Most of the stories you hear about insurers “refusing” to pay out are given by owners who will not give the entire story. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen but in my experience every insurance claim I have processed has been paid out. If the policy has been had and remained in place continuously since the cat/dog was first owned, depending on your cover type there is absolutely no reason the insurer won’t pay. They do. It’s that simple. (Note cover type being lifetime vs 12month policy).
Now, where things get confusing is, particularly with rescues, any pre-existing condition will automatically be excluded and non claimable. What can and unfortunately does happen is that a rescue or rehomed animal with history at vet A may then be seen at vet B with new owners for the same issue. The new owners may not have any clue about previous history and taken insurance in good faith, but that responsibility lies completely between old and new owners. In some cases the truth is bent to ensure the animal is rehomed as people are statistically far less open to taking on an animal with behavioural/medical issues.
The cost of pet insurance is rising and there are multiple factors that could be contributing to this: The cost of purchasing animals increasing by the ridiculous amount it has The increase in thefts of animals (as most insurers contribute towards finder rewards) Veterinary treatment cost increases
The comparisons to car insurance are also a bit much IMO.
Let’s put it this way. You have a brand new car with a value of £12-15k. If you do that amount of damage to the car. It’s written off and the insurer pays that value. Once.
If your puppy is unfortunate enough to be born with a condition such as IBD, they have the relevant tests to confirm it with treatment at the initial visit and this is covered by the insurers and this hits your policy limit. Next year they have a flare up, insurer pays 2-3k again. And again. Over 10 years that’s 20-30grand the insurer has covered. Assuming the policy was kept of course. Taking that into account. Would you rather pay £5-8k over the animals life for insurance cover. Or the vet fees?
Now I get not every animal will be born with IBD. Some will be dysplasia, or allergies, or eye problems etc and unfortunately the British love for dogs prone to these conditions without fully researching them leaves them in a difficult position.
You say “the cost of animals has risen so much” which I believe you to mean over the past few years etc. Unscrupulous people breeding dogs and knocking them out for 2/3k upwards how is that a concern of an insurance company?
If I went to to dodgy Dan the car dealer and paid 3k over book price for a motor are you saying the insurance company would pay out when it went bang?
I paid the same price for Bowyer as I did for Bailey 11years earlier I understand there might have been “mates rates” applied to my dogs but the breeders price only rose £100 in those 10 + years.
The association between pharmaceutical companies, veterinary practitioners, animal food manufacturers and insurance companies needs to more transparent, for example Colgate-Palmolive who own Hills Scientific have been “Supporting” the Vets industry for years so when someone asks what’s the best grub I can feed my dog it comes as no surprise the vets recommend hills and while I believe it’s the top end of the complete dog food market people believe it’s marvellous because the vet recommended it.
The practice of giving our dogs boosters on a yearly basis, when titre testing is available to check our dogs immunity levels is not ? Why is it recommended we fill our dogs with chemicals in relation to flea and worm treatments when they don’t have fleas and worms?
Why are the risks of side affects not explained and animals dying when given these treatment?
One of the charities my Therapy dogs used to represent told its members, it would no longer welcome Raw fed animals and existing members would have to change the animals diet to a complete, this despite several members feeding raw for medical reasons. No surprises the board of said charity is made up of several people from the dog food industry.
When I go to a vet, I expect their concerns to be about the animal not about if it’s insured or not.
The concern is in the insurance claim form, for some. Where it asks “how much did you pay for your animal” If you read all the policy details and terms/conditions there are some that will cover the cost you paid in the event of unexplained death in a puppy. This overall average purchase price increasing, leads to insurers potentially being liable for more and therefore higher insurance premiums.
I do feel a lot of this I will agree to disagree but the one point I’d highlight. Re flea and worm treatments, the point of vets recommending them is to prevent subsequent disease. Like tick borne disease mentioned early in this post. Lungworm leading to pneumonia. Flea induced anaemia. The list goes on. This is why they are branded preventative products. It’s not to prevent the parasite but to prevent subsequent disease.
On the insurance costs, surely some of it must be the costs of vets. When I had a dog 20 years ago, I never insured her and paid out as and when something needed doing. I don't remember paying over £300 for anything (she was fit and lived to be 19, proper mongrel from Battersea). With our new dog (staff-lab-something or other mix from Battersea at Brands Hatch) got her as a puppy and took the option for insurance. Given she ended up needing an operation after eating indigestible grass this was a good move - but the operation itself and the tests cost £3600. I was also stunned to learn I needed to pay an admin fee to the vet merely to claim the insurance.
Now I know things have gone up a lot in 20 odd years, but not that much surely? My pay certainly hasn't. The one thing this has taught me is to fear the end of the NHS because I can't imagine where the money would come from to pay these sorts of prices for my family.
