To insure or not to insure

Hey all,

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are about insuring the buns. Just took my two new ones. These were my sister in law's buns until she couldn't look after them after the baby.

Now Roger has had a sniffly nose before with her and was treated with antibiotics. I took him for his injections today and also I wanted him to get checked out as he had a load of white discharge the other day (no sneezing, no marked paws though). Vet advised that it could be dental but his teeth look fine, if it continues we could need to go down x-ray route. He said that insurance would be a good idea.

With my rats I take the decision not to insure and pay the vets bills (this has included £700 in the past). Thankfully I have a forgiving husband and a good job!

So if I try to insure Roger I will have to exclude dentals as it is a known issue, so is worth it?

I have four buns now, only one is insured as he was my first one, and I'm just wondering what other people's thoughts are?

Thanks for your help all!!

Unless you have thousands in the bank, insure :wave: I have 5 buns and all are insured; I couldn't afford to have them otherwise. I have claimed over £3000 in the last 6 months!!!

I never have.

I have also had some expensive vet bills over the years but, working it out over the life of the bunny, I'm not that sure the premiums would have been significantly less.

I have treated one for cancer (she lived to over 10); one for EC (she was 6); and one for sludge leading to kidney tumour (he was only 3). As a rough guess, I'd say the total bills over those years would have been about £3,500.00 - over 19 years, that's £184 p.a. or £15 p.m.. I guess the good side is that the premiums are spread out rather than a one off bill. Fortunately, I have never had a dental bunny either.


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I'm also wondering about this.
I have seen 3 companies that insure rabbits and looked at what they do and do not insure. There is quite a long list of things that they don't insure! So I don't know what the best option is. I know people who instead of paying an insurance put some money aside every month but if I do that I would never have the amount that insurances cover...
I found it an interesting fact that one of the companies would cover the cost of euthanizing your rabbit and the other didn't.
You've insured one rabbit, may I ask with what company?

SJH said:

I never have.

I have also had some expensive vet bills over the years but, working it out over the life of the bunny, I'm not that sure the premiums would have been significantly less.

I have treated one for cancer (she lived to over 10); one for EC (she was 6); and one for sludge leading to kidney tumour (he was only 3). As a rough guess, I'd say the total bills over those years would have been about £3,500.00 - over 19 years, that's £184 p.a. or £15 p.m.. I guess the good side is that the premiums are spread out rather than a one off bill. Fortunately, I have never had a dental bunny either.


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Agree with this. We use to have our two insured and now we have six they are not insured. It is a bit of a risk and asking on the forum you will get biased views as the majority of people would have looked here as they had a problem with their bun and wanted advice.

The bottom line is as with any insurance, if you can afford to have a pot of cash or can put it on credit then I would say no insurance. If you do not have this then insurance is the way to go. :thumb:

Ultimately it is down to you and everyones view on risk is different.

We have ensured all our buns - at least they are covered for the more common illness like stasis that way. Luna - our little baby girl who was pts because of bloat - we insured her as soon as we brought her home, but her policy didn't kick in until 10 days - so we ended up paying over £1,000 for her. We have paid out over £700 for the other buns - but got most of this back from insurance.

I wouldn't be so bothered by it if I had never experienced bunny illnesses - but seeing how quickly they can and do become sick from no apparent reason...there is no way I wouldn't have it now.

For a rabbit with a clean bill of health I would say INSURE NOW WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

But for a snuffle bun... not so much... They are only going to say that everything that ever happens (bar maybe broken bones) is attributed to the snuffles. Eye infections, ear infections any abscesses anywhere, stasis, tooth issues... :?

I wish, wish, wish Grim was insured before his problems started, he's cost me thousands and thousands of pounds but none of it would have been covered by insurance if I got it after and it would have been a waste of money.

My advice is insure any healthy rabbits now and for the snuffly one, save as much as you can a month. As a minimum save the insurance cost a month but more if you can. :wave:

I always had Truffle and Fudge insured. It probably pays off for Truffle as we've had numerous emergency vet visits with her for stasis and she also had EC.
Fudge not so much - she's been healthy until this summer when she had her first dental.

