Air Arms Owners Club

I know that there are quite a few members who have pets.

I have a little Welsh Terrier who I have always had insured. I recently received the renewal for this insurance and they were asking for £400 per year. The Terrier is 5 years old, is spayed and chipped, is in good health and I have never claimed.

This insurance is more than I pay on my car, motorbikes and house and contents (individually).
I'm sure that they rely on your emotional attachment to your pet to try and extract the maximum amount from you.

What do our pet owners do regarding insurance. Do you pay it or take your chance ?

ATB
Ray.

I don't have any pets but I`m a believer in sod`s law
if you`ve never had insurance nothing will happen too your pet.
if you`ve paid insurance for years, the year you don't pay is where sods law kicks in and something will go wrong.
but £400 quid

Much though I've loved all my pets I regard insurance as a rip off (along with vets bills.)
Too many exclusions, rates rise for no reason, if you ever claim you struggle to re insure.

my shooting partner never had insurance on a working whippet that he had when she fell ill it cost him almost £2 grand in operations and medication and she still passed away.
when we spoke about it and he told me that he would have spent £4 grand if it would have saved her.

I had insurance on my last dog, a Wirehaired Fox Terrier.
She was born with a deformed ear and I ended up having her operated on. I cost over £1000 but I probably paid that much, or more in. She was a "Rescue" dog.
She died of Pancreatic cancer less than a year after.

I have decided that I will not insure Megan (my current dog) but I know that I would spend everything I have, if the need arose.

I just felt that what they were asking (a 35% increase) was ridiculous.

ATB
Ray.

My son in law pays £35 per month for his Labrador.
It is now 10 months old, and last week got hit by a car, causing punctured lung, broken ribs and multiple lacerations. Spent two days with the vet, came home with antibiotics and painkillers. All for the tidy sum of £960.
All paid by his insurance company

Do you feel lucky

Personally, (being from Yorkshire), if i had a pet that was injured, i would find the nearest PDSA, go there, plead poverty, then give a generous donation
I would rather let this charity have the money, than moneygrabbing vets.

I got a quote for my dog..wait for it...£1224.00 per year
So I opened an account and put the money into that instead on a standing order. There is too much "milking" of those who are insured on unnecessary treatments and diagnostics which then inflates treatment costs for everyone

Pet insurance seems to attract these ridiculous premiums. When you think that a car accident could result in multi thousand pounds compensation pets should be far less to insure.
There doesn't appear to be any correlation between premium costs and risk.

ATB
Ray.

We were quoted at somewhere between £4-500 a year for our 3 year old munsterlander a couple of years back and having heard reports of how hard it can be to get the insurers to pay out if needed we came to the decision it was better to save the money and put it away for vets bills if the need arises. In two years it means we have a minimum of £800 already in the bank to pay vets bills that may or may not have been covered by an insurance policy. I suppose it comes down to how much confidence you have in a given policy and gambling as to how soon you may need to pay out your local vetinary practice if you're not insured. Swings and roundabouts really

Sadly I think it comes down to being realistic, my dogs were pets, not working dogs and therefore they were basically much loved ornaments. The only time I had to take one to a vet as a youngster resulted in a ridiculous quote for treatment. I immediately said "put the dog down." Alternative treatment was offered, much cheaper and it worked. We also changed vets and found a young lady who was honest and sensible about costs and realistic results. No more silly charges, just honest advice. When it came time to say goodbye to both dogs she reassured us that we were making the right decision for the right reasons.
Vets and pet insurance are in the business to make money. Who really benefits?