Most of the stories you hear about insurers “refusing” to pay out are given by owners who will not give the entire story. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen but in my experience every insurance claim I have processed has been paid out. If the policy has been had and remained in place continuously since the cat/dog was first owned, depending on your cover type there is absolutely no reason the insurer won’t pay. They do. It’s that simple. (Note cover type being lifetime vs 12month policy).
Now, where things get confusing is, particularly with rescues, any pre-existing condition will automatically be excluded and non claimable. What can and unfortunately does happen is that a rescue or rehomed animal with history at vet A may then be seen at vet B with new owners for the same issue. The new owners may not have any clue about previous history and taken insurance in good faith, but that responsibility lies completely between old and new owners. In some cases the truth is bent to ensure the animal is rehomed as people are statistically far less open to taking on an animal with behavioural/medical issues.
The cost of pet insurance is rising and there are multiple factors that could be contributing to this: The cost of purchasing animals increasing by the ridiculous amount it has The increase in thefts of animals (as most insurers contribute towards finder rewards) Veterinary treatment cost increases
The comparisons to car insurance are also a bit much IMO.
Let’s put it this way. You have a brand new car with a value of £12-15k. If you do that amount of damage to the car. It’s written off and the insurer pays that value. Once.
If your puppy is unfortunate enough to be born with a condition such as IBD, they have the relevant tests to confirm it with treatment at the initial visit and this is covered by the insurers and this hits your policy limit. Next year they have a flare up, insurer pays 2-3k again. And again. Over 10 years that’s 20-30grand the insurer has covered. Assuming the policy was kept of course. Taking that into account. Would you rather pay £5-8k over the animals life for insurance cover. Or the vet fees?
Now I get not every animal will be born with IBD. Some will be dysplasia, or allergies, or eye problems etc and unfortunately the British love for dogs prone to these conditions without fully researching them leaves them in a difficult position.
You say “the cost of animals has risen so much” which I believe you to mean over the past few years etc. Unscrupulous people breeding dogs and knocking them out for 2/3k upwards how is that a concern of an insurance company?
If I went to to dodgy Dan the car dealer and paid 3k over book price for a motor are you saying the insurance company would pay out when it went bang?
I paid the same price for Bowyer as I did for Bailey 11years earlier I understand there might have been “mates rates” applied to my dogs but the breeders price only rose £100 in those 10 + years.
The association between pharmaceutical companies, veterinary practitioners, animal food manufacturers and insurance companies needs to more transparent, for example Colgate-Palmolive who own Hills Scientific have been “Supporting” the Vets industry for years so when someone asks what’s the best grub I can feed my dog it comes as no surprise the vets recommend hills and while I believe it’s the top end of the complete dog food market people believe it’s marvellous because the vet recommended it.
The practice of giving our dogs boosters on a yearly basis, when titre testing is available to check our dogs immunity levels is not ? Why is it recommended we fill our dogs with chemicals in relation to flea and worm treatments when they don’t have fleas and worms?
Why are the risks of side affects not explained and animals dying when given these treatment?
One of the charities my Therapy dogs used to represent told its members, it would no longer welcome Raw fed animals and existing members would have to change the animals diet to a complete, this despite several members feeding raw for medical reasons. No surprises the board of said charity is made up of several people from the dog food industry.
When I go to a vet, I expect their concerns to be about the animal not about if it’s insured or not.
The concern is in the insurance claim form, for some. Where it asks “how much did you pay for your animal” If you read all the policy details and terms/conditions there are some that will cover the cost you paid in the event of unexplained death in a puppy. This overall average purchase price increasing, leads to insurers potentially being liable for more and therefore higher insurance premiums.
I do feel a lot of this I will agree to disagree but the one point I’d highlight. Re flea and worm treatments, the point of vets recommending them is to prevent subsequent disease. Like tick borne disease mentioned early in this post. Lungworm leading to pneumonia. Flea induced anaemia. The list goes on. This is why they are branded preventative products. It’s not to prevent the parasite but to prevent subsequent disease.
I'm sure we will agree to disagree Andy but nowt wrong with debate , but on the flea treatment subject........... one brand in particular Nexgard has a horrendous reputation for side affects and I believe deaths in some dogs contains Afoxolaner a Pesticide how many owners are aware before they give it to their puppy? it was given to my dog without knowledge as to what it was. Fortunately he is big enough to withstand the shock to his system but it took two years for his coat to recover. As to the vets diagnosis to him biting his back end was flea bites! This also was wrong as it was his Anal Glands something else a raw diet helped cure. Titre testing for immunity rather than annual booster, why is this not commonly spoken about, Id wager less than 10% reading this thread know what it is or why a dog would have it?
