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Pets@Home no longer start insurance for rabbits over FOUR years old

Bunny Buddy

Wise Old Thumper
Just a heads up as I attempted to get a quote for Rudy (just to see what premium would be) and it says they won't insure rabbits over 4. I have in the past run quotes for rabbits over 17 years old and it was quite happy to insure :shock:

So, if you were thinking of getting a rabbit over 5 and insuring be aware that P@H are no longer an option.

I got Dinky at just the right time as she would be uninsurable now.:cry::cry:

It's a very sad discovery for me as it was so good to know you could insure older rabbits so maybe it meant more would find good homes.
 
Seriously?! In late July/early August we took out insurance for the first time with them for one of my rabbits - she was 5 at the time and didnt have any problems then! The only reason we went through Pets at Home is because they're the only ones that would have insured her because she is 5 years old! Glad we got her done when we did then :?
 
Seriously?! In late July/early August we took out insurance for the first time with them for one of my rabbits - she was 5 at the time and didnt have any problems then! The only reason we went through Pets at Home is because they're the only ones that would have insured her because she is 5 years old! Glad we got her done when we did then :?

Same here with Dinky - I adopted her in mid July and insured her the same day. I had no hesitation in adopting a 5 year old because I knew I could insure her. Should have known this being able to insure older rabbits was too good to last :(
 
rabbits can get to 17??!? Wow

I actually got that quote because I put Artie's date of birth as 1994 instead of 2004, because I wasn't thinking and it gave his age as 17 and I went :shock::shock: But they were willing to insure him at £80 for the year :D Not now though.

It's extremely rare for them to reach that age but not completely unheard of.
 
I actually got that quote because I put Artie's date of birth as 1994 instead of 2004, because I wasn't thinking and it gave his age as 17 and I went :shock::shock: But they were willing to insure him at £80 for the year :D Not now though.

It's extremely rare for them to reach that age but not completely unheard of.

A family friend who I helped advise on bonding her two rabbits was telling me the other day she had netherland dwarfs that lived up until 18 :shock::shock::shock::shock: And they didn't get any special treatment, this was 30 years ago or so, so they had to be very hardy! Hope dee lives until 18 :lol: sadly I very much doubt it :(
 
I guess they have seen a lot of older rabbits making a lot of claims :?

It seems likely. You would think they would know that when they started out though? :?

Typical example: Artie insured at 6 years old, within 3 months suffered kidney stones, typical of older rabbit, cost them £1K. I suppose I should be just grateful that I benefitted so much during the last 18 months or so, it was too good to hope it would stay as it was.
 
I'm glad I insured mine when I did then! It will be interesting to see what happens with Heather's premium and excess when it's due as she will be over 10 then!
 
What a crying shame, it was the only company to insure over 5 year old rabbits. Isn't 4 even lower than other companies ?

I renewed Cutie-pies last month and she is 6 and a half now. It had gone up £20 but I had claimed nearly £500.00 at the end of last year. Thank goodness it was renewable.

I would have thought that insurance companies would think, isn't it more likely they would pass away suddenly as they got older.

Mr B is only 3 years old but in April cost £1500.00 in vet bills and he was only 2 and a half. Be interesting to see if his renewal goes up, as he is still under 4.
 
Agree with this :( Not a good thing for the older bunnies. Were p@h the only place that would insure old buns?

I think so. There was a great wave of excitment about ?18 months ago when P@H insurance started and we all got chance to insure our 5+ bunnies that weren't already covered.
 
I'm glad I insured mine when I did then! It will be interesting to see what happens with Heather's premium and excess when it's due as she will be over 10 then!

Based on my renewal letter for Rudy I suspect it might not but so much the premium but indeed the excess in that you have to pay a percentage of the vet bill. I'm guessing if they hike the premium price up too much then people just cancel. We've been moved from 'Life' cover to 'Premium' cover, same excess but also pay 10% of the bill :? When I took out the insurance I was told that wouldn't happen, but that's insurance companies for you! I rang Pet Plan and they said at 5 years old there would be 20% of the bill to pay so I'm actually better with P@H.... for the moment at least.
 
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What a crying shame, it was the only company to insure over 5 year old rabbits. Isn't 4 even lower than other companies ?

I renewed Cutie-pies last month and she is 6 and a half now. It had gone up £20 but I had claimed nearly £500.00 at the end of last year. Thank goodness it was renewable.

I would have thought that insurance companies would think, isn't it more likely they would pass away suddenly as they got older.

Mr B is only 3 years old but in April cost £1500.00 in vet bills and he was only 2 and a half. Be interesting to see if his renewal goes up, as he is still under 4.

It's interesting to see different accounts of how much premiums have gone up - I wonder if it's based on age or whether you've claimed etc. All the policies (I think) were the same cost when originally bought despite varying ages, at least all my policies were, varying between 6 years and 1 year old. Rudy's has only gone up £10 and about £4 of that would be because of the on-line discount for the first year. In theory they are not supposed to put them up if someone claims as it puts people of claiming which isn't supposed to happen as an animals health/life could be at stake.

Edit to add: My Pet Plan policies average at about £120 and Rudy's is £90 with 1.5K of cover v £2K with Pet Plan so about the same value but better value if I'm only paying 10% of vet bill instead of 20%
 
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I think so. There was a great wave of excitment about ?18 months ago when P@H insurance started and we all got chance to insure our 5+ bunnies that weren't already covered.

Oh I must have missed those posts :oops: Mine have been insured from a youngish age so I suppose I'd not really paid attention to older bun cover. Fingers crossed another insurance will start to offer cover for them.
 
i insured my five year olds with them a couple of months ago. perhaps they've had a rush of older bunnies signing up and think there must be something in it.
 
It's interesting to see different accounts of how much premiums have gone up - I wonder if it's based on age or whether you've claimed etc. All the policies (I think) were the same cost when originally bought despite varying ages, at least all my policies were, varying between 6 years and 1 year old. Rudy's has only gone up £10 and about £4 of that would be because of the on-line discount for the first year. In theory they are not supposed to put them up if someone claims as it puts people of claiming which isn't supposed to happen as an animals health/life could be at stake.

Edit to add: My Pet Plan policies average at about £120 and Rudy's is £90 with 1.5K of cover v £2K with Pet Plan so about the same value but better value if I'm only paying 10% of vet bill instead of 20%

Last year was the first year I ever insured my bunnies and chinchillas after paying out over £2k on various vet bills. I was so relieved to find a company that took on older bunnies. Cutie-pie was 5.5 and Sunshine 7.5 years old. Sadly he suddenly passed away 2 days before the 10 day exclusion period. Then we got Mr B a few weeks later.

After years of never having a poorly bunny, except when Nancy had her ear ripped off by a fox and had 2 operations, everything went wrong last year. All the 5 animals were over 5 years old, including the chinchillas. That is something else I could kick myself about, I missed out by a few months to insure the eldest 2, with Exotic Pets. Only have their daughter insured. Is about £120 a year. She has gone over the age limit for chinchillas but her renewal was the same.

I am with 3 different companies. Have Bandit with Petplan even though it is more expensive as the Pets at Home maximum claim amount is £1,500.00, but Petplan is 2k. Mr B used it all up in one go. :shock: That wasn't even for an operation or any procedure. Not even sure he had a scan. All gobbled up by the emergency vet.
 
They will adjust their policies and premiums depending on what people claim, they will still want to make a good profit and if profits are not big enough they will most likely pull the plug on insurance like a lot of other insurance companies.
 
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