does anyone not have rabbit insurance?

I know all the pros for having insurance but I was wondering if anyone chooses not to. Ive realised that my insurance costs me about £460 a year! Scary x

moi said:

I know all the pros for having insurance but I was wondering if anyone chooses not to. Ive realised that my insurance costs me about £460 a year! Scary x

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I didn't have insurance and Dumplin RIP my little one cost me about £600 in 3 months :shock:

Other two are soon to be insured just sorting the best one out

However his problem was dental and these aren't covered by many :roll:

Around £1000 here over 5 months for vet and transport without

I Don't have Rabbit insurance but it is a bit of a gamble, I am lucky enough to have savings that can easily cover any vet bills but if you have limited resources then insurance does mean that the funds are there when needed.

Insurance can be looked at as a bit of a savings plan in a way but for me the cost does not work out as I have a pot of monies put to one side to cover any unforeseen circumstances so in a way am self insured.

Ether way you take your chances I guess, as the saying goes " You pays your money and you take your choices"

I haven't got my 2 insured but have put some money aside for emergency use - I've already had to take them both after 1 choking and 1 going into stasis). It's a gamble not having insurance.
Luckily with joey I didn't have to take him to the vets for about 7 years :shock: he had his initial vaccination and 1 booster as well as a nail clip but I didn't think he had to be vaccinated as he was an only rabbit :roll: I took him for a check up as i was worried about his ears, and he started to act differently just as he turned 8 and it turned out he needed a dental so I had him neutered (turned out he had a suspected tumour as well) while he was under, that totalled about £500 in all. So had I had joey insured I would have wasted a lot on insurance but I know it's just luck of the drawer really.

I would be absolutely terrified if I didn't have my 5 buns insured. £46 per month is so worth it for complete peace of mind that the bills will be paid without any worry or hardship to myself.

Dipsy had a mad binky and crashed into the lounge wall on new years day, which incured a bill of £453 for emergency treatment, GA and skull x-rays, in Feb, Stuart developed an abscess behind his eye costing £630 for surgery and meds etc, and then in June the cost for treating pasterella, and then bunny having a stroke was £1600!!

You really are taking a massive gamble not insuring your buns unless you have got funds of £2000 approx immediately available per bun.

When I was at the vets last week with Dipsy, a lady was in there with her rabbit and was absolutely distraught because she'd just been quoted £400 for initial investigation, tests and x-rays, and then £600 for the surgery that would then be required, and she was going to have to pts because of not being able to afford the bills.

I felt so sorry for her, but apparently she only had the one bun, and so her insurance would have been under £10 per month, and she would still have her bun now.

At the moment my 3 aren't insured, I just put money aside each month in my bun fund. Out of interest which insurers do people recommend for bunnies?

I have never had it in all my years (over 10) of rabbit keeping. I put money aside instead. Only when my rabbits have become elderly and developed chronic conditions, have regular vet fees become a feature but as I said, I put by for that and so far, fingers crossed, its been fine.

I think personally it's always worth it, unless, as RR999 says, you can have a fair bit of money (I'd not want any less than a grand per bun, ideally more) reserved in case of sudden illness or a reccuring illness. I'd never go without it myself - I pay £7.90 a month for Alfie, that's £94.80 a year which, in the grand scheme of things, is peanuts.

For example - Alfie cost me £700 in one day's worth of tests/treatment. Let's say I'd reserved £1000 for him for the year. If then, two months later, he got stasis and needed hospitalizing and treating, that would be my entire allowance gone. With insurance, I'd have another thousand left. In not quite three years of having Alf, I'd say we've spent between £3000 and £3500 on him, with that cost still rising! Had I not have had insurance, I would have had to put him down as I couldn't have afforded the treatment.

Another of my bunnies cost me £1300+ in six weeks, and even though I had to have her pts, insurance bought me some precious time left with her. To say the year's insurance cost us just £100, it was so well worth it. It's just peace of mind, IMO.

If you're struggling for money, could you change to cheaper insurers?

We don't, but we're lucky to have enough money to pay it straight away I guess. Poppy cost £200 with 3 emergency vet trips and a load of meds etc, Kerbie cost £70 last week and is going back tomorrow. I have 3 oldies who are the poorly ones so wouldn't be covered for anything really as they've had so many problems health wise.
Donny and Lola are healthy other than needing dentals sometimes so wouldn't be covered and for both of them it's usually about £80 with meds.
Charley is the only really healthy one .. :lol:

I have one of my three insured, he's a frenchie and I know large rabbits are particularly prone to health problems.

