How much have you paid in Vet bills?

I was thinking today that it's a good job that I have had insurance for Dempsey since he was 8 weeks old. Not counting all the excess payments I've made (£75 per claim) and all the times it hasn't been worth claiming, Dempsey has cost the insurance companies well over £5000 in just 5 years.

How much have yours cost you in vet's bills?

He's a zipper dog! He's had two operations already, one minor and one major, as well as numerous other trips.

Poor Dempsey - he has been through the mill hasn't he.

Apart from neutering bills, my Dobies didn't cost me a lot in vet bills. The worst was when my bank manager told me to cancel my pet insurance to save some outgoings (it was quite a good one and cost me £12 a month about 15 years ago). 2 months later Rio was diagnosed with hypo-thyroid and had to have pills for the rest of her life which cost me £32 per month, which would have been covered under the insurance! So, great advice bank manager! (Not)

When Kuchar was 5 months old he became distressed in the night and went off his legs. We panicked, my big hulk of a son was crying uncontrollably, because Kuchar was the litter brother of a pup we bought 2 months previously who died (this was poor little Trigger, whose story you may remember). Anyway, we were hyper-sensitive and rushed off the 24/7 vet. He had the whole gamut of tests which cost £550 and I paid up-front (but got the costs back 6 weeks later from First Direct, minus the excess). So I was glad of the insurance. (oh and btw, there was nothing wrong with Kuchar!)

I would not be without insurance now, no matter what my bank manager says!

We've paid £75 once - insurance excess

That was when harvey got a grass seed stuck in his throat as a pup causing an abscess, coming to a £600 bill i think.

Neither have been since, so one vet bill in 3 years isn't bad going! *touch wood*

Poor Kuchar! I wonder what was wrong with him? I think I remember you posting about that elsewhere?

When I had my first dog, pet insurance was very new. In fact PetPlan was the only one! I took out the first year's policy (couldn't pay monthly at that time, it had to be up front & I skinted myself to pay it!) but never renewed it. Although vet's bills then were a bit pricey, they were generally affordable. I also knew the vet quite well (he went out with my sister at one point) and he was very reasonable about payments. He'd take instalments quite readily.

I never bothered with insurance after that until we put the deposit down on Dempsey - we were told about their penchant for eating things they shouldn't, and felt that insurance was a must - thank God I did!

Touch wood ours have been low maintenance so for almost 6 Stafford years between them I would guesstimate at below £8/900 would be 4 or 5 incidents but all been too low to warrant claims and affecting the insurance claims record, annoying thing was on one incident they were both being examined / treated for suspected poisoning at the same time so double the bill and not claimable on 2 separate policies due to only beiong 30-40 each over the excess . But at the end of the day I'm just pleased they are both here for me to moan about it

LyndaW wrote:Poor Dempsey - he has been through the mill hasn't he.

Apart from neutering bills, my Dobies didn't cost me a lot in vet bills.  The worst was when my bank manager told me to cancel my pet insurance to save some outgoings (it was quite a good one and cost me £12 a month about 15 years ago).  2 months later Rio was diagnosed with hypo-thyroid and had to have pills for the rest of her life which cost me £32 per month, which would have been covered under the insurance!  So, great advice bank manager! (Not)

When Kuchar was 5 months old he became distressed in the night and went off his legs.  We panicked, my big hulk of a son was crying uncontrollably, because Kuchar was the litter brother of a pup we bought 2 months previously who died (this was poor little Trigger, whose story you may remember).  Anyway, we were hyper-sensitive and rushed off the 24/7 vet.  He had the whole gamut of tests which cost £550 and I paid up-front (but got the costs back 6 weeks later from First Direct, minus the excess).  So I was glad of the insurance.  (oh and btw, there was nothing wrong with Kuchar!)

I would not be without insurance now, no matter what my bank manager says!

Nice one, bank manager! Very sound advice!

