Can anyone tell me the point of Pet insurance when the bill always seems to come to a pound or two just below the excess. I have just been to the vet where the bill has been £39 and £28 and cannot claim because the lowest excess seems to be £50,

Does your Vet treat Teddybear's as well. ?

It is a April 1st joke ...right. !

Ha ha love it, no he does'nt

Because many visits to the vets can cost hundreds or thousands of pounds, this is when Pet Insurance comes into its own

Hi, sorry to be so dim, but can the receipts that you get from the vet be kept and then sent to the insurers because it seems that it is hardly not worthwhile when say you go and he has an ear infection and each time i go the bill is less than the excess amount, when the treatment is finished can i claim it all then, thanks

It is not just me that seems to have the reckoning on the subject it is also my neighbour who also had a shock with her vet bill

Check the terms and conditions - if the bills are for the same course of treatment then they may be allowable. You've just worked out how insurance companies make their money ! Depending on what pet you've got though it doesn't take much to get over £50 - our cat was in for a one day operation to have teeth removed which was well over £100.

The risk is yours but if you think you aren't getting value for money then stop paying the premiums. I don't bother with insurance but am able to afford bills that go into 4 figures if necessary. Having had cats for 18 years now (but not teh same one) the biggest bill we've had is about £200 and most years it has just been the annual booster so overall I think I've won.

To me the whole point of pet insurance is not to cover the mundane & little things but is there in the event of a major illness or emergency

as an example Dave, our kitten has recently had a road accident. In terms of cats it was only a little one but required him being treated for shock, kept in overnight at an emergency vets, having surgery & stiches to his face and a course of anti-biotics. The cost is over £700 so far - thats where insurance comes in!

If everyone got more out of their insurances than they put in then there would be no point in the companies operating as they would not be able to make any money. For me the £7 a month was well worth it for piece of mind before the accident happened - now I'd had to claim it feels even more worthwhile!

Pet insurance is a rip off. We paid premiums for our two cocker spaniels for 10 years and never claimed a penny. Then when they were 10 years old the premiums rocketed and the excess became much higher. By the time we needed to claim for vet treatment of one of our dogs the excess was £60 and the maximum claim paid was 35% of the bill or £3000 whichever was the smaller amount. The maximum that could be claimed in any 12 month period was £3000. After our last dog died we decided not to have another because the insurance was too expensive. It is time these insurance companies were shown up.

Of course their premiums increased when they are older! an older dog is more likely to become ill!

35% of the bill or £3000 whichever was the smaller amount sounds bloody ridiculous - what company was it? And surely you should have taken note of this at the time of taking the policy!

At the time of taking out the policy there was no mention of either increases in premiums as the pet aged or reduction in amounts that we could claim. Vets' bills are no different whatever the age of the pet. A lively young animal is far more likely to have an accident than an old slow one. If insurance companies are going to increase premiums to the extent that ours did as the pet gets older, they should also give a no claim bonus for each year that there has been no claim. Our pets' insurance premiums more than doubled once they were 10 years old in spite of the fact that we had never claimed on them. The medical treatment that one of our dogs had never reached the excess. The other dog never needed any treatment at all until we had to have him put down at the age of 15 years. The insurance company got rich on us!