Hi guys

There have been a few posts about insurance lately so I thought I'd share our experiences.

We're with Petplan. They're not cheap (I wince when I see the statements) especially for three dogs, but I've had no problem claiming. Our vets also has an agreement with Petplan so all we need do is pay the excess and sign the odd claim form and the vets arrange all the rest of the payment with Petplan. We get the occasional letter from Petplan telling us what they've paid but there's no hassle.

I was just musing over how costly insurance was when our poor boy Shandy had a terrible accident last month. He was chasing a pigeon in the garden with Missie and ran sideways into a birdbath, doing a lot of damage to his hind leg. He didn't break it but the injuries to the soft tissue were so awful that the receptionist at the vets said she'd never seen anything like it in her 10 years there (I won't describe them in detail ).

We nearly lost him, but the vets were wonderful and he had an emergency operation that night (I am presuming they automatically did it as they knew we were insured as the cost was astronomical). He lost all his personality and "bounce" and was in a very sorry state for some time. Several visits later (he's now a firm favourite at the vets and we're always bumping into other greys there who "are one of Celia's") he is on the mend with just a small wound nearly healed, but it's been an awful experience as we love our big boy so much.

So what we try to do now is scare off pigeons in the garden before letting the dogs out - we have also knocked down the birdbath.

So it is worth thinking about insurance. We would have paid whatever was needed to save our darling boy, but the insurance has saved me a few thousand. It remains to be seen how much the premium will go up on renewal (it renews next month!).