Thursday morning at 6.30 we were woken by a crying Molly. OH went downstairs and she practically knocked him over in her rush to get into the garden where she did the lady dog squat. Then she did it 10 minutes later, and then 10 minutes later again. You get the picture. At 8.30, when the Vets opened I rang them and got an appointment for 10.10. The Vet diagnosed cystitis (as expected) and dispensed antibiotics. We passed on the anti inflammatory injection as he said the tablets would be in her system and working within the hour. She is no great fan of needles and sees the Vet,s as somewhere they take me to stick needles in me. She was improving by the afternoon. As I write she is sufficiently improved that I have to make a point of remembering to continue to medicate her. OK so it cost me £74, cannot say I am cheering about it but I feel lucky that my dog was so quickly restored to health. I also feel lucky that I can afford to pay for my dog's treatment. It must be awful to see a beloved pet suffer because you cannot afford to pay.
Ah Im glad you got her relief quickly and can see her improved she must have been awfully uncomfortable... Is she insured Tina? There's no such thing here (well very limited policy choice that dictates which vets you can use) I suppose there is an excess to pay though Isn't there ?x
It's good to know that you were able to sort out Molly's discomfort quickly. The down side is the cost - but it's worth it to get a quick appointment and to deal with a pet's suffering.
I never insure my pets for several reasons. 1. As your pet ages and is more likely to need Vetinary attention, rates rise. 2. There is always an excess to pay. 3. The Insurance Company exists to make money so the premiums will always be slanted to ensure that they take in more than they pay out. That is how all businesses work. 4. I like to be in control of my pets fete/health. I do believe that over the years I am in profit. I understand that people are nervous about 'the big bill'. I have encouraged my daughter who has three cats to simply open a bank account and put the money she would have paid in premiums, but she prefers to keep them insured.
So glad you got her seen and sorted so quickly. If something really, really seriously goes wrong, insurance is fabulous. Having seen the bills for Charlie's cruciate operations, I took the same policy for Betsy. I can pay the premiums for the rest of Charlie life and unless he lives to be 25 I'd still be up on the deal....
Poor Molly, really glad you were quick enough to get your girl sorted out. Hope she feels more like her old self very soon. xx Pet insurance is a very emotive subject as the insurance companies do tug at our heartstrings. Most of my friends do not have insurance and more and think I am mad for having it. They all have opened bank accounts and save the same amount of money the insurance would have cost, just in case. I have been on the verge of doing this myself. Hattie is 8 years and Charlie is 5 years, touch wood nothing serious has ever happened to either of them, but sods law dictates the minute I cancel it …. I sort of think also that having insurance persuades some owners to push the boundaries of medical intervention, sometimes for the very wrong reasons to keep a dog alive for themselves when maybe it should be relieved of it's pain. Just my own personal feelings and of course not everyones. xx
Glad you got Molly sorted out quickly, and she is on the mend! Casper would've cost us thousands recently, being admitted as an emergency at 5.30am on a Sunday morning, and staying in for nearly a week. All I can say is thank god for the insurance. They didn't quibble and paid the full amount minus £90 excess directly to veterinary hospital.
The stories of how insurance has helped you make me really nervous! I'm definitely one of those who would rather overpay on insurance to have the peace of mind. But, as it's not something that's available to us, there's not a lot I can do about it, but cross our fingers and keep enough money aside "just in case". Now we've bought property in Spain, I'll look at options there, but the fact is, we're still residents of Andorra, and that seems to be what matters.
I hope, very much, that in 5 years or so, I'll look at what I've paid for Betsy in insurance and think it the biggest waste of money ever - if you never have to call on a pet insurance policy, you are fortunate indeed! Only I won't think it a waste of money, because what I'm paying for is that peace of mind. I nearly didn't insure Charlie, when I looked at the pros and cons of doing so, but it turned out to be a great decision to get insurance. I think it makes sense to insure young dogs, particularly a breed that is known to have hip and elbow dysplasia etc in the gene pool. As the dog get older, and if problems don't emerge, and the premiums increase with the dog's age, it makes less sense.
