Usually there will be an excess on the Policy, so the client has to pay, for example, the first £50.00 of any claim submitted. So routine 'one off' consultations are unlikely to be covered. Things like neutering and vaccination are not covered either, nor is any grooming/clipping unless part of the management of a specific health problem and added on to a claim for overall treatment of said health problem. Dental problems may not always be covered either. The best thing to do is to obtain information from various Insurance Companies to see exactly what each one will cover. They all differ to some extent.
Where insurance becomes an essential (IMO) is for covering Emergency out-of-hours treatment for an acute illness. An out of hours consult can cost upwards of £100 before you even walk into the consulting room. Add to that any medication given and any hospitalisation that may be needed then an acute illness that comes on during your Vets out-of-hours time and you could be looking at a bill of over £300-£400.
Then there are things like diagnostics and surgery. Should a Rabbit need a CT scan, blood tests and then complicated surgery a bill of four figures would not be too much of a surprise.
To be honest I do think Insurance is an essential these days, unless the owner has access to substantial funds to cover all eventualities.
Jane, I agree with you.
Rabbitacid, my rabbits were perfectly healthy for the first 18 months of their lives and then Thumper came down with colic/stasis and has done regularly ever since. If she hadn't been insured, we may not still have her as the vet bills are so expensive.
So far in this insurance year we have claimed:
August 2015 £312.23
Sept 2015 £174.19
Dec 2015 £469.12
She also had 2 episodes last week - one on Monday, recovered, seemed fine, but went downhill again on Saturday so off we went again. Not sure how much they will cost but consultation fee is around £30 each time, plus a painkilling/gut stimulant jab each time. So added to the above is approximately £150?
So in total, in 4 months alone, Thumper would have cost us £1,105.
Can you afford that?
I can't.
That's why I strongly recommend you get your bunny/bunnies insured. It's only about £10-£15 per month per rabbit and look what we've claimed! As it's in one insurance year as well I've only had to pay out the excess of £50 once because it's a continuation illness.
She's only covered for £2,000 per year and there's 7 months to go. Fingers crossed there's no more overnight stays as it's those which are the expensive side of it, to be honest.
My friend's rabbit jumped out of its cage awkwardly and broke its back. An operation put it back together but they weren't insured and it cost them a small fortune.
I would never have a pet and not have it insured.
I even enquired about insuring the hamster :lol:
