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Insuring Your Dog

I wanted to spend a few minutes sharing my thoughts on the subject of dog insurance.

All of my dogs were always insured while we were living in the UK and my total monthly premiums were less than £12 per dog. Sadly dog insurance is in its infancy here in Switzerland where we now live so I have yet to find insurance for them, but this is something I hope to remedy in the near future.

Jack and George used to be with DBI, and although they were pretty good at paying up, as soon as George turned eight the premiums increased dramatically and the excess also nearly doubled. All of this information was in the small print on our original contract, but I hadn't taken the time to read it properly. Well, who ever does?

I assumed that because George was now eight I would never find another company to take him on, but on the off chance I contacted a broker who specialises in pet insurance (VIP - Vet Insurance Protector, and their number is 01642 714880). The service is free, and you give them all your details and they then access a whole variety of plans and advise you on what is best. They will get different quotes based on the cover you want (e.g. lifetime cover for all illness) or the price you can afford. The broker gets a commission from the companies, which is why it doesn't cost you, but they seem really open and up front about things, and have never failed to get me a great deal. They even managed to get a good policy for Jerry who was 11 years old when he came to live with us. I had spent ages looking around, and came up with what I thought was a good policy, but VIP found an even better one. One word of caution though would be to check with your vet once you have found a policy. In one instance VIP recommend a company that my vet assured me were notorious for not paying up. I went back to VIP with this information, and they then found me another policy, which was a little more expensive but in the long run better value.

Personally, I would never risk not having mine insured. In 1999 George cut his leg out walking. George being George managed to sever a tendon and artery, and the initial emergency surgery (out of hours of course) cost just over £1000. He then developed complications (ulcers, infections etc) which cost another few hundred. Once the initial injury healed he required physiotherapy to prevent the tendon contracting. Because he was insured I was able to also use complimentary therapies alongside traditional ones, without having to worry about cost. We explored acupuncture and homeopathy. He was limping for several months and this caused back problems which were easily sorted, but required several trips to an osteopath at £30 pound a time. All in all the entire saga cost over £2000.

While this was going on Jack ran through a barbed wire fence. Nothing too serious, but stitches, medication, and follow up all came to a little over £300. I guess what I am trying to say is that you can never predict what will happen with any dog (particularly greys!) Clearly when George was bleeding to death I wasn't about to consider cost, but later on in his treatment I felt there were more options available to me.

I know how much everyone loves their dogs, and when it is a matter of life and death you will always find the money for essential treatment, but it can be a real worry, particularly at a time when you are also worried about your injured pet. Even if I never claim on my insurance again it has already paid for itself with just those two incidents.

I know another way to approach this problem is to put aside a regular amount of money on a monthly basis. Based on a monthly saving scheme, at the time of George's accident, if I had been putting aside the premiums I had so far paid out I would have had £210, which wouldn't have gone very far towards a final bill of £2000.

As I have multiple dogs to insure I have opted for policies that only pay out for 12 months after the start of an illness or injury. This does mean I am not covered for long-term illnesses, but it keeps the monthly premiums affordable.

I would highly recommend pet insurance to everyone, but then maybe my dogs are just particularly accident prone!

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