Brave, willful, independent Nelson our one eyed Border collie/Beagle cross passed away this morning. I had to make the decision, his back legs had gone, there was no viable future.
He was a special dog partly because of his character flaws. We got him from the Dogs Trust rescue center Canterbury 12 years ago, " no behavior problems "they said
What a load of porkies that was! First time we let him off the lead he immediately attacked a dog. Gradually we realized how damaged he was, he was afraid of people and other dogs.
Improvement was very gradual, I was learning on the way. A massive event occurred 5 years ago, in my ignorance I didn't realize how bad his arthritis was, while stroking his front paws he suddenly bit me on the nose. Queen Mary's hospital had to give me 5 stitches. My "Belgian20" mates still get a laugh out of it, we had a meeting 4 days after.
I decided to send him back to dogs trust as I couldn't trust him. A friend's daughter who is a qualified vet phoned me up and persuaded me to keep him. Glad to say he's given us years of unconditional love since then. As you can imagine I'm so glad of decision to keep him.
So sorry to hear you had to make the same decision that we did yesterday - to let go of a member of the family because it was what was best for them, no matter how much pain we feel right now. Our Purdy suffered the same rear-end failure as Nelson so we had to take her to the vet yesterday afternoon.
We got her from German Shepherd Rescue 13 years ago when she was about 18 months old. She'd already had three owners and such an attitude. No-one could go near her without her barking like crazy and, on occasion if they did get within range, she'd try to nip them. She also didn't like other dogs as she'd been left by previous owners with another dog they'd bought for company for our one, as they thought it might calm her down, but they'd fight and the owners gave them both up for rehoming. Among her other dislikes was any grooming, bees and squirrels, but she loved water. Be it puddles, streams, the sea or our pond. If it was wet she wanted to be in it!
She was more than a handful on the lead when we got her so we contacted a behavioral specialist for advice on all her issues. Within about 30 minutes of him coming to our home he was Purdy's best friend and her attitude towards him gave us hope. With time she became less anxious around people, and other dogs if she was off the lead. She ended up being the most loyal and affectionate of all the dogs we've owned and am so glad she was a part of our lives for all this time.
After reading Greenhithe's original post I've followed the thread with
interest as I thought your situation may be similar to one we had and I hope you get a good outcome from any tests that are being carried out. Purdy had a neurological episode just over a year ago. Late
one Sunday evening (why do these things always happen out-of-hours!?)
she couldn't get up, her head was tilted to one side, and her eyes were
flickering. We thought she'd had a stroke and bundled her into the car
and off to the emergency vet who did the initial assessment in the car
due to Covid restrictions before taking her in for a short stay. They
diagnosed vestibular syndrome and weren't too optimistic about
recovery. We said we'd see how she was when we got her home and make a
decision on her quality of life. She did get better but wasn't 100%,
with a bit of a head-tilt she was always looking at you quizzically, and
she would walk at a bit of an angle which meant she'd sometimes stumble
over her own feet, but, most importantly, she seemed happy enough.
We had another 13 months together and at nearly 15 she had a long, happy life after a rough start.
Wonderful story @addix and it must be so hard today for you and your family. However you took a GSD rescue who'd had a very tough start to life and gave her a loving home for nearly 14 years you cannot have done any more. Losing a family pet is always hard but she is now at 'The Bridge' where she will be waiting. RIP Purdy...run free at Rainbow Bridge xx
Our thoughts are with you @addix, like you we took on a rescue Shep she is a senior now and although she could start a row in an empty room we wouldn't part with her for the world and consider every day she is with us a blessing. Your Purdy is painfree now and is off over the Bridge, Run free beautiful girl x
This thread is so how it is. I've been a dog owner ( that's so wrong ) companion all my life and I'm now 66. It never gets any easier when we say our final farewell. My present dog is nine months old and will almost certainly be my last .
God bless all dogs as they give us their unconditional love and God bless all on here who have been lucky enough to have lived with a dog. Getting a little emotional now so I shall leave it there
Heartfelt commiserations addix, as Blackpool said ' this thread is so as it is'.
I was not in a good place today.
However a big event occurred an hour ago. I knew my son's partners parent's bred miniature poodles but a big suprise when he arrived with " Buddy " 18 month's old poodle.
A quick update on Freddie. I cant believe the recovery he has made. Since we took him out of the vets, we've been by his side looking after him and giving him anti biotics twice a day and he is slowly getting back to normal. every day he does something else. he is basically now eating and drinking, walking much better, his tails wagging and he can just about step over the door threshold. Its almost a bloody miracle. Thanks again you lot
That's great to hear @Greenhithe I'm so pleased for you your family and of course Freddie. It definitely, to me, sounds like a problem with the 'tick' or some kind of poison, not necessarily on purpose. I hope he continues his recovery. Thanks for updating everyone mate.
