Pet insurance reccomendations.

Pet insurance recommendations.

Hi all,

after losing our last dog to old age
in 2006, it looks like we are at last ready to
give a home to another dog.

Not having purchased pet insurance in Australia before,
I wondered if anyone had any positive experiences of any of
the insurance providers?

Many thanks

Neil.
 
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We got our lost puppy from the RSPCA. And he came with the first months insurance. Also the VET has some pet insurance too.
I have never bothered with the pet insuracne, my old cat is 17 next month, so now the vet bill will start to come.
I think that some health insurance companies may also have a section for you to cover your pets if you are fully paid up yourself. Worth a look...
 
Hi,

We use PetPlan for our Great Dane. He’s our first dog, and first insurance. We have not had to claim for anything as yet, so can’t comment on how good the claims side of things are, but for us it was the best cover at a good premium.

We pay about $47 per month, but the cover is very high, (as being a HUGE dog his vet bills will no doubt be astronomical when the time comes).

We were going to go with RSPC insurance as part of your premium goes toward them, but their cover was nowhere near as comprehensive as PetPlan and their premiums were a lot higher for Huckleberry.

If you are looking for a re-home then maybe we can dump our rat-bag on you? (Joking – although at times I’d quite happily give him away). He’s just about to turn 1 year old and his hormones are in full swing. We’re counting down the days until his bits come off!
 
I looked into this several years ago and decided that for a small dog, the cost of about $30 a month was not worth it, because the insurance excluded so many things.

From memory (and I am happy to admit that my memory is rather hazy about the details) it covered things like the dog being hit by a car and the bills associated with it.

I also seem to remember it didn't cover degenerative things.

The vet even suggested that it was not worth paying for.

Having said all that, this week we had a vet bill for $850 and a vet specialist bill for $900 but as these bills were for degenerative problems with an 11 year old dog, my understanding is that had we had insurance, these bills would not have been covered anyway, though I could be wrong.

I would check carefully the terms and see what is excluded.
 
Just checked the PDS – If you have already had insurance for 3 years with Petplan then you are eligible for ‘Pensioner Dog’ cover. This is from aged 10 years, (7 for selected breeds). The main cover stays the same, i.e. budget, standard or supreme, but you pay a fixed excess of $100 and your pay 35% of the vets bill. If you dog dies from an illness as a pensioner you don’t get the death payout. All sounds fair enough to me.
 
Just rough figures, if I paid insurance for the past 11 years at $30 per month (probably more now - but it was about $30 a month about 6 or 7 years ago when I looked into it) then I would have paid $3960 and I have to pay the first $100 PLUS 35% of the bill.....

I am probably about even on what I spend each year. Generally one vet visit for annual shots and sometimes another vet visit for a persistent cough. I don't know if that cough would be covered and I do know that blindness in my particular dog would not have been covered as it was noted by my vet at the time that he had the beginnings of his eyes fading in colour and insurance would not cover it as it was a "pre-existing condition". He is not blind, but will probably go blind as he gets older.

It is a hard decision to make. It was hard to make the decision back when I looked into it, and I don't imagine it would be any easier now.

Like any insurance, it is a matter of weighing up the risks and likelihood of needing to claim, and then knowing whether the claim will succeed or be knocked back.

Perhaps if I got a new puppy I would consider it but I personally think it is a bit of a rort. When the vet suggested it was not worth it, that kind of swung me at the time. She said there were so many things it didn't cover that she didn't think it was worth paying it.

I would be keen to hear from anybody who has the cover to see what they think of it after trying to claim things over the years.
 
The way we looked at it was that Danes generally live only to about 8 yrs old anyway. We took the insurance from him being a puppy, so no worries about pre-existing conditions. 8 years a t$47 = $4500. We have known people with Danes where a one off operation has cost $8000+ so figured it was worth the premium for us. Cruciate(sp?) ligaments can be a particular problem for Danes, and VERY expensive to sort.

As you say, it's a case of weighing up to suit circumstance. For us, the premiums over 8 years are definitely worth it considering the potential risks of the breed and costs of vets bills due to his size.
 
do you mean pet insurance as in health insurance, or an accident insurance?

a lot of home insurance policies have a pet cover option, which covers your pet for any accident up to a certain amount (500 bucks usually)

so if your pet has a fight with someone else's pet it would cover the doctor fees

but there is also a specialised health insurance for pets
 
Thanks

Thanks for the responses everyone!

It is pretty much what I thought,
a bit of a guessing game as to whether it is worth it in the long run.

That of course depends on how many, and the extent of the claim.

We were lucky with our last dog, 16 years and only had issues and hence bills at the very end.

Thanks for the suggestion about accident cover via home insurance, I'll check that out.

Cheers,
Neil
 
Neil.

I have 3 dogs and I wouldn´t be without pet insurance. Vet fees are extremely high these days and its not uncommon to end up with a bill in the thousands. We are with RSPCA and it has been very worthwhile taking out the insurance for all 3 dogs. They pay 80% of your vet bill. One of my dogs had to have knee reconstruction surgery and that alone was $1600
 
Hi Neil

I'm using bow wow insurance for my pugs. I haven't made a claim yet (touch wood). Their premiums are quite competitive (and I spent a fair bit of time searching). Initially I was with petplan but they hiked their premium up a fair bit. I think bow wow sets us back about $22 per month for each dog (and the cover seems very reasonable).

Cheers

Jamie
 
Neil.

I have 3 dogs and I wouldn´t be without pet insurance. Vet fees are extremely high these days and its not uncommon to end up with a bill in the thousands. We are with RSPCA and it has been very worthwhile taking out the insurance for all 3 dogs. They pay 80% of your vet bill. One of my dogs had to have knee reconstruction surgery and that alone was $1600

Thanks for sharing your experiences Karina.

Much appreciated

Neil.
 
Hi Neil

I'm using bow wow insurance for my pugs. I haven't made a claim yet (touch wood). Their premiums are quite competitive (and I spent a fair bit of time searching). Initially I was with petplan but they hiked their premium up a fair bit. I think bow wow sets us back about $22 per month for each dog (and the cover seems very reasonable).

Cheers

Jamie

Thanks Jamie.

I hadn't come across bow wow, but I'll
take a good look!

Cheers,
Neil.
 
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