Pet Insurance

meoklmrk91

I've been thinking recently of getting pet insurance for my dog, he's a Boxer, 10 months, vaccinated, neutered, microchipped and by all accounts as healthy as a horse. However, you never know whats going to happen down the road and being a student I would much prefer to pay a couple of hundred euro now than thousands if he were to get very sick. Just wondering if anyone has used pet insurance, what they thought of it, and just any general opinions anyone has. Also which company do you/did you use and would you recommend them.

PCPhoto

Personally I think all these insurances are a waste of money....15, 20years ago people didnt have pet insurance and managed to get by.

I suppose the marketing people put it down as asking "how much do you love your pet?"

it all depends on if you are willing to pay monthly/annually for something that might not happen, are you willing to prolong a pets life if they are sick, are you willing to extend the life of your pet and give it pet pills because society/science says it will make the pain less bearable.

I have a beautiful Yorkie/Papillion cross, she's 9months old and I do not have pet insurance, A pet is a pet, if the pet reaches an untimely death...then thats meant to happen ...you can protect your pet to the best of your ability, take care of it and be there to give it attention and play-time....most pets(dogs) will live to be 10-15 human years....enjoy the time you have together now.

star-pants

Always say the same thing - ring around and see who gives you the best options for your money. There aren't that many that do pet insurance.
Allianz, 123.ie, petinsure.ie and google threw up another petinsuranceireland though I'm not sure if they're a broker of sorts.

Ring up and see what quotes they give, what it covers (what type of illnesses/eventualities), what the excess is, check with your vets/insurance company what way they work. Some vets/insurers will let you pay the excess and send the bill to the insurance for the rest, some require full payment and you claim it back yourself.

Insurance at an early age is best, before any possible known issues come to light as insurance won't cover any pre-existing conditions.
I do still advise people get insurance if they can afford it because it can help should (hopefully not) anything happen. We don't have pet insurance because our premium went too high, but we have money aside instead.

DBB

PCPhoto, whilst I agree with you up to a point, in that the world seems to have gone mad with insurance policies (you can't buy a kettle now without being offered insurance, even though the insurance is more expensive than the kettle!), when it comes to animals it's a bit more complicated than just letting them live out their lives even if that means losing them young.
For instance, what about the many dogs who suffer from chronic conditions, medication for which allows them to live a full and healthy life? Or for whom an operation turns their life around? Or for whom behavioural rehabilitation can mean the difference between living a normal life or being put to sleep?
And in this much more litigious world we live in, insurance covers for 3rd party claims.
Unlike years ago, veterinary care is extremely expensive now, and many life-enhancing and life-saving procedures are beyond the reach of many owners.
I wonder how many pets are alive today because they were insured when the poop hit the fan, who wouldn't have lived 20yrs ago because their owners had to have them pts at a young age for a curable condition?
I know if I had a young, say Labrador With hip dysplasia, I'd rather have the choice to have him operated on to live a long life, rather than put such a young dog to sleep.
Each to their own, but I think like human health insurance, pet insurance has become a necessary evil.

andreac

PCPhoto wrote: »

Personally I think all these insurances are a waste of money....15, 20years ago people didnt have pet insurance and managed to get by.

I suppose the marketing people put it down as asking "how much do you love your pet?"

it all depends on if you are willing to pay monthly/annually for something that might not happen, are you willing to prolong a pets life if they are sick, are you willing to extend the life of your pet and give it pet pills because society/science says it will make the pain less bearable.

I have a beautiful Yorkie/Papillion cross, she's 9months old and I do not have pet insurance, A pet is a pet, if the pet reaches an untimely death...then thats meant to happen ...you can protect your pet to the best of your ability, take care of it and be there to give it attention and play-time....most pets(dogs) will live to be 10-15 human years....enjoy the time you have together now.

I disagree. Pet insurance is great for people who might struggle with a big pay out for a serious condition, ie Hip displacia, road traffic accident etc.

My policy is about 21euro a month for each dog.

My male rottie was taken into the vets about 2 years ago with a serious bout of Gastro, had to go on a drip and be kept in overnight. If i had not have had insurance it would have cost me nearly 300 euro, but all it cost me was the 75 on the excess and they claimed directly for me for the rest. So that one illness was nearly the price of my whole policy for the year so it was well worth it for me.

As rottweilers are big dogs, if something happens them it can work out quite costly so insurance is a big help to me.

RangeR

I have a Newfoundland Landseer. She is seven years old. We got her insured before she was 1 year old.

Since she was 4 or 5 years old, she contracted arthritis. We now spend €3000+ a year on her meds and vet bills.

Insurance is just that. It's a pay out, IF you need it.

If you don't want insurance, then don't pay for it. I get an enormous peace of mind with having it. To know that my dog will now have a [more or less] pain free life.

If I didn't have insurance, I'd have had to put her down 2 or 3 years ago because I wouldn't be able to help any other way.

