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Guinea pig insurance

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natters84

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Hi

I was just wondering do you have guinea pig insurance or do you put money into account?

With the events that have happened in the last week I was I had more money. So would having insurance help or is that wasting money.
 
I save money into a separate account (my vet fund). Reason being I don’t have to worry about excesses, claims etc the money is just there when I need it.
There is only one company that will insure guinea pigs in the UK, Exotic Direct.

A guide to vets fees, insurance and payment support.
 
Thank you.
I have started a guinea pig account putting what I looked at exotic direct would charge into their account.
 
The problem with pet insurance for piggies is that you have just exotic direct. It will work out if you need lots of vets visits for the same problem or if you have a particularly expensive to treat condition. At the time I looked at it the excess wasn't much cheaper than most of the bills I had faced from the vets and certain conditions, like dental, were excluded which left me wondering how helpful it would actually be. I've had a couple of occasions where it would have been incredibly useful but most of the time it worked out better to save
 
Lady Kelly said:
The problem with pet insurance for piggies is that you have just exotic direct. It will work out if you need lots of vets visits for the same problem or if you have a particularly expensive to treat condition. At the time I looked at it the excess wasn't much cheaper than most of the bills I had faced from the vets and certain conditions, like dental, were excluded which left me wondering how helpful it would actually be. I've had a couple of occasions where it would have been incredibly useful but most of the time it worked out better to save
Click to expand...
Thank you. I am currently saving and it does seem the better option
 
Around October last year, we started insuring our guinea pigs. Vegas and Whitney was both insured thru Exotics Direct at a cost of around £24 or so for the both of them. I can't really remember the exact price, hubby was the one who did it. We would've insured Bryce but since he was going in the vets for a couple of months, we weren't allowed to insured him until 3 months after his last vet visit. When we added him to the insurance it was around £30 for all 3 of them. Hubby said the more piggies you insured the cheaper it will be. Bryce is not insured for his previous health issues though if he gets it again (his was neck abscess).

When Vegas was diagnosed with Lymphoma on Feb this year, the cost we spent with the vets (around £280 I think) was refunded to us by the insurance, but we had to pay the excess fee of £60. That's because hubby opted for the cheapest option. You can opt for a higher/premium coverage without excess but it will cost more. Oh and you cannot insure a guinea pig aged 5 and above. Dental is covered 50%.
 
natters84 said:
Hi

I was just wondering do you have guinea pig insurance or do you put money into account?

With the events that have happened in the last week I was I had more money. So would having insurance help or is that wasting money.
Click to expand...

Hi

I, too, have a piggy account into which I pay every month. It is more efficient for me with so many piggies, many of which do not necessarily fulfill insurance criteria.

We have got a practical information collection for new owners which you may find helpful when doing your research and for many of the smaller or larger unforeseeable practical issues most new owners come up against when they start out.
You may want to bookmark the link, browse, read and re-read at need. With several of the guides you take different things out at different levels of experience: Getting Started - Essential Information for New Owners
 
I have insurance thru my work in the USA. It is $7 a month per pig with my discount. One was just diagnosed with a heart murmur so it will be helpful if he gets worse or needs meds. I have spend several thousand usd on medical bills (before they had insurance) for my pigs so it is worth it to me. I think the max they will pay me back per pig is 6000.

I would do insurance and a pet fund together if you can afford it.
 
I’ve had mine insured with exotic direct for well over 10 years (with various guineas obviously). It has almost literally been a life saver and I don’t have to worry about throwing everything at diagnosis and treatment and currently one which is on repeat medication which they happily pay for.

I suspect if I summed it up over those years we would both come out even in the end but it’s the peace of mind which helps me. My first Guinea cost me over £1,800 one year due to all sorts of issues and wasn’t insured, and after that I got insurance. One Guinea cost me over £2,000 in one year and (Thank goodness I pay the higher premium) they covered it all and I just paid £60 excess, over her 7 years life she cost the insurance company nearly £6,000, she was a walking vet bill lol, I only ever insure three at a time though otherwise it does add up. I certainly think it’s worth it.
 
I'd love to get mine insured as it would make me worry a lot less.
I looked into Exotics Direct and I was so confused about all their rules etc. My rabbits are both insured with Agria and somehow that seems a lot more simple?
Exotics Direct only allowed me to put 3 guinea pigs onto the quote (I have 6) and I wasn't really sure which ones to pick. I think it also said that even though you pay monthly for each guinea pig, they will only pay out £2000 a year for all of them combined? I don't know if I misunderstood that, maybe someone that has multiple piggies insured could clarify for me?
It did seem like if one of my pigs had, for example, a £1,500 vet bill that I claimed for, I would only have £500 left that I could claim for any other pigs?
They also wouldn't cover certain conditions and they had something about appropriate housing in the policy documents as well. I'm not sure what they consider appropriate housing (I follow the guides on this forum + other guinea pig groups) so in my opinion my housing is great, but would they say otherwise?
I might be overthinking it, haha :lol:

So far I've paid bills as they came up, sometimes with a credit card... :eek:
 
I know when I looked into insurance it didn't seem worth it, they didn't pay out over the age of 5, no unlicensed medication (very little is!), no existing conditions, only paid out up to £2,000 a year, a scan at my vets is over £1,000, £500 for an xray! By the time I'd paid the premiums I didn't think I'd be saving much if anything.
 
Hi guys, just found this thread whilst trying to decide if I should insure my piggies. I can't seem to find a policy booklet to read through on exotic direct? Is someone able to attach a copy so I can browse exclusions etc?

Also do they contribute towards nail trims?

Thanks!
 
Becca_xo said:
Hi guys, just found this thread whilst trying to decide if I should insure my piggies. I can't seem to find a policy booklet to read through on exotic direct? Is someone able to attach a copy so I can browse exclusions etc?

Also do they contribute towards nail trims?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

You are probably better off to speak to them directly.

I would not think nail trims are covered by insurance.
 
You may find it’s cheaper to save into a vet fund yourself.
That way the money is there if needed.
I think a lot of us on the forum do this.
 
How much do you think is worth saving per month? I have two boars I adopted in November from another family, approximately 2 yrs old. Thanks 🙂
 
I try to ensure that I have about £1000 in my vet fund as that can easily go on one sick piggy.
If the fund is healthy I don’t add much.
When the fund has taken a hit then I add until it’s topped up.
Some people are much more organised than I am.
Personal circumstances also vary so put away what you can, when you can.
 
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