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Pet Insurance??

Tasmin's MOB

Mama Doe
:wave:

Since we are now getting two more rabbits we have decided to look into pet insurance.

Does anyone think it's worth it?

Also if anyone has pet insurance, who do you use?

I was thinking we would either get insurance or just set up a bank account for the buns.
 
If you can't afford to pay bet bills of £2k per year then you need insurance. A bank account is a poor substitute because it would run out very quickly if one of them had a serious and/or recurring health problem.

PetPlan provide the best insurance by far. As long as you keep paying your premium they will provide coverage for the whole life of the bun. Most other insurance companies will only insure you one year at a time and once you've had one illness they won't cover it next year. PetPlan will cover it next year as long as you keep paying.

You do need to keep your buns vaccinated against Myxomatosis and VHD and also get a dental check every year. They don't cover routine treatments like dental burring or trimming.

I definately recommend insurance, it gives you good peace of mind too.
 
imho... no ,insurance is rubbish:roll: we put money in an isa every month and then who ever is ill can use the funds if neccesary:D
but we do have 2 cats , 8 piggies and 2 buns:D insurance would be extortionate and only useful if they are all ill:roll:
 
If you can't afford to pay bet bills of £2k per year then you need insurance. A bank account is a poor substitute because it would run out very quickly if one of them had a serious and/or recurring health problem.

PetPlan provide the best insurance by far. As long as you keep paying your premium they will provide coverage for the whole life of the bun. Most other insurance companies will only insure you one year at a time and once you've had one illness they won't cover it next year. PetPlan will cover it next year as long as you keep paying.

You do need to keep your buns vaccinated against Myxomatosis and VHD and also get a dental check every year. They don't cover routine treatments like dental burring or trimming.

I definately recommend insurance, it gives you good peace of mind too.

We thought it was a pretty poor substitute really but I'm nervous about taking out insurance as I know there are lots of things that it doesn't cover and I don't want to do it if it turns out that it covers practically nothing.

We can afford vet bills otherwise we wouldn't have the buns but obviously it's one of those things where you would like to put money aside specifically for this.

I will have a look into pet plan thank you for your advise I really appreciate it :)
 
i never insured any of my buns until i got locksley, id recommened it and petplan, you never know if you may need help, rosie and mowgli where healthy until they got older, and when they did get health problems it was too late to insure
 
Thanks everyone, I think I'll have a look around at different policies. I certainly need to set something up even if it is just a bank account.
 
Alvin has had 2x emergency stasis bouts costing over 350 quid each plus numerous £100+ vets visits for his tummy, bloods etc all paid for by petplan, i only pay the excess.

Pearl had 9 months of 30 per month drugs plus many vets visits as well as xrays and blood tests plus a 90 quid home visit by the vet all paid for by petplan.

with pearl i only had to pay 2x the excess as her illness was over two policy years, the rest was paid direct to the vets by the insurance.

i for one would never have a rabbit uninsured, it is well worth the £10 per month for such delicate ready to die animals :D
 
Spenser is with Petplan. They paid £90 of his £145 emergency stasis treatment. I pay just under £!0 a month - paid like that I don't really notice as I would a £!20 annual payment. I think it's worth it - Spenser's illness and it's treatment was comparatively inexpensive.
 
We thought it was a pretty poor substitute really but I'm nervous about taking out insurance as I know there are lots of things that it doesn't cover and I don't want to do it if it turns out that it covers practically nothing.

We can afford vet bills otherwise we wouldn't have the buns but obviously it's one of those things where you would like to put money aside specifically for this.

I will have a look into pet plan thank you for your advise I really appreciate it :)
Do any of your buns have pre-existing conditions? If so then the insurance won't cover those conditions or anything connected to those conditions.
If they are healthy with no pre-existing conditions then PetPlan cover pretty much everything up to £2k per year per rabbit. They don't cover dental burring or trimming and they only cover myxo and VHD if they are vaccinated against them. Definately read the terms and conditions, but PetPlan are the best by far.
 
Well I've just had my first and only claim turned down. Basically I think the vets have only put in a claim for the last bill I paid and haven't taken into account the amount I already paid to them before, which they said was up to the excess. Hence Petplan think the bill I'm claiming for is less than the excess and have therefore turned it down! So I'm going to have to go back to the vet tomorrow and see if I can resubmit the claim.:roll:

There is a £55 excess per illness so I'm not even sure if I will get anything back from them. Basically mine have been in for several different things since adopting them in July:

Widget had a wound when we first picked her up so she had antibiotics for that £29.29
Sprocket then had some medication for somach upset £32.89, which turned out to be worms £22.87 and
Then they both had their little spat and so were treated for bite wounds (esp Widget) £47.87
Now Widget has Pasturella £24.19.

So If I understand the policy right, that means that each of those issues carries a £55 excess, so unless the vets can combine some of the fees into one claim means I wont get a thing back. But if say Widget gets Pasturella again, then whatever I've paid on the excess I don't pay again and can get back anything above the excess and she should be covered for life if the illness reoccurs.

I have so far been paying £18 per month (therabouts) for the two buns (£100 ish, plus the above vet fees). I got nothing from paying into Gasket and Tappet's policies for four years that I had them (over £800).

