Back to whinge again

But worth every penny if it helps your poorly pup.

We never insured our dogs and just bit the bullet as and when they needed veterinary intervention. For us, over 30 years and numerous dogs (and 3 cats) later, I think we were still quids in.

Our local vet is independent
They must be reasonably priced and give good service as we have has a number of people who come to stay in one of our cottages and have already booked a vet appointment and are very pleased with the treatment

Georgesgran totally agree with you From what I hear I sometimes think vets can over treat if it is on insurance

Springer spaniel, elbow dysplasia, 5 months old. £9000. Was good value tbh, hospital care, expert surgeon, nurses, medications, anesthesia, scans. No insurance but sods law struck

I had to take Milo the cat to the Vet yesterday. I was quoted £400 for him to have four teeth extracted. But, they scaled and polished instead and the bill was ‘only’ £198! Quite a relief. I had earmarked this month’s Premium Bonds winnings towards the bill so bought a dress from Seasalt which had been reduced.

The Vet had asked me if I wanted Milo to have blood tests to check for certain things and because he is nearly 16. I said ‘no’. I think it was £90 for each blood test! Anyway, we are happy with this Vet.

We used to have pet insurance for Milo and Ripley, but never needed it… until we cancelled it and soon after Milo was in a fight. Cue antibiotics, painkillers.

My little cat became ill a couple of weeks ago. Poor boy was vomiting, refusing to eat or drink and clearly very unwell. Off we went to the vets where he was admitted for tests, including scans, and rehydration. Two days later they couldn’t say what was wrong, the tests were all normal apart from fluid in his intestines. The opinion was that it was either pancreatitis or he had eaten something he shouldn’t have. In the end they said he was so scared in to be there that he still wasn’t eating and he would do better at home. So, home he came with a bag full of meds. It took him three of four days to perk up but I knew he was better when he presented me with a live mouse at 3am.
Anyway, that three day, 2 night stay cost £1641. I have just submitted the insurance claim so undoubtedly I will see a big hike in premiums at next renewal.
Would add that he’s worth every penny.

Note to self: use vthe preview button before posting. Scared in to be there should be scared to be in there.

That’s not too bad. You obviously don’t live in the south of England where it would be double that.

I used to pay vet insurance and realised what a waste it is. Now I just have a special savings account for the animals and pay the 'premium" into that account. It soon mounts up and at least there is money there to help when it's needed.

I couldn't afford a pet!

My sister changed her spaniel’s diet from kibble to raw. He’s never had an ear infection since. Apparently it was a yeast infection due to food. If you can’t do raw look at allaboutdogfood.

They’re much more expensive than human doctors and that’s saying something here !

One of my cats, Morgana, has been diagnosed with an overactive thyroid.
Bottle of 30ml bottle of Thyronorm from the vet is £78.
Online, 30ml bottle is less than £10, 100ml bottle just under £50. I know that, like wine from a restaurant, you pay for storage and keeping stock but the bottles are small and have a use-by date of at least a year when bought. Ripped off or what?
She is on it for life.
I will be buying on-line from now on but each bottle will require a vet’s prescription. It will be interesting to find out what they will charge for that.
The government is supposedly going to introduce legislation to regulate what veterinary care costs, as it is so high and unaffordable for a lot of pet owners.

Having a dog is a luxury now
I've always had rescue dogs but after losing my last dog very recently I jut cannot justify having another (plus I'm heartbroken and just want her iykwim)

Vets cost what they cosy don't they? A recent visit for a consultation, some bloods and an anti sickness injection was £400

By the way, did you know that cats can’t digest grain?
And that most of the cat foods advertised on to contain it?
Look at the ingredients for tha actual amount of whatever flavour is in the pouch or whatever. I think you’ll be surprised at how little it actually is.
My cats have grain free pouches from Amazon. Very affordable, less than the advertised brands and delivered to your door.
I won’t be buying Whiskas, Felix etc. or any supermarket own brands from now on.
Look on YouTube for a video that has investigated cat foods for more info. Sorry but I can’t remember what it is called.

TV not to

We paid £800 for tooth extraction and scale and polish for our cat. Insurance would not cover it as we put the claim in too late from the original diagnosis. (just over six months) Our other cat needs the same although may get away with scale and polish. Its so expensive. I remember when I was a child and my parents had various animals, there never seemed to be such expensive treatments so is it all down to money ?

I always insured my cats after my favourite one, Lupin, died leaving me with a bill for over £1,000. I think I had good value from Pet Plan over the years, including them paying out £300 when one of them went missing and was never found. But when Veronica (the last one) got to about 15, the premiums became enormous so I stopped. I reckoned that my that age, we'd just pay our way if we had to or let her take her chances. She had a couple of bouts of cystitis but after a cattery owner recommended Cystaid on a daily basis, even that stopped. She came to a natural end at 18.

With our last beautiful dog we had insurance which increased each year even though we never had to claim. Our next pet will have a bank account where we pay a regular amount in each month. We have an independent veterinary which I believe is much better than these group owned ones that have to reach certain targets each month.

When it comes to insurance, it's worth bearing in mind (for dogs especially) that most pet insurance will include third party cover - for instance, in the event that your dog injured someone, even accidentally, and they decided to claim against you. If you don't take out insurance, it may be worth looking at alternatives for that alone.

PetPlan for the past four years funding three or six monthly blood tests, full vet exam and daily meds for my seven year old spaniels hypothyroidism. No price increase

Currently, she’s in treatment for eye inflammation. Four visits, moved onto steroid eye drops. PetPlan funding.

Years ago I had two dogs with sudden serious health issues. Four separate claims total about £15,000 all covered as separate issues. That more than covered the insurance I’d paid to PetPlan over twelve years.

Insurance is hugely expensive, as are vet fees. Our practice has been taken over but retains its excellent vets. They’ll recommend cheaper drugs to buy on line with a prescription from them. They don’t want to rip clients off

I treated my cat with homeopathy, thanks to Helios. It cost me a phone call, that's all. I already had the remedy they suggested. It worked well and very quickly.

Flippinheck

My little cat became ill a couple of weeks ago. Poor boy was vomiting, refusing to eat or drink and clearly very unwell. Off we went to the vets where he was admitted for tests, including scans, and rehydration. Two days later they couldn’t say what was wrong, the tests were all normal apart from fluid in his intestines. The opinion was that it was either pancreatitis or he had eaten something he shouldn’t have. In the end they said he was so scared in to be there that he still wasn’t eating and he would do better at home. So, home he came with a bag full of meds. It took him three of four days to perk up but I knew he was better when he presented me with a live mouse at 3am.
Anyway, that three day, 2 night stay cost £1641. I have just submitted the insurance claim so undoubtedly I will see a big hike in premiums at next renewal.
Would add that he’s worth every penny.

My much missed Epileptic dog, around 19 months into the joys of epilepsy and had a major doozy (clusters seizures we couldn't stop) so we carted her off to the vets, they stabilised and monitored her over night, but it was advised she needed to be admitted to hospital around the corner, they had diagnosed her. The vet himself took her, 15 minutes later, Neurosurgeon phoned me to say he had her, she needed major resetting (she has fit during the night so they needed to alter her meds) he said he would like a couple of days with her, at a £1000 a.time (minimum charge is 1 night) I told him we have run out of Insurance!

We picked her up later the next day and she didn't fit for over 6 months (usual time was between 3 and 6 weeks between fits). We paid £1200.

Gotta love dogs!