Woof! Bark! And also Whiiiiiiiiiine.

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Winniefree 13 Mar 5:10pm, 13 Mar 2024 6,719 posts	0 Winniefree It doesn’t at all Sharkie. The whole ‘vet’ phenomenon is very different to how it was when I was young. Of course it didn’t mean knowingly letting an animal suffer but pet insurance and regular medication for healthy animals (eg. Prinovox) wasn’t a thing. We haven’t got insurance for Stevie. If he doesn’t improve with the anti-inflammatories and painkillers it’ll be thinking about an MRI scan next - which google informs me will cost in the region of £2k
Sharkie 13 Mar 5:19pm, 13 Mar 2024 22,423 posts	0 Sharkie Oh god, good luck with that, Winnie. Come on Stevie! sends luck and love
LazyDaisy 13 Mar 6:27pm, 13 Mar 2024 39,821 posts	0 LazyDaisy We've always insured our dogs though the monthly premium for Flossie now makes us think we may not renew in the autumn when she'll be 12. I think they're recouping the cost of her TPLO operation! Hope Stevie is ok without the op, Winnie.
Alice the Camel 13 Mar 6:34pm, 13 Mar 2024 16,517 posts	0 Alice the Camel Our pets receive better treatment than us these days! (said slightly tongue in cheek). I’m having surgery myself in a few weeks. I’ve gone against all my principles and booked it privately after being told there was a 6-12 month wait for initial consultation and then a further 12-18 month wait for the procedure. Considering how much we’ve spent on the dog over the last few months, we decided to dip further into our children’s inheritance and get it done on our timescale. I appreciate I’m very fortunate to have savings and be in a financial position to do this. Charlie, meanwhile, is seen within days of a phone call and any treatment carried out almost immediately.
Mandymoo 13 Mar 6:48pm, 13 Mar 2024 18,548 posts	0 Mandymoo Good on you Alice re sorting yourself out. We paid for daughters youngest to get seen last week privately. Marvin isn't insured, it wasn't worth it and still isn't even with what we pay for his drugs. We paid £20 for a prescription
Alice the Camel 13 Mar 6:56pm, 13 Mar 2024 16,518 posts	0 Alice the Camel I went off at a bit of a tangent there - sorry! Charlie isn’t insured, we were quoted £47 per month when he was a puppy (it would be more now of course) so we decided to put £50/month in a savings account for any vet fees. He’s just about still in the black after 8-and-a-bit years.
Mandymoo 13 Mar 7:15pm, 13 Mar 2024 18,549 posts	0 Mandymoo That's what we do with Marvin, put it away each month. He was insured until he hit double digits. Only claimed once in those 10 years
SJA 13 Mar 7:56pm, 13 Mar 2024 164 posts	0 SJA Luna cost 8k in vets fees in her first 2 years. I'm still only paying £18 a month for her at 4.5 years of age (started at £11 as a pup). Of my other 3 dogs, they have never needed a vet (until their last year for the older 2 who were never insured) and the 2.5 year old border collie is now at £14 a month. I'm all for saving up but when you need it, it does come in handy - even if for just 1 out of 4.
SJA 13 Mar 8:02pm, 13 Mar 2024 165 posts	0 SJA Just to add. The first 2 who never needed vets had the cheapest kibble since I didn't know any better back then. Whippet and Border Collie lasted till 12 years old. Never ill. Luna had the best diet you could imagine. Able raw dog food. Then onto Eden hollistic and raw. I think a lot is down to genetics. You are either lucky or not so lucky like Luna! She is thriving now with Paddy - both on mid range kibble at the moment doing great.
Big_G 13 Mar 9:26pm, 13 Mar 2024 3,308 posts	0 Big_G I will just say that I think in U.K. we are used NHS and getting seen fairly quickly, and not seeing real costs of medical care. A vet and vet nurse have very long training periods, are experts are what they do, have all the kit and knowledge, and I think know better that what people can get from google (OH is a vet btw, and gets very fed up of the vet-bashing on social media).