So I'm in two minds whether to just cancel the policy and save the money myself. :evil:
 
Well I've just had my first and only claim turned down. Basically I think the vets have only put in a claim for the last bill I paid and haven't taken into account the amount I already paid to them before, which they said was up to the excess. Hence Petplan think the bill I'm claiming for is less than the excess and have therefore turned it down! So I'm going to have to go back to the vet tomorrow and see if I can resubmit the claim.:roll:

There is a £55 excess per illness so I'm not even sure if I will get anything back from them. Basically mine have been in for several different things since adopting them in July:

Widget had a wound when we first picked her up so she had antibiotics for that £29.29
Sprocket then had some medication for somach upset £32.89, which turned out to be worms £22.87 and
Then they both had their little spat and so were treated for bite wounds (esp Widget) £47.87
Now Widget has Pasturella £24.19.

So If I understand the policy right, that means that each of those issues carries a £55 excess, so unless the vets can combine some of the fees into one claim means I wont get a thing back. But if say Widget gets Pasturella again, then whatever I've paid on the excess I don't pay again and can get back anything above the excess and she should be covered for life if the illness reoccurs.

I have so far been paying £18 per month (therabouts) for the two buns (£100 ish, plus the above vet fees). I got nothing from paying into Gasket and Tappet's policies for four years that I had them (over £800).

So I'm in two minds whether to just cancel the policy and save the money myself. :evil:

Thank you so much for sharing this with me, It's horrible that you have had to go through all of this.

I hope widget is ok, I've not come across pasturella before so I'm not really sure what it is.

This is exactly the thing that is putting me off insurance :?
 
Thanks, it seems to be a mild case, its also known as snuffles. It's like a bunny version of a cold, but caused by a bacteria not a virus. Basically, its a risk either way, you could be better off just saving the money but I guess insurance will pay off if your bun gets a long term illness that needs regular treatment (except dentals! :roll:).

I was in two minds whether to insure S&W after not using G&T's policy, but given they both had health problems when they were babies, which the vet assured me were resolved and non-declareable, I thought it wise to go with it. I think I'm now on the cusp of getting some money back, but whether that will pay more than I'll eventually pay in remains to be seen.:?

Sadly, I've only had one bun who I saw through to a natural end and he wasn't insured. G&T were killed earlier this year by the next door neighour's dog age 4 and were never ill so we never saw the vet except for vacs. My first bun died in an accident and I had to rehome Neelix before he got old. But he was healthy until the end I think.
 
Except dentals?? I'm beginning to wonder exactly what these policies do cover?

So sorry to hear about G&T, how sad :(

ETA: I have heard of snuffles didn't realise that was what it was actually called, glad widget only has a mild case, sending some vibes :)
 
Well I've just had my first and only claim turned down. Basically I think the vets have only put in a claim for the last bill I paid and haven't taken into account the amount I already paid to them before, which they said was up to the excess. Hence Petplan think the bill I'm claiming for is less than the excess and have therefore turned it down! So I'm going to have to go back to the vet tomorrow and see if I can resubmit the claim.:roll:

There is a £55 excess per illness so I'm not even sure if I will get anything back from them. Basically mine have been in for several different things since adopting them in July:

Widget had a wound when we first picked her up so she had antibiotics for that £29.29
Sprocket then had some medication for somach upset £32.89, which turned out to be worms £22.87 and
Then they both had their little spat and so were treated for bite wounds (esp Widget) £47.87
Now Widget has Pasturella £24.19.

So If I understand the policy right, that means that each of those issues carries a £55 excess, so unless the vets can combine some of the fees into one claim means I wont get a thing back. But if say Widget gets Pasturella again, then whatever I've paid on the excess I don't pay again and can get back anything above the excess and she should be covered for life if the illness reoccurs.

I have so far been paying £18 per month (therabouts) for the two buns (£100 ish, plus the above vet fees). I got nothing from paying into Gasket and Tappet's policies for four years that I had them (over £800).

So I'm in two minds whether to just cancel the policy and save the money myself. :evil:

That's very unfortunate :(

You are correct that the excess is per illness, per rabbit and per year. However if any of those illnesses requires further treatment you should be covered. You can add up all the different treatments for a single illness in a year and the excess is only taken away once. So I would keep it.

My wally kept getting ill and had to be taken back to the vets several times culminating in a couple days stay at the vets. I put in a claim for all the different visits and because they were all the same illness (and even though we still don't know what caused it) petplan paid out without a problem. The total was £320, so minus the excess I got £270 back
 
I don't have insurance because I feel it's worth the risk. Only because I know I could get the money for a long term condition through payment plans with the vet, savings, overdraft and borrowing money if the situation arose.

If I'd had insurance I would have paid out nearly £600 so far. I've had no problems what so ever with Lola and Rambo and Eli had snuffles when we got him which needed a one off treatment costing £35. That a) doesn't exceed the excess and b) wouldn't have been covered.

I suppose I don't know enough about what long term conditions there are, how they affect quality of life, what they cost, etc to really worry about it too much. It's something you rarely hear about, even on a rabbit forum.

oh, ucover also do for life cover and it was cheaper for my three than petplan. It was also cheaper for older rabbits.
 
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