Vets costs!!

[gramby]

We had our 3 year old German Shepherd bitch insured with vet fees covered up to £3000 per illness. We thought that would be sufficient until she had liver cancer. Two operations test results and a year of chemo we have gone through the £3000 insurance and are £1500 in to our own money. We made the decision to take her off chemo after 12 months as we could no longer afford it. It was £110 per injection and £35 for 8 tablets and £35 for steroids.

[Guest San Don]

Our old girl needs monthly arthritis tablets. £40 for 30 days worth! Fuck me she'll be on them for the rest of her life but we cant let her be in pain so have to pay up.

[Tossed and blown]

For pets on long term medication you can significantly reduce costs by using prescriptions and getting the stuff online (not for injections though, obviously). Most will charge for a prescription, some don't.

 

Insurance wise, try to avoid anything with E&L, AFI uderwriting. The PDSA insurance scheme (different to PDSA hospitals) is very good value. Once you've got an insurance policy stick with it, don't chop and change like with car / home insurance. Lastly, it can pay to be slightly 'creative' with the pet's details. It is cheaper to insure younger animals and crossbreeds, and there is no accurate objective method to confirm age or breed origins..............

[lifetime fan]

Our old girl needs monthly arthritis tablets. £40 for 30 days worth! Fuck me she'll be on them for the rest of her life but we cant let her be in pain so have to pay up.

 

Metacam and Seraquin?

 

Try R&A formula too mate, really helped with our old girl.

[lifetime fan]

For pets on long term medication you can significantly reduce costs by using prescriptions and getting the stuff online (not for injections though, obviously). Most will charge for a prescription, some don't.

 

Insurance wise, try to avoid anything with E&L, AFI uderwriting. The PDSA insurance scheme (different to PDSA hospitals) is very good value. Once you've got an insurance policy stick with it, don't chop and change like with car / home insurance. Lastly, it can pay to be slightly 'creative' with the pet's details. It is cheaper to insure younger animals and crossbreeds, and there is no accurate objective method to confirm age or breed origins..............

 

I'm guessing PetPlan is underwritten by one of those firms you mentioned mate?

[Tossed and blown]

Seraquin is (largely) a load of bollocks. Same with all other glucosamine / chondroitin based preps. Very little objective trial data to support its use, although there are a few anecdotal cases where it seems to help.

 

Get some cheap fish oil but give the dog loads, 3-4x the human dose. This has a better chance of working, and a lot cheaper.

 

Metacam is certainly a good drug, one of a sizeable number of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories.

[Tossed and blown]

I'm guessing PetPlan is underwritten by one of those firms you mentioned mate?

 

No, Petplan is an independent, or it was until it was bought out a few years ago. E & L is an absolute rogue of an insurance company who use sharp practice to avoid paying out. They now operate under a variety of guises as they had such a bad name, but the cover is always cheap.

 

Petplan offers some of the best cover but they are dear. They do tend to quibble less about paying out, whereas some other firms employ 'claims advisors' who pick through histories trying to find reasons not to pay out. The PDSA policy I mentioned is not well advertised, which may be why it is cheaper. All policies will penalise older pets so some degree as they are just higher risk, and in fairness you don't really know about this until you get to that point.

[Sugar Ape]

I'm with pet plan and they've been great every time I've had to claim. I've got a Boston terrier who possibly needed an operation to widen his throat/nostrils, it wasn't urgent but was recommended to make him breath better.

 

It was going to cost a couple of grand and pet plan said no problem we'll cover it. We didn't go ahead with it in the end because I was unsure about the risks and he's a healthy dog, but it was reassuring they would pay if we wanted it for him.

 

I also pay extra for a life time policy so they will cover him when he is old, costs about £15 a month more but it's worth it.

[lifetime fan]

PetPlan where a bunch of cunts with us T&B and refused to pay out despite numerous vets letters.

[Tossed and blown]

We didn't go ahead with it in the end because I was unsure about the risks and he's a healthy dog, but it was reassuring they would pay if we wanted it for him.

 

If the dog shows any exercise intolerance with it then I would have it done. If it's just a snoring / snorting thing than leave it until he has trouble exercising. If it's left, BAOS (brachycephalic airway obstructive syndrome) can lead to other things which are harder to fix.

 

Two grand is a good screw for that job though!

[Tossed and blown]

PetPlan where a bunch of cunts with us T&B and refused to pay out despite numerous vets letters.

 

On what grounds?

[lifetime fan]

On what grounds?

 

Our staffy strained a hind leg being a daft bitch with the jack russell, nothing serious but we had her checked out, x rays etc.

 

Ages later when we then went to claim with petPlan for the srthritis in her hind legs they tried claiming it was a pre-existing injury and refused to pay out.

 

This was inspite of god knows how many letters from the vets and copies of the xrays.

[Sugar Ape]

 

If the dog shows any exercise intolerance with it then I would have it done. If it's just a snoring / snorting thing than leave it until he has trouble exercising. If it's left, BAOS (brachycephalic airway obstructive syndrome) can lead to other things which are harder to fix.