Both mine are insured and all my previous dogs. I am sure we have given the insurance company loads of money as we haven't needed much yet (up to this moment) though I did have an epileptic dog who had a hip replacement and have just remembered that Drift broke his elbow at 16 weeks and had to go to a very expensive referral veterinary hospital for an operation! However, what we don't use money wise is helping other dogs and it does give peace of mind.
Only in the sense that if insurance companies didn't make money, no-one would be able to buy insurance because all the companies would have gone bust. Everyone paying into a big pot, and only those who need it taking out, is the NHS - not commercial insurance. The premiums are based on the risk your type/profile of dog presents, and are set at a level where, on average, insuring that type of dog makes a profit for the insurance company. If you don't claim when you should, for example, all you are doing is increasing the profit levels of the company, not leaving more money to help other dogs.
I never had insurance on my beloved Coco nor will I have it on my new puppy. I applied for a Care Credit card, good at the dentist for me and good at the vet for my pets. Each visit either me or pet is a separate billing on the credit card and depending on how much, they give you anywhere from six months to 24 months for each visit. If you pay the amount off in the time frame, there is no interest attached. I've been using it for probably five years or more and have never paid a penny of interest. I have dental insurance, but with implants it runs a ton of money and the Care Credit card lets you budget the expenses. I think it's terrific!!
Lucky us too @Mollly, Coco developed green goo in one eye on Saturday morning, by Sunday morning he'd spread it to the other eye. Managed to get a vet appointment on Monday morning - fluo stain revealed no corneal damage, given drops for conjunctivitis, and though he is difficult to medicate, both eyes looked much much better this morning after only 2 treatments. No insurance either, but we're lucky enough to be able to pay the £47. I feel we are well in profit over the years of dog ownership, but fully understand it is a gamble.
Of course. Casper is insured with pet plan on their classic option. It is expensive though at around £45 (off the top of my head) Without insurance he would have cost us around £5,000 to date in 18 months. For us it is a no brainier.
Petplan have came back with a quote today for £28.07 per month covered 4 life classic at £7000 per year would you say this is adequate enough cover ? What has casper had done that has cost so much ? did you have any issues with them paying your vet bills ? i am wary now of holly being so slow and stiff that there is an underlying issue and obviously i am not loaded with a money tree so want to make sure i have a good insurance policy as i think we are going to need it ! thanks Jen x
Hi yes I would say that is good cover. There have been no problems paying vet bills. Vets do like Petplan. We pay an excess of £90, then any bill that is over £400 is paid directly to the vet, varies I think from practice to practice. Casper had some Xrays under GA to investigate stiffness in his back and hips. He is also is on medication. initially Onisor for pain relief, and also Yumove advance. After about a month they tapered off the Onisor as he was improving so much. He is on a high dose of quality salmon oil for the omega 3. He has absolutely no stiffness and will tackle small jumps, ie walls, jumping ditches etc. The biggest factor I would say is weight loss and controlled exercise. We enrich his walks with scent work, tuggy games, puzzles and impulse control games, (which he is fairly poor at but finds enormously entertaining!) the occasional soft retrieve..no ball chuckers or frisbees. Casper has had a stomach infection, he had LOTS of tests for that as they suspected something more sinister. Plus more recently life-threatening pneumonia leading to intensive care. He was in doggie hospital for a week with initially a very poor prognosis. That really ramped up the costs!
god he has been in the wars !! i have went with the petplan insurance holly is almost 6 but walks like an old girl she has the energy when she sees a rabbit shes off but suffers for ages after and sleeps i have her on 400grams of food a day the packaging says 300-480 she is a big girl though so dont want to starve her too much and she is getting no treats at all other than a carrott i have her on 15/20 min short walks 3/4 times thru the day ON THE LEAD (our area is overrun with rabbits !) feel terrible as she is so good off the lead but know it is for the best in the meantime she isn't yelping or showing signs of pain other than being stiff after lying down she walks up steps proplerly with no bunny hopping so will persevere with short regular walks the diet and the yumove tabs for a couple weeks and if no improvement will take her to the vet for investigations she had a cut pad in 2012 but the lady at petplan checked with the underwriters and there are no exlcusions applied to her policy for this j x
and by steps i mean the 1 step at my back door or the 2 half steps into the garden she by no means climbs stairs
