New Puppy Advice Please

How lovely😊

Go on to one of the insurance comparison sites and get a variety of quotes. What I would say is to go for the highest level of cover you can afford - vet bills can rack up very quickly these days.

Also don’t forget it must cover lifelong conditions. Also speak with your vet and see if they offer any kind of packages for ongoing flea/tick/worm and vaccinations. We pay £17 a month for our spaniel and it covers all the forementioned, plus two annual check ups and 10% off treatments aside the plan.

Also be aware as puppy gets older insurance premiums rise rapidly

www.spotonpetinsurance.co.uk/

I use this company for our dog.

Have fun getting ready for your new puppy! 🐕

Please remember that puppies are a major trip hazard for those not in the first flush of youth.

Petplan…not cheap but they are good at paying out.

Monthly worming once pup is over 5 months old is unnecessary. By then the roundworms have been eliminated.
Use a company called Wormcount after that 2/3 times a year. They will tell you if your dog has any worms so you can treat appropriately.
Fleas are not common nowadays with our good cleaning practices ,and dog can easily be treated if it gets them.
There are many natural collars available for fleas and ticks.
I won’t constantly poison dogs or the environment and prefer modern approaches.
My dogs have mostly tested clear of worms and only once in 50 years have had fleas.
Good luck and enjoy your new pup.

We use manypets.com. A major plus point for us is that we get 24/7 vet advice over FaceTime or similar with a written report to follow. You are told whether you should visit your vet or not. We’ve used this service 3 times, never been advised to see vet and the problem cleared up after following advice. Saved a lot of worry.

My last lovely boy was put to sleep exactly a year ago. I got him when he was two. Unfortunately I took out insurance that didn't cover him for all the ailments that happened, including going blind. The cover was only for a year for each problem.

I now have an eight month old Cavapoo and I made sure to get the top level of insurance so he will be better covered should the worse happen. I have gone with Emporium.

We started off with PetPlan but swapped to Direct Line when it got too expensive. Our dog is now 6 years old and we’ve only claimed once. Direct Line paid out with no issues.

I only have two cats now. I took Martin Lewis’s advice and saved £50 pm in a separate bank account to pay any vet fees. When I did take my insured dog the minimum fee was always rising, strangely most treatments seemed to be under the, then, £80 limit, so I never got to claim. Luckily he never had any major issues. My cats have never been to the vets, I do their flea treatments at home. The cats are quite wealthy now, with £5000 saved up, just in case. Dogs are probably more accident prone & of course don’t have the 9 lives my cats do.

Direct Line were always quick to pay out for us and weren't too expensive. I will be using them again when I get my puppy in a few weeks time.

I have always had insurance and, yes, it is maddening that the bill is invariably just below the excess level. Many friends have put a monthly amount of money into a separate account to cover vet bills, which seems to have worked.

My concern has always been public liability if, say, the hound causes an accident. However, I discovered a year or so ago that The KennelClub (I think) does just liability cover. Then it was about £25 per annum. Might be worth investigating.

We've used Tesco for our last three. Not cheap ut never had a problem with payment when claiming.

Competitive (successful)! Obedience (and hobby gundog) dog trainer here.
Excellent choice! Puppy should come with initial free insurance (which with a cocker spaniel you are unlikely to need) you can extend that insurance from the breeder or swap. I like pet plan myself but it’s up to you. I have a cocker spaniel (and other breeds) she never needs the vet (she’s 8) they are robust. Enjoy your puppy focus on the early stages getting puppy to follow you around and stay with you , be prepared for her hiding your stuff! . Read up about fear phases (Angela White’s dog training instructors manual has all the information you will need (Amazon/kindle)). Angela was one of my trainers and judges in competitive obedience heed her advice - enjoy puppy (wish it was me) !!

Avoid Animal Friends. They will do anything to avoid paying on a claim.

We always set up a savings account for our dogs. We increase their monthly 'pay' a little each year because they are more likely to be ill as they age, like us. It's worked very well for us. One of our dogs had a tumour removed, followed by chemo and radiotherapy. There was more than enough in his account to cover the cost.

Join the Dogs Trust. It's £25 per year, or £12.50 if you are over 60. The benefits are you get public liability insurance up to £1,000,000, unlimited access to a 24-hour veterinary advice service (Vetfone), and discounts on behavior and training programs. So if your dog causes an accident you're covered. And you're helping a great charity.

beautybumble

Hi. I'm getting a new Cocker Spaniel puppy in a few weeks. I'm so excited I started preparing straight away. It's been a few years since my last beauty passed so I'm out of touch with insurance costs. Does anyone have any advice as to the best company and not too expensive? I'm just preparing in advance. Thank you so much.

Emporium, it's cheap but brilliant, deals with the vets so all you do is fill a form out at the vets (when needed)

Get insured straight away. The breeder usually gives you two weeks of cover but if anything happens in the first two weeks ( and puppies are terrible for doing daft things) you then won’t be covered for that in the future. I always use Pet Plan life cover but at the age of six my dog now costs @ £100 a month. They’ve always paid up, though.

Hi. I know a lot of people will say take out whole of life policies but I think it very much depends on budget. I've always had dogs and cats until recently and couldn't afford to have them all on whole life policies as it gets more expensive per year particularly if you claim. I've always gone for 2 year £4000 limit on each condition and it's always served me well as even with our elderly Westie I was only paying £23 a month when she was 12 and slightly less for our eldest cat who was 16. Sometimes I didn't put a claim in as excess is £100 or more and often tests meant I would have been claiming for less than £40 so didn't bother. I've always shopped around on renewal dates even with elderly pets and often made a saving that way. Wishing you every happiness with your new puppy.

Animal friends has always paid for my 14 year old Labrador but I wouldn’t recommend them. In the past 2 years the premiums have gone up from £41 a month to £156 a month. We had never claimed until 2 years ago but now his medication is £140 a month. This is quite a basic insurance which has a £100 excess on each separate ailment per year and pays up to £2000 per ailment per year. Also because he is over the age of 8 they also only pay 80% of each claim. I would definitely do your research. We have decided that in future we will pay for insurance whilst they are puppies and more accident prone and cover is generally cheaper and also start putting some in a separate account to save for later years. With the healthy pet club giving 10% discount on all treatments then unless we are incredibly unlucky we think it will be more affordable. Good luck and enjoy your new best friend.

Our latest dog, a Labrador Retriever, is six now. We were with Animal Friends, luckily never had to submit a claim, but the premiums went up each year. We now, as pps have said, follow Martin Lewis's advice and put money away each month instead. My son, who has one of our dog's littermates, is with Petplan. Their dog has had an ongoing skin/allergy condition for a year, which needs monthly medication and they are able to claim back the cost from Petplan without any problems so far.
We also have a plan with our vet where we pay annually for flea and worming meds, yearly boosters, a check up, and a free appointment through the year if needed for anything. Worth looking into if your vet offers the same.

Forgot to say...enjoy your new pup!

We are with LV London and Victoria pet insurance. Never made a claim but they are reasonably priced. We have car and home insurance with them too as the price was good

Weve been happy with purely pets and theyve paid out for our rescue dog's injured paw and our monthly injections for our black labrador towards the end of her life .

I’ve stayed with PetPlan, expensive but good and vets work directly with them
Spaniels are great fun and lovely dogs. Im on my second blue roan, she’s a peach

Enjoy yours