 

Two grand is a good screw for that job though!

 

He's fit as a fiddle, he can run round the garden like a lunatic for 20 minutes no problem before he gets a bit out of breath. I ended up thinking along the lines of if it ain't broke don't fix it, but I'll deffo get it looked at if he starts struggling.

 

I go to alder vets and they recommended this place in murdishaw who specialise in the type of operation he needs, I suspect the price was put up as soon as they knew pet plan had agreed to pay for it!

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Try and avoid large vet companies and stick with a small(ish) independent vet. When we swapped from Rowe to our current vet we saved £30 a month on the dogs drugs, exactly the same drugs and doses just a lot cheaper. And much better service.

 

Be careful on which insurance plan you get, there are loads of robbing cunts out there. Is there a German version of the NFU?

 

What is NFU mate?

[Tossed and blown]

Our staffy strained a hind leg being a daft bitch with the jack russell, nothing serious but we had her checked out, x rays etc.

 

Ages later when we then went to claim with petPlan for the srthritis in her hind legs they tried claiming it was a pre-existing injury and refused to pay out.

 

This was inspite of god knows how many letters from the vets and copies of the xrays.

 

This is a very common reason for non-payment. Most insurance companies will see this as an opportunity to get out of paying. If there is a decent interval between the first incident and the claim, particularly if the films are clear, then you may have a case for taking it up with the insurance ombudsman, provided you are still paying the insurance. Unfortunately some people wait til the pet gets injured then insure it and try to claim, which is what they are trying to guard against.

 

Obviously I don't know the details, but some vets don't do a very good job with these letters and just get an office girl etc to write it. I've appealed some hopeless cases by writing forceful letters and I would say that Petplan are one of the more receptive providers in these circumstances.

[lifetime fan]

What is NFU mate?

 

National Farmers Union, good cover at competitive rates and brilliant service.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

National Farmers Union, good cover at competitive rates and brilliant service.

 

Ahhh, thought that might be it. Not sure mate, we only have insurance cover in case she causes an accident etc etc. But as far as health cover goes I haven't looked into what is available. We have always been lucky with dogs and have hardly had to pay anything out apart from the yearly injections. But this is our first bitch and maybe it will be worth it to look into health cover.

[lifetime fan]

This is a very common reason for non-payment. Most insurance companies will see this as an opportunity to get out of paying. If there is a decent interval between the first incident and the claim, particularly if the films are clear, then you may have a case for taking it up with the insurance ombudsman, provided you are still paying the insurance. Unfortunately some people wait til the pet gets injured then insure it and try to claim, which is what they are trying to guard against.

 

Obviously I don't know the details, but some vets don't do a very good job with these letters and just get an office girl etc to write it. I've appealed some hopeless cases by writing forceful letters and I would say that Petplan are one of the more receptive providers in these circumstances.

 

 

It was a while ago now mate, Christ we had to have her put down over a year ago so we're talking about 5 years ago she had the strain and we insured her after getting the bill from Rowe!

 

The problems with arthritis didn't even begin to appear for another 2 years after that iirc.

 

Rowe were shit the entire time we were with them mate so you may have hit the nail on the head there, but their letters sounded compelling to me.

[lifetime fan]

Ahhh, thought that might be it. Not sure mate, we only have insurance cover in case she causes an accident etc etc. But as far as health cover goes I haven't looked into what is available. We have always been lucky with dogs and have hardly had to pay anything out apart from the yearly injections. But this is our first bitch and maybe it will be worth it to look into health cover.

 

I can't compliment them enough mate, they've been brilliant.

 

But as with the example T&B has given re: PetPlan you can only speak as you find and no insurance company irrelevant of the field is going to have 100% happy customers.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I can't compliment them enough mate, they've been brilliant.

 

But as with the example T&B has given re: PetPlan you can only speak as you find and no insurance company irrelevant of the field is going to have 100% happy customers.

 

True, plus ateotd all insurance companies will only pay out if they have to, if they believe they can get out of it then they will try as they have some of the best lawyers going working for them. Just put the appropriate words into google search engine and will read up about the cover, cost and feedback tomorrow.

[Duncan Clench]

Instead of getting pet insurance I started a savings account and put my 'premium' in there. So far I've amassed a decent sum, thanks to having a healthy dog, and if it gets to the stage where she needs some serious medical attention there should be enough in there to cover it. If not I'll just slit her throat and buy myself a really nice watch.

[Nomad]

On the subject of Pet Insurance did anyone manage to catch watchdog last week.

 

Some of the big banking companies like Halifax, Lloyds etc for the past few years have had what they called at the time 'Life Long Cover' they are now pulling the plug on Pet Insurance for some reason (probably Money)

 

As such any of the pets who have used their services to claim for say a big op will now find it incredably hard to get insurance. In some cases impossible.

 

Alot of insurance companies will not insure when a pre medical condition is existant and if they do then the costs can be through the roof.

 

All tho the Halifax advert says 'Life Long' the small print does not. So please take your time reading the small print as you could be out of pocket by a few grand in years to come.