Each to their own. I don't skimp on medical insurance for my family.

meoklmrk91

Interesting opinions guys, I want to be able to provide the best care possible for my dog should something go wrong. So I think insurance is definitely the way to go. There are a few different companies out there that provide it, just wondering if anyone can make any recommendations or if they have any experence with any of them. Thanks.

andreac

Allianz and Petinsure are the 2 main ones that i would recommend. There are a few others but they arent as well know so not sure what they are like.

I know Allianz have a higher excess than Petinsure so if you do claim you will have to pay more than you would with Allianz.

Blueprint

Just make sure that any insurance you get is a life cover one and not one that only covers the condition for 12 months and then never again. The difference with for life cover is that it covers the condition up to the maximum amount for 12 months and then covers it again for the same amount the next year, whereas not for life covers treat it as a pre-existing condition and refuse to pay for it the next year.

I'm with Allianz, have recently claimed for a cruciate ligament operation, which is very pricey!

aisher

I am looking at insurance also. The best quote I have gotton so far has been from Tesco - wondering now if I should opt for Standard or go the cheap route and pick Value The yearly premium is €132 and €72 - not a huge amount. I like the fact that you get 3rd Party Insurance - my dog is a pup now but heaven forbid if she bit someone or caused an accident down the line.

andreac

aisher wrote: »

I am looking at insurance also. The best quote I have gotton so far has been from Tesco - wondering now if I should opt for Standard or go the cheap route and pick Value The yearly premium is €132 and €72 - not a huge amount. I like the fact that you get 3rd Party Insurance - my dog is a pup now but heaven forbid if she bit someone or caused an accident down the line.

Afaik all the dog policies have 3rd party insurance, well Allianz and Petinsure def do.
Im not sure if i would go with Tesco tbh. Its not long established so not sure how they would fare for claims etc.

I see Tesco dont cover most of the dogs on the Restricted breed List!! :mad::mad:

Petinsure are fairly reasonable as well. I found Allianz had gone a little expensive so i switched to Petinsure.

Knine

The excess on petinsure.ie has gone up from 60 euro to 90 euro though. I found out recently when I had to renew my policy.

RangeR

As with all companies, you get what you pay for. I'm with Allianz and I'm well looked after. Yes, there is an excess, but as I said earlier, my vet bills are enourmous. My Newfi is on meds every day for life.

Cork24

Knine wrote: »

The excess on petinsure.ie has gone up from 60 euro to 90 euro though. I found out recently when I had to renew my policy.

Pet insurance is a must have its handy to fall back on of your dog gets sick I fall back on it.when My dog got cancer and had to be put down 400 alone for treament and 90 to have him put down I don't have that kind of money to treat a dog

Inexile

Also check out the excess when the dog is older. Im withy Allianz so my excess is €100 plus 35% as my dog is now 10 years old. Recently I had a claim of just over €300 and I got back around €160.00. Im also looking a possibly high bill of around a €1,000 so I expect I will be shelling out €350 plus if need be. (its the same complaint so Im hoping that the €100 excess wont apply again).

Still wouldnt be without it.

Tranceypoo

Have to say when I had my last dog, he was insured and was then diagnosed with a serious heart condition, once i paid the excess of 60 euro, the insurance covered all his tests, x rays etc plus then he was on tablets for the rest of his (sadly short) life, only 28 euro per month but the insurance covered those as well as it was all the one medical condition. That was through Allianze I think (sorry it was a good few years ago now so can't quite remember!)

The 2 we have now, 1 is insured and has since been diagnosed with a heart murmur (I think dogs with dodgy hearts seek me out), the 2nd one we've only had a few months and she is quite young so we just haven't gotten round to it yet but we will insure her also. I just saw recently that Tesco were doing pet insurance but I don't know anyone who has it and as Andrea said, not sure what they would be like with paying out claims etc, but those prices someone else posted seem quite good so I might have another look at them.

audreyp

I'm with Allianz though according to my vet he says the best one is 123.ie as they have 2500 per condition and you can have as many in one year but allianz have a limit of 4000 a year. I have cats so 4000 is loads but he said with dogs if something serious happened it could run out easily.

I have to date claimed about 2500 over a 3 year period and paid 300 euro in pet insurance. Definitely wouldn't be without it.

For me its piece of mind as I don't have any savings to cover if anything happened to my cats. I would probably end up taking out a loan to cover the vet bills!

I can't change my insurance though as all would be pre-existing conditions on any new policy. My premiums went up by about 20 a year as a result of the claim which isn't so bad. I also started paying a tiny bit more a year think its 10 euro per cat and I have decreased my excess to 75€. It was 100€.

I have never had any problem claiming thankfully, it most cases resolved in a few weeks which is great. Also they are lovely to deal with (so far!)

Hope this helps with the decision!

JustAThought

I'm with Allianz and they re quick and painless to deal with. A mad list of freak accidents with the dog and it would have crucified me if I hadn't had insurance. Broken glass: cut through foot; twice, bottle in river; sliced open tendons, ten foot of tin foil before I could chase the fecker off it; thousand. All you pay to the vet is the excess. Ok, it's a couple of quid once a year or monthly, but you could so regret it so quickly if you don't have it: so why take the chance.
You want the best care for your pet: well, buy into something that means your pet will get that care no matter how your circumstances change or are.

