Hello there. I know there was a previous topic about insurance but it wasn't specifically what I was looking for. I am about to adopt two retired greyhounds (1 male, 1 female) and as this is the first time I will have ever owned a dog, I'm looking for any advice about insurance. Which company do you use and what kind of costs am I looking at? Also, is it possible to have 2 hounds on one policy? Any help on this would be great, as would any hints and tips for a new greyhound owner!
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Pet insurance
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Aw greyhounds how lovely, There are so many options regarding level of cover, extras required, it is a very time consuming process trying to decide what to choose and which company to go with, I can only tell you my experiences over the last few years and hope it helps you,
Was with Pet Plan when I had 1 dog they were very good and paid out £1200 quickly when she needed an MRI scan but was a bit too expensive when I wanted to insure 2 dogs.
I was insured last year with Tesco both beagles (ages 2 and 8) on the same multi-pet policy was £23.50 per month up to £4000 per illness, injury, condition up to 12 months. The excess amount was £60, I made a claim for £100 for one dog to have a lump removed and it was settled within a month directly to my vet. Left them when my renewal came in and it had gone up £15 per month no customer loyalty annoyed me.
This year my boys are on separate insurance policies as I put the youngest one on to a "for life" policy with Direct Line which is £7000 per illness, injury etc with no time limit of 12 months, he costs me £18 odds per month with an £80 excess. My older dog is on the £4000 12 month policy with Direct Line and he costs me £24 per month £80 excess, He is getting more expensive as he is nearly 9 now. So far my dealings with Direct Line have been great, have had to ring and request claim forms and discuss older dog going to a referral hospital and the staff have been very helpful. (so far his bills have amounted to around £3000 in the last 4 weeks after he ruptured his cruciate ligament, thank god I insured him!!)
I only insure my dogs for vet fees and 3rd party public liability insurance as I don't bother with the extras available (holiday cancellation cover, overseas cover etc) I have dealt with Direct Line for car and house insurance before and they have always been great when I have had to claim.
You need to watch out for certain companies offering cheaper premiums but you have to pay your excess AND 10 or 20% of the remaining vet bill, I personally would rather pay a set premium, a set excess and know the rest of the vet bill is covered by insurance rather than having to find 20% of a £3000 vet bill if the worst happens and your dog needs treatment.
Another thing to be aware of, the referral centre I went to with my older dog would not do a direct claim with my insurance company as they have been shafted in the past by people saying they were insured and having the operation, collecting their dog then not paying or having insurance, so I understand that I had to pay the £2200 upfront and I have to claim it back from the insurance company. So even if you are insured you may still have to pay the bills upfront.
You need to decide what level of cover you want, what you can afford, and read the small print carefully before you agree to anything! Good Luck
Photos please of your doggies when you get them
xx
Was with Pet Plan when I had 1 dog they were very good and paid out £1200 quickly when she needed an MRI scan but was a bit too expensive when I wanted to insure 2 dogs.
I was insured last year with Tesco both beagles (ages 2 and 8) on the same multi-pet policy was £23.50 per month up to £4000 per illness, injury, condition up to 12 months. The excess amount was £60, I made a claim for £100 for one dog to have a lump removed and it was settled within a month directly to my vet. Left them when my renewal came in and it had gone up £15 per month no customer loyalty annoyed me.
This year my boys are on separate insurance policies as I put the youngest one on to a "for life" policy with Direct Line which is £7000 per illness, injury etc with no time limit of 12 months, he costs me £18 odds per month with an £80 excess. My older dog is on the £4000 12 month policy with Direct Line and he costs me £24 per month £80 excess, He is getting more expensive as he is nearly 9 now. So far my dealings with Direct Line have been great, have had to ring and request claim forms and discuss older dog going to a referral hospital and the staff have been very helpful. (so far his bills have amounted to around £3000 in the last 4 weeks after he ruptured his cruciate ligament, thank god I insured him!!)
I only insure my dogs for vet fees and 3rd party public liability insurance as I don't bother with the extras available (holiday cancellation cover, overseas cover etc) I have dealt with Direct Line for car and house insurance before and they have always been great when I have had to claim.
You need to watch out for certain companies offering cheaper premiums but you have to pay your excess AND 10 or 20% of the remaining vet bill, I personally would rather pay a set premium, a set excess and know the rest of the vet bill is covered by insurance rather than having to find 20% of a £3000 vet bill if the worst happens and your dog needs treatment.
