Dog and cat insurance from Woolworths -
My senior Border Collie, who will be 13 years old at the end of this month, was accepted (!), but only for accidental injury, which is pretty limited. Policies for younger dogs/cats are way better. Cost for my policy is $10.78 per month.
Remember to input the promotional code: EDR8
Also 40 hampers giveaway to first 20 cat/dog policy holders - probably gone already.
Pet insurance?
Now i have seen everything…
Seems there's no love for my posting :-(
The brutal facts are: pets aren't covered by Medicare. In my direct experience, a basic consultation with the local vet with no meds costs $50 to $80; with meds,+ $150. If there's something seriously wrong, you're talking thousands of dollars.
Actually i love your posting!
I'm sure it's useful to some people & for that reason it's great you've made the effort.
I simply find it a little amusing.
Fundamentally it represents the free market in action. Capitalism rules!
Apologies for the distraction - i'd have pulled on my own leash if i had my way over again.
Dear FreckleNuts,
Fundamentally it represents the free market in action. Capitalism rules!
My vet totally envies a certain mobile pet cremation service here. I can't mention my city, but some people call it Melbourne. Anyway, for a very reasonable fee they wait outside the surgery while he does the final deed. Meanwhile, they are stoking up the fires in their mobile crematorium; Fido goes in one end, comes out as ashes at the other end, and the cash register sings.
He says that their income is wildly beyond the dreams of any mere vet.
Turns out i'd hadn't seen everything after all…
I've heard of "Break down" insurance and Wheel and Tyre insurance in the UK. If you get a busted rim or flat or slashed tyre, the insurance provides a replacement, or a replacement set if requried. Similarly, if you break down, the insurance can cover full repair costs. I wish I could have gotten my full repair costs covered when the water pump went in my car whilst my parents were driving it… Water pumped started leaking water… 20minutes later, cooked engine. They kept driving…. 10 minutes later engine was pinging and seizing and then locked up. THEN they called me.
I thought most don't cover normal vet checkups/needles and pets have to be under a certain age.
Most home insurance can have pet cover as an extra, but no idea of the coast.
But $120 year seems cheap.
Edit - I just got a quote $10.78 is accident only ($100 excess), doesn't include illness or routine checks. So really doesn't cover much.
If you want routine work include it is over $40 per month!! So as I remember it is more expensive than if part of my home insurance, sorry.
Yep, the $10.78 is, as I said in the description "only for accidental injury, which is pretty limited."
But factoring in (a) the $25 wish card and (b) the fact that they would even consider my dog given her age, I felt that for under $2 a week over 12 months it was worth doing.
I put my dog on our Medicare card
Pet insurance is very common now: https://www.google.com.au/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=pe…
Even Medibank offer it: http://www.medibank.com.au/pet-insurance/
My household insurance covers accidents if the animal gets run over by a car. I wish I had known about it years ago when I first got my pets; a recent vet visit for tooth extraction after a mouth infection cost over $1000.
I keep hearing horror stories about the cost of dog dental treatment. A friend was told to (a) always feed his dogs on kibble - sticky, clingy goop - and (b) never, ever, ever give them bones.
My almost-13 Border Collie is given raw bones to chew. Her teeth are white and gleaming - the vet always remarks on them - and have never needed treatment, but by mate's dogs teeth required $1500 worth of vet attention.
Guess even my dog is an OzBargainer !
But remember, that $1500 wouldn't be covered in your $10 plan because it will be cased as an illness
I would like to have the insurance, and have looked around at a few places, for my wife's little "baby" but for any decent cover it is just too expensive, $480 a year for a 5 year old dog , better to just save the money.
Just in case some people don't get it, "pet insurance" is about being being covered for vet fees, which can be crippling, especially with older dogs or cats.
If you're not responsible for a companion animal, or just plain don't care, that's fine. Nothing to see here, just move on. Click on the next link for $1 off a memory card or $10 off a terabyte drive.
Click on the next link for $1 off a memory card…
$1 off! Have you got a link?
yeah most problems in old dogs that they just wont cover. i compared them 3 times last year and discovered its just not worth it. they refuse to cover dogs over 9 for most things.
If the dog has a pre existing condition then that and anything associated with it is not covered but your premium isnt reduced either.
standard consultations are not covered, vaccinations and check ups are required but not covered. if your dog gets hit by a car (fix your fence to begin with and prevent this). the chance of it happening might be unlikely but its not worth the risk its a small investment and pittence for peice of mind.
the added extras i.e vaccination cost you less at the vet directly than paying the extra for it.
pet insurance is really good if your broke and useless at saving and for the big accidents. our dog got bitten by a snake in 1995, cost us $2000 back then lucky we had pet insurance! so it worked out to be good value as it cost less to have her covered for her life than the snake bite did. it covered our other dog for a paralysis tick but it no longer covers these.
get your dog the premium insurance with guaranteed renewal while its young (before 9 roughly) so you can keep premium cover when its over the age limit.
"get your dog the premium insurance with guaranteed renewal while its young (before 9 roughly) so you can keep premium cover when its over the age limit."
Agree 100%. In the early years you'll almost certainly be paying far more than you claim. But in the later years, insurance will shield you from the shock if you get hit with bills in the $$$$ range. It's all a bit of a gamble; you may indeed end up ahead of the game by just putting away the cash yourself.
A friend had his (uninsured, young) dog stay overnight at the vet on a drip. Final account was over $800.
I got my Border Collie when she was 8 years old, so no chance of full cover at that age. Touch wood, so far her vet fees have only been from $60 to $160.
Sigh… As a Veterinary medicine student, and a dog owner, it really sucks to see vet fees being so expensive :(
but the brutal fact is that Vets actually earn NO WHERE NEAR other graduate students that studied for 7 years+ (especially in health/science industry). Not to mention we have to go around farms in country side at dawn if you work with farm animals (Which vet students have to for months as part of their course).
It really is the love for the animals and their welfare that keeps us going…
lolwut