Alliance will take your pet and if it developes a long term condition and you renew annually they will continue to take your pet on and pay for it year after year that's been te case with mine however my vet warned me and. I hear pet insure and tesco won't.

I so recommend getting pet insurance . Please do : )

( stomach twist, ate too fast: e700...)
( sliced tendon broken glass , e600)
( car incident; didn't have to count: just drove her to the vets for scans and x rays- all rhe way thinking thank God I've per insurance: (their) money no consideration...

Insure : ) and then have a little glass of wine to celebrate : ) you ve saved the money for it already!!!

Alicat

Definitely recommend getting pet insurance. My parent's boxer developed problems in the ligaments in her back leg and had to have a big operation. It was well over €2500 with the bills for everything and my parent's were so relieved that she was covered with the insurance. As generally boisterous dogs with lots of energy and with the breed being prone to arthritis/joint problems I think it'd be well worth it.

I totally recommend you get insurance for your dog. My late dog Sally was 18 years old when she was pts. Being 18, she was a pup at a time when noone got pet insurance. It only dawned on me to get it for her too late as insurance companies will only insure up to a certain age. For the last 4 years I've been paying huge pet bills until eventually she was so ill she had to be pts. I don't regret spending the money on her as it made her last few years happy ones, but it wasn't cheap and I sacrificed a bit so that she could be healthy. Get the insurance, it's not that expensive and you'll be glad you got it.

meoklmrk91

Thanks for all the feedback guys, can really see how it would give you peace of mind will be getting in contact with one of the companies in the next couple of weeks. Still trying to decide which one though

Kingpin187

Please get it

Use myself and my partner as an example..

Had our Staff pup 2 months, had discussed pet insurance and decided to get it sorted after holiday and after moving home (next month)... last Friday the poor thing broke her back leg in the garden jumping off a wall onto a lower area of garden

So its costing us up to a grand to get her sorted.. and 1k is something you will notice a few weeks before moving home & going on holiday! thankfully we do have savings so its done and we should be picking her up tomorrow from the vets

DBB

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback guys, can really see how it would give you peace of mind will be getting in contact with one of the companies in the next couple of weeks. Still trying to decide which one though

Why not ask your vet which company he/she finds best? They will have dealt with lots of claims and may be able to tell you which companies are easiest to deal with, who pays out without making you have to jump through hoops etc. I know my vet throws her eyes up to heaven at the mere mention of one or two companies!

angeline

My personal opinion is that pet health insurance is the way to go. I'm with Allianz and it's very cheap. A vet told me also that you almost always get back what you pay. As your dog ages, health issues may occur which may be ongoing, etc. I didn't have health insurance when my pet was knocked down and it cost me a small fortune. Would defo recommend.

Bullseye1

Allianz here through my local vet. And thank god for it.

FlamingSox

My dog insurance is up for renewal next week. Am currently with Allianz. Their renewal notice arrived recently and are quoting 244.71. So, then I tried Allianz online and they're quoting 215.66. Also checked out petinsurance.ie (online) and they are quoting 203.45 - this is a lifetime policy. Got another online quote from petinsure.ie and they're quoting 175 (includes introductory discount of 20). 123.ie quoted 174.90. Quite a difference if you shop around!! But not sure if I should opt for petinsurance.ie lifetime policy?!

andreac

Be very careful!! If you change companies, whatever conditions your dog had or suffers from or suffered before WILL NOT be covered with your new company so be aware of that before you change.

I would imagine it would be the same if you got a new quote off Allianz online as its a new policy.

FlamingSox

Yes andreac, you're right, the online quote from allianz would be a new policy. I'm lucky at the moment as she has no health issues - so changing now shouldn't matter (I think). I get so annoyed every year as the companies keep increasing their premiums. This is the first time I head of a lifetime policy ... perhaps it's the way to go?!

Wisco

I'd be very careful with the likes of Tesco or 123.ie as they exclude many conditions (and breeds as andreac mentioned). Also read the fine print- ensure they cover for the dog's life, not just your policy year (ie, if dog gets diabetes, do they pay for treatment for life or just one year).
My experience is that petinsure.ie and Allianz are best. (I personally use Allianz but have sent off quite a few claims to petinsure when I was in practice and they seemed to pay out quickly and with little hassle)

Jenny from the block

We asked our vet about pet insurance and he advised us to get it. He said he's always recommend it for first 2/3 years as it is during this time that any genetic illnesses are usually detected and these can be costly to treat. Obviously it would be ideal to have it forever but he said definitely for the first few years until you get a better idea about your pet.

aisher

I went for the Value Pet Insurance with Tesco - I was going to pass on the insurance since money is tight but when it was only costing €72 for the year I thought it was worth it - one good part of the policy is the 24 Hr vet Phone - my dog ate part of a bird last night and was sick as a result - I didnt know if it was serious or a wait and see so I phoned the vet line at 7 am this morning - they were very reassuring and fortunately the dog is fine now - I think for €72 its certainly worth having rather then no insurance at all.