Operation cost...

no she she will not need chemo or radiotherapy Tegan as far as we know but surgeon has assured us cancer is straight forward pyometra is more of a danger ,we have gold cover with pet plan,and she still has £10,500 of cover until the end of policy year in September but her premiums have risen double over last 5 years and we are paying £61.00 per month premium ,and also have a healthy pet cover with local vets for £11.99 per month to cover flea,worm and vaccinations and well pet blood tests each year ,she is better insured than the humans xx

The lump on Hatties head has been a nightmare, as the cone of shame would rub against the wound, so we've been having to watch her round the clock so she doesn't scratch it. However, what looked absolutely horrific when we first saw it has healed incredibly well. She's wearing a scarf instead of a collar which is more comfortable for her [she's now going out for walks] and we've been putting Sudocrem on the wound to ease the dryness/itching and giving her Piriton. Being such a small dog the 2.5/3 cm margin that they've had to take away covers such a large area of her body .Petplan are writing to my vet so there is a small ray of hope that they might cover some of the cost of the operation, but I'm not holding my breath. I may look into the vets pet cover although I'm using as little flea/worm treatment as possible as I don't like bombarding her with chemicals. I've also heard that you can have a test done with regards vaccinations as, after a certain age the dog should have enough antibodies anyway [the problem being if they go into kennels]. Best of luck with everything.

There comes a point when 'self-insuring' is often better. We do it for certain things....an amount per month is set aside...it goes into the basic savings account but its 'ear-marked' for whatever purpose we choose. As long as you are organised and keep half decent records its pretty effective...and you can never discover you are not covered in the small print!
Pet insurance is notorious as many companies got onto the band waggon without realising how expensive it can get. A lot of people have had life-time covers just arbitrarily cancelled.

Third party insurance is different and useful living near livestock as we do - ours is covered by Dogs Trust...she's one of their refugees.

I always say "you will never see a poor vet" !! Our local vet (who by the way really are fantastic and helpful...but do charge a pretty penny) has recently completely modernised the practice....they must have spent hundreds of thousands ..all very swish, but probably completely uncalled for.....still I guess they have to spend all our money on something !

As for insurance...well we have always had it for all our dogs, and really glad we have too, as they have all sadly had major things wrong with them requiring a lot of treatment ... and the ones we have lost through illness , well the bills have gone into the thousands and the insurance has always paid up.
That would have been a huge amount to find if we had to dip into our savings.

have no savings...live hand to mouth...but Ells is our responsibility..and a beloved member of the family...she has given us so much love and support when my beloved kate died and I had abreakdown ...don't really care as long as she comes home and is well as can be expected..

It did cross my mind the other day that while we were there there were one/two vets, two receptionists, must have been a nurse or two in the back room and there had been lots of work spent on the building. But, whenever we're there, most of the animals seem to be from animal charities who I assume don't pay a lot. I'm not knocking animal charities, by the way . A young girl who brought a dog in at the same time as us was querying why she was having to pay when it was the vet who had asked her to go there, not the other way round. I'm wondering what these so called cut price vets offer? Need to look into it for the future.

Tegan, the new practice in our town is non profit making. A neighbour's dog was run over and spent 3 days in their hospital for treatment that included a broken leg. Total cost £300 and the staff there were excellent.

I'll look into that Iam. I think that vets combined with pet insurance are actually pricing themselves out of the market [and making it difficult financially for people to have pets now].

Our vet has a sort of savings plan. You pay in a monthly sum that you decide on and any treatment costs are deducted from your 'account'. That way all conditions are covered. We just tend to PAYG.

we pay into a scheme run by vets to cover injections and flea/worm and we geta 10% discount on a well pet check and other sundries and her special diet food...we also pay a hefty sum for pet insurance which has doubled over last 10 years but is worth it to us as she is on regular medication for liver disease ,and hepatitis ,osteo arthritis, hip dysplasia,she has also had an operation at the supervet noel fitzpatricks surgery costing £4,000, and in the last 2 years at another brilliant referral hospital ,she has had half jaw removed due to cancer,involving 3monthly check ups jaw removal was £3,500,and a few days ago cancerous tumours removed from her on top of her head,2 mammary tumours and a total hysterectomy ,costing £3,000 she has yet to have follow ups and possibly chemo depending on biopsy results another £3,000 as well as her day to day drugs ..in our case totally necessary to have and justifiable

I've watched Noel Fitzpatrick's work on TV in utter amazement. What a brilliant man.

Katek he is a really lovely gentle Irishman,when Ellie had her first op he carried her in his arms to our car and settled her in,his compassion showed through and his love for the animals was genuine