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Rabbit insurance for 6 plus?

Bunny Buddy said:
Yeah, it's a nightmare getting the right balance. I cancelled insurance on two of my elderlies as the Petplan premiums had got really high - it was nearly £600 a year for just the two rabbits. The main deciding factor was that as well as high premiums the excesses were over £100 +20%.. I thought both high premiums and excesses was taking the Mick. I also figured I'd be unlikely to pay for anything invasive anyway given their age and neither had ailed of anything much in their lifetimes... I needed to have a bill of £400 a year for each of them to break even on what I was paying for peace of mind. In the subsequent two years Tink cost me £300 so the gamble won. For Esme about a month after I cancelled she needed surgery that cost £400, so broke even the first year.. the second year she needed blockage surgery ... £900 (and died within 10 days!).

Another thing that made me too scared to cancel on my other rabbits was out of hours fees. While the vet I was using at the time had very low OOH fees I couldn't guarantee that staying the same at it had a new owner and they didn't cover all of their own out of hours anyway. 6 months ago they contracted out their OOH and I had a run of paying £700 for a few stasis episodes OOH. Thank God I kept them insured.

There's just so much to weigh up. If I only had c2-6 bunnies I probably won't have insurance but as 4 of mine all needed OOH in the course of a month the risk factor was greater with 20+ so I sleep easier with insurance...
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That's given me a lot to think about, was very helpful thank you :)

Yea my vets OOH is with vets now.. But they have no exotics cover and the location is really far from me (vet is already not near by and their OOH is a bit of a trek for local people to surgey, so for me it's even worse [emoji38]) I think depending on the time its 200 just to see someone? Madness. Especially when I have a different 24 hour vets 10 mins away with equally as bad care... [emoji38] I wish there was good exotic OOH care, if pay anything for that. Last time one of my buns had stasis I asked what I should do, as in take my bun to OOH and my vet said it was kinda pointless because no one would be an exotic vet probs. And they actually advised I go to the other place if I needed to.. So yea.. [emoji38] They don't charge anything extra and are 24 hours, so if I need pain killers or gut stimulants I'm okay, I just hope everything else can wait til the morning honestly :(

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Year 2018 I've had six stasis episodes the insurance paid for that (4 where out of hours admission, x rays, bloods too) and 2017 a ear oblation surgery to pay for (that bunny was not insured). Thousands.... 2016 Previously EC bladder problem bunny also not insured. I find crazy people are possibly not considering insurance. Rabbits are so fragile and in my experience really really expensive. Maples with pet plan and that's like 11 pounds a month? Yeah you might loose some years but ultimately most people will need it at some point in a bunnys life surely

Also with Agria we get 2500 limit and Toby was up to 2,000 but still had the 500 ready for us if we needed it

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loobers25 said:
Year 2018 I've had six stasis episodes the insurance paid for that (4 where out of hours admission, x rays, bloods too) and 2017 a ear oblation surgery to pay for (that bunny was not insured). Thousands.... 2016 Previously EC bladder problem bunny also not insured. I find crazy people are possibly not considering insurance. Rabbits are so fragile and in my experience really really expensive. Maples with pet plan and that's like 11 pounds a month? Yeah you might loose some years but ultimately most people will need it at some point in a bunnys life surely

Also with Agria we get 2500 limit and Toby was up to 2,000 but still had the 500 ready for us if we needed it

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I guess I'm adding up what it cost for stasis in the past. So xray was like £70 IIRC and the meds were like £20 max? And consult £30? Mine can't keep them in, so that's all it cost, it was then repeated a few days that week, but that was all.

Idk about the ear surgery, I guess things like that (unknowns) could be a reason to go for it :) clementines knees weren't cheap though [emoji38] or her many, many xrays afterwards bless her.

I guess I just don't wanna throw money away unnecessarily, which is why I'm hesitant :) I think I'll get a quote and see later though

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Wally was 9 when he had an operation, it cost £1000, it would have cost £2000 if he had survived. Insurance would have paid for it. Lilly 11, has had complex diagnostics this year which cost hundreds. At one point we were considering an MRI. Roo, 11, has had a lot of money spent on her this year too with her arthritis. There's no way I would consider cancelling the insurance.

The excess does go up, but the premiums only go up in line with all rabbits. They don't charge you more because you rabbits is old.

Too many people think of pet insurance on a personal basis, whether they have claimed more than they paid in. But you don't get upset if your house doesn't burn down and your home insurance wasn't needed. Most of the premiums you are paying go towards treating rabbits, you're just lucky if they aren't your rabbits.
 
Stator said:
Wally was 9 when he had an operation, it cost £1000, it would have cost £2000 if he had survived. Insurance would have paid for it. Lilly 11, has had complex diagnostics this year which cost hundreds. At one point we were considering an MRI. Roo, 11, has had a lot of money spent on her this year too with her arthritis. There's no way I would consider cancelling the insurance.

The excess does go up, but the premiums only go up in line with all rabbits. They don't charge you more because you rabbits is old.

Too many people think of pet insurance on a personal basis, whether they have claimed more than they paid in. But you don't get upset if your house doesn't burn down and your home insurance wasn't needed. Most of the premiums you are paying go towards treating rabbits, you're just lucky if they aren't your rabbits.
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Insurance is more for older rabbits. If I took a policy out now on a 1-2 year old rabbit with Petplan it would be in the region of £160. Erin, aged 11, her premium is over £300.

