Guinea pig pet insurance!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hi yes, I have it for my 2 younger girls. Mine is with Exotics Direct. Its very reasonable and they seem very good. My exotics vet recommended them and it seems to be the only one that insures piggies.
 
Thank you.

I just got a quote from them:

£16.84 pm for 2 guinea pigs - for £2000 vet fees per policy (12 months)

or

£20.82 pm for 2 guinea pigs - for £2000 vet fees per pet, per policy (12 months)

Is this reasonable, I am not sure? :)

Thanks
 
Belinda Shute said:
Hi yes, I have it for my 2 younger girls. Mine is with Exotics Direct. Its very reasonable and they seem very good. My exotics vet recommended them and it seems to be the only one that insures piggies.
Click to expand...

Yea it does seem to be the only one - I cant find anything else. So I suppose it doesnt matter whether the above quote is reasonable or not rolleyes :)
 
Don't be embarrassed to say you haven't or will not get it.

I haven't got any yet.

I just need some info :)

xx
 
Last edited:
I don't have an insurance, my Patrick had regular Xray's, ultrasounds for a year and major surgery cost me over £1000 in the end I do however think he's an exception and maybe an extreme case.

Medical fee's can mount up but I still seem to just take my chances. My P is over 5 so I guess medical complaints are to be expected at his age.

If I saved 20 pm for 5 years, I'd have enough for his treatment just. I think it depends on what money you have available, I would also have a close look at the small print! X
 
Nope !
I just have a separate bank account for them, when i have a bit of extra cash i shove it in there and then that goes towards any vet fee's or emergency buys like say a new bottle (i know there not expensive) but it's there pocket money bank account, that way i have got no worries about not being able to pay one month or getting into debt, plus i know i will actually use the money i'm putting in where as with insurance your piggy may never even get ill !
 
flintstones said:
I don't have an insurance, my Patrick had regular Xray's, ultrasounds for a year and major surgery cost me over £1000 in the end I do however think he's an exception and maybe an extreme case.

Medical fee's can mount up but I still seem to just take my chances. My P is over 5 so I guess medical complaints are to be expected at his age.

If I saved 20 pm for 5 years, I'd have enough for his treatment just. I think it depends on what money you have available, I would also have a close look at the small print! X
Click to expand...

Well that's what I was thinking. Isnt it better to just maybe put some money aside for vet fees myself rather than going through a company. That way I will hopefully be able to afford the fees if they ever arise (touch wood they dont though)?

Is it worth going through a company?

I think I might take my chances too, but make sure I put aside an amount every month just in case vet bills arise. If I never need to use it I can roll it over to the possible vet fees for my next piggie :)

Opinions?
 
to be honest I dont really know.

I rushed flash into the out of hours service as he stopped eating, it only cost me £98 for everything that day - which is a fair bit of money, had he been insured it might have been just £48 to pay, however as flintsones has pointed out about the small print. I have known companies refuse to pay dog insurance and cat insurance claims that have had to go to out of hours because they dont deem it emergency enough and yes in these cases the animals needed to seek veterinary help right away so it was urgent. If i had flash insured would I have faced the same refusal, he had stopped eating and was very poorly when I rushed him in, it was a sunday and a bank holiday so I had no choice to wait till monday morning or anything like that (i would not have anyway).

I also pay £50/month for my dog insurance which I am seriously thinking of stopping, every condition she has suffered from over the years is no longer covered as to do a lifetime on a dog her age it would have been a lot more. I always worried about diabetes etc as she aged but after a year I would have to pay for the treatment anyway. If she was a lot younger it would be cheaper for a start and there is a lot of life to go and a lot to go wrong.

Maybe in my situation it would pay to put the £50/month aside for either animal. I just did a quote on my 4 with the company and they have siad £29.21/month for basic or £41.13/month for cover of £2000/animal vet fees. £30/month aside I think would mount up, especially if I put in the other £50 the dog insurance costs me.
 
Pink Jumper said:
Well that's what I was thinking. Isnt it better to just maybe put some money aside for vet fees myself rather than going through a company. That way I will hopefully be able to afford the fees if they ever arise (touch wood they dont though)?

Is it worth going through a company?

I think I might take my chances too, but make sure I put aside an amount every month just in case vet bills arise. If I never need to use it I can roll it over to the possible vet fees for my next piggie :)

Opinions?
Click to expand...

A while ago my mum and me were watching breakfast and they did a story on how sometimes pet insurance isn't worth it due to extra fee's they sometimes charge not covering certain things etc. and my mum always says "better in my pocket than theres" !
 
Pepperdog said:
I rushed flash into the out of hours service as he stopped eating, it only cost me £98 for everything that day - which is a fair bit of money, had he been insured it might have been just £48 to pay, however as flintsones has pointed out about the small print
Click to expand...

With this though it might have only been £48 to pay if he was insured, but that plus what you have been paying pm will add up to more than £98 in total.

However, paying £98 in one go is a lot of money.

So it is really weighing up what is right for you and what you can afford and when.

Thanks guys for your opinions :)
 
3 of my 4 pigs are insured, the 4th being Big Dave who is uninsured as he's too old.

I pay £16 something a month for Jeff and Cameo who have the combined policy of £2000 per year. I have Maggot on a separate policy as I've only just got her, and I pay £10 a month for her and she gets £2000 a year all to herself. If I were to save £20/month, it'd take me over 8 years (i.e. the life of a pig) to save £2000.

My policy covers vet fees with a £50 excess. They will pay 50% of any dental bills and 70% of any fees incurred as a result of being referred to a specialist.