Another thing to be aware of, the referral centre I went to with my older dog would not do a direct claim with my insurance company as they have been shafted in the past by people saying they were insured and having the operation, collecting their dog then not paying or having insurance, so I understand that I had to pay the £2200 upfront and I have to claim it back from the insurance company. So even if you are insured you may still have to pay the bills upfront.
You need to decide what level of cover you want, what you can afford, and read the small print carefully before you agree to anything! Good Luck
Photos please of your doggies when you get them
xx
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Oh you are so lucky getting Greyhounds and I wish you lots of happy years with them. As for insurance we have always insured our dogs and made a big mistake a couple of years ago that I always warn others of:
We were insured with Saga for Ruby and Dyson on a multidog policy and when the renewal arrived it was going up by £38 for the next year which seemed ridiculous having never claimed so I looked online and found a policy much cheaper with www.petinsurance.co.uk. What a big mistake. Within 3 months Ruby was admitted to the Vets with a Bladder full of stones, not ones she had eaten obviously. Anyway, they operated immediately to save her life and then sent a sample of the stones to the USA for tests that showed they were made of Struvites and she would have to go on a special diet to prevent further episodes. She was to eat Hill's Science Diet CD tins 4 a day at a cost of £2.70 a tin. Having always fed our dogs on JWB or Beta pet dried food costing around £30 a 15 kilo sack this was a shock to our wallets. Petinsurance did not cover special diet food but Saga had. We submitted a claim for the surgery and tests etc which totalled over £2500 only for the Company (the Underwriters were E & L which I had thought was Equity & Law but in fact was Equine & Livestock - a company with a bad track record for covering claims). A fight ensued and eventually they paid out £1100 and we cancelled the policy on receipt of the letter stating they would be changing the policy - they decided that as our dogs are Labradoodles aka cross Labradors and Standard Poodles, they would not cover any condition frequently found in either breed so eyes, lumps, tumours, joint problems, etc. We then took a lifetime policy with More than who have been great although we haven't had to claim so far, we are taking Ruby to the vets this week for blood tests as she is just under the weather. Both dogs are now on Burn's dried food as a) Ruby couldn't eat 4 tins a day even if we could afford it and b) after doing research we discovered that Burn's is suitable for a Struvite free diet and we get 2 x 15 kilo sacks delivered every 10 weeks for £78.
A lifetime policy is essential because if a dog develops diabetes, thyroid problems or any lifelong condition, unless you have a lifetime policy they will only pay for the first 12 months and after that you have to cover the costs. Please shop around, avoid any company that uses E & L especially petinsurance.co.uk and if you can afford to pay a slightly higher excess this will keep your policy costs down too.
We were insured with Saga for Ruby and Dyson on a multidog policy and when the renewal arrived it was going up by £38 for the next year which seemed ridiculous having never claimed so I looked online and found a policy much cheaper with www.petinsurance.co.uk. What a big mistake. Within 3 months Ruby was admitted to the Vets with a Bladder full of stones, not ones she had eaten obviously. Anyway, they operated immediately to save her life and then sent a sample of the stones to the USA for tests that showed they were made of Struvites and she would have to go on a special diet to prevent further episodes. She was to eat Hill's Science Diet CD tins 4 a day at a cost of £2.70 a tin. Having always fed our dogs on JWB or Beta pet dried food costing around £30 a 15 kilo sack this was a shock to our wallets. Petinsurance did not cover special diet food but Saga had. We submitted a claim for the surgery and tests etc which totalled over £2500 only for the Company (the Underwriters were E & L which I had thought was Equity & Law but in fact was Equine & Livestock - a company with a bad track record for covering claims). A fight ensued and eventually they paid out £1100 and we cancelled the policy on receipt of the letter stating they would be changing the policy - they decided that as our dogs are Labradoodles aka cross Labradors and Standard Poodles, they would not cover any condition frequently found in either breed so eyes, lumps, tumours, joint problems, etc. We then took a lifetime policy with More than who have been great although we haven't had to claim so far, we are taking Ruby to the vets this week for blood tests as she is just under the weather. Both dogs are now on Burn's dried food as a) Ruby couldn't eat 4 tins a day even if we could afford it and b) after doing research we discovered that Burn's is suitable for a Struvite free diet and we get 2 x 15 kilo sacks delivered every 10 weeks for £78.
A lifetime policy is essential because if a dog develops diabetes, thyroid problems or any lifelong condition, unless you have a lifetime policy they will only pay for the first 12 months and after that you have to cover the costs. Please shop around, avoid any company that uses E & L especially petinsurance.co.uk and if you can afford to pay a slightly higher excess this will keep your policy costs down too.
