Rabbit Insurance by Pet Plan

I'm looking into getting my rabbit insured incase of future dental problems being the main reason (he's healthy at present obviously) and Pet Plan seem to be cheap yet the best out of the ones I've seen.......They've quoted me £9.76 a month. Any one have any experience in this department? It's the first time I've ever insured an animal before :S

Dentals are not usually covered by insurance

I've used Petplan for my chihuahua and they have always been very good - my vet told me they are the least problematic when it comes to claims that he has had to deal with. I haven't looked into insuring Grace though can't help on rabbit specific question.

As stated dental is a general exlusion, put the monthly cost in a saver or jar each month it's much more cost effective in the long run even though the policy is indured for life it's goes up every year and your excess will get higher the older the pet, it's great for emergencies but not routine stuff as this will be excluded

Insurance is definately a good idea.

Vet fees can run into hundreds of pounds just for one visit. If you are unlucky your bun might have a recurring problem that requires ongoing treatment. If this happens any savings account could be emptied very quickly and then you would be stuffed.

Although they don't cover dental burrings and trimmings they should cover other things that might be related to dental issues as long as you get their teeth checked every year.

Petplan do provide the best cover and in my opinion it is definately worth it.

I thought it would cover dentals if he didn't have them already. So far it seems a little bit pointless...that I may be spending more money on him every month then I would normally, although it is peace of mind and good for "just in case" somethign does happen. I'll probably just put money aside every now and then I think. Saves with the stress of "is it covered or isn't it" aswell.

Spenser's insured with Petplan. They paid for £90 of the £145 bill I had for his stasis episode (involved attending emergency vet). :wave:

LauryStevens said:

I thought it would cover dentals if he didn't have them already. So far it seems a little bit pointless...that I may be spending more money on him every month then I would normally, although it is peace of mind and good for "just in case" somethign does happen. I'll probably just put money aside every now and then I think. Saves with the stress of "is it covered or isn't it" aswell.

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Can you afford 2k in vet fees every year? If not you need insurance.

U have Finley insured with pet plan its a life saver I had to take him to emergency vet and it cost 400 and pet plan paid out quickly and without fuss

Mine are insured with petplan and I got everything back from them both having work done. Sparkle had a GA and her teeth burred as part of an investigation into her being a messy eater (they have said they won't cover this again) and Kane had GA, teeth done, tear duct flush and a CT scan which came to over £600 :shock: but they paid up no problem. Also they will pay vet directly if its a big claim.

Stator said:

Can you afford 2k in vet fees every year? If not you need insurance.

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:| Thats a shock of a reply :S I don't think many people can afford 2 grand on vet bills but tbh I don't think many people would need to....(generlally)

LauryStevens said:

:| Thats a shock of a reply :S I don't think many people can afford 2 grand on vet bills but tbh I don't think many people would need to....(generlally)

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my opinion is that insurance isn't a 'must have', it's something that's entirely a personal decision.
The vast majority of rabbits will not need £2k spent on them every year for the entirety of their lives so to say that you need insurance if you can't afford that is a little off imo.

I don't have pet insurance on my 3 rabbits, because £35 a month is quite a lot of money for something which doesn't cover dentals, you have to pay an excess on anyway and you may never need to use.
However, I know that if anything did come up and I needed the money I would be happy to pay it in a lump sum and pay my savings account back gradually. If I wasn't in a position to do that, and only had one rabbit, I would definitely consider insurance.


To help you with your decision you could start a poll maybe? asking what everyones average cost of vet care per year per rabbit is? That might give you a better idea of what costs you're likely to encounter and whether it's worth it for you to get insurance.

As yet, the only vets fees I've had were when I first got eli (the reason I bought him home was because he was ill). That cost £40 and he's now fine.
If I'd had insurance I would have paid out over £500 and eli's treatment would have been under the excess anyway so I'd still have paid the full £40.

BattleKat said:

my opinion is that insurance isn't a 'must have', it's something that's entirely a personal decision.
The vast majority of rabbits will not need £2k spent on them every year for the entirety of their lives so to say that you need insurance if you can't afford that is a little off imo.

I don't have pet insurance on my 3 rabbits, because £35 a month is quite a lot of money for something which doesn't cover dentals, you have to pay an excess on anyway and you may never need to use.
However, I know that if anything did come up and I needed the money I would be happy to pay it in a lump sum and pay my savings account back gradually. If I wasn't in a position to do that, and only had one rabbit, I would definitely consider insurance.


To help you with your decision you could start a poll maybe? asking what everyones average cost of vet care per year per rabbit is? That might give you a better idea of what costs you're likely to encounter and whether it's worth it for you to get insurance.

As yet, the only vets fees I've had were when I first got eli (the reason I bought him home was because he was ill). That cost £40 and he's now fine.
If I'd had insurance I would have paid out over £500 and eli's treatment would have been under the excess anyway so I'd still have paid the full £40.

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You said what I was trying to explain a lot better than I did. I'd happily pay a lump sum if needed. Insurance may be more beneficial to otheres than it sounds it would be for me. Personally, I'll wait and see. You never no, I may regret it and therefore decide to insure any bun I get from then on.

