I'm looking for some insurance for my 9 year old Dobermann. Unfortunately my insurance skills don't stretch to pets!

Anyway, I want something that doesn't have a ridiculous excess, and from what I've read up I don't want "Accident Only" 

Does anyone else have any further advise? And any companies they can recommend? I've been on a couple of comparison sites but I'm clueless!

 

Also, do any companies give discounts for owning more than 1 pet? After recently loosing one of my cats and not being able to afford to keep her ashes (which I think it's sickening they charge so much!) I'd hate for anything to happen again :(

I can't really offer advice on choosing insurance but it is important.

My brother was in an unfortunate position where he couldn't really afford the insurance. His dog had 2 really unfortunate accidents. The first she tore herself open on a bolt that was sticking out of a post and secondly she swallowed a stone which got stuck in her intestine. Over £1400 of vet bills

Check LV= out, they've released some new pet products

* this is not a shameless plug

Im with the kennel club and they've recently settled my £3.5k vet bill for 1 of my dogs for a snapped tendon. Cost me about £800 i think.

Its common to have to pay a fix amount per claim plus you'll also have to pay a % of the total fee i.e. a £1000 bill would cost you an excess say of £85 + 10% of the total bill so it will cost you £185 if that makes sense. Also, if you claim rolls over into you new claim peroid/year you have to pay the excess again even if its for the same injury.

Petplan are very good.

Check LV= out, they've released some new pet products

* this is not a shameless plug

Give me a quote then Damo

Thanks for your replies everyone keep them coming

I don't do sales Jayneyyyy, go on the website it's all there

We've used John Lewis insurance for our two (the second one gets a small discount).They were the cheapest when we took it out a couple of years ago for the level of cover we wanted,

 

A lot of companies would start treating a 9 year old Doberman as elderly so you might find it difficult to find cheap insurance with a low excess.

When I was shopping around I was given the advice if I was going for life cover, go for a big name/company that underwrites themselves. Pet plan/NFU/Taxa etc. That way if there was ever a life long illness there wouldn't be much chance of the company packing up and leaving the insurance game (ala Halifax)

If you want insurance that settles the bill direct with your vet then ask your vet who they recommend and who they will deal with on that basis.  Most vets want payment up front and you then claim back the cost through your insurance.  We've found Tesco to be the cheapest by far and they've been fine for paying out too.

Yeah as Julie said really. Our vet was very helpfull so id ask yours if you can.

check the small print on any insurance. We recently lost a dog to cancer, but he underwent an operation before we decided not to put him through anymore, we were expecting just to have to pay the £99 excess but as he was over 8 we had to pay 35% of the bill on top of the excess.

 

If I were to get another pup I would put the money away each month rather than pay into an insurance policy, we have had two dogs for 11 years and have made 3 claims in total that would have cost us £2k but have probably paid out over £4k in premiums. I know it's risky to do it this way but as the dogs get older the premiums just keep going up.

I went with these ...as they were local

 

http://www.animalfriends.org.uk/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Animal+Friends+Insurance+Services+Ltd&utm_campaign=2666701_June+2013+Newsletter&dm_i=MJA,1L5N1,4OJ35V,5H3N5,1

FYI

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2354214/Vicky-Hughes-sold-clothes-eBay-save-dog-pet-insurers-refused-pay-up.html

 

Daily Fail so put on your cynical glasses before reading.

Janey youl be lucky to get insurance for a dog that age :( Most stop giving insurance at 8yrs old! Most annoying when you want to change companies if you are already insured with someone else!!

 

K:)

Im finding the same issue for my dogs - 6 and 8 yrs old and the insurance quotes im getting now are HUGELY more expensive than last year. Im searching around on the internet a lot (as you would for car insurance) plus use cashback sites too like quidco. Im considering going 3rd party only and just putting money aside in case the worst was to happen.