Vet Bills

I am tring to work out if have both of my bunnies insured is a good idea. I currently have Poppy insured at £11 a month i think and for George to be insured it is going to be £20 in total for them both.

What have you had to have done at the vets and how much did it cost? Just thinking is it better to just use my credit card if needs be and then pay that off rather than £200 a year.

It's a gamble I took last year.

I had 2 x 1 year old does, a 2 year old buck and a 4 year old buck. It would have been £374 to insure them all for the year. It sounded so much that I decided to put money aside/use credit card instead.

Rudy already had a history of bloat and dental so wouldn't have been covered. Artie wouldn't have been covered for any digestive upset.

1 year history
Tinks has had an episode of sneezing that cost less than £50 for consult and medication so I came out better with her.

Rudy has had two episodes of bloat so I wouldn't have been covered with him so as nothing else to claim for, came off better here too.

I had decided to insure just Esme at this point.
Esme had two episodes of ?? possibly an infection and high temperature resulting in stasis. Both cost under the threshold of insurance so didn't claim. She then had another not eating episode for which she was admitted. It cost £90 so I got about £40 back on insurance. I've still got a few months to run on insurance so possibly cost more than gained at the moment but I can't tell you how good the peace of mind is with the insurance.

Now we come to Artie..... He's had many bouts of stasis which would not have been covered by insurance anyway. In April he stopped eating and was diagnosed as having severe bladder sludge problems. He needed surgery which cost £336 (including all drugs and care). He's had another admission recently because of his bladder problems, therefore insurance would have paid, this cost £260 for bladder expressing, investigations etc.

I've now got 3 out of 4 insured. I can't insure Artie because he's now over 5 but probably wouldn't anyway as he will cost me a lot without insurance regardless.

My bunnies in the past cost me very little with vets fees as I used an 'ordinary' vet, as I use a bunny savvy vet now the cost will be more (not because they are expensive but that they 'do more'). That was the main reason I decided to insure. On that basis I would recommend insurance.

This yeart Beau has been to the vets for:

neuter
vhd + myxi
myxi
stasis several times
mites
pneumonia

In total I've spent around £600 this year, and he's not even a sickly bunny, or a dental bun, so goodness knows what other people must pay!

i once saw alvins total breakdown.. in the two years he had cost about 900 quid and that didnt include the £300 ish emergency vets bill

Pearl is costing a fortune now and will for the rest of her life. approx £30 a month in drugs aswell as the 3monthly consultation fee which i dont pay as we are on a direct claim with this. £20 a month for my pair is well worth it, i think i have the sickest buns alive :roll:

I was thinking about getting my buns insured too, have spend nearly £800 on vets bills in the last 6months alone (which to be fair did include 2 spays) but its still a lot. I think £10 a month is def the best option for me because it will come out of my account as a direct debit so its money I will never see and therefore won't be able to spend it. Does the insurance cover everything apart from vaccinations??

If you wouldn't be able to afford to spend £2000 every year on vet fees then you need insurance
It also gives you good piece of mind.

Petplan don't cover any pre-existing conditions or routine treatment (like dental burring). There are other conditions like injuries caused by your other animals etc but those are the main ones.

In the five weeks she was ill, Autumn cost me around £1100

I had a bunny with head tilt and through 2 months of treatment I spent hundreds.
Since I lost poppy to this I got insurance for my other bun. I got into debt with poppy as I simply couldnt afford it and wasnt paying bills to cover the cost.
I can afford the insurance instalments each month though and I love my bunny so much, I would go without food for her.
Getting insurance is a good idea unless you can afford the possible bills.

In some ways I think pet owners should be forced to take insurance if they buy a pet.