:wave: I have my 4 insured it costs £38 a month..
I have absolutely no savings or credit cards so i feel I HAVE to have insurance as I would hate for one of mine to be ill and i couldnt afford treatment

I have heard some horror stories on here of treatment coming into the thousands :shock:
Charlie had to have emergency vet treatment once and an overnight stay on a bank holiday and it cost nearly £400

kaths101 said:

:wave: I have my 4 insured it costs £38 a month..
I have absolutely no savings or credit cards so i feel I HAVE to have insurance as I would hate for one of mine to be ill and i couldnt afford treatment

I have heard some horror stories on here of treatment coming into the thousands :shock:
Charlie had to have emergency vet treatment once and an overnight stay on a bank holiday and it cost nearly £400

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Same here - I have no savings, so I take out insurance. If I had maybe £1,000 saved up then I wouldn't insure.

Im with Pet plan. I took it out with my new bun Ron. Last year i enquired about it and they did me 6wks for free, after the 6wks i cancelled it. 2 days later Lilly got head tilt and EC then 6 months later she had her nose ripped off and had to go to the emergeny vet, so you can just imagine how much i've spent on her in the last year. And then 2wks ago we were at Frances Harcourt-Brown with her EC and breathing problems. I only wished i'd not cancelled it. So Soon as Lil was being nursed with the head tilt i insured Ron (watch nowt ever be wrong with him). The only thing that annoys me is that its cheaper to insure cats who roam around and get run over! crazy. x

LauryStevens said:

:| Thats a shock of a reply :S I don't think many people can afford 2 grand on vet bills but tbh I don't think many people would need to....(generlally)

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Most people can't afford £2k on vet bills, which is why most people need insurance.

And you're right most people won't have to spend that amount of money. But life is a gamble. If you couldn't afford to pay the £2k what would you do? If you could use a credit card and pay that off within a year, then that's okay. But if your rabbit would have to go without medical treatment because you can't afford it; the question becomes: do you feel comfortable gambling with the welfare of your rabbits?

What stopped me taking out insurance was the limit on most policies - it seems to be £2k maximum on all the policies I've looked into for rabbits.It seems to be quite expensive to charge £120 a year for a maximum of £2k claim, or with 2 rabbits £240 for a maximum of £2k for each rabbit (how unlucky would you have to be for both rabbits to need £2k of treatment?).
I use insurance for the worst case scenario and would £2k be enough for the worst case scenario?
I do insure my cat because the maximum claim is much higher at £6k and the monthly payments are cheaper. Therefore on balance I feel the insurance is value for money.

I think it makes much more sense for me to put the premiums in a savings account and use credit cards if necessary to bridge any cashflow issues.
Are there any policies that offer more than £2k maximum pay out or is £2k considered enough?

LauryStevens said:

:| Thats a shock of a reply :S I don't think many people can afford 2 grand on vet bills but tbh I don't think many people would need to....(generlally)

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I know I certainly can't! :shock:

Bunny Mum2b said:

What stopped me taking out insurance was the limit on most policies - it seems to be £2k maximum on all the policies I've looked into for rabbits.It seems to be quite expensive to charge £120 a year for a maximum of £2k claim, or with 2 rabbits £240 for a maximum of £2k for each rabbit (how unlucky would you have to be for both rabbits to need £2k of treatment?).
I use insurance for the worst case scenario and would £2k be enough for the worst case scenario?
I do insure my cat because the maximum claim is much higher at £6k and the monthly payments are cheaper. Therefore on balance I feel the insurance is value for money.

I think it makes much more sense for me to put the premiums in a savings account and use credit cards if necessary to bridge any cashflow issues.
Are there any policies that offer more than £2k maximum pay out or is £2k considered enough?

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its usually 2k per illness not 2k all together.

I would not be without it - I was briefly uninsured as I thought I would 'save' the money , and it ended up costing thousands - a vry badly broken leg, a kidney removal, emergency gut operation, (3 diff rabbits) I felt very stupid that I had cancelled my insurance!

If you want examples of costs how about :

Hawthorn: myxi over 7 weeks (despite vaccination) £1,500

Willow: Obstruction followed by Gut surgery in emergency £500 in all

Parsley: - triple break and spiral fracture on leg - pinning and plating followed by removal of plate and pins and final check ups etc etc and on going accupuncture - £3,500 plus

Blackberry: EC head tilt and fits - on going £????? probably about £600 plus

Thistle - jaw abcess x2, on-going teeth problems and eventual teeth removals - £1,500

Viola Rose: myxi (despite vaccs) followed by on -going problems with tear ducts c£1,000

Teasal - sludgy bladder and then sadly his eventual death with heart failure (at age of 9.5) . . no idea how much the bladder cost us in the years of treatment . . .

Yes we do have buns who have been insured for years and had nothing wrong with them . . . but I see that as a plus point rather than a 'loss' of insurance premiums.

For me the insurance is invaluable. It means that if a vet says 'we really need to do blood tests and a scan and xray and them probably an operation' then I can just say 'yes' without costing it up in my head.