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insurance for our new Blenheim puppy... UK based... Save money or pay premium

Hi, We have a Blenheim puppy aged 10 weeks old and are based in the UK. I have read much different/conflicting advice on whether or not to take out cover.Much advice says that it is a total rip off but I can imagine that people have had good as well as bad experiences with insurance. If we do take out cover it has been advised to use a policy with an annual pot that is refilled every year. We are being quoted £30+ per month for the best cover (£7000 in vets fees per year). I would appreciate any advice on 1. The best insurance companies to use 2. Is it better to simply to save say £30 a month in a building society and build up an emergency fund. 3. Is there any section on CavalierTalk.com where I can look at previous similar questions (I am new to the site and do not as yet know my way around it). Keep up the good work and thank you in anticipation. :razz:
 
Hello and welcome. I insured my Leo when he was a puppy....Im with Petprotect and they've been very good. At the age of 2 1/2 he was admitted to The Royal vet hospital in Cambridge for 6 days.....they MRI'd him too! Petprotect paid the bill straight off, (I didn't pay it then have to reclaim it.) It was £2000 ! My monthly payments at the time were £17...it was so worth it. Of course my payments have gone up but Im glad he was insured.
 
I can't help with actual insurance plans as I'm in the US, but one thing to look for is a company that will pay for hereditary conditions and genetic disorders, including testing, specialists and medications.
 
Have a look at this thread http://www.cavaliertalk.com/forums/showthread.php?35387-Insurance but also search "insurance" you will find lots of threads.

I would ALWAYS now recommend taking out insurance, especially for Cavaliers. Yes you could save the premium every month, but if they are poorly or have an accident within your first few years of saving, are you going to be able to cover those costs? My thoughts are that I would never want to make a decision on treatment based purely on finances.

Virgin have continued to provide good cover and are pretty prompt at paying out for claims - and we haven't had dramatic increases in premiums despite some large claims.

If you can manage it, go for PetPlan - they have the best reputation I believe now. There is a specialist pet insurance broker http://www.vip4u.co.uk/

When you make a decision, would you be kind enough to go through http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/rupertsfund/?

This doesn't cost you anything, and the mid range policy from Petplan provides a donation of £13 for Rupert's Fund
Rupert's Fund is raising money to fund research to find the genes responsible for Syringomyelia, a very painful neurological disease that is affecting many, many Cavalier King Charles Spaniels [and other toy breeds too]. The Fund pays for MRI scans to find older dogs clear of the condition and the research will in time provide tools to help breeders make appropriate breeding decisions.


 
Thank you so much for your great advice. I will of course go through easyfundraising. I look forward to going through your recommendations.
 
Have a look at this thread http://www.cavaliertalk.com/forums/showthread.php?35387-Insurance but also search "insurance" you will find lots of threads.

I would ALWAYS now recommend taking out insurance, especially for Cavaliers. Yes you could save the premium every month, but if they are poorly or have an accident within your first few years of saving, are you going to be able to cover those costs? My thoughts are that I would never want to make a decision on treatment based purely on finances.

Virgin have continued to provide good cover and are pretty prompt at paying out for claims - and we haven't had dramatic increases in premiums despite some large claims.

If you can manage it, go for PetPlan - they have the best reputation I believe now. There is a specialist pet insurance broker http://www.vip4u.co.uk/

When you make a decision, would you be kind enough to go through http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/rupertsfund/?

This doesn't cost you anything, and the mid range policy from Petplan provides a donation of £13 for Rupert's Fund
Rupert's Fund is raising money to fund research to find the genes responsible for Syringomyelia, a very painful neurological disease that is affecting many, many Cavalier King Charles Spaniels [and other toy breeds too]. The Fund pays for MRI scans to find older dogs clear of the condition and the research will in time provide tools to help breeders make appropriate breeding decisions.



