Hi there, I currently have pet insurance with MoreThan, I took my dog to the vets today cos I think she has an infection. I paid about £60 for the consultation, injections and tablets. I've never claimed on insurance before and I think I can as it's not a vaccination/flea treatment etc. How would I go about it? I have a itemised reciept and the card reciept which I paid. The claim form has a section for the vet to fill out but obviously I've already left, should I just go back and ask him to fill out his part of the form? Thanks!

Your excess is probably at least £60 so it would be pointless to claim. Check your terms and conditions. My own excess with Petplan is, I believe, about £85. I only ever claim from insurance when the bill runs to far in excess of the excess!

Ah okay thank you, I think it's £75, I will have a look in my documents

You can claim but they won't pay out of your excess is £75 and the bill less than that. If it was more than that they only pay what is left after you pay the first £75.

Which is another reason we don't insure.

Well, my last big non routine vet bill was about £3500 so I was very pleased to have insurance! Even though I had a large excess on account of my cat's age. My late Tabitha had 4 big events in her near 16 years (broke her leg 3 times before she was 5) and I calculated that insurance paid out more for all her treatments than I had paid in premiums throughout her life - so insurance was worth having in her case.

However, I have never claimed for any of my current cats and Bernard is nearly 9 now. I still prefer to have the reassurance of not having to find a lot of money in an emergency, even from my savings account. The same applies to my home, nearly all my utilities have insurance attached, I prefer to have peace of mind and not have money as one of the main considerations in deciding whether to have vet treatment.

Well good for you LOL we keep an empty credit card and prefer to use that if a bill is high. TBH I would think twice about paying so much for any bill human or animal. Sometimes we have to just realise we cannot afford things and sadly let go I guess. Luckily never had a bill so large in all the 30 years we have had pets.

I have a feeling we have all pushed up vets bills by buying into insurance so much. My vet keeps my bills down as far as possible because he appreciates we have limits, on insurance cases he is not so careful.

Then I'm afraid you have no idea of medical costs. I work in a human ITU and we charge £2000/night for patients not entitled to use the NHS. Contrary to the media's view, many hospitals do check NHS entitlement and insist on payments. The British relatives of these overseas patients don't think twice about paying those bills if it's to keep their loved ones alive. Scans and tests, also some drugs, can amount to hundreds of pounds, surgery thousands. Would you really watch a loved one die/suffer rather than pay a large health bill? If this government had its way the NHS would be disbanded and many British people may have to pay quite large amounts in the future for their care and treatment.

As for my pets, as I said, I would never want money to be the main factor in any decision I am ever faced with regarding the future health/treatment of my cats. I would rather 'let go' knowing that a lack of funds played no part at all in my decision and that it truly was in my pet's best interests.

We just have to agree to differ but insurance has served me well over the years - not just pet insurance but in plumbing emergencies, shower breakdowns, electricity problems. I like to have peace of mind - but people are thankfully free to choose what's right for them.

I really didn't need a run down of NHS fees for immigrants and I have not suggested anyone else not have insurance I just know it didn't work for us. Each claim we made was turned down for a variety of reasons and we ended up paying insurance for 5 years and funding all costs of treatment too. They let us down badly and I am not one to waste money on things we can avoid spending on.

I would wait a bit to see if you might need to visit the Vet again for the same infectiion, then if its more then your excess you can still claim. You always have to give the claims form (once you filled your bits) to the Vet to fill his sections. He will send it off to your insurer.

I have all my dogs insured, only stop once they get to over 12 yrs old, and the monthly premium is getting too much and also its possible the excess will go up to.
I had one of my dogs who had the SLO illness where his claws fell/had to be taken of, and all the treatments come to the limit of £2500. He then got fits and with scans and such I am also on my limit for the epilepsy. (Tesco insurance paid out no problem).
One of my other dogs was not in need of claiming, but you never know what illness they get. Very important for me is also the liability just incase my dogs cause an accident. Even though I of course make sure they are on lead near roads, but you never know.

Good point but we found we could get cover for accidents under our home insurance for a tiny amount (about 50p a month).

I have to check my househalt insurance for that.

Thing is, if you claim on something just above your excess, then your premiums will go up. Honestly, it probably isn't worth paying for anything less than £100... probably even more, as you'll end up paying more back anyway.

They seem to get us which ever way you look at it.

I panicked last month when my dogs insurance tripled. I have 2 dogs who have the platinum cover. I pay about £25 a month each on them. One day I have never claimed on, the other I regularly have to claim. Only this year he had a thorn between his toes which turned into an abscess. It took a lot of treatment. Then in the summer he was bitten on the face by an adder which involved an operation. He is accident prone I think.

Anyway - received the renewal and they wanted a small fortune every month which I couldn't afford. He is also 9yrs old.

I ended up going on Compare the Market and found many companies would take him on as the above aren't classed as pre existing conditions, and the bill is back down to about £25 a month. Phew.

I really do need insurance for him as we spend out life at the vets (or so it seems).

What vet things do you have to pay for on top of your insurance - like regular visits etc? Is there an excess on your premium cover? And, who do you go with?

I'm trying to work out getting a dog in my household budget so this information would really help me. I don't have household insurance so wouldn't add the pet to that.

Really? I would never risk not having household insurance. What happens if the house burns down, or the roof blows off?

If you mean just contents insurance then that's a tad less risky .
But most insurance is combined house and contents.