really helped out and saved us (and our dogs!), so...yeah, we feel a responsibility to do the same when we can

ArchtopDave

I have Petplan lifetime insurance for my cat, plus a health cover plan with his vet, which covers the cost of his vaccinations, regular wormer and flea/tick treatment, and a yearly checkup.

sw67

I had a Lab for 10.5 years that had various allergies - Had pet plan from birth that paid out over 40k during his lifetime. Always paid the vet direct so i just paid the excess, ( vet filled out claim form )