Dog insurance is expensive. I’ve just received the renewal quote for the older of my two dogs, Barnaby. It’s an eye-watering, dog-howling £328.42 a month. That’s nearly £4,000 a year.
Perhaps an old dog with multiple ailments should be dispatched to the doggy equivalent of Dignitas. That would save a fortune. But hang on. Yes, he struggles to get up and down stairs and a slow potter to the post box is about as much as he can manage but he seems happy enough. He’ll greet you with a tail wag and a woof. I’d prefer it if he didn’t woof at me.
His breath is abominable. But you become incredibly attached to your furry friends. If they have a decent quality of life, surely as an owner you have an obligation to keep them happy, healthy and alive — whatever the cost?
Dog ownership in the UK has jumped from 7.6mn in 2010 to an estimated 13mn last year, according to Statista. The vast majority are insured and two of them live with me.
On paper, owning a dog doesn’t make sense. They make lots of mess, with muddy footprints a speciality. Their hair gets everywhere, they consume huge amounts of your time and require expensive food. If your back is turned they’ll steal your dinner. In the early years they’ll often chew furniture, electric cables or skirting boards. If it’s howling with wind and tipping down with rain, they’ll need a walk even if you don’t want one.
Prepare for massive kennel bills every time you go away. They disobey your commands not to sleep on a sofa or the bed and ruin your carpets and soft furnishings. Worse still, you have to pick up their poo, clean up their sick and, the older they get, the more they smell. Dog odour pervades your house, car and clothes. No matter how well they’re trained, you’ll have the occasional indoor “incident”.
This doesn’t sound like a great sales pitch for owning a dog. But the debate isn’t about whether to have a dog. They’re amazing. Nor is it about the substantial expense of ownership. It’s whether the astronomical cost of insurance is worth the money.
Like many of you, I’ve been looking through my household expenditure to make savings. I nearly cancelled the dogs’ respective policies to divert the money spent into a savings account to use if required. But given how many visits to the vet I’ve had to make, would this be a false economy?
Our two dogs are a hoot. Stanley is a three-year-old working cocker spaniel, although I’ve yet to see much evidence of his work, unless his job is to chase balls or wag his tail.
Last week, he got a hacking cough. It wasn’t Covid and he doesn’t smoke. Usually, I apply a three-day rule before I go to the vet. But his eyes told me he was upset, so I booked an appointment. After a 12-minute consultation, prescription drugs and injection, I’d dropped £262. All, thankfully, claimable on insurance. As was the recent treatment for a wound sustained from a wooden breakwater after an enthusiastic ball chase.
He didn’t notice the gouge or care for the stitches and cone of shame required to stop him opening up the gash. Hundreds of pounds and a few visits to the vet later and he’s back on form. His policy equates to just over £1,000 a year. And his claims have topped that this year. For a younger dog, insurance tends to be cheaper, and makes sound financial sense.
Older dogs are a conundrum. Barnaby is nearly 15. He’s a Basset Fauve de Bretagne. If you don’t know what one of those looks like, ask a 10-year-old to draw you a picture of a dog. He’s a medium-sized urban hound with a very deep bark. Given their life expectancy of 11 to 13 years, he’s doing well. But as the years have advanced, so his insurance premiums have escalated.
Back in 2008 when he was a pup, Direct Line charged just £29 a month. For every advancing year expect it to multiply. Should I shop around for a cheaper policy? Actually I’ve tried. Most new policies won’t cover existing conditions. Or, if they do, significant excesses apply.
The older a dog, the fewer policies exist that will fully cover your pet. The safest bet is to pick a company from day one and run with them until the end. The internet tells me that if I switched, the cheapest insurance would be £293.80 a month but even they recommend staying with the existing provider.
Should I just take that £4,000 and shove it in a bank account instead? Do this and you, in effect, become your own insurer. In theory, you could save money in the accident- and sickness-free years and use it when trouble strikes, as it inevitably will.
Well, this year Barnaby’s treatments have already cost over £3,000 and that’s without any unscheduled claims. He’s got pills for his arthritis, dental care for his teeth, specialist shampoo for his scaly skin, a liquid food supplement for his urinary incontinence and his vet has prescribed a monthly injection for his joints.
This general doggy maintenance costs hundreds of pounds a month and is covered by his insurance, so it’s not as if I’m hugely out of pocket. It’s the unscheduled surgery one needs to protect against. A few years ago, a complicated hernia operation cost nearly £5,000 and who knows when the next major operation may arise? He’s had stitches, teeth out, cuts on his paws and a few other ailments to treat, costing hundreds if not thousands of pounds a pop.
Speak to any dog owner and they’ll tell you tales of swallowed balls, splintered sticks, snake bites, fevers, unexplained bleeding, cuts, scrapes, back trouble and sickness — all requiring expensive treatments or surgery.
Dog ownership is not for the faint-hearted or indeed a challenged budget. And if you have a dog, you’ll want the very best care for them no matter what the cost might be. For all the unconditional love and laughter they bring, they must have the best. And that, I’ve concluded, means insuring them for any and every eventuality. Household savings will have to come from elsewhere.
James Max is a broadcaster on TV and radio and a property expert. The views expressed are personal. Twitter: @thejamesmax
Source: Economy - ft.com