When it comes to things like emergency fees, and whether or not they will pay, I often find (working in a vet surgery processing insurance claim forms!) that if they challenge an out of hours emergency fee, if the vet deems it to be an emergency, they will write a letter to the insurance company, confirming that treatment was needed at that time. We have seen some cases where it clearly hasn't been an emergency, or someone has neglected a problem and it's become an emergency e.g. someone who has a dog thats been vomiting for 5 days and decides to call the vet for the first time on a sunday night, in which case they probably won't pay out for the emergency consult fee, but will pay for the rest of the treatment.

Cameo was unwell last year. It cost me over £2000 for a 5 week illness. That was last summer, and I'm still paying it off now... The only reason I was able to go on treating her, is because I work at the vet surgery at which she was treated. If I didn't work here, there's no way I'd have been able to afford her treatment.

I am not made of money, I have no credit cards, I live in my £3000 overdraft. I don't know many people who can shell out a few hundred ££'s never mind a few thousand. Pet insurance is something I shall now never be without. I've seen far too many people have to euthanase their beloved pets as they cannot afford treatment. For me, £10/month/pig is a small price to pay for peace of mind.
 
Last edited:
I would just like to add, I wish i had got pet insurance a couple on months ago. I have a poor piggy atm and it has already cost me over £600 in tests etc, and its still not fixed.

However, now that he has had a bladder problem the insurance company would never pay out for an bladder problems if I were to insure him now. (therefore its no longer worth it!)

Please also read the fine print carefully. If your piggies were to accidentally be pregnant etc none of those fees would be covered, nor would neutering or spaying (unless for medical reasons) They also dont covered all of a referal cost and only cover 50% of any dental costs.

Considering the 3 main things that go wrong with piggies are abcessed, bladder issues and teeth issues... having teeth not covered means you would also need a savings account for those vet fees. Dont forget the £50 exess per piggy.. meaning in my opinion you would need atleast £600 in a savings account plus the insurance to be comfortable...

As I said, I wish I had the insurance in hind sight, but its all about personal circumstances. Although I'm young and currently have a massive amount of disposable income (atleast 1/3 goes into the vet fund each month) I also dont have any credit cards or any overdraft I could use if things go serious.

There is no right or wrong answer to "should i insure my guinea pig?" its about you, and your circumstances and ability to pay vet fees when they arise :)
 
now I sound against insurance, believe me I have spent out thousands of pounds in the time I have had pepper, I am seriously considering it with the pigs as the money really can add up and I am not made of money either - I happened to be able at that point in time to just be able to pay for flash, another time I wont. I was mostly thinking out loud how I think sometimes regarding the potential to save up, and £50/month is a fair amount of money to put away which is better in my pocket than theirs - but thats a dog and not a young small animal that could have costly conditions later in life.

I just doubt that my dog insurance is worth it now considering the amount I spend and that she has not needed to claim for several years, I know its off topic, but she is a pet and I had her insured, she has had a few claims that only were in the hundreds due to accidents, fractured tooth, amputated tail, stitching her up several times. You never know what is round the corner and having to pay £60-75 each claim excess makes it more palatable.

I want to know the small print of the exotic insurance, if crystal has allergies then i would think it would be worth the insurance to treat her, but is this exotic policy based year on year, in which case next year I have to pay anyway or can you have a lifetime policy which covers the condition for the lifetime of the pet. Its just something I wanted to know before saying yes.
 
Pepperdog said:
I want to know the small print of the exotic insurance, if crystal has allergies then i would think it would be worth the insurance to treat her, but is this exotic policy based year on year, in which case next year I have to pay anyway or can you have a lifetime policy which covers the condition for the lifetime of the pet. Its just something I wanted to know before saying yes.
Click to expand...

The policies usually last a year and will need renewing the next year. I do not think lifetime cover is an option.

I think you would also have to check whether treatment for allergies is covered in the policy.
 
I have read ALL the small print zzz and I quote

"General Exclusions that apply to all sections of Your insurance:

Any pet less than 12 weeks old (8 weeks old and over 5 years old in the case of small mammals other than Chinchillas where the upper age limit is 8 years) at the commencement of Your insurance cover."

If I understand this correctly, this means that the policy is not valid/cannot claim for piggies 5 years and over! Shocking.
 
Last edited:
Pink Jumper said:
I have read ALL the small print zzz and I quote

"General Exclusions that apply to all sections of Your insurance:

Any pet less than 12 weeks old (8 weeks old and over 5 years old in the case of small mammals other than Chinchillas where the upper age limit is 8 years) at the commencement of Your insurance cover."

If I understand this correctly, this means that the policy is not valid/cannot claim for piggies 5 years and over! Shocking.
Click to expand...

It's at the start of the policy. I can't insure big Dave as he's 5 now, but if you insure an animal before this age then cover will continue. It stops people taking out insurance for older animals as that's when things go wrong
 
I understand that if I put money aside every month for vet fees I may not have enough at the time to pay the full bill and I will need to pay more on top of what I have saved.

But, I think I might just take the chance and put money aside every month rather than paying through a company that has all these terms and conditions saying you can't claim for this and can't claim for that. It also says I have to pay a certain amount on top of excess fees for certain treatments, for example - dental treatment (if it is even covered at all) and MRI scans, CT scans and things alike.
 
Amanda1801 said:
It's at the start of the policy. I can't insure big Dave as he's 5 now, but if you insure an animal before this age then cover will continue. It stops people taking out insurance for older animals as that's when things go wrong
Click to expand...

Oh right, that makes more sense, pheww :...

I understand it better now after reading it again :)
 
Either way my piggies WILL be looked after 100% and they will get whatever medical treatment they need regardless of which route I choose to go down. My piggies are my responsibility and I knew that before I got them!

:) x)
 
I don't have insurance ... In the US I had a membership with a vet discount program called "Pet Assure"; basically they paid 25% of my bills at the time of service (and with no exclusions), instead of pet insurance.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top