Please help with rabbit insurance

I've been looking on the net at rabbit insurance for vet costs & am confused.
Many didn't cover for dental treatment but 1 did so on condition it was done specifically to relieve suffering.
I don't get it. Surely all bunny dental work is done to relieve suffering -they can't eat it's so painful?

It would help me to know which company you use/have used, & your experience of them, eg if bunny gets a recurring illness, do they refuse to insure after the 1st. episode or put such a high excess on the policy, it's not worth it?

There are two types of insurance out there. The first is "for life" and as long as you keep paying the premium they will continue the insurance and pay out multiple times for the same condition. They don't put your premium or excess up because of a claim, but you will find they rise some years because costs do go up. The other type is just yearly insurance. That means if you claim for illness X this year when it comes to the end of the year and you renew your insurance (manually or automatically) then illness X will be excluded from your insurance because it's a pre-existing condition. I wouldn't bother with yearly insurance becuase it leaves you uncovered if they get a recurring illness.

My recommendation would be PetPlan, but also Pets at Home do a For Life policy. (Pets at home also do a yearly policy, so be careful). They have slightly different premiums and excesses and claim limits, so you really need to read the detail to see which you prefer, but they both provide good cover.

I use Petplan and received a cheque for £176 from them on Friday which covered Beatrix's medication and tests for snuffles, minus excess.

The Pets at Home insurance is a bit cheaper but they cover even fewer possibilities with dental work than Petplan by the looks of things.

I've heard from people with dogs and cats that Petplan are more efficient at processing claims, and give a slightly higher level of cover) so I went with them.
The payments increase with age of animal, not because of claims (as car or home insurance would) because they do not want to deter people from making claims and thereby causing further suffering.

It sounds like they pay out for recurring illnesses up to the amount covered (eg £2000), provided they did not start in the first 14 days of the policy - and they don't deem the treatment unnecessary. Haven't yet heard of an instance of the latter on here.

Have you read this?

http://www.hoppingmad.org/E3/insurance.htm

Nickie M did a really comprehensive article on the subject, see link:

http://happyhoppers.forumotion.co.uk/t14585-insurance-worth-having

I think it depends on your circumstances and starting point etc.

I have 6 insured with Pet Plan and they have paid out for every claim, mainly stasis episodes.

I have 2 insured with Pets at Home - Artie and Rudy. Artie because he was over 5 when I took out insurance so P@H was my best offer. Rudy is insured with them as by the time I decided to ensure with them he had loads of exclusions - teeth, eyes, guts, so I decided to pay £78 for cover instead of ?£120 a year for cover with loads of exclusions. I still have cover but not paying loads for something I probably won't use.

P@H have also paid out on both claims I've made (which impressed me) for Arti'es kidney stones, despite him having a pre-existing condition of bladder sludge.

I'd recommend both but for a young bun with no previous, I'd probably go for Pet Plan.


Edit: Darn, why didn't I read the above post before going off looking for the link I attached

Thank you so much for your replies everyone.
That's really helpful, as are the links. Thank you.

I guess you all know that Thumper wasn't insured. I wanted to let him settle in before a vet trip, but before I could get him insured, he dislocated his patella, went into stasis, & was found to have molar spurs which didn't need attention, & a positive titer to EC which was never active. There were so many exclusions from the beginning it wasn't worth it.

Benny will have life time insurance as soon as there's an appointment!!!!

thumps_ said:

Thank you so much for your replies everyone.
That's really helpful, as are the links. Thank you.

I guess you all know that Thumper wasn't insured. I wanted to let him settle in before a vet trip, but before I could get him insured, he dislocated his patella, went into stasis, & was found to have molar spurs which didn't need attention, & a positive titer to EC which was never active. There were so many exclusions from the beginning it wasn't worth it.

Benny will have life time insurance as soon as there's an appointment!!!!

Click to expand...

I have got a bunny insured before she saw a vet, I'm not sure the ins and outs of that. Pet Plan would know from records they've seen when she was first seen by my vet and when the insurance started and they have paid out for her stasis episodes. (She was fully vaccinated by the time I made my first claim - by 1 week!)

Judy, you can insure him now. I am going to insure Rum and Raisin today even though they are still with Jill. It means the two week exclusion period starts now and I want them insured before I let them be with each other without a divide between them.

I used to use the petplan yearly and they were good at paying out when Evie cut her leg. I dont know what they are like for dentals though. By the sounds of it the for life plan sounds the best option

I would make sure that your vets do work with the company that you choose and on a claim back basis. I only say this as when I was looking at horse insurance the large horse hospital near me insist that if you are with a certain insurance co you pay up front and the money is claimed back from the insurer :shock:

aliduncan1 said:

Judy, you can insure him now. I am going to insure Rum and Raisin today even though they are still with Jill. It means the two week exclusion period starts now and I want them insured before I let them be with each other without a divide between them.

Click to expand...

Oh, can you do this?

Now I would always insure new pets the moment they came to my house, but didn't realise you can start earlier. I waited to register until I was sure of names for my bunnies - which was only the morning after they came home, but on reflection I'm sure insurers can cope with name changes.