Thank you so much for both of the comments. Thank you murphyrules for breaking all the costs etc down for me. I did a quick price comparison last night before I typed up the first post because I was utterly confused at what was bounced back at me!! It seemed incredibly cheap and I wondered whether there would be much cover. The place I'm getting the greyhounds from has a post on their website about someone's insurers not paying out for a very hefty vet bill because of small print nonsense that they hadn't read/understood and that concerned me as I don't want to have to fork out a lot of cash I don't have (I've just bought my first house and it's turning out to be very expensive- I spotted a leak!!). There are common problems with greyhounds, so I think lifelong cover would be best? And thank you for the warning about E&L- good to know these things when you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. I will definitely shop around and see what the best is that I can afford. I'll be very wary off 'too good to be true' offers!
I will certainly post some pics of the hounds. Very excited now- will be getting them mid July! (w00t)
I will certainly post some pics of the hounds. Very excited now- will be getting them mid July! (w00t)
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Can't wait to see pics of your new family when the time arrives. I love Greyhounds and we are going to the Greyhound Rescue West of England show at Winchester on 14th July
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Whatever you choose make sure it's a 'cover for life' policy. Those with a time limit are fine for a specific thing like a small injury, but long term illness stops after 12 months, and you could have years left with your dog and medical expenses. Insurance is always a bit of a gamble (you pay and hope you don't need it), but at the end of the day you have peace of mind that if the worst happened you wouldn't need to make a life or death decision based on finances.
I'm with PetPlan. I went to another company for a few years that seemed cheaper, but every 2-3 years as the dogs aged there were hidden price hikes. With Petplan there are small cost of living increases each year. They have a few different levels of cover for life. My senior dog is no longer insured (cheaper at that age to put money away for her as at that age the excess is ridiculous plus a % so by the time anything is paid back it's less than what you've paid in fees. My next oldest is covered, but with the 'budget' for life cover, which is 4k per year. This covers the regular expensive meds she's on and still leaves plenty for injury. Not sure what I'll do when she turns 10. I'll have to look at cost/benefit regarding her meds or see if there's a cheaper generic alternative.
The 3 youngest (and wildest) are still on the supreme for life plan. Next year I'll probably move Drama down to the budget and leave the two young ones on the higher plan for another few years.
It's not the cheapest out there, but I'm confident in that they will always pay, and having been around for years they will be there in the future. Several of the bank owned pet insurances have discontinued and that leaves anyone with an ongoing illness/injury screwed (to be blunt) because they can't take that illness to a new insurer - it would be excluded. So going with a better price but lesser known company worries me too much to risk.
wendy
I'm with PetPlan. I went to another company for a few years that seemed cheaper, but every 2-3 years as the dogs aged there were hidden price hikes. With Petplan there are small cost of living increases each year. They have a few different levels of cover for life. My senior dog is no longer insured (cheaper at that age to put money away for her as at that age the excess is ridiculous plus a % so by the time anything is paid back it's less than what you've paid in fees. My next oldest is covered, but with the 'budget' for life cover, which is 4k per year. This covers the regular expensive meds she's on and still leaves plenty for injury. Not sure what I'll do when she turns 10. I'll have to look at cost/benefit regarding her meds or see if there's a cheaper generic alternative.
The 3 youngest (and wildest) are still on the supreme for life plan. Next year I'll probably move Drama down to the budget and leave the two young ones on the higher plan for another few years.
It's not the cheapest out there, but I'm confident in that they will always pay, and having been around for years they will be there in the future. Several of the bank owned pet insurances have discontinued and that leaves anyone with an ongoing illness/injury screwed (to be blunt) because they can't take that illness to a new insurer - it would be excluded. So going with a better price but lesser known company worries me too much to risk.
wendy
Hi Wendy,
Thank you for your reply (and apologies for being so late with mine). I am currently looking at cover for life policies- think it'll be the best bet. Hope I never have to use it but much better for peace of mind just to have it there in case anything should go wrong. I pick up the dogs tomorrow- so excited! Off to get them covered now...!
Thank you for your reply (and apologies for being so late with mine). I am currently looking at cover for life policies- think it'll be the best bet. Hope I never have to use it but much better for peace of mind just to have it there in case anything should go wrong. I pick up the dogs tomorrow- so excited! Off to get them covered now...!
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