Re the house insurance comparison: I certainly don't get upset if my rabbits aren't ill and the insurance isn't needed - I've lost 5 rabbits this year and come pretty close with some of the others, so every time I renew a policy that wasn't used I breathe a sigh of relief. But that said, I do have to take a business-type approach to it - if I was spending £5k a year on premiums, year in and year out and only getting pay outs of £1k then it's simply not a good choice.
 
Stator said:
Wally was 9 when he had an operation, it cost £1000, it would have cost £2000 if he had survived. Insurance would have paid for it. Lilly 11, has had complex diagnostics this year which cost hundreds. At one point we were considering an MRI. Roo, 11, has had a lot of money spent on her this year too with her arthritis. There's no way I would consider cancelling the insurance.

The excess does go up, but the premiums only go up in line with all rabbits. They don't charge you more because you rabbits is old.

Too many people think of pet insurance on a personal basis, whether they have claimed more than they paid in. But you don't get upset if your house doesn't burn down and your home insurance wasn't needed. Most of the premiums you are paying go towards treating rabbits, you're just lucky if they aren't your rabbits.
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Yea I take your point :)

For me the house insurance one is different to me, there's no way I could find that kinda money to re build my house - that'd be a nightmare [emoji38]

Whereas a few grand for an op is different to me.

Not saying my Rabbits don't mean a lot to me though... They're my world :') just I'm trying to weigh up which is more cost effective I guess.

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Bunny Buddy said:
Insurance is more for older rabbits. If I took a policy out now on a 1-2 year old rabbit with Petplan it would be in the region of £160. Erin, aged 11, her premium is over £300.

Re the house insurance comparison: I certainly don't get upset if my rabbits aren't ill and the insurance isn't needed - I've lost 5 rabbits this year and come pretty close with some of the others, so every time I renew a policy that wasn't used I breathe a sigh of relief. But that said, I do have to take a business-type approach to it - if I was spending £5k a year on premiums, year in and year out and only getting pay outs of £1k then it's simply not a good choice.
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This is interesting, so they do increase as they age a bit, thanks :)

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Well I got a quote, all 4 of them for a year is £750, which is about £60 a month. And that's with the lifetime cover if I renew every year.

Only thing that confused me a bit, was I obviously put that Clementine had knee surgery, so am I just to assume I can never claim for her knees? Or anything that could potentially be related to her knees?

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Graciee said:
Well I got a quote, all 4 of them for a year is £750, which is about £60 a month. And that's with the lifetime cover if I renew every year.

Only thing that confused me a bit, was I obviously put that Clementine had knee surgery, so am I just to assume I can never claim for her knees? Or anything that could potentially be related to her knees?

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Yes, when you get the paperwork through it will give the exact wording of the exclusion.
When I insured Joey, they added a huge exclusion because he had had a wound on his neck, like a graze. I wrote a letter of complaint because I thought the insurance was worthless because the exclusion was so broad. They asked to see his medical history, so we printed that out and sent it to them, and they removed the exclusion altogether.
So if you are not happy with the exclusion they add on, it's worth asking them to review it. I think when an underwriter looks at the medical history of the rabbit, they can be more specific about what sort of conditions might be linked.
 
Stator said:
Yes, when you get the paperwork through it will give the exact wording of the exclusion.
When I insured Joey, they added a huge exclusion because he had had a wound on his neck, like a graze. I wrote a letter of complaint because I thought the insurance was worthless because the exclusion was so broad. They asked to see his medical history, so we printed that out and sent it to them, and they removed the exclusion altogether.
So if you are not happy with the exclusion they add on, it's worth asking them to review it. I think when an underwriter looks at the medical history of the rabbit, they can be more specific about what sort of conditions might be linked.
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Hmm Idk if I'm happy to pay for something without seeing the exclusions tbh [emoji38] with my house insurance which has exclusions it was all agreed and signed before I bought the policy... Maybe I'll contact them and see..? Idk

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Remember you have a cooling off period, so you can always cancel if you're not happy with it and get a refund.
 
loobers25 said:
I find crazy people are possibly not considering insurance. Rabbits are so fragile
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I have seven now and have always had high numbers and never insured as it wasn’t worth, it still isn’t for me. My cats are insured though

I must also be the only person that doesn’t find rabbits to be as fragile as people describe them to be.

In 20 plus years of having them I’ve only ever had two out of hours appointments, both were for existing conditions that suddenly took a turn for the worst. One was my disabled girl having a seizure and the other was when we had four young buns with coccidiosis


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Gem said:
I have seven now and have always had high numbers and never insured as it wasn’t worth, it still isn’t for me. My cats are insured though

I must also be the only person that doesn’t find rabbits to be as fragile as people describe them to be


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Where do you source your buns from? [emoji38] I want these hardy buns!

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Gem said:
I have seven now and have always had high numbers and never insured as it wasn’t worth, it still isn’t for me. My cats are insured though

I must also be the only person that doesn’t find rabbits to be as fragile as people describe them to be.

In 20 plus years of having them I’ve only ever had two out of hours appointments, both were for existing conditions that suddenly took a turn for the worst. One was my disabled girl having a seizure and the other was when we had four young buns with coccidiosis


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That's amazing Gem.

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