Should I cancel my pet insurance?

There’s no requirement to get pet insurance, so getting a policy is your choice. Some pet owners prefer to fund potential vet bills themselves – such as Shaun Hogg, 32, from Middlesbrough, whose pet insurance premium for his seven-year- old dog would have almost doubled, from £65 to £ 109 a month. The only reason given by his insurer was that he had recently moved house, he said.

“All we were told was the vets in our new area were more expensive” he explained. “That made no sense, as we were sticking with our original vet, given that we hadn’t moved far.”

Since then, Mr Hogg has covered his dog’s care by setting money aside each month rather than paying for insurance. It’s a move that has paid off.

“We’ve had to take our dog to the vet once in the last four years, for blood tests, which came to about £700. That was easily covered by the money we’ve set aside. But even if we hadn’t saved enough, it would still work out cheaper to put the bill on a 0pc credit card and pay it later,” he said.

Having money set aside for a pet, rather than handing it over to insurers, also gives owners the peace of mind of knowing that their pet can be cared for if they fall sick or are injured.

Before he switched to saving for his pet, Shaun claimed £1,000 in vet bills from his insurer after his pet was attacked by another dog in a park. It was a battle to get his dog’s care covered despite nasty injuries, he said.

“Because our dog wasn’t on a lead, our insurer tried to tell us that the attack was preventable, so they couldn’t cover it.

“Eventually I threatened to write a bad review on Trustpilot. The clinical director at our vet surgery even had to get involved. Now if something like that happened to our dog, we could just walk in and get it done.”

So do you really need to pay for pet insurance? It can be worth taking out for the sake of planning ahead, said Michael Royce, senior policy manager at the Money and Pensions Service.

“Whether it is worth taking out depends on several different factors, but you should really consider how you would deal with an unexpected bill as costs can go into the hundreds and often thousands of pounds,” he said.

“As with any insurance, you should shop around for the right cover at the best price.

“If you’re considering cancelling because of affordability ... contact your insurer and tell them you’re struggling as they must support customers in financial difficulty and will explain your options.”

Mr Hogg would pay for pet insurance again if he was to buy a puppy, he said. “When we got our dog, we were originally paying £25 a month. That was definitely worth it.

“At the age our dog is now, though, if something dreadful were to happen to her again, the kinder thing would likely not be to put her through surgeries and have her in pain for the last years of her life.”