Emergency Vets

3rd party liability insurance for accidents costs £12.50 a year with the Dogs Trust. This covers all your dogs. (If you are aged under 60 the cost is £25). Small price to pay.
Also vets who work for large conglomerate companies are very strongly encouraged to persuade clients to have various tests flea stuff worming stuff.

There are few independent vets now. I take my dog to “The Vet” in Morden and they have been fantastic. However, there are too far in an emergency. I took my other sick dog to MediVet in Kensington (24 hour) out of hours. Very expensive (I have insurance) but they were superb. I think they were there for years before they joined MediVet. He needed emergency treatment and surgery which was nearly £5000. I had to pay upfront and reclaim from insurance (DirectLine)

My friend can’t have insurance because her 9 year old healthy dog had something in puppyhood (can’t remember what it was) that nulled it She has just had to take him for some tests first tests cost was £200 needed more tests another £300 and still not got a diagnosis or price if future treatment

I could never own a pet now had plenty in the past in the days before injections, chipping and when animals were animals

We had insurance. Because our dog had to see a separate specialist ( in the same practice) it was considered two separate claims. By the time they had taken out two excess payments we got £50 from an over £300 bill. I will never take out insurance again. I have saved a fund for emergencies.

I know a lot of people no longer give their dogs booster vaccinations. None of the breeders that I know give theirs boosters. They say that the initial course covers them for life and titre tests prove it. But I believe that not having boosters can invalidate medical insurance. And lepto vaccines don’t last a lifetime. I also worry about constant flea and tick treatment. We pump our pets full of chemicals year in year out and I’m in a dilemma about what to do. I am trying a flea and tick collar that is supposed to be chemical free. And my vets, having been taken over by an American company may only offer the Lepto4 vaccination which isn’t needed in the UK ( and can cause a bad reaction in some dogs).

I had a friend who saved some money each month into a separate account for her dog. When her dog eventually died of old age she was able to pay for her cataract operation withe the savings!

As far as I knew vets generally don’t ask for a lump sum up front if the client is an established customer with pet insurance. If they do I’d be pretty annoyed with them!

My son rang me in a distressed state one Easter weekend. His kitten was very poorly and needed to be admitted to hospital. He had to pay £1,500 upfront which he didn't have, and could I help.
Fortunately it was refunded but it certainly made a bad situation worse.

It sounds like what it’s like to be taken sick in the USA. Why does everything over here seem to eventually follow the worst bits of America?

I was just thinking that MayBee70

Blondiescot

*MayBee70*, your local vet will have an arrangement with another practice to provide 24/7 care in an emergency.

The trouble is that emergency care can be a long way away, dreadful for sick or injured animals and almost impossible for owners who do not drive. The practice I was with offered emergency care through another provider which involved a trip along the M62, to a place only accessible from here by car. We changed practices to one that provides emergency cover locally 2 weeks out of 3, though the third week would involve a 30 min journey to another town. Fingers crossed we won’t need that.

I know, that can be a real problem, Caramme. Unfortunately, most small vet practices simply can't afford the facilities or staffing to run a 24/7 service these days.

The strange thing about vets bills is that ( unless things have changed since I had a variety of pets) bills for small animals and large animals seem very reasonable. It’s the dog and cat treatment costs that seem to be disproportionately expensive.

Well catscatscats I’m disabled and unemployed. I’ve spent 34 years in rescue during which time I was struggling financially. I worked 50 hours a week with 3 children and an alcoholic husband. My cat (one of 5 rescues) became diabetic and my dog became epileptic. I didn’t have insurance. But I never ever contemplated dumping them or killing them. I realise that some have had worse situations than mine but in my experience most were not. I’ve known people ‘get rid’ of pets saying they can’t afford them yet they can afford to go on holiday/ go out/ smoke/drink. I’m not the one being judgemental here. Facts is facts.

Daisymae, '3rd party cover' - as you call it is included in my home insurance (and many other people's too, I assume) Why would I want to pay twice for the same cover?

MayBee70, I've always used diatomaceous earth for flea, tick and worm prevention/treatment - on all pets - as I'd never risk having nasty toxic chemicals in contact with children - or in my home.

I have got some but not sure how to use it.

It's not just making sure you can cover pet treatment. Often pet insurance will cover you if your pet has caused expensive problems for others.

Hetty58

Daisymae, '3rd party cover' - as you call it is included in my home insurance (and many other people's too, I assume) Why would I want to pay twice for the same cover?

You may not need to - but not all home insurance policies include it, you need to check the small print.

For some folk pet insurance isn’t an option. DH and I have spent a lot of years moving from town to town, county to county, continuously cruising the canals and, therefore, were classed as having no fixed abode. To have pet insurance you need an address, we didn’t have one. We could, I suppose, have used one of our adult DCs addresses, but we were often quite a distance from them. We had four dogs, two of which needed tablets for heart murmurs, we used vets along the way and paid as we went. Now we are in a marina on a residential mooring, so do have an address again, but with one dog left - and she’s getting on a bit - we still haven’t opted for insurance as the premiums were over £100 a month when I looked around for quotes.

When I got my dog we lived in Germany at the time via military we had to have insurance with her one it was the law and she wasn’t allowed to do her business on the grass. I know you didn’t have to know that lol also she was in kennels and we kept it up even when we came back to uk i only had to use mine twice in her 16yrs but it’s better to have a backup for a rainy day unfortunately i think a lot of owners now adays will probably be having cut backs

Our aged much loved dog started fitting. We called Vets Now and almost the first words out of their mouths were do you have insurance? I said no, she didn't give me a chance to explain we had the funds to cover whatever was needed. We're disabled and couldn't get him to the car, he had several more fits until he finally passed. They did promise a vet would call back, but they didn't.
It was so distressing just watching him have fit after fit😭
Vets now are the go to emergency cover for the huge majority of local practices, and I appreciate staff need a break, but VN are so motivated by corporate profits that the animals interests go out of the window.
I did complain, and got £50 compensation. Friends in the profession have assured me Barney wouldn't have known anything about what was happening to him, and in a way I'm glad I didn't have to make the decision for him.

Vets are for profit businesses. They pay for their university and ongoing training courses, employ nurses, reception staff and run the surgery buildings. It’s expensive but part of pet ownership. My two are insured, that together with food, training courses, boarding when I go away, means the two dogs are my biggest outgoing. I’m lucky to be able to use savings to fund my dog addiction.
I do hope these discussions about the cost of animal health care will encourage people to support our ngs

NHS of course

Vets fees and insurance is the sole reason I don’t have a longed for doggy companion.

Could you foster Hannah? Most charities pay food vets if needed