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Pet insurance for buns

SmokeyBun

New Kit
I've just joined a local rabbit group on facebook and someone has asked whether other members have insurance for their rabbits and who do they use. A few people have commented saying it's not worth having insurance for a rabbit as most owners would only spend about £150 a year in vet bills so therefore it would be better to open a bank account to cover vet bills.

Now I do have insurance as my thinking is that my bun could potentially develop a problem any time even though she's only 7 months old. From what I've read on here buns can develop a range of long term health problems which could run into hundreds of pounds over a year let alone their lifetime. I understand that dentals are often not covered but even allowing for this does anyone think that these people are right and that it's not worth having insurance for rabbits?
 
personally i think its important. im with petplan and so far charlie has racked up over £700 in bills-all paid for by petplan
 
Well worth having.

Mine have both had bouts of stasis, sometimes resulting in an overnight stay at the vets, sometimes just one visit and meds but each time between 100 and 150 pounds.

I'm with pet plan and the way I understand it is that dental work will be covered if the teeth have been checked within a year, vet does this each time they go for vacc's, and the work is deemed necessary by the vet for example if a spur has developed and is causing pain and stasis is likely.
 
I'm with petplan too so it's good to know about the dentals being covered. Luckily we've not had anything yet that I've needed to claim for but I think it's well worth having just to know that if anything does happen I don't need to worry about finding the money to pay for it.
 
Definitely worth it in my opinion - I wouldn't sleep at night without it.

I have 10 rabbits insured, apart from the one whose only been here a few months and one other (who has loads of exclusions!) I've claimed on every policy.

So far this year
Esme's cost about £700
Erin probably about £500
Elijah over £1,200

They all have a habit of going into stasis out of hours and Elijah had a blockage needing surgery.

Last year Artie needed a kidney removed and with other treatment to remove kidney stones, a bladder sludge episode and a stasis episode he cost over £2,000 in one year.

I also think that vets will take you more seriously that you want a seriously ill rabbit made better when they know there is £2k available to treat them, not that I'm saying they are after the money just that 'the average rabbit owner' wouldn't make that available but the insurance money makes referrals to specialists more of a likely scenario.
 
I think it is worth getting if you don't have the cash in case of an emergency. My aunt didn't have insurance and has had to cough up over £500 already for her poorly bun who was incidently bought from P@H :evil:
 
Well my bill for about £700 last week says rabbits are quite costly! That was only for Barney's diagnostics, the treatment starts now. On the other hand my rabbit Annabella, in one and a half years, hasnt cost me more than the cost of vaccinations and dental checks and a small amount of baytril once - so I havent ever made a clam for her.

But thats the way insurance works, most people wont need to claim, or wont need to claim more than they spend on the insurance every year. But then when they DO need to claim, or when someone else has a bun with longterm health problems, there is money in the pot to cover their treatment. All the time you have insurance and dont claim, you'll be wondering whether it was worth it, but when you actually need to use it for a longterm health problem or a one-off big vets bill, then you'll be thanking your past self for getting it!
 
having paid near enough £2000 on (non routine) vet bills in around 1 and a half years when I didn't have insurance I now have it on both buns and will continue to for future rabbits :wave:
 
I would never have any animal without insurance. Marnie and Blue have cost a small fortune over the last few years in bills, all of which were covered by the insurance....except Blues cremation.
 
I made my first claim this month... £600 for a serious bout of stasis and 2 nights stay at the vets :shock:
Insurance was definitely worth it for me, I was able to say do everything that he needs rather than worrying about the costs.
 
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