Insuring a rescue bun

[toki]

I’m looking to get insurance for Toki asap. But the problem is, I have been told that it is hard to insure rescue rabbits because they have no medical history, and this would lead to a bunch of “exceptions” that the insurer wouldn’t cover, making insurance basically useless. But I don’t know if this is true or not, and can’t find anything about it on the internet.

Does anyone here have insurance for their rescue bun or any thoughts about this?

[Muchelle]

I don’t know much about that, cause here it’s not really usual to get insurance for a pet (unless it’s a pure breed, blah blah). But… haven’t you had Toki for a while now? I mean you should have a medical history to show to the insurer now, like vaccine records, parasite tests or even a blood test. I think that as long as you can prove that he’s not a “special needs” bunny, it should be okay?

[DanaNM]

Hi Toki,

Not sure where you are located, but I used to have pet health insurance through VPI for my bunnies, both of which were rescues. I never needed to show a medical history, there was just a waiting period for it to become active (I think 2 weeks), and no pre-exisiting condition coverage.

I no longer have it, as I felt that it wasn’t worth the price, and I did feel that there were a lot of conditions that were not covered. When I finally went to use it for my cat, the problem was not covered. I was spending about $500 a year for two bunnies and my cat total, and I normally don’t spend that much on vet care per year, so we opted to just have a savings account and use credit cards for pet medical stuff.

That said, if you don’t have enough credit for emergencies then insurance is prob the way to go. I know a lot of members here have health insurance for their buns and like it.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[toki]

Thanks both! 

Muchelle, yes I’ve had Toki for about 10 months. I have the medical history from the rescue I adopted him from (which was 7 months’ worth of history), but since then I haven’t known how to collect his medical history for myself. He had his vacc’s at the vets a few months ago, but they didn’t give me a certificate or anything to show that it had taken place.   So I’m not really sure what to do about that.

Dana, I’m in the UK and here we have about 3 or 4 insurers who will cover bunnies. Perhaps they don’t need to see a medical history as much as I thought they did. Which conditions didn’t they cover for you? I know generally they don’t cover pre-existing conditions and dental problems, but that’s about it. To insure Toki would be about £120 per year according to the quotes I got. Considering how a bill for stasis can be upwards of £1,000, I think insurance is worth it for me. We had a bit of a scare today when Toki stopped eating and I thought it was stasis. It turned out fine but I was worried because I didn’t have insurance to cover it, and didn’t want to go completely broke. 

[DanaNM]

The condition they didn’t cover for me was an infected anal gland in my cat (which is a common problem) wasn’t covered. And it was the first problem I had with my cat after several years of paying for the insurance, so I was annoyed. Most of the medical expenses I’ve had with my bunnies have been dental, so that would have been frustrating for me as well.

You should ask the company you go with to make sure they won’t consider any future stasis episodes “pre-existing”, even though each incident is of course distinct. There might be a time window that has to pass in order for it to be covered in the future.

It is definitely a great piece of mind to not have to consider the cost when deciding whether to rush off to the vet, I would just make doubly sure with your insurer that stasis would be covered!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Bam]

I have insurance for Bam. I bought it when I’d had him 3 months. They didn’t ask about previous conditions, I wouldn’t have known anyway.

They will (prob)ask you to state when and for what reason he’s been to the vet. Then what he was treated for might not be covered. They will also (again probably) ask you if he’s currently healthy to your knowledge. If they demand vaccinations, your vet clinic must have a record of it. They don’t ask for vaccinations here.

There’s normally a period of several weeks before the insurance becomes valid for diseases, but it takes effect immediately for accidents. It’s just so you don’t wait until the animal already is sick before you buy the insurance.

Bam’s insurance has been worth it. He’s been sick once, and I was so very happy to be able to afford the best treatment for him.

Tooth problems are never covered for rabbits.

[toki]

Thanks both (again)!

Dana – thankfully it turned out not to be stasis and as far as I know Toki has never had stasis (and won’t do any time soon!)   so *hopefully* i wouldn’t even need to bring that up. I can’t believe they didn’t cover an infected gland. I would have been mad too. 

bam – I’m surprised they didn’t even ask about pre-existing conditions. But I’m glad they helped you get the best care for Bam!

The only health problem on Toki’s medical records is when he was neutered by the rescue centre and his privates swelled up. I think they gave him a few days of metacam and he was fine. Apart from that he is super healthy (and he likes to show just how healthy he is at 3am in the morning  

[Bam]

Oh, forgot to say, Bam wasn’t a rescue, he was found in the woods, sitting on a pile of garbage Someone had discarded him. So I had no chance of knowing about previous conditions. I don’t suppose his previous owners were the type that take their bun to a vet though, so there probably were none.

Having insurance feels good.

[toki]

Oh no, poor Bam, that is so sad  

And thanks for the helpful info!

[OverthinkingBun]

@ bam, I’m going to very respectfully disagree: the schedule of benefits for the plan I bought says that they cover overgrown teeth and dental abcesses for rabbits and exotics, as well as dental imaging for diagnostics. Of course, getting them to actually pay out may be a different thing It’s Nationwide, the only company in the US that I know of that covers exotics. I know that’s not very helpful for toki, since they aren’t in the US, but it might be an option for others reading this.

I also got my bunny as a stray – they didn’t ask questions about where/how I got her, just whether she had a wellness exam or illnesses, and whether there was a vet where they could confirm that.

