Most you've paid in vet fees? For Insurance quote :P

[Shrap]

So.. god forbid, the worst happens. Your baby has something wrong and needs emergency vet treatment, or ongoing treatment, what is the most one of your animals has cost at the vet over one year and over a lifetime?

I'm looking at insurance, and Animal Friends seems to be brilliant compared to petplan, costs wise, and much more flexible. I've seen some good reports on here of them paying out, but not entirely sure how much i should be looking for in a lifetime condition/annual limit?

Would £30,000 lifetime condition and £4,000 annual limit be enough? Or is £40,000 and £6,000 better?

I'm a student and wouldn't be able to afford to top up anything over the £4,000 so just wondering how often costs do go over that? I can afford the monthly insurance and the excess easily but i don't want to be spending the extra £85 on a bigger insurance policy if it's not needed....


Just in case anyone is wondering - the first policy is £17.98 a month, and the second is £25.10 with a £99 excess, or with a £69 excess they would be £20.46 and £27.09. Excellent compared to the £36 quote from petplan..

Any input is greatly appreciated!!

P.S - was on here a while ago, and was meant to be getting my pup this month but it didn't work out. But tbh I think that's for the best anyway, waiting for the bitch's half sister to be mated who i looovee. Should be getting my wee one about May/June hopefully, which means i'll be free all day and all night to toilet train and bond with him =] And I finally figured out what i'm going to name him - Diego.

Thanks!

Rach

[JerryLee&Sam]

1 of my cats well he was only a baby at the time got out and got hit by a car he bounced of the front of it, i grabed him thinking he was dead he wasnt so i ran him down to the vets right away luckey the vets was great and took him round the back while i told them what had happened, he was in there 3days before he came home (caged) he then went back 2 days later and then every week for 6weeks and in total i paid £575.54 for it all so he became the most expencive commen moggie around lol

[JerryLee&Sam]

oh forgot to add he then had to have check ups every 6months for the rest of his life
and i didnt have pet insurence so get the one that gives you the best cover and not what it costs that what iv done now

[DelsMum]

Give me a couple of weeks to answer this one as Del has just been referred to an orthapedic specialist and its going to cost a bomb so I'll let you know!
Running total up to this point is about £650 for appointments, lots of drugs and £450 worth of xrays.

Its worth bearing in mind that if your dog gets something like arthritis at an early age like Del did.............my god it costs. I haven't actually added it all up over the last 5 years as I fear I may faint!

[sami]

Surely Aprilstar's Odin must be the top dog in this case wasnt her bill around the £10,000 mark!!!

That may be the extreme though!!

Michigan cost £5k in his last year of insurance.

The insurance policy we have is £7k per year.

Logically its doubtful that you would have an expensive accident every year for 6/7 years and reach your limit.
And Michigan has 5 seperate conditions needing ongoing medication blood tests and other tests and they only reached £5k on a bad year.

So as a guesstimation I think 30k should do you a good 8years even if you had lots of problems baring any major reconstructive kind of surgery and recovery.


Edited because i just realised youre limited to 4k per year... hmmm our treatment for the first year of just the epilepsy with tests and an MRI came to around 3k so wouldnt leave you much for anything else. Id be inclined to go for 40k and 6k per year if i were you but Ive had a rough time with Michigan

[zetstaff]

What a dilemma !!! I think you just have to go for what you can comfortably afford, at least puppy will be insured.

Perhaps I'm a born optimist but I don't think I could keep worrying about how much it MIGHT cost me if the worst happened, but just hope it doesn't. At least if there were some insurance, it makes the worst easier to cope with IF it happens + I hope it doesn't

xxx

[wildmoor]

Zandi has just had a cruciate ligament injury repaired for the TTA it was £3,465, plus he had several lots of x-rays at £200 per time and pain relief medication since April £48 per bottle lasts 6 week, last check up was £72, he has got another one later this month which may include sedation costs and more x-rays, plus they want him to have hydrotherapy, so not sure what the eventual costs will be.

Alfe cost me over £4,500 in his short life from age 10mth until 5yrs
whereas Vorhanden Storm apart from hip scoring didnt cost me anything until the end when he had blood test, x-ray, scan, he was opened up for surgery then pts & cremation total cost in his life was less than £500

[kita]

If you are on a limited budget I would go for an insurance that would pay the vet direct.

With many insurances (even when they eventually pay out) you have to pay the vet and then claim the money back off the insurance - this can take a few months before they settle up with you. This means that you can be out of pocket for a good few months - unless of course you have savings in the bank.

Sue

[Shrap]

There's no annual policy limit, sorry for the confusing wording. It's a lifetime condition limit, and an annual condition limit, so two separate conditions costing £3k each will be fine in the same year.

Hmmm not sure what my luck is looking like, all our animals have been really long lived and healthy... and by the time he gets into old age i'll be a fully qualified vet.. hmmm... I think to begin with i'll get the £30k/£4k one, and if I go over it then my overdraft will have to deal with it.. I've insured our kitten with animal friends too, so will get a multipet discount.

God there are some unfortunate doggies on here though

My vet only takes payment straight away and then claims from insurance anyway so doesn't matter, I like the vet, it has it's own in house emergency vet service and a car park and also great public transport - i won't be caught short, i have overdrafts and can always borrow money off my mum if i've not got enough saved - she won't mind as she knows i'll pay it back.

Thanks guys!

Rach x