Is it worth buying pet insurance?

Something that hasn’t been picked up in this review with Southern Cross pet insurance (and maybe similar with others) is that if your pet develops a chronic condition (such as cancer) then the pet is only covered for the benefit limit chosen (ranging from Bronze ribbon $2500 - Blue ribbon $15,000) and once that amount has been paid out then they are never covered for that condition again. My cat developed a lung condition and we only had the lowest benefit cover but I presumed that would rollover each year if she got sick again. It was used up very quickly within a year and now she is never covered for anything to do with her lungs.

I have a 9 yr old collie/huntaway. I've never had pet insurance, going by the maxim "Only insure what you can't afford". As a mixed breed I also thought she would be super healthy. At about 5 she developed severe environmental allergies and we spent about $600 on a skin specialist and she is now on $180 injections every 10-12 weeks (cytopoint) for the miracle drug (in my eyes) which relieves her incessent itching which always developed into infections. But it seems that this would be one of the exclusions from many insurances.
More recently she has partially ruptured her ACL (cruciate). As its not a full rupture surgery to remediate this would only possibly be covered ($3800). However, we have decided to go down the physiotherapy route with her instead as a first option. I'm pretty sure dog physio isn't covered by insurance!
But the point of this post is that even with $900 for the cytopoint each year and $3800 for the surgery, if she had it, I think i'm still ahead or at least breaking even when you take deductibles into account and spread it across her life. Of course, there might be more to come yet, and if/when there is, she will always come first in the budget because her value is priceless.

We have a 10 year old dog insured with Pet-n-Sur on a Gold plan. It transpires that, when your dog is 10, they increase the excess to 50% - the premium, of course, doesn't reduce. Their minimum excess of $60 is quite high too. I'll never take out insurance with them again.

Best decision ever to get insurance for our mastiff who has a number of health conditions, some ongoing to the tune of 300$ each month for medication, as well as a growth plate fracture when he was a pup and now a mast tumour.

Petplan have never given us any grief despite paying out thousands in each of the last 5 years. Highly recommended.

I put money aside each month using an automatic payment into a separate savings account. That's building up into a healthy sum for any serious vet costs for our two small dogs and crazy cat. I considered it by far the best alternative after investigating all the pet insurance products available.

I have been well served with Pet n Sur. When the unexpected happens and specialist care is needed, the vet bills rise quickly. I have also had cats develop chronic conditions and have been very grateful for being able to claim, hitting the max you can claim in a year several years in a row. I have found them honest and helpful.

Never insure your pet with Pet N Sur, they are a pack of rogues!
Our dog was attacked by another much larger dog at the river and required stitches and antibiotics at Massey Vet Hospital. Pet N Sur refused to cover any of the treatment, saying that Max wasn't covered for accidents. We had been paying premiums for over a year and said that we would cancel cover, then Pet N Sur tried to say we were locked into a 2 year contract and were required to continue paying. We cancelled the direct debit immediately and have advised them that our "contract" has ended. Haven't heard from them since.
Be warned ...

The cheapest thing to do is put what you would pay in insurance into your vet account and build up a credit. Most vets allow this. Then you only need put in what you need and all your money is going towards your pet not paying for the pet insurers risk