Pet insurance - NOT Petplan

[Acidburn]

Hello everyone

Can someone recommend me a good pet insurance apart from Petplan? I have 2 very young indoor only pedigree kittens, and Petplan want over £50 a month, which I think is ridiculous. Is there any other insurance provider that you could recommend?

Thank you

[dementedpixie]

Bought by many is good

[Toddlerteaplease]

Tesco. But my premium for two indoor Persians Is £125 a month. But we've had £22k of claims. They've been excellent.

[RavenclawesomeCrone]

We had Animal Friends for our elderly retriever until she was Pts last year. Only £22 a month and we made several claims and they always paid. £99 excess per condition though. They have mixed reviews online but I found them fine.

[Acidburn]

@Toddlerteaplease can I just ask how old your cats are? My kittens are Exotic Shorthairs, so very similar to Persian

[Wrongsideofhistorymyarse]

Bought by many are excellent value for my FIV cat.

[Toddlerteaplease]

@Acidburn Magic is 10. She's a long haired Persian. She and her late sister are the ones who've run up all the bills.

Cheddar is 8. She's behaved her self so far but she wasn't a cruelty case. Her share of the premium is £33 a month. She's an exotic as well. Mine are accidentally listed as pedigree, when I don't have their papers. As they were rescue. But it actually makes no difference to the premium. I need to see pictures OP. This is cheddar.

[KyraGoose]

Animal friends. Just maxed out my £1000 claim and they have been easy to deal with.

[dementedpixie]

£1000 isn't enough. My limit is £15K for each cat with bought by many on a lifetime policy

If you don't get a lifetime policy whatever you claim for will not be covered in the following year

[Acidburn]

@Toddlerteaplease here you go - please ignore DP on the background :) Archie is 1 and 3 months, and Lizzie is 6 months old.

[Toddlerteaplease]

Adorable!! Love the tabby one.

[Allergictoironing]

OMG didn't realise you could get Exotic Shorthairs in tabby! Gorgeous.

[Ibizafun]

Petplan just paid out £12k for our kitten for an unliscenced drug no questions asked. If you go for a cheap insurance you will have problems.

[penguingorl]

We use equine and livestock for our siamese indoor boys. It's a lifetime policy but dental isn't covered. £70 excess and every claim has been paid out without question. I think we pay around £25 per month total. I know they've paid us way more than we've paid them!

[FrankieChips]

We had PetPlan for our old dear cat and they were brilliant. Always paid out except for a quibble with dental treatment (they paid out after I sent an email pleading my case). Just make sure you read through the documents and get the plan with the most coverage.

[Changalang]

@dementedpixie

£1000 isn't enough. My limit is £15K for each cat with bought by many on a lifetime policy

If you don't get a lifetime policy whatever you claim for will not be covered in the following year

I agree with this. My moggy recently had to be catheterised. There were no complications and he was able to come home the next day. The bill came to over £1.6k.

Much as we all are forced to worship love him, he's a plain old low-risk moggy who won't go any further than the garden. His insurance (Petplan) is around £30 a month but by my calculations we've had to claim back more than we've paid in over the past 11 years or so.

Whichever company you go for, read the small print very carefully and make sure you're fully covered.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

We have PetPlan for all our pets - when one of our dogs needed £10,000 of surgery, they paid up without a quibble. I can’t fault them.

Whatever you choose, make sure that you have the best cover - veterinary treatment can be really expensive.

[whoamongstus]

Another one saying don't discount Petplan - they've paid out an absolute fortune for us with no questions, great customer service, and our youngest cat's now lifelong condition covered by their Lifetime plan. We pay £70 a month for three bog standard moggies, although as I said the youngest is a sickly boy 😂. It's been worth the money!

[CaptainMyCaptain]

Animal Friends. They paid out very promptly when we claimed.

[FrankieChips]

@Changalang Same here with our puss. I worked it out the other day and PetPlan have paid out more than we have paid. She passed away recently and when I phoned to cancel the insurance the young man on the phone was so lovely and sympathetic. I’ve only had once issue with them which was quickly resolved.

I think younger cats aren’t expensive as long as they aren’t accident prone but the older they get they do start to have a lot more health issues and you need good cover. Vets bills are ridiculous. It always confuses me how vet nurses are paid so low!

[pinkhousesarebest]

I had to drive through the night last night to get to an emergency Vets practice with our dc as I thought he was dying. He had a bladder blockage. Cost me 600 euro. We haven’t had insurance - he is a rescue - but we will ok into it now.

[Ashmarie]

Tesco - didn’t have high hopes when we had a cancer diagnosis but they paid out £17,000 for surgery, chemo and radiotherapy and reimbursed £4000 for a holiday that we were meant to leave for the day after the diagnosis with no fuss at all, and only one £50 excess for all costs.

[Hollywhiskey]

I saw insurance and was about to comment Petplan and was surprised you'd discounted them to be honest. They are hands down the best animal insurer. I had them for my old horse and over the years paid out significantly more in claims than I ever paid in premiums. I always found them to be very specific and reasonable with exclusions and willing to discuss them being removed from the policy after a certain period of time.
They also seemed far more willing to continue existing policies into old age than other insurers who changed it to 'injury only' much earlier.
When one of my cats went missing they offered a four figure reward for us to advertise to any finder, but sadly she was never found.
I have heard through friends and vets about major problems paying with other insurers. Some vets insist you pay them first and recoup the payment from your insurer for some of the cheap insurers (E&L for example, with my vet) which could be a problem with more expensive treatment. They won't run the risk of not getting paid.

[Springersrock]

We used to be with Animal Friends. I know there are mixed reviews, but our old dog had many medical conditions and they always paid out promptly and without fuss.

However, our vet wouldn’t do direct pay with them

We’re now with Bought by Many. Hadn’t had to claim with them yet but I’ve heard all good things and our vet will do direct pay.

Direct pay was super important for us - I didn’t want to have to worry about having a huge claim that I had to pay for upfront and then claiming back. The whole point of insurance for us was not having to worry about finding the money to pay a huge vet bill

[SimonJT]

£50 is reasonable, especially as their breed means they are at a higher risk of certain health issues.

Other insurers are cheaper, however petplan do not increase premiums when you do make a claim, due to the fact that virtually all claims are made more vets accept direct payment from petplan meaning you only have to pay the copay up front. Petplan are also one of the few insurers that cover dentals.

You also need to consider pre-existing conditions. As your cats are ‘older’ any symptoms recorded on their vet record will be considered a pre-existing condition. Some insurers exclude these for the duration of the policy, some just ask the animal to be symptom free for two years.

You also need a lifetime policy rather than a yearly policy, in a life time policy conditions that happen during the policy are covered for the duration of the policy. On a yearly policy when the policy ends after 12 months any conditions/symptoms become pre-existing conditions and won’t be covered on a new policy.

We are with petplan on the £7k lifetime policy, I pay £26 per month for a moggy, in her time she has had two operations, one costing just shy of £4k, she is on regular medication and she has had two dentals. As our vets accept direct payment from petplan I only had to pay the £70 copay rather than paying upfront and getting a refund.

A neighbour is with animal friends, they recently had a claim refused because the dog had previously injured a leg, so essentially anything leg related is now a pre-existing condition.

[Cuckoochime]

Our pedigree siamese is insured with M&S- they've been excellent, and payment is prompt. We have not been impressed with Animal Friends, who our dog is insured with.