[toki]

Thanks OverthinkingBun! I’m going to sort out some insurance later today and hopefully Toki can get covered. On the dental issue, a few policies I have read do cover some form of dental. Usually it’s only “if it relieves the suffering” of the bun. Perhaps where Bam lives that’s not the case, although again, they always want an excuse not to pay out

[Sirius&Luna]

I have insurance in the UK, but my buns aren’t rescues so it doesn’t help on that aspect. I do remember there being a box for did you adopt or buy, but I’m not sure how that would affect the quote.

As far as I could find, HelpUCover, PetPlan and Exotics direct are the only places in the UK that cover buns. I went with HelpUCover, and so far they’ve always been great.

The clause around dental is a bit funny – when I first took it out I thought it covered dental if they had yearly check ups, but when I looked again recently, it has some weird clauses around it.

I would call the various options up and ask they’re usually pretty helpful on the phone.

[Bam]

Overthinking bun, that sounds so great! Thank you for telling us, it can help lots of bun owners choose the best insurance for their buns =)

Toki, it’s very sad. Bam is such a gentle, friendly rabbit. I’m so very happy I got him.

[joea64]

I’ve had insurance via Nationwide for Panda and Fernando since September, a few weeks after I got them. It doesn’t cover normal checkups (and why? Seems counterintuitive, since one would think they’d want to encourage regular procedures to save on the emergencies and illnesses they do cover), but it’s pretty cheap at $11.50 per month per bun. P and F are rescue rabbits, but Friends of Rabbits had had them vet-checked a couple of months before I adopted them and Nationwide was satisfied when I advised it to contact them if they needed any medical records.

[toki]

Thanks Sirius&Luna. Those are the same insurers I found also. (When I adoped Toki however, he came with 6 weeks of MoreThan insurance, which makes me confused as to why MoreThan don’t seem to insure rabbits now…) I was thinking of going with HelpUCover because I’ve heard a few good things about them, but would have to ask about their approach to rescues. May I ask how long you’ve been with them, and if they’re good at correspondence when you contact them? I hear PetPlan are horrendous at returning calls and tend to be rude on the phone, which makes me wary of insuring with them.

Thanks joea64; certainly seems a lack of medical history isn’t going to be too much of a problem. No idea why they don’t cover check-ups but are so insistent on them 

[Sirius&Luna]

I’ve been with them for nearly a year now. I first took out insurance with them in April, and my bunny Sirius got poisoned and died after lengthy treatment in the first week of May. My first month’s payment hadn’t even been taken by them at that point, so I was pretty concerned but they paid his £1200 bill directly to the vet (after I had paid them the £50 excess) with no quibbling at all.
They were very very kind and helpful on the phone, and also then let me cancel his insurance (so I paid one month of £10, claimed £1200, and then was allowed to cancel when he died). It took a while for it to be paid, but I think actually it was that the vet took a while to send them the paperwork, and they were pretty quick once they received it. It also didn’t affect me, since the vet had agreed to be paid directly from the insurer.

The other time I claimed for a £100 bill for an eye infection, and it was paid straight into my account with no fuss.

I am waiting with trepidation to see what my monthly payment goes up to next year though… Apparently individual rabbits bills shouldn’t effect the others, so hopefully Sirius’s massive bill won’t cause my other three’s monthly payment to increase significantly :/

Either way, I’m very glad I took out insurance and it gives me a lot of peace of mind.

[kirstyol]

pet plan quoted me a fortune for Bramble and I knew his 100% history as he has lived with us since he was six weeks old so I didn’t even bother getting a quote for Ron from them since we rescued him privately. Both are with Pets at home and we have had no issues with not knowing Ron’s history, although his insurance is a pound or two dearer than brambles each month, but he is also about a year and a half older. They cover dental but only in emergencies as far as I can gather, I don’t claim for brambles dentals, partly because they would be considered elective (we would need to wait for stasis to set in for it to be an emergency and who on earth would deliberately let their rabbit go into stasis?) and its a £75 excess per claim, since on average our bill for his dentals is £140, but only £85 of that is the actual surgery if you consider how much it would put the premiums up with him having a minimum of two dentals a year its not really worth it to get £10 back a time really.

[toki]

Thanks Sirius&Luna. Sorry to hear about Sirius   That’s very good that they still paid out.

Thanks kirstyol! Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Petplan and Pets At Home insurance the same thing? I did look at PAH insurance, but it just took me to the Petplan page. Maybe I’m confused in my old age  

I’m really torn between Petplan and HelpUCover at the moment. Petplan seem the ‘obvious’ first option but they also seem to collect lots of unhappy customers. 

[kirstyol]

no petplan is an actual insurance company, pets at home use an insurance provider – think its AXA currently, it just changed recently, as pets at home are not actually an insurance company. I with I could remember why I didn’t go with helpucover in the end, I remember getting a quote with them but cant remember why I didn’t go through with it.

Petplan will ask about any vet visits and exclude that reason from any future claims, Bramble had been to vets with what turned out to be gas and pet plan wanted to exclude all GI issues!!!

[toki]

Thanks for explaining kirsty. I hear a lot of people complain about Petplan excluding a bunch of things for no reason. That’s why I’m hesitant to go with them (even though I have never had to take Toki to the vet for an illness). They have a pretty bad rep on Trustpilot. Fancy excluding GI problems when buns are very susceptible to tummy troubles.

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