For most people, insurance won't pay. That's just how it works. BUT if you end up with a huge bill or a very ill rabbit then it can save you a huge amount.
We would have spent something like £2k on insurance in the time we've had our rabbits, and wouldn't have made a single claim. They've been to the vets for various things but it's never been more than the excess.

I'm with helpucover for Mack. It's currently only £6 per month and he had dental spurs when we got him so whichever insurer we went with he would have had dental excluded.

No, mine aren't insured. Ted was too old to insure when I got him, Cupcake has pre-existing health conditions which wouldn't be covered (recurring stasis and snuffles) and like BattleKat, any other vet trips I've had to make, *touch wood*, haven't cost more than the excess would be. I find it easier to put money aside each month.

I would never bother with it for rabbits, personally. There are always so many exclusions. I'd always rather have a bank account for keeping money aside for vet bills.

If I had a dog or a cat, I'd definitely have insurance, but that's because veterinary medicine is so much more advanced for them, plus you've probably got more chance of them getting injured by being out and about.

All you people saying you've been to the vets and never had to pay much/more than what the excess would be just makes me really jealous :lol: I don't think I've ever had a vet visit less than £45, excluding vaccinations :shock: they tend to be at least £75, if not £100 each time :roll:

We have 3 out of 4 insured - hedging our bets!

Truffle and Fudge (nethies) are insured and although financially it might not have been worth it, with the regularity that they've had issues I think it's worth it for the peace of mind. Kyla (lionhead) is also insured. When we got her she was very skinny and she has subsequently had teeth issues which have been covered - I just feel uneasy about her robustness overall, especially as we don't know her history as she was found as a stray.

Tully isn't insured. He's a big lolloping cross-breed and I just don't really have any concerns about him. It'll be sod's law he'll go and break his leg and cost us thousands! As others have said though, we can afford it - I really just have the insurance to smooth everything out I guess - I'd probably be better off overall having a separate savings account for them.

I've not got insurance and luckily over the 5-6 years of rabbit keeping it's been cheaper not to. Ludo has been poorly quite a bit and it's still been cheaper to pay as the bills come up. :wave:

SarahP said:

I would never bother with it for rabbits, personally. There are always so many exclusions. I'd always rather have a bank account for keeping money aside for vet bills.

If I had a dog or a cat, I'd definitely have insurance, but that's because veterinary medicine is so much more advanced for them, plus you've probably got more chance of them getting injured by being out and about.

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I took completely the opposite view to this (sorry). I've not found a problem with exclusions. I've also been lucky to not have a lot of dental bunnies, so maybe I would have come across more exclusions if I had. Shadow needed his incisors burring, which fell below the excess value anyway. He had his incisors removed and would have been covered for that (had I been charged for it). Erin had a tooth root abscess removed, which was covered. That's the only dental treatment I've encountered in recent years.

I actually take the view that veterinary medicine is now advanced for rabbits so it is worth having insurance. It was when I moved to a vet who would run diagnostics and offer complex treatment that I realised the value of insuring them.

I am having issue with Pet Plan at the moment who have decided one stasis episode is "gut pain" and another "stasis" are different conditions and therefore a separate excess have been charged - £100. I'm seriously considering cancelling my insurance if they start nit picking over stasis episodes being 'a different condition'.:evil: Esme costs nearly £200 a year to insure and two stasis episodes in one year have cost £200 each - each having taken the excess off is taking the Michael.

There's just the stuff like complications after neutering to consider but otherwise *touches loads of wood* I've done better financially with insurance than I would have done without insurance (even with 10+ rabbits).

My boy isn't insured - I just put money away from my salary every month to cover any medical costs and it works for me.

I dont insure any of my animals or possessions. I have had to pay a few hundred here and there on vets bills but all my animals are young and healthy except Mottle who gets tooth spurs.

Its a gambol but I would rather just put a bit of money to one side than pay a regular amount to the insurance companies.

Each to their own.

Bunny Buddy said:

I actually take the view that veterinary medicine is now advanced for rabbits so it is worth having insurance. It was when I moved to a vet who would run diagnostics and offer complex treatment that I realised the value of insuring them.

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Depends what you are comparing it against, really. I am thinking along the lines of it being nowhere near as complex (and therefore expensive) as for cats and dogs.

When I had rabbits my vets had a scheme where you paid monthly and got a % off the consultation prices, surgery etc. I took this up, but probably didn't really benefit from it (much as they were regularly attending the vets), as there was no money off medications. It was good not to have to deal with insurance companies though.