Pet insurance

[Orchidlady]

Hi guys, would like some impartial advice about pet insurance. We have just got a lovely persian kitten and she came with 4 weeks free pet plan insurance. I would like to know your experiences with pet insurance, is it worth the money or is it like every other type of bloody insurance that it ever want claim you can bet your bottom dollar it will be exempt.

[thecatneuterer]

We've recently had a thread on this:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_litter_tray/1868470-Cat-Insurance

In summary (well the summary of my opinion:) )- if you have access to a few thousand pounds then you can risk not having insurance. You're unlikely to ever need to spend that much but, if you do, at least you can and you won't have to have your cat put down.

If you don't have access to that sort of money then you have to have insurance.

[Orchidlady]

Oh thanks, I did do a quick search for similar thread but missed this one. So consensus then seems def yes, just need to shop around and get the best policy to suit her.

[cozietoesie]

Seniorboy came to me too old to get reasonable pet insurance (and is a housecat so no RTAs) so I've had to rely on luck and a credit card. If I acquired a younger cat, though, I'd get insurance. Yes I might pay out and never claim (as with all insurance) but the risk of a major illness for which I couldn't fund treatment would just be too unsettling.

[everythinghippie29]

Yes! One of my darling cat boys was run over and killed in July, about 3 days later I found a lump on his brother's jaw and went into mass panic about losing both!

It turned out to be a cyst and the vet removed it with no problem but the vets fees alone for anesthetic, surgery and meds were nearly over £500.

Our pet insurance gave us some money back towards the cremation of our first boy and covered all the other costs for the furry menaces treatment. I would have been in a mess financially without it and from kitten age, even the 'premium' cover is fairly reasonable in price. I'm with Animal Friends Insurance and they were great. Congrats on your cute new bundle of fluff!

[MissFoodie]

get it! I use Healthy Pets Gold Plan, £75 excess but they have reimbursed me for every claim!

[VetNurse]

Petplan are the only insurance company I would use.

[pudseypie]

DB and DSIL are both vets and told me to get either petplan or tesco enhanced pet insurance. I have tesco enhanced version and have used it a lot as my cat developed diabetes and never had any problems with them.

[gobbin]

My vet recommended the Tesco pet insurance too

[MrsApplepants]

In the space of a year:
Dcat1 swallowed a piece of rigid plastic (she isn't very clever) resulting in blocked bowel, emergency operation, at vets for days. Total bill £3200. 6 months later she tore open her paw, another £300 total fees.

Dcat2, contracted FIV, despite being vaccinated, she received 10 days of inpatient treatment at vets, all manner of tests etc before we took the decision to put her to sleep as she wasn't going to get any better and was suffering. Total cost £4700.

Thank god we were fully insured and thus able to give our much loved cats the treatment they deserved without having to worry. We use direct line who have been fab.

[Chesntoots]

I'm with Tesco for mine. Pay up quickly and no problems...so far....

[BloodysocksAndGore]

Get it. We're with Animal Friends. My kitten broke her leg 5 weeks after we got her and 3 weeks after I took insurance out. We couldn't have afforded the more than £1500 vet bill it took to fix.

[CanucksoontobeinLondon]

If they're youngish and healthy when you get it, the pet insurance is definitely, definitely worth it. If they have any pre-existing conditions (which a kitten shouldn't have), then it's probably not worth it. We've had really good experiences with pet health insurance. A friend had a less positive experience. She adopted a middle-aged rescue dog with a pre-existing condition, and every single thing that went wrong with that dog's health went back to the pre-existing condition, so the company wouldn't pay.

I have no advice as to which company to buy the insurance from, though, as we're not currently in the UK. Oh, and I can't speak for the UK, but here preventative care is not covered. i.e. Yearly check-ups, vaccinations, teeth cleaning. Only when they actually get ill. Our cats are indoor only, so they get a small discount. UK insurance carriers may or may not offer the same deal.

It's the peace of mind more than anything else that you're buying. For our current two cats, we've never had to use the insurance. For our previous cat, she got a very expensive illness and eventually we had to have her put to sleep. But if she hadn't been insured, we probably would have explored the PTS option a lot earlier, because her care would've been eating into our savings. With the cat we had before her, we didn't get insurance (she was 9 when DH adopted her, and it wouldn't have been practical). We had a rainy day fund that was supposed to be in case the cat got ill, but inevitably we raided it for other purposes.

[coppertop]

I have to admit that I used to resent the insurance premiums for our moggy. He refuses to go out, so the chances of injury from fighting or being run over were virtually non-existent.

After 4 years of no claims, he suddenly became very ill very quickly. In the space of just 3 months he has needed nearly £2k worth of treatment.

I'm very glad I didn't cancel the insurance.