When we got Tully and Mango I opted not to insure them - thought doing half and half would be hedging my bets (I can afford large vets bills if needs be, so the buns wouldn't be at risk of not receiving treatment). But then Mango died and we have Kyla instead now and I am inclined to insure her due to her breed - I think she is more likely to have problems in the future - so I will be insuring 3 out of 4 for now.

SJH said:

I never have.

I have also had some expensive vet bills over the years but, working it out over the life of the bunny, I'm not that sure the premiums would have been significantly less.

I have treated one for cancer (she lived to over 10); one for EC (she was 6); and one for sludge leading to kidney tumour (he was only 3). As a rough guess, I'd say the total bills over those years would have been about £3,500.00 - over 19 years, that's £184 p.a. or £15 p.m.. I guess the good side is that the premiums are spread out rather than a one off bill. Fortunately, I have never had a dental bunny

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ReeceT said:

Agree with this. We use to have our two insured and now we have six they are not insured. It is a bit of a risk and asking on the forum you will get biased views as the majority of people would have looked here as they had a problem with their bun and wanted advice.

The bottom line is as with any insurance, if you can afford to have a pot of cash or can put it on credit then I would say no insurance. If you do not have this then insurance is the way to go. :thumb:

Ultimately it is down to you and everyones view on risk is different.

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These. I have 4 ponies and 4 buns. I dont insure, mostly because with the ponies (which i had long before buns), it costs an arm and a leg to insure, the excess is more than most claims you'd have and if they get anything wrong with them its then excluded after that (no lifetime cover policy option on equines) and illness cover stops at 20 (which is only middle aged for the breeds i have - they should live to around 40). In 10years of owning my ponies my vets bills have totalled less than £500 (thats less than the premium on my just big pony for a year). So it has worked out considerably cheaper not to insure (especially when you factor in that most of that 500 was in small thinhs that would have cost less than the excess anyway).

The rabbits, ive had for 3.5yrs, touching lots of wood, they have never needed a vet other than for routine vaccinations and neutering. When you think the premium to insure is around £120 per rabbit, per year and then excesses are around £55 per illness, thats a spending of £175 per year, per bun, if they do get ill and 120 even if they dont.

Ultimately its a gamble you could pay the 120ish per year for the life of bun and never have a big claim but you could not have insurance and spend thousands. If you decide to gamble the no isurance route you have to be prepared to pay (and have the means to pay) if your animal becomes sick. I know that if all else fails money wise my mom would be able to lend me the money and then i could pay her back slowly.

I made the decision to insure when I registered with a rabbit savvy vet as I realised she was much more likely to run diagnostic and do more complex treatments than my previous vets had done. My first realisation of this (before I got insurance!) was when Artie needed surgery on his bladder. The surgery cost £336 (4.5 years ago) and his ongoing care the the condition cost c £360 a year, pretty much for the rest of his life. He went on two years later to suffer kidney stones and treatment for that totalled £1,400, there were various stasis episodes in his lifetime adding up to maybe another £1,000. Soo, he cost about £4k in his lifetime, most of it not covered by insurance. I don't want to run the risk of any of the others costing that as I have 11 to consider now.

Tink, on the other hand, born in squallor and in a poor state when arrived at RSPCA care, now nearly six has only been treated for one 6 week long episode of snuffles and a couple of fairly minor stasis episodes. *touches wood*. The insurance premiums have definitely cost more than her treatment.

It's a total gamble and if funds can be found for the bills then there is no right or wrong, if not then insruance is essential in my humble opinion. But the crux for me is I have one of the best rabbit vets available to provide whatever treatment they require and I want to be sure I can fund it.

I wish I had insured earlier. I thought Doughnut was only young and would insure a bit later, unfortunately she had all this trouble for a year with her digestion and I've paid out over £2,000 and she is only 2. I'm now not covered for digestion as she is on long term metaclop. So annoying. The policy I am with covers dental after 2 years so have to wait for that.

I thought dental and digestion were the main things with rabbits but started a thread to ask people and there are so many more things they could get, so at least I'm covered for them.