These days dog insurance is probably more important than it has ever been. In the age of austerity where families struggle to make ends meet if the worst were to happen with your pet dog then many dog owners could be faced with making the ultimate sacrifice.
Over 50% of vets that were interviewed by Sainsbury’s Finances admitted that they had to put down a number of pets because their owners could not afford the vet bills.
Dog insurance covers much more than just the vet bills though. It can cover advertising and reward costs if your dog were to go missing and it can also protect you from getting sued if your dog was to cause a car accident for example.
Dog insurance does come with its exclusions though. Dogs that are registered on the dangerous dogs act, working dogs such as police dogs and even puppies under eight weeks old are all excluded from a dog insurance policy.
Considering these exclusions we thought about, what dogs on the big screen would really struggle to get dog insurance.
- Brian Griffin
For those of you who watch Family Guy you will no doubt know that Brian Griffin, the eight year old talking Labrador, has been through a lot in his short life.Apart from being a smoker, heavy drinker and drug user, Brian has been shot, beaten up, set on fire, involved in many car accidents and even keeps a gun in a safety deposit box just in case he wants to commit suicide.
Born in Austin, Texas his mother, named Biscuit, and his father Coco abandoned him at an early age. He is fluent in French and Spanish, enjoys Jazz music and likes to think he is an accomplished writer with his first novel Faster Than the Speed of Love.
- Scooby Doo
Scooby Doo is another dog who has his fair share of dangerous activities.Traveling around in The Mystery Machine with Shaggy and the gang (without a seat belt by the way) they find themselves coming up against a number of weird and wonderful ghosts.
Not only that but this dog has possibly the worst diet ever, eating anything and everything put in front of him, but his favorite food of all is the trusted ‘Scooby Snack.’
- Grommit
Grommit is the faithful friend of Wallace from the famous TV show, Wallace and Grommit.Grommit is an intelligent dog who graduated with a double first in Engineering for dogs.
Using his degree, Grommit builds numerous inventions. The fact that he works with machinery, is able to fly aeroplanes, drives around in vans and was once held at gunpoint by a penguin leads us to believe that his chances of ever being insured are slim to none.
- Santa’s Little Helper
Santa’s little helper was adopted by ‘The Simpsons’ after a failing career as a race dog.
Like Brian Griffin this dog has also had his fair share of accidents.
He nearly died of gastric torsion because Homer could not afford the vet bills and his front two legs were broken when Bart’s tree house is destroyed.
The fact that he was a race dog and had a brief stint as a police dog are also two reasons why he would not be offered insurance.
- Spike
Spike featured in many episodes of the all time classic Tom & Jerry.This very stern but usually dumb British Bulldog often found himself caught in between Tom’s and Jerry’s many antics.
Occasionally teaming up with Jerry, Spike has been in more household disasters and fights with Tom usually resulting in both covered in bandages, bruises and often on crutches.
Stefan Mustieles is an online writer working for the price comparison site MoneySupermarket.com. Their pet insurance channel offers insurance for a wide range of pets including dogs, cats, rabbits and horses.