+1 For PetPlan. I'm in the U.S. and am glad I went with them. I did spend some time on research and read the coverages and exclusions. There's lots of fine print to read. I had considered self insurance via savings each month. However, the premium for the plan we got was $343 for the year and vets aren't cheap here. Our dog eats everything and is very curious. She's into everything, too. We got the insurance last February. A few weeks ago she swallowed something that got stuck in her small intestine. She stopped eating and drinking and just layed down all the time. She was in the vet hospital for 3 days with IV and observation. There were many xrays. Thankfully the object finally passed through so there was no surgery the bill was $1100. PetPlan paid $775. We don't have the top plan so there were deductibles and coinsurance. We are glad we got this insurance for Jenny. I thought PetPlan would make us jump through a bunch of hoops to get our claim processed, but they were very pleasant and fair to deal with. The main thing is to send them all the records. I'm not saying that all dogs need pet insurance, but it's been worth it for Jenny.
 
Hi,
I live in Ireland so I can't really comment on the best insurance policy for you, but would just say that if you save £30 a month instead of paying the insurance premium, that only amounts to £360 over 12 months - which could easily be wiped out or a substantial amount used up if you needed to have say blood tests or an overnight stay at the vets. I would go for the insurance, quickly, in case any illness turns up, as once you have had your pet with the vet before insuring, the insurance co won't cover that illness again, at all - not that I'm wishing an illness or accident on your puppy, but you just never know what could happen. I'm probably very cautious, but I would much rather pay for insurance that I don't need than have no insurance and need it :(
 
I don't have insurance for my dogs, I have some savings I can use if there is an emergency. I have a multi-dog house so I imagine it would be very expensive to have all my dogs on insurance.
 
I would really advise getting insurance. Cavs are not really known for going through life unscathed. Like Nicky mentioned, you really dont want to be in the position of having to weigh up your savings against urgent and expensive vet treatment. If you search insurance on the site, you will find an entry from me somewhere that mentions how much my insurers had to pay out in the four short years we had my lovely Megan. Its a lot, and she didnt have the usual cav ailments either. Im with Petplan for Teddy, and its a for life policy, and we got it before he even came home. And i truley wish i had known about the link with Ruperts fund :(
 
I live in the UK and use Petplan. They have been brilliant so far.

https://www.petplan.co.uk/pet-insurance/quote.asp

We have just had to pay out £1300 to have Merlin seen by a neurologist and an MRI scan etc, the veterinary hosptial sent the claim off for me and Petplan paid out to them direct, it was a huge weight off my mind and only had to pay a £90 excess.

I currently pay £29.47 per month for the classic covered for life (which covers me up to £4000 per year)
I have to pay an excess of £90 for every new medical case with Merlin, and also I have to pay the excess again for his current condition when each year rolls over, but thats nothing compared to what they've paid out for me so far.

My monthly amount is slightly high as he's nearly 7 and already has medical problems, so yours could be less.
Look at the website and get a quotation.

Best wishes
Gemma and Merlin.
 
I recommend Petplan from our experience, Jasper is with them and he is nearly 8, we pay £30.00 per month with an excess of £85, they paid a big claim direct to the vets, I've no complaints. Gabby is with Axa, never claimed so cannot comment but its all up in the air with Axa they're not taking new customers and existing ones are seeing their monthly premiums go sky high. I heard Animal Friends are good.
 
I am with Pet Plan in the UK, but must say after reading the last two posts from Gemma and Andrea I am at a loss at to how Pet Plan work out their premiums, I have never made a claim on Ollie who is fit and is 3 years old and insured since he was just a few weeks old, I have cover for life £4,000 veterinary fees per year with an excess £85.00, and I pay £29.64 per month for a dog who is healthy and much younger:confused:. On the plus side of them when Jasper was insured with them from 9 months old until he was 10 years old when they priced us out as it was just not viable for him to be insured with them with the excess plus 20% of the bill, they were always prompt at paying the money for his heart medicine. We certainly paid more in for him that we got out, but that saying we did it in case there were any big medical expenses. We just put the money aside for him every month for his 3 monthly heart medication, as we know he will never be able to have any veterinary intervention with the way his heart is.
 
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