@T_C_E please can you post that picture again of @Redmidland sitting with your dogs, where it looks like they about to eat him - has me in stitches every time I see that !!!
@T_C_E please can you post that picture again of @Redmidland sitting with your dogs, where it looks like they about to eat him - has me in stitches every time I see that !!!
As long as it's not the one with Red in the mankini. I still have nightmares.
Oh my goodness @T_C_E I'd be so proud of those dogs if they were mine.
Great news on Freddie too. Wishing him many more marvelous squirrel chasing days. 👍
If I remember rightly JJ butted @Redmidland straight in the nuts on his arrival. I prefer to see our dogs working with the children rather than those in the twilight of life like Red 😂😂
I feel sorry for people who do not realise how wonderful dogs are. The same people have no concept of their intelligence either as they don't realise it is a different intelligence. I agree with Blackpool that companion is a more appropriate word than pet. JJ is part of our family and we are part of his. If he belongs to us, we belong to him equally.
I feel sorry for people who do not realise how wonderful dogs are. The same people have no concept of their intelligence either as they don't realise it is a different intelligence. I agree with Blackpool that companion is a more appropriate word than pet. JJ is part of our family and we are part of his. If he belongs to us, we belong to him equally.
Companion is preferable to pet I agree. I had a similar conversation with someone on social media, when I said “ I don’t own my dogs, I own their registration papers” I believe she missed the concept of what I was saying by replying “mine don’t have flash registration papers and I paid cash for him, so I do own him”
You never see Redmidland and Harry Grout in the same room do you?
Anyway - i cant reply to all of them but some of your posts re affirm my faith in humans and how much i love dogs and especially my little fella. We were preparing for a hole in our life i couldn't handle and all now seems well. As for not owning your dogs- anyone that wants to "own" anything has a hole in their soul. In fact mu dog owns me i reckon.
Comments
Now I know things have gone up a lot in 20 odd years, but not that much surely? My pay certainly hasn't. The one thing this has taught me is to fear the end of the NHS because I can't imagine where the money would come from to pay these sorts of prices for my family.
Titre testing for immunity rather than annual booster, why is this not commonly spoken about, Id wager less than 10% reading this thread know what it is or why a dog would have it?
After reading Greenhithe's original post I've followed the thread with interest as I thought your situation may be similar to one we had and I hope you get a good outcome from any tests that are being carried out. Purdy had a neurological episode just over a year ago. Late one Sunday evening (why do these things always happen out-of-hours!?) she couldn't get up, her head was tilted to one side, and her eyes were flickering. We thought she'd had a stroke and bundled her into the car and off to the emergency vet who did the initial assessment in the car due to Covid restrictions before taking her in for a short stay. They diagnosed vestibular syndrome and weren't too optimistic about recovery. We said we'd see how she was when we got her home and make a decision on her quality of life. She did get better but wasn't 100%, with a bit of a head-tilt she was always looking at you quizzically, and she would walk at a bit of an angle which meant she'd sometimes stumble over her own feet, but, most importantly, she seemed happy enough.
Losing a family pet is always hard but she is now at 'The Bridge' where she will be waiting. RIP Purdy...run free at Rainbow Bridge xx
Sleep tight, dear Purdy.
Your Purdy is painfree now and is off over the Bridge, Run free beautiful girl x
I've been a dog owner ( that's so wrong ) companion all my life and I'm now 66.
It never gets any easier when we say our final farewell.
My present dog is nine months old and will almost certainly be my last .
God bless all dogs as they give us their unconditional love and God bless all on here who have been lucky enough to have lived with a dog.
Getting a little emotional now so I shall leave it there
I was not in a good place today.
However a big event occurred an hour ago.
I knew my son's partners parent's bred miniature poodles but a big suprise when he arrived with " Buddy " 18 month's old poodle.
Ideally It's too soon but we'll see how it goes.
Please keep us updated, @Greenhithe.
It definitely, to me, sounds like a problem with the 'tick' or some kind of poison, not necessarily on purpose.
I hope he continues his recovery.
Thanks for updating everyone mate.
I’m delighted for you ❤️❤️❤️
Great news on Freddie too. Wishing him many more marvelous squirrel chasing days. 👍
Great photo, love it !!!
I had a similar conversation with someone on social media, when I said “ I don’t own my dogs, I own their registration papers” I believe she missed the concept of what I was saying by replying “mine don’t have flash registration papers and I paid cash for him, so I do own him”
Anyway - i cant reply to all of them but some of your posts re affirm my faith in humans and how much i love dogs and especially my little fella. We were preparing for a hole in our life i couldn't handle and all now seems well. As for not owning your dogs- anyone that wants to "own" anything has a hole in their soul. In fact mu dog owns me i reckon.
Big love lifers,