Pet insurance to buy or not to buy?

Hi All

Having just adopted two 12 week adorable bunnies I am still thinking about the pros and cons of getting pet insurance for them. Having looked into a couple of policies I am wondering whether it is worth it as they don't seem to cover a lot of small things and often have excesses of £50 or more to put you off claiming. Currently I have worked out that if I put aside £20 per month into my bunny account I will have a nice lump sum built up eventually should emergency treatment be needed in the future. At least this way its not like just giving the money away if I don't claim. Is this sensible?

I think so, you could pop it into a high interest savings account to build on what you put in. I haven't insured Charlie but I have an emergency credit card should any expensive treatment be needed.

The only thing you have to think of is what if something happens and your faced with a £300+ vet bill in the next couple of months -could you afford it?

Not saying this will happen but thats how I summed it up, I think I will insure mine when I've adopted a second one and had a good look round insurance providers and read all of the small print.

Also am I right in saying that some insurers expect you to settle the vets bill yourself then claim it back?

i have always been very pro-insurance and have 6 of my 7 insured (£40 per month), but now i am starting to look at it in a different light.

the usual excess is £55 for pet protect who i insure with. if i had saved up £50 per month (for 7 bunnies though, not 2 - £20 should be fine) over the time i'd had all my bunnies - then nearly every single treatment could have been covered by my savings. and like you say, routine vaccinations & neutering isnt covered.

i have only had one instance where i really would have been scuppered by treatment and that was for £900 for a retrobulbar abscess. i feel that having insurance then gave me peace of mind that Gus would get the best treatment.

i have found insurance useful too when both Zeb & Frida had GI Stasis in the same weekend and treatment came to about £400.

the reason im now questioning the usefulness of insurance is that my insurance doesnt cover parisitic infections - which also covers EC (and I think one of my bunnies has this) so her future treatment might not be covered by insurance. i didnt read the small print really with the insurance and didnt realise the implications of this.

if you are going to be disciplined enough to save £20 or £30 per month then you probably will be ok, as long as you could get access to a larger amount for (very rare probably) emergencies.

Sarah86 said:

Also am I right in saying that some insurers expect you to settle the vets bill yourself then claim it back?

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i think its actually at the vets discretion. most insurers offer the option of only paying the excess and having the claim paid directly to the vet.

my vets let me pay the excess and have the rest paid from the insurance company to them. but when i took Gus for his treatment in Harrogate I had to pay the full amount up front, and then the insurers paid out straight to me.

pet insurance - to buy or not to buy

Thanks guys, the advice is useful and gives me something to think about. There aren't many policies out there which cover rabbits but it is worth getting as many quotes as possible and reading the small print if this is the option some of you go for. I am still debating... but I think the regular saving seems to make better financial sense long term.

I save up £10 a month to cover routine vaccinations, which works quite well.

I would have insured my lot but then I read the small print that said they wouldn't be covered for any illnesses they have already had. Mine are prone to GI Stasis, so this wouldn't have been covered.