Rant about pet insurance

[JSP]

So my mum, who is in her 80s bless her, has a little rescue ≈≈≈≈zu, she got him when he was around 7 and he’s 11 now, he is insured - the payments have rocketed over those few years, but she fell for the blurb of never having to worry about vet bills again.
Anyway last week the poor little dog had a fit that lasted for hours, the vet was called of course and he struggled to get the fitting to stop and the dog ended up at the vet hospital, where they eventually bought things under control. He was let out after a couple of nights, on drugs, still very very wobbly and out of it. Since then he’s had a few more smaller episodes And twice over the weekend she has made the decision to let him go, but he has rallied.
The vets have told her today it’s too early for that decision and there’s lots they can try, drugs that cost £169 a month ( insurance doesn’t cover drugs)
She’s now between a rock and a hard place because the initial call out, vet care and hospital fees are already way over the insurance amount, and they can’t be sure he won’t have another bad episode before they get his drugs right.
So now despite insurance, she has a massive bill and a monthly drugs bill she can’t afford. I feel so upset for her.
I know nothing about pet insurance, we always put an amount in a bank account each month for ours, and thankfully never needed it as our pets died of old age and were very healthy, but it makes me cross the way some companies sell these insurances.
Sorry for the rant I’m just so angry and upset right now

[SquishTheWhale]

That's so bad that they make you think everything is covered when it's really not. It's the last thing you need when you're distressed about your pet being unwell.

We had insurance the first year we had our cat, and she ended up having to have a non-cancerous lump removed which we did get the £300 back for, happy days. However at renewal they then hiked our premiums ridiculously high- from about £5 a month to £40. We shopped around but now companies were saying they wouldn't cover anything to do with lumps, skin problems, cancer or heart problems (as they discovered during surgery she has a minor heart murmur). So now we self insure like you!

[macadoo]

Have you looked at getting a prescription from the vet and buying the drugs on line yourself? We do this now for our dogs skin condition and save quite a lot each month (we do have insurance but decided to exclude his skin the last couple of years as the premium was getting ridiculous now he’s 10).

Just as an example, the anti inflammatory I had to buy from the vet recently cost us £30 but to buy on line costs £7.50.

[LostGirl]

With horses, you have a year to claim with any new issue that crops up.

So my horse developed asthma in May of 2019, so I will have until May 2020 to claim for drugs and issues relating to that and then his respiratory system will be excluded.

So I am surprised that dog insurance works differently.

[Guest]

Thieves , nothing more,nothing less

[JSP]

Originally Posted by macadoo

Have you looked at getting a prescription from the vet and buying the drugs on line yourself? We do this now for our dogs skin condition and save quite a lot each month (we do have insurance but decided to exclude his skin the last couple of years as the premium was getting ridiculous now he’s 10).

Just as an example, the anti inflammatory I had to buy from the vet recently cost us £30 but to buy on line costs £7.50.

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Thank you we will look into this

[skalexander]

Part of the trouble is that some companies sell policies with a limit which is too low to be of much use, and the buyer really does have to be beware. Our Cocker Spaniel has cancer and we made the decision a year ago not to do any further treatment or scans, by which time the vet bills were £13,000. Fortunately, £8,000 was covered on insurance but we paid the rest (still paying some of it). However, I see policies for £1,500 and wonder what the heck use they'd be in an emergency situation.

[Emmie2016]

You really have to be savvy with insurance or they will catch you out sadly. Please refer to the ombundmen as they rarely side with the Insurnace company.

I've been lucky as I pay 30 pound a month for 2 cats and recently had a 5k claim.

I hope everything works out bless her x

[mushumadness]

Can she take the dog to a pdsa dog vet?

[mitch84]

I can’t help I’m afraid but this is why I never insured my pup.
I second the checking the price of the meds though, I had to pay a small amount for a prescription but my dog is on Metacam and I still saved a fortune