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I just did an up to date quote for small pet insurance for an exotics company and it's about £26 a month. There is an excess to pay each time - which is more than the cost of a consultation if a pet is ill or injured, so basically the consultation isn't free. It excludes nail or tooth clipping - unless it's due to injury. However some hamsters, possibly like the one in the BBC article on the other thread, can have damaged or malocluded teeth that need clipping regularly to prevent injury - even if there isn't any injury. So it doesn't look like that would be included. Also not included is illness caused by hibernation (if the pet isn't supposed to hibernate, which hamsters aren't) so it would exclude treatment for torpor. It doesn't include self mutilation - eg a if a hamster chews it's leg off (which has been known if they have got a leg trapped in something).
It's basically saying you need to keep to the welfare act and provide good care so a number of things are excluded - including injury by any other pet or animal.
Referrals to specialists and cost of MRI or CT scans are only partially covered
Cremation costs aren't covered (that's personal choice I suppose).
It doesn't cover the costs of paperwork the vet provides.
General health checks aren't covered - only consultations if the pet is ill or injured (and there'd be the excess fee to pay so it wouldn't be worth claiming for a consultation).
It's unclear to me whether prescribed drugs are covered or not, or only if it's drugs administered by the vet, but it does sound like it only includes drugs administered by the vet (eg an injection or anaesthetic).
It does cover sudden or unexplained death - but you have to produce a post mortem report which would cost money, but doesn't cover if a pet dies under anaesthetic.
So I'm still dubious as to whether pet insurance is worth it for hamsters. It would basically cover the cost of surgery, if needed, which can be expensive. But the annual cost of the policy is about £300 a year and most surgery costs less than that. I think I paid £260 and £100 of that was optional - for a biopsy report.
So you could pay £600 over two years and even if you needed surgery done once in that time it still seems more cost effective to just put away say £15 a month. It doesn't seem there is anything you could claim for - except X rays or surgery. It would still be cheaper to pay the consultation fee than pay the excess to claim for the consultation fee.
Maybe I've been lucky but after having 9 hamsters over a 10 year period, I've only needed to pay for surgery once. The costs have usually been a consultation fee and prescribed antiobiotics or pain relief (and it's unclear whether those meds are included to claim for or not but it does say it doesn't cover preventative medication).
It's basically saying you need to keep to the welfare act and provide good care so a number of things are excluded - including injury by any other pet or animal.
Referrals to specialists and cost of MRI or CT scans are only partially covered
Cremation costs aren't covered (that's personal choice I suppose).
It doesn't cover the costs of paperwork the vet provides.
General health checks aren't covered - only consultations if the pet is ill or injured (and there'd be the excess fee to pay so it wouldn't be worth claiming for a consultation).
It's unclear to me whether prescribed drugs are covered or not, or only if it's drugs administered by the vet, but it does sound like it only includes drugs administered by the vet (eg an injection or anaesthetic).
It does cover sudden or unexplained death - but you have to produce a post mortem report which would cost money, but doesn't cover if a pet dies under anaesthetic.
So I'm still dubious as to whether pet insurance is worth it for hamsters. It would basically cover the cost of surgery, if needed, which can be expensive. But the annual cost of the policy is about £300 a year and most surgery costs less than that. I think I paid £260 and £100 of that was optional - for a biopsy report.
So you could pay £600 over two years and even if you needed surgery done once in that time it still seems more cost effective to just put away say £15 a month. It doesn't seem there is anything you could claim for - except X rays or surgery. It would still be cheaper to pay the consultation fee than pay the excess to claim for the consultation fee.
Maybe I've been lucky but after having 9 hamsters over a 10 year period, I've only needed to pay for surgery once. The costs have usually been a consultation fee and prescribed antiobiotics or pain relief (and it's unclear whether those meds are included to claim for or not but it does say it doesn't cover preventative medication).
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Occasionally you hear about a hamster who has needed an eye removed or an amputation, but that's usually due to accidents and thankfully you rarely hear about amputations caused by cage accidents these days as we know so much more about setting up cages safely 