Rabbit insurance

I'm thinking strongly about rabbit insurance. I have a quad, 2 mini lops and 2 Netherlands and I want to get insurance for them all, but I have no idea what to look for, what to do....even what "excess" means?! I need the whole things spelling out for me :roll: Anyone want to guide me? Pets at home, petplan? Ideally I'd like cheap and chearful so was thinking pets at home, but I don't know about this whole process x

LauryStevens said:

I'm thinking strongly about rabbit insurance. I have a quad, 2 mini lops and 2 Netherlands and I want to get insurance for them all, but I have no idea what to look for, what to do....even what "excess" means?! I need the whole things spelling out for me :roll: Anyone want to guide me? Pets at home, petplan? Ideally I'd like cheap and chearful so was thinking pets at home, but I don't know about this whole process x

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Perhaps, as a first step, you could look at previous posts - there are loads about insurance (pros and cons, costs etc).
Excess means the amount you have to pay out for an illness before the insurance 'kicks in', usually in the region of £55.

I don't have insurance and don't know much about it but I'm sure I read somewhere that insurers won't always insure/pay out for dental problems and only rabbits under the age of five are insurable.

I found this insurance policy from PAH which looks helpful.

If you don't opt for insurance I can recommend setting up a savings account for your pets which you can add to on a weekly basis. The money will grow and in the event of an emergency you will be able to pay for treatment either fully or partially.

Fifibutton said:

I don't have insurance and don't know much about it but I'm sure I read somewhere that insurers won't always insure/pay out for dental problems and only rabbits under the age of five are insurable.

I found this insurance policy from PAH which looks helpful.

If you don't opt for insurance I can recommend setting up a savings account for your pets which you can add to on a weekly basis. The money will grow and in the event of an emergency you will be able to pay for treatment either fully or partially.

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I already do this I save £500 a month into savings thats just over half of what I earn

I am pretty sure Petplan, Pets at Home and Exotic Pets are the only ones that insure rabbits, but I might be wrong.

Petplan and Exotic Pets cost around £120 a year for cover up to £2,000. The excess is £50.00.

Pets at Home, life is £78.00 and the excess is £75.00. I think the cover is up to £1500.00

Excess is - what you pay for whatever problem there is with your bunnies health every time you make an insurance claim. So say your bunny gets GI statis and the vet treatment costs £200.00. You will get £150.00 back from the insurance company. Same thing happens next time you make a claim.

Pets at Home do 2 types of insurance. A basic for £68 a year or life for £78 a year. Life means it will cover a condition your pet was treated for this year, next year. If you don't get life and say they had something like kidney problems that they are getting treatment for, when you renew they will no longer accept the health problems for the following year.

As far as I am aware no insurance company covers dentals.

Insurance also doesn't cover spays, neutering or vaccinations.

If your vet treatment is less than £50 or £75 depending on who you use, you won't get any money back, as it would be your excess.

Pets at Home is the only insurance company that will insure a rabbit over the age of 5.

LauryStevens said:

I already do this I save £500 a month into savings thats just over half of what I earn

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Only you can decide, really. There is a thread today about costs.

Fifibutton said:

I don't have insurance and don't know much about it but I'm sure I read somewhere that insurers won't always insure/pay out for dental problems and only rabbits under the age of five are insurable.

I found this insurance policy from PAH which looks helpful.

If you don't opt for insurance I can recommend setting up a savings account for your pets which you can add to on a weekly basis. The money will grow and in the event of an emergency you will be able to pay for treatment either fully or partially.

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Pets at Home insure bunnies over the age of 5. Worth looking into. Thank goodness I found out as I got Cutie-pie insured in late August. 3 months later cost us £498 for the emergency vets.:shock:

None do dentals.

It's strange because I look at my 4 and think what could possibly go wrong...but thats always the case isn't it? Until something does go wrong! they're all brilliant hay eaters, never cost me for vets treatment really. Had Thumper and Blossom almost a year and a half, had skittles and Bella almost a year. So far they've only cost in vaccinations, and blossom/thumper cost me to get them spayed.....luckily bella and skittles were paid for by the RSPCA. Blossom had some dye put in her eye to see if her naisle passage was lcear (which it was) and thats about it. And with me saving so much money, I'm not sure if it's worth it.....but then again, that moeny can vanish VERY quickly couldn't it?! I'm not very good at reading small print either hence why I need it spelt out to me :roll: my concerntration is very much "down the pan" at the moment

ETA: I was looking into the Life Cover with P@H, thought it would be sensible.

LauryStevens said:

It's strange because I look at my 4 and think what could possibly go wrong...but thats always the case isn't it? Until something does go wrong! they're all brilliant hay eaters, never cost me for vets treatment really. Had Thumper and Blossom almost a year and a half, had skittles and Bella almost a year. So far they've only cost in vaccinations, and blossom/thumper cost me to get them spayed.....luckily bella and skittles were paid for by the RSPCA. Blossom had some dye put in her eye to see if her naisle passage was lcear (which it was) and thats about it. And with me saving so much money, I'm not sure if it's worth it.....but then again, that moeny can vanish VERY quickly couldn't it?! I'm not very good at reading small print either hence why I need it spelt out to me :roll: my concerntration is very much "down the pan" at the moment

ETA: I was looking into the Life Cover with P@H, thought it would be sensible.

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That is the thing. Nothing might go wrong.

Nothing went wrong for me for 9 years. Both my first 2 bunnies died of old age without ever going to the vets. They only ever had their vaccinations.

This year. No joke. Everything went wrong with 3 bunnies and one chinchilla. Total cost nearly £4,000.00 I had no bloody insurance for most of it. Both bunnies and one chichilla now covered. The other 2 chinchillas are too old and can't get insurance.

If you couldn't afford to spend thousands of pounds on vets bills you need insurance. PetPlan have a long history and good reputation and provide the bet coverage. P@H 'for life' policy is also good but not quite the same coverage. I wouldn't consider any of the single year only policies as they will exclude any claims you have made in one year from next years insurance.

thanks guys

Pet plan imo are fab. We have all four of our little ones insured (for aprox £10 per month each). We have never had any problems with them paying our vet directly (touch wood). The vets have put in a claim for little Oscars treatment, will run into the £100's (Shauny has also had claims that have in total come to around £800) . We personally would never be without insurance, the piece of mind is worth it. We had to see the emergency vet with Oscar 3 times (early hours of the morning) the nurse who answered the phone said do we want to wait until opening hrs because of the cost....my answer no, he is insured, i dont care about the cost (i will just say he would have gone with or with out insurance. The love of my life Elvis had no insurance, we used the rent money, and much more to try and treat him)