Petplan

...6 weeks free insurance with Petplan by the breeder, which was then up to us to renew it. We did so and we subsequently went on to insure two further Persian cats and a puppy we bought several years later.

We chose Petplan because at the time they were the only company offering lifetime cover. What this means in simple terms is that if your pet develops an illness which is chronic, an example of which would be diabetes, the policy ...
...are also policies sold by Petplan and other companies now called Time Limited Cover and these will cover the cost of illnesses and accidents which can be treated just for that policy year. These are much cheaper and may appeal to you if you have a young moggie, for example, who may stray onto a road and have an accident. Beware though in my experience even young dogs can unexpectedly fall victim to diseases like cancer, and if you buy this type of ... more

l'd like to write about our experiences with Petplan, a company who were the first pioneers of insurance for Pets in 1976. We have owned pets all our married life and for the first 20 years we didn't have insurance as we had non pedigree cats and we were very hard up raising 4 children and paying the bills. I think we were very fortunate during this time not to have any circumstances where having pet insurance would have meant the difference between saving an animal, or ending its life. In hindsight I would say we were lucky and that I would not consider doing this again.

I think it is probably in the best interest of animals to make it a condition of ownership to at least have the basic insurance, to allow animals to be treated for their illnesses. It isn't so much for the very poor who can be helped by charities such as the RSPCA and Blue Cross, but for those families who love their animals and have a little more income,but not enough to pay the very large bills sometimes encountered during the ownership of an animal's life.

In 1998 we decided to fulfil a lifelong dream of mine to buy a pedigree cat and we were given 6 weeks free insurance with Petplan by the breeder, which was then up to us to renew it. We did so and we subsequently went on to insure two further Persian cats and a puppy we bought several years later.

We chose Petplan because at the time they were the only company offering lifetime cover. What this means in simple terms is that if your pet develops an illness which is chronic, an example of which would be diabetes, the policy will continue to cover this year on year as long as you renew the policy. Other companies now offer this, but when you buy a policy make sure you understand what you are buying. There are also policies sold by Petplan and other companies now called Time Limited Cover and these will cover the cost of illnesses and accidents which can be treated just for that policy year. These are much cheaper and may appeal to you if you have a young moggie, for example, who may stray onto a road and have an accident. Beware though in my experience even young dogs can unexpectedly fall victim to diseases like cancer, and if you buy this type of policy they will not continue to pay after the policy year ends for that condition.

Whatever you decide make sure you understand what you have bought. The policy wording is really important and to be fair to Petplan they make it simple and straight forward. There are options to choose within the lifetime cover which allows you to choose what limit on vet fees you wish to have.

There is an excess on the policy which increases each year with age and is dependant on where you live and the breed of your animal. To give you an example we have a shih tzu who is 8 years old. We have the top level £12,000 vet fees cover and we have to pay the first £110 of any claim in any one year. We have also got the top level vet fees policy for our cats as well, and the excess varies for this depending on the age of your cat.

Deciding which level of cover is very hard but one of the things I have found is that events can be much more than you imagine.
In 1998 Marigold our Persian kitten ate a piece of a toy snake. Unusual in cats, I know, but she did and it was a Sunday. In 1998 this cost £350 for emergency surgery.

In 2006 our shih tzu developed a serious corneal ulcer which required extensive treatment with contact lenses and this totalled £700.

In 2007 one of our Persian was diagnosed with polycystic kidney and was referred to the vet school referral unit in London where he was treated as an in patient and his bills were over £4000.

Last year ago we made a stupid mistake and left a box of dark chocolates on the settee where our Shih Tzu found them and ate 4. These are potentially fatal as only 1.5 g of dark chocolate can kill a small dog, so we spent a few very worrying hours at an all night vets being treated for this. Cost £120 but would have been much more if she hadn't been made to be sick within an hour, and she would have potentially gone into intensive care in heart failure.

If your animal needs surgery or chemotherapy treatment for cancer these numbers can get very large indeed, and new treatments are being developed all the time, having the insurance takes all the worry away about whether a treatment is right for the animal because it can be decided on a medical and not purely cost basis.

If the worst happens you have done all you can.

All our claims with Petplan were paid quickly and we were treated with dignity and respect.

They do settle claims quickly within 2 or 3 weeks and some vets will actually deal with them directly if you are not able to pay first and then be refunded.

They insist that the animal is kept up to date with vaccinations and dental checks.

The policy will also cover other things which you may not have thought about such as loss - if you lose your pet they will cover some of the advertising costs.

Some policies also cover complimentary treatments and boarding fees if you are ill.

There are many things to read carefully before you decide and if you visit Petplan you will find all the details on their website: www.petplan.co.uk.

One of the most overlooked areas of pet insurance is that of third party liability. You are covered in certain circumstances if your pet is the cause of an accident where others are affected. This is so easy to imagine if your new puppy gets out and is the cause of a road traffic accident.

My daughter is about to qualify as a vet and in the last 5 years since she started there have been major advances in all areas of veterinary medicine, and each year new treatments become available which are costly. Animals who are referred to vet schools because they have insurance are providing valuable teaching aids to the students and not only benefit themselves but help a new generation of drugs and treatments to be found.
Petplan are very committed to animal welfare and they ask you for an optional donation of £1.50 at purchase or renewal which they add to and use to fund their charitable trust which provides grants to animal charities and for research into disease.

One thing to mention they will only start your policy up to age 8 for dogs and age 10 for cats. If your animal is older than this you will have to look for another provider. There are also some restrictions on the age of certain dog breeds at purchase of the policy.

Finally they will not cover for illness for 14 days after your policy starts but they will for accidents.

So I would say please consider pet insurance if you can and I can recommend Petplan.

Be very careful though and give yourself ample time to study the policy details online before you buy.

Have a look at Quidco a cash back site first because right now they are offering £25 back for every new Petplan policy. If you do this please read up on Dooyoo about Quidco to make sure your purchase tracks. I have a review on this so please look at it and some of the others and read the section on their website which deals with technical tracking issues.

One last thing if you contact Petplan they have lists of available puppies and kittens so you can follow these up if you are looking to purchase a new pedigree cat or dog.

In conclusion I would say Petplan was the first and still is one of the names you can trust and having insurance whoever it is from is peace of mind in an agitated world.

Just read the policy wording very carefully so you know what you are covered for and then you can relax and enjoy your pets!

A final point to bear in mind is that make sure the fee cover you purchase is really adequate if the worst happens.It is frightening how quickly the costs will mount in diseases like cancer and you don't want to have insurance cover which runs out mid way through treatment.

I think animals deserve to have access to the most up to date treatments and so for this reason I choose Petplan.

This review is also published on Dooyoo by myself under the user name Machair1 

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