Hi Everyone,
I have just adopted the lovely Stanley who I am collecting on Friday- very excited! Can anyone advise me on insurance - any good companies, rough prices,etc. Thanks everyone.

Hi Fiona,

Firstly, congratulations on adopting the handsome Stanley

We have had Bootsie for 2.5 years, and he is now 6 years old. We had a previous pet (a house rabbit!) insured with Pet Plan, and always found them extremely helpful and efficient - when Bootsie arrived, therefore, we went straight to Pet Plan. They have various levels of Insurance - we went for their Ultimate Life Cover, and pay £41.77 per month. I know that you can get Insurance a lot cheaper, however, we would highly recommend Pet Plan.

All the very best ... wishing you all a very happy future together.

Susan, Mo & Bootsie x

Thanks Susan-what a nice reply. I think I'll go with pet plan then and keep enjoying your grey too

You'll probably find that most vets do not deal with most insurance companies direct - they will expect you to pay for any treatment in full and reclaim your costs from your insurer. If this is an issue for you then your best bet is to speak to your vet to see if there is anyone they will deal with direct.

As with any insurance there is a lot to consider such as claim limits, excesses, exclusions etc so you need to balance cost against benefit. Some people prefer to self insure, i.e. put aside the money they might pay for insurance and use it for any unexpected vet bills. We found Tesco were the cheapest and they have been fine with the couple of claims we needed to make, settling up in a few weeks each time.

Hi Fiona,

We have never had insurance for any of our dogs, the premiums are extortionate and we have instead as Steve said, put the money away ourselves in a high interest savigs account, (there are still some about). Just imagine if you put just £30 a month away, in one year you would have £360 plus interest, surely enough for most vet bills.

Congratulations on getting Stanley, we saw him when we were up there visiting Jimmy and Celia in May.

John & Marilyn.

Hi again Fiona,

Our vet (also GRF's vet) in Rosyth, Vetrica, deal with Pet Plan directly which is great.

Also a word of warning, and let's hope it never happens with Stanley, but Bootsie has recently had Pancreatitis and has had bloods taken and various courses of medication and, whilst I appreciate what it being said, £360 would not have gone very far. The great thing about the Pet Plan Ultimate Lifetime cover is that you only pay one excess per year for the same condition ... we paid £90.00, and the rest is taken care of - up to £12,000! Even if, God forbid, Bootsie were to suffer another attack of Pancreatitis, we wouldn't have to pay for any further treatment this year.

Perhaps we are over-wary, but we feel more comfortable knowing that the cover is there if an operation were ever needed.

All that having been said, let's hope Stanley has a long and happy life, and his visits to the vet are only for his boosters!

Hope we've been of some help!

Enjoy Stanley - they are wonderful pets, as you are already finding out

Susan & Mo x

Thanks for all the information everyone-really helpful- only two sleeps to go till Stanley arrives now.We've bought him a lovely comfy bed but i'm sure he'll be heading straight for the sofa!

.... or your bed, as Bootsie did! Funnily enough, after the first night he slept in his own bed every night, and still does He occasionally graces us with his presence about 6am if it's cold in the hall

Enjoy ......

Will hopefully meet you at one of the monthly walks.

Susan, Mo & Bootsie xxx

I've got a Tesco insurance policy which is quite basic (conditions are covered for 1 year only) but it's done me well with my current 2 dogs and my previous mutts too.

In fact I think we've claimed more than we've paid every year and the premiums have hardly gone up. We only pay £25 a month in total for 2 dogs.

We don't have health insurance for our two and it would be too expensive to get it now due to their age. I did take out Dog's Trust £25 annual membership which includes 3rd party insurance which means if either of our two cause an accident, we're covered for up to £1 million with a £200 excess. Hopefully, we'll never need it but it's good to know it's there!

Chris & Chris,
I do the same as you - with 5 dogs aged 8,9,10,11 & 13, it would be a joke trying to insure them. I just make sure I've got a 'vet fund' available to cover eventualities. The Dog's Trust 3rd party insurance is great to have for peace of mind.