Poor Kuchar. :(Glad he was okay, anyhow!

ella wrote:We've paid £75 once - insurance excess

That was when harvey got a grass seed stuck in his throat as a pup causing an abscess, coming to a £600 bill i think.

Neither have been since, so one vet bill in 3 years isn't bad going! *touch wood*

Fingers crossed!

Grass seeds are a nightmare! Demps had to have one removed as well (hence the minor operation). It had embedded in between his toes, and then migrated all the way up his leg! All we'd been able to see was a small swelling, about the size of a match stick head, which was starting to look infected.

Caryll wrote:Poor Kuchar! I wonder what was wrong with him? I think I remember you posting about that elsewhere?

When I had my first dog, pet insurance was very new. In fact PetPlan was the only one! I took out the first year's policy (couldn't pay monthly at that time, it had to be up front & I skinted myself to pay it!) but never renewed it. Although vet's bills then were a bit pricey, they were generally affordable. I also knew the vet quite well (he went out with my sister at one point) and he was very reasonable about payments. He'd take instalments quite readily.

I never bothered with insurance after that until we put the deposit down on Dempsey - we were told about their penchant for eating things they shouldn't, and felt that insurance was a must - thank God I did!

I'm glad we took insurance out on him!

Dave wrote:
Touch wood ours have been low maintenance so for almost 6 Stafford years between them I would guesstimate at below £8/900 would be 4 or 5 incidents but all been too low to warrant claims and affecting the insurance claims record, annoying thing was on one incident they were both being examined / treated for suspected poisoning at the same time so double the bill and not claimable on 2 separate policies due to only beiong 30-40 each over the excess . But at the end of the day I'm just pleased they are both here for me to moan about it

Hopefully you'll never need to make a big claim!

Dave wrote:Touch wood ours have been low maintenance so for almost 6 Stafford years between them I would guesstimate at below £8/900  would be 4 or 5 incidents but all been too low to warrant claims  and affecting the insurance claims record, annoying thing was on one incident they were both being examined / treated for suspected poisoning at the same time so double the bill and not claimable on 2 separate policies due to only beiong 30-40 each over the excess . But at the end of the day I'm just pleased they are both here for me to moan about it

Did you ever find out exactly what it was that affected them?

Ref Kuchar - yes, I did post this elsewhere! He was a young puppy and it was a warm night and he panted quite a bit and couldn't get comfortable (he used to sleep with my son then who is a stranger to open windows). In hindsight, I suspect he went off his legs because he was just so tired.

I've heard about grass seeds migrating, due to the little hairs that they have. It's very hard to avoid the possibility unless you restrict your dog to pavements and mown lawns.

We all hope that we'll never have to make a big claim, or any claim at all, but it's good to know that insurance is there to cushion much of the financial blow.

Pet insurance in South Africa is so expensive the vet bills work out cheaper.

Apart from the cost of vaccs and worming, nothing. I have to say i've always been lucky with dogs (apart from my first lab who had cancer but i was not aware of money in those days)

LyndaW wrote:Ref Kuchar - yes, I did post this elsewhere!  He was a young puppy and it was a warm night and he panted quite a bit and couldn't get comfortable (he used to sleep with my son then who is a stranger to open windows).  In hindsight, I suspect he went off his legs because he was just so tired.

I've heard about grass seeds migrating, due to the little hairs that they have.  It's very hard to avoid the possibility unless you restrict your dog to pavements and mown lawns.

We all hope that we'll never have to make a big claim, or any claim at all, but it's good to know that insurance is there to cushion much of the financial blow.  

Poor Kuchar!

Thankfully, we've never had a problem since then with grass seeds. When the seeds start to appear on our walks, we check in between his toes regularly, just in case!

Shisa wrote:Pet insurance in South Africa is so expensive the vet bills work out cheaper.

Definitely another thing to consider - the country you live in!

Hayley wrote:Apart from the cost of vaccs and worming, nothing. I have to say i've always been lucky with dogs (apart from my first lab who had cancer but i was not aware of money in those days)

Hope it stays that way!