Bunny Buddy
Wise Old Thumper
I've been chewing over whether to keep my now rather expensive Petplan insurances for the over-7 year olds .. I'm now totally happy with my decision to keep them... I don't feel stuck with them, I've come to the decision that I am wanting to keep them going rather than too scared to cancel them. Mainly on discussion with FHB and she made me realise that my seven year olds potentially could have a quite a few years left.
Although on balance from analysing information it doesn't really seem that older bunnies are more prone to the expensive ailments than the younger ones, so the higher premiums seem out of proportion, with rabbits anyway.
The expensive illnesses/injuries that I factored in where:
Broken limbs
Ear canal resection (mainly given that all my older bunnies are lops)
Abscesses generally (some need a long hospitalisation afterwards)
Gut blockage requiring surgery
Recurrent stasis (this not being one big bill but several medium ones).
(They were the main ones but of course kidney disease and others could be in there but not as high risk as the others.)
I decided anything over £400 was worth insuring for. Strangely enough (without spending a long time analysing) FHB said her experience of blockages needing surgery tended to be younger rabbits (though she may have thought of some older bunnies since the discussion)
So, I decided given the balance of probabilities I'd rather have the insurance even though they are only paying 80% of the bill.
So, a quick calculation of the last 12 months of all my 16 rabbits - 10 insured with Pets at Home, 6 with Petplan.
Total premiums apx £1,800
Total claim payouts apx £3,400 :shock::shock:
Wow. I didn't think I'd done so well from having insurance this year :shock: I knew I'd 'broken even' but didn't realise how much better off I was. That was from a total of 20 claims
Oh, and I also asked Petplan about exclusions as I want the best value I can get out of the insurance and it's definitely worth asking - Rudy's exclusion for gastro-intestinal can be cleared as he hasn't been treated for it for over 12 months (I swear I had asked before and was told this wouldn't ever be lifted!). He's nt had an episode for over 3 years but given that he's a rabbit ....
Although on balance from analysing information it doesn't really seem that older bunnies are more prone to the expensive ailments than the younger ones, so the higher premiums seem out of proportion, with rabbits anyway.
The expensive illnesses/injuries that I factored in where:
Broken limbs
Ear canal resection (mainly given that all my older bunnies are lops)
Abscesses generally (some need a long hospitalisation afterwards)
Gut blockage requiring surgery
Recurrent stasis (this not being one big bill but several medium ones).
(They were the main ones but of course kidney disease and others could be in there but not as high risk as the others.)
I decided anything over £400 was worth insuring for. Strangely enough (without spending a long time analysing) FHB said her experience of blockages needing surgery tended to be younger rabbits (though she may have thought of some older bunnies since the discussion)
So, I decided given the balance of probabilities I'd rather have the insurance even though they are only paying 80% of the bill.
So, a quick calculation of the last 12 months of all my 16 rabbits - 10 insured with Pets at Home, 6 with Petplan.
Total premiums apx £1,800
Total claim payouts apx £3,400 :shock::shock:
Wow. I didn't think I'd done so well from having insurance this year :shock: I knew I'd 'broken even' but didn't realise how much better off I was. That was from a total of 20 claims
Oh, and I also asked Petplan about exclusions as I want the best value I can get out of the insurance and it's definitely worth asking - Rudy's exclusion for gastro-intestinal can be cleared as he hasn't been treated for it for over 12 months (I swear I had asked before and was told this wouldn't ever be lifted!). He's nt had an episode for over 3 years but given that he's a rabbit ....
Last edited:
