Has anyone needed insurance?

I have a 12 week old lionhead and shes had her myxi and vhd jab and recently had a check up and was said to be fit and healthy. I`ve already saved some money for her spay in a few months time, so will have money for that when the time comes. Im looking at insurance and Im wondering if its needed, as Im unemployed at the moment and can`t afford alot, but I have a credit card for any treatments or emergencies. Plus I know you have to pay £50 excess, so what could cost more than that to make the insurance worthwhile (as heard they don`t back up dental) plus Im guessing they don`t pay out for emergency trips, which I`m thinking is when it will be needed??

Thunders_Mum said:

I have a 12 week old lionhead and shes had her myxi and vhd jab and recently had a check up and was said to be fit and healthy. I`ve already saved some money for her spay in a few months time, so will have money for that when the time comes. Im looking at insurance and Im wondering if its needed, as Im unemployed at the moment and can`t afford alot, but I have a credit card for any treatments or emergencies. Plus I know you have to pay £50 excess, so what could cost more than that to make the insurance worthwhile (as heard they don`t back up dental) plus Im guessing they don`t pay out for emergency trips, which I`m thinking is when it will be needed??

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4 years ago, vet treatment for stasis cost me over £300. I've heard of emergencies that have cost nearly £1000 in treatment. There are also things that can cause ongoing problems/require ongoing treaments which would cover a certain amount of costs each year for life (with a covered for life policy).

Rabbits do seem to be prone to getting poorly :?

All of my four are insured with petplan. It's stressful enough having a sick animal without worrying how you are going to afford it.

So emergency vets are covered? I thought it would just be normal vet appointments, but if emergencies are included, then it`s something I will definately look into.

Thunders_Mum said:

So emergency vets are covered? I thought it would just be normal vet appointments, but if emergencies are included, then it`s something I will definately look into.

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Emergencies are definitely covered, with Pet Plan they are anyway.

Of my 8 rabbits I've made insurance claims for 7 of this this year :shock: One for diagnostics for weight loss, 5 for stasis episodes - 4 of those were out of hours appointments so £100 just for the consultation. The biggy was Artie needing kidney stones removed, then needing the kidney removed, he's cost of £1000 in just 4 weeks. Not sure if the insurance will pay out for Artie as he has a pre-existing bladder problem. I'd say if money is tight then insurance is even more important.

Edit to add: Re the out of hours appointment. All the insurance company need to know is that the OOH appointment was justified. In the case of a stasis (ie potentially a blockage) episode the vet should confirm it was necessary and the insurance will pay out - Pet Plan do, can't confirm it for any of the others.

One of my 3 had pneumonia. Cost over £250 - so pleased I had insurance. Incidentally, I think PetPlan do cover dentals (or at least the first one) provided you have teeth checked regularly.

If your rabbit gets ill you only have to pay the excess for the first visit. So if they need to go back 4 or 5 times you add them all up and then put in your claim.

And yes they do cover emergency treatment, as long as the vet says it was necessary. So phone the vets first if you're not sure if it requires an emergency visit or not.

Decided to go with petplan thought it was worth £9 a month incase anything happens, plus the vets I go to advertise them, so shouldn`t have any problems. Hopefully will never need it though!

I went for Petplan after my rabbits recent anorexia, however Petplan decided to add 3 blanket exclusions to my policy, the first for any stomach related problems ever, the second for any skin problems ever and the third for any hormone related problems ever.

The second and third exclusions were because I'd mentioned taking him to the vets during a heavy moult for a check up. They decided heavy moult = skin problem + hormone problem and added the exclusions. This was despite me being quite clear on the form that nothing was wrong with him!

I've asked my vet to write to Petplan to get the second and third exclusions removed as they is simply no justification for them.

I want the first exclusion lifted too as one episode of anorexia does not necessarily mean he's going to ever get it again.

My views of petplan are quite negative as I get the impression from my own experience they go OTT with their exclusions.

Has anyone else had this sort of problem with Petplan?

tommo1975 said:

Has anyone else had this sort of problem with Petplan?

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yes. I originally insured my 4 rabbits that I had at that time and 2 had a long list of exclusions so I cancelled. In hindsight I should have kept the insurance but we live and learn. Rudy has exclusions for 'gastro-intestinal' and I was told if he didn't have any bloat/stasis type episodes for a significant period (can't remember ?18 months?) that the exclusion would be taken off. Artie would have had exclusion for gastrointestinal as well because of stasis episodes but it seems likely now that they were secondary to bladder sludge so not actually a digestion problem anyway.

Interestingly, when I got Tinks insured she had had a very nasty snuffles bout and I was convinced that that would be an exclusion as it's well known to be a recurrent condition - they dismissed it as irrelevant, so she's covered.

Last year I made a claim for £1500 for my Patch as he had a prolapsed rectum and I claimed £165 for a trip to the emergency vet and hospitalisation of Jack for Impaction, he was only there 2 hours before he died so would have been more if not. That is all in the last 10 months! Patch might have been pts otherwise as there is no way I could have afforded his treatment.

Bunny Buddy said:

Rudy has exclusions for 'gastro-intestinal' and I was told if he didn't have any bloat/stasis type episodes for a significant period (can't remember ?18 months?) that the exclusion would be taken off.

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Gastro-intestinal is what Boris has the exclusion for too. I haven't yet challenged Petplan about that yet, my first task it to win the battle regarding the second and third exclusions!

i have needed insurance with two of my three rabbits.

Alvin has ongoing stasis issues and has had two emergency vets visits at a cost of over £300 each time. plus blood tests to find out why. he also had a dental once and they paid up as a good will gesture.

Pearl after two years of perfect health gave in to an enlarged heart and the treatment over 9 months cost over £800

i only have to pay the excess and petplan take care of the rest

fingers crossed Holly has no issues but she is still insured just incase.

I also went through the "shall I, shan't I get insurance" (although both my husband and I are employed, so a bit different). However, I was told, on here and I quote "if you can't afford up to £2,000 in vets bills, get insurance". Both of our bunnies are now insured with Petplan and it's not that expensive - £16 per month for both so £8 each. £2 per week - the cost of a loaf of bread. Not much really and it could save you a bomb in the long run.

Yes we have made several claims (not all of which have been successful yet mind) as we have spent several hundreds if not nearing the thousands for our buns healthcare. You cant claim for everything and there is the excess, and I would say it may be swings and roundabouts as to what works out cheapest, ie paying insurance and claiming some back, or just paying for it all yourself and not paying insurance.

But the one thing I would say is that as your buns get older it is probably more likely they will have health problems at some point, if you insure before they are 5 you can have lifetime insurance, whereas you cant insure them once they are 5. Also if a condition comes up before you take out insurance, that would be excluded as a pre-existing condition.

Yes I have had to claim on Pet Insurance for Basil when he had Kidney failure, the bill was £300+ so I was so glad he was covered. You just never know what might crop up.

If you don't have a back-up for big vet bills I think insurance can be very useful. When I first got my rabbit I took her to have her mxyi jab and a full health check. I was told that she was perfect....

less than 4 weeks later she started being quiet and didn't want to have her breakfast. I took her to the vets that day and she was admitted for 1 week. She was on a drip, had x-rays, ultrasounds, was syringe fed and eventually underwent a major op.

She cost us just under £1000 and she wasn't insured. Luckily we had some money saved but now the insurance won't insure her because they don't know what to exclude from the policy. :roll: It wasn't cancel but the test results didn't really give a conclusive answer. :?