hello advice needed please

[slim]

Hello can anyone offer any advice on reputable insurers for dogs? we now have 4 greyhounds and a terrier and have decided pet insurance might be sensible!!! thing is it adds up to quite a lot for 4! I found pet insurance for £6.50 each but it is with E&L and i know in the horse world they are not very highly regarded - can anyone help please?xx

[Nettie]

Hi there, E&L have the same reputation in the dog world too. I think that a lot of board members on here are with Axa, I'm sure they will be along to offer advice. You may find with so many animals that its is very expensive and the other option is to put the premium you would have paid for all the animals away in a seperate account to build up a savings account for vets. However, if you decide to do this then it would still be advisable to take out a 3rd party public liability insurance. Will look up who mine is with and get back to you to let you know.

[edwina]

Iam with More than but at twenty pounds a month its not that cheap. I had a claim a couple of weeks ago. It was only for £200 but they paid out straight away no questions asked.

[slim]

thanks very much - i think it will be expensive like you say - the savings account is a v good idea though!!!x

[dominique]

I got a good quote for my year old lurcher Ruby today from the Post Office. They are underwritten by AXA and they quoted about £12.70 a month for £5000 cover over the length of the illness and there is no upper age limit that they will insure. But the quote for my four year old terrier was high at over £22 pound a month. And you get a 5% discount for every other pet that you insure with them. It might be worth a go. Good luck ;D

[Flaperoo]

We recently received a renewal notice for our dogs and the premium had more than doubled . The so called reason for this is that one of our dogs, will be the grand old age of EIGHT and therefore a higher risk, despite the fact that apart from his vacinations, flea, worming and dentals (which they don't cover anyway ), he is a very healthy dog, and we have never made a claim.

We decided to put aside the money, as Nettie mentioned, and take out 3rd party insurance; a must in my opinion if you chose this option. We are however in the fortunate position of being able to afford the likely cost of most medical treatments and I would not advise this as a rule.

Also don't just sit back and accept a quote, shop around, get a few more and HAGGLE . If you have done your preparation I have found that even the big Brand name insurers will, if you persist in speaking to someone with the authority to overide THE COMPUTER SAYS NO SYNDROME , even the brand name insurers will negotiate with you

Good luck

Mary X

[slinkydogs]

Having been turned down on renewal for Harris when he was eight by Petplan - despite not having made a claim in the previous years, I hadn't intended to insure his little bro Wilf, thankfully I listened to his vets!
Harris, who's nearly 12, remains uninsured (and uninsurable because of his history) and now costs >£150/month in cardiac medications which keep him healthy and active. I insured Wilf with More Than at I think £10.99/month which gives up to £7000/condition for life.

Wilf's needed a lot of investigations in his short life, to date for his tum I think we've claimed around £5000 and his vets are not expensive nor in the habit of doing anything unnecessary! He's recently had to stay there for monitoring a number of times and has been referred to the hospital for the third time, not having to worry too much about the cost really is a relief when you're so worried about his health. His vets are conscious of the cost and do their best to minimise it but at the end of the day he needs what he needs and it would otherwise be a real worry, especially with Harris's medication costs.
More Than did dispute Wilf's first claim for his tum, because it was in his notes that he'd vomited prior to insuring him (whilst he was fostered) but with the support of his vets they paid out in full and have been very good to deal with. Circumstances change, I was in a well paid job when I first adopted Harris and haven't worked for over three years now, if I'd not have insured Wilf when he was little there'd be all sorts of things that he'd not be insurable for now, it's certainly worth thinking carefully about!

[slim]

gosh lots to think about.... I did think about not insuring the terrier but then sods law says he will come down with some horrible illness and need treatment