Which dog insurance?

[FrenchieBoy]

I have put this in the "Off Topic" section as it is for a general house pet rather than for a working dog!
We adopted a Saluki cross from an animal shelter and after a week the dog has settled in nicely. Originally he was not house trained (WE now have him house trained and he is as good as gold in the house) and he was a known "runner" - He would run off whenever he had the chance to and was a devil to catch again. He is 15 months old and has spent the last 6 months in the animal shelter. He was found in Blackburn where he was running about as a stray for 6 weeks - They eventually had to use a cage trap to catch him. He is very "Hand Shy" particularly with men which suggests to me that he had been ill treated or beaten by a man at some time, but with patience and care he is gradually learning that he is safe and not going to be ill treated with us.
The thing that I would welcome your opinions on is which insurance company to go to for insurance. He will be kept as a house pet and not worked (Coursing or Racing) so all I really want is an insurance that doesn't cost the earth and will help out if he ever needs any treatment from the vet. (Which we all know can be extremely costly)
Can any of you guys suggest an insurance company that isn't too pricey please?

 

[Hereford]

We use PetPlan for our dogs - it’s around £13 per month and hasn’t quibbled over bills in the past.

Good on you for re-homing by the way - given it’s a young dog and with plenty of patience and kindness I’d hope that he will trust you in time and undo some of the damage and trauma he’s been through.

Best of luck

 

[Red Dragon 2]

We rescued a terrier cross a couple of years ago who was a runner, now lives in all the time (big terrier proof garden to run in) as will still run given the chance.
Pet plan seem to be OK , what about BASC dog insurance if you are a member. Fantastic guard dog, barks when the postman is about 1/2 a mile away.

 

[hendrix's rifle]

Get a lifetime cover with who ever you go for and read carefully what's included in it. My 2 were on petplan put changed after they hiked up the premiums. Can't remember who im with now, I did try BASC but found them expensive in comparison. Well done by the way

 

[Millerich]

I’m a vet and practice director. Pet Plan give us and our clients the fewest problems. The cheap insurance is cheap for a reason.

 

[FrenchieBoy]

This is the chap that we have adopted. We visited him most days for nearly a fortnight before we finally adopted and took him home. His behaviour on the video might not seem perfect but you have to bare in mind that when he was taken in to Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary in November 2017 he was completely unmanageable and as wild as they come, so much so that the staff used to have a battle just getting near enough to him to put a harness on him for exercising. He is now coming on well and does recall very well when he is on his long training lead (50 feet long) and he is now also starting to answer to his name. (The staff at Bleakholt originally called him Romeo but we changed his name to Cody) He is still quite "hand shy", especially with men which suggests to me that he has been ill treated by a man when he was a bit younger. He has had a pretty $hite start in life so we are having to work very hard on gaining his confidence and trust and showing him that he is not going to get ill treated now that he is with us.

 

[sauer]

Well done

Good to see the rescue dogs getting another chance

Paul

 

[Kjf]

Nice one Pete , your Marlene seems to have found a new mucker.

i use pet plan for our Mack ( or ball bags as I call him lol) it's about £30 a month for approx £7000 grands worth of all singing all dancing cover

im sure Cody will have a cracking life with you and Marlene ,

ps our Bradley says many thanks for the shotgun, as soon as we are all available we'll meet up for some clays( him and his dad are in Anglesey every weekend at the caravan as soon as the season starts , they love the sea fishing, the jammy gits lol)

atb

kjf

 

[kimh]

great work, I have had a few dogs now, I always had insurance and never made a claim, then one dog broke it's back, I'm convinced the vets kept him alive for the insurance money when I gained control I had the dog put down.
I searched and searched for a vet and came across the right one (my wife even worked as their practise manager between legal employment), that vet said 'just put what you can afford to one side' the next but one dog got a tumour in his jaw that vet said humanly 'it's not right for the dog' and although heart-wrenching at the time it was right.
I don't have insurance anymore, I saved £6 per day for each dog, top dog is 7years old and bottom dog is 18months and apart from the normal injections and two ear infections so far all is well. after the first two years of saving with top dog I stopped thinking that if the vet bill was more I would find it (that sum remains in a savings account) if I had of kept going they would have over 18k
you work it out, no insurance for me, my wife has also adopted this for our horses too.
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[Buchan]

You get what you pay for. The companies that appear to be the ones associated with more queries and restrictions are usually associated with lower premiums. Whoever you use, ensure that the policy is for the life of the dog, not a lifetime policy, which may refer to the life of the policy. Premiums will rise with age, but don't be tempted to keep changing - it gets harder and more expensive.
The above is my experience. Not advice (which I can't give).

 

[Kjf]

great work, I have had a few dogs now, I always had insurance and never made a claim, then one dog broke it's back, I'm convinced the vets kept him alive for the insurance money when I gained control I had the dog put down.
I searched and searched for a vet and came across the right one (my wife even worked as their practise manager between legal employment), that vet said 'just put what you can afford to one side' the next but one dog got a tumour in his jaw that vet said humanly 'it's not right for the dog' and although heart-wrenching at the time it was right.
I don't have insurance anymore, I saved £6 per day for each dog, top dog is 7years old and bottom dog is 18months and apart from the normal injections and two ear infections so far all is well. after the first two years of saving with top dog I stopped thinking that if the vet bill was more I would find it (that sum remains in a savings account) if I had of kept going they would have over 18k
you work it out, no insurance for me, my wife has also adopted this for our horses too.

I got advised to do this also, good advice

but took out the insurance,

KJF

 

[NoIDeer]

My dogs with John Lewis, looks like good cover on paper, never claimed. Big problem is the yearly hike in price, he's 6 now and costing over £43/month, dearer than the missus's Fiesta ST!

We might try the savings route in the future.

 

[FrenchieBoy]

We hadn't made a decision yet but we got one month's free insurance with Petplan which was just as well. Yesterday I noticed a small swelling and a break in the skin between his left eye and ear. I thought he might have knocked it on the corner of the coffee table while he was having one of his "mad moments". However this morning the swelling looked larger and more open so I phoned Bleakholt and asked for their advice. They told us to bring him in for them so that they could do a quick assessment this afternoon, which we did. The outcome is that they think it might be an insect bite but have given us a voucher to take to their vet tomorrow. The voucher is covering ALL costs incurred for the treatment but if it hadn't then at least the Petplan insurance would have covered it.
Let's see what the vet says tomorrow morning!
Just as a foot note Cody has settled in very well. He answers to his new name (Most of the time), he's as good as gold on the lead unless there's a cat that looks like it needs "seeing off" or a dog nearby that looks too boisterous or threatening and is as good as gold in the house. He seems to learn very quickly and constantly tries to please us. He wasn't house trained when we got him but already he is perfectly clean in the house and lets us know if and when he needs to go out. And most importantly of all he adores Marlene and tries to follows her wherever she goes!

 

[andyf]

Beautiful dog.

We used MoreThan as we caught a really good deal on their Platinum cover. It has been excellent value as he needed 2 surgeries before turning 2 - a leg fracture and then knee cap stabilised... They paid out in full with no hassle a combined sum of over 3 grand. Really good service from them and I'd recommend you check them out.

He's nearly 5 now and this year's renewal premium was getting a bit sporty so I considered chucking it, but in the end I increased our excess to get the monthlies down and have the peace of mind that he remains covered in the event he has a future issue related to those leg issues, which would be excluded from cover if we shopped around for cheaper cover elsewhere. Way I look at it that's where we could end up copping a big bill in the future so it's still worth paying for (affordable!) insurance to soften the blow if it happens.