. . . to not have pet insurance?

I have always insured my dogs for their whole lives, and it has been worth it. My older boy went for a routine check up at his specialist hospital, and never came home. The tests and PTS fees were over £2,000. People who say put the insurance payment away in savings each month, are frankly deluded. Although some people have different views with cats, they don’t seem as accident/illness prone as dogs.

I've had to stop insurance as it's ridiculous how much it costs every month for not a huge amount that would be covered, plus I'd have to pay 20% of the total amount along with £150 excess. I have a credit card instead with a few thousand on it. Anything over that amount and we would look at PTS. My dog is elderly, and I feel there is only so much he could undergo, plus he's had a good life and I wouldn't want to put him under lots of things for my benefit only. I'm insured third party in case he causes a car accident etc.

I would put away money instead at this age. I always say as long as you can afford to euthanise them and not let them suffer, fair enough.

Yanbu. Have never insured my cats but do my dog as he's more likely to have an accident or cause one

Some good friends of ours had two Maine coons - dumb as a pair of bricks. One of them leapt out of a second storey window and broke all four of its legs. Uninsured. They paid the vets bills, which amounted to a small fortune.

Sorry, this story is probably not remotely useful. Enjoy your lovely cats whatever you decide to do.

Our nieces dog was 5 in perfect health.
Ran into a low branch on his walk.
Lost an eye. Insured for £4k bill was nearly £6k. Other eye is now suffering from the strain. Needs drops every day. That's £200 per month.
She has said if it gets worse she will have to pts as can't get cover on this eye.

Don't not insure it could cost you dear.

Sorry about your cat x one of mine had cancer at 3 - we didn’t do chemo either but it was still £3800 for blood tests, admission, scans, transfusions (from our cat!) before he died - so glad he was insured.

i have 5.5 cats (long story) aged between 2-10 and the insurance is a lot but then one busts her knee (again) or one gets a septic bite and I’m glad I have it. Might stop when the oldest reaches 14+

Nuts to pay that out for an animal and I have horses and dogs. Your premium would be insane to cover that much

Lots of people, myself included, just wouldn't pay that much and instead have their elderly pet put to sleep. It's an option, we don't have to shell out thousands on pets that are near the end of their life and would most likely find treatment to that extent very stressful.

I think it's fine not to insure if you can pay reasonable costs.

I have uninsured cats and rabbits. Like others, I have no interest in prolonging their lives with surgery or medicines where the administration of it will make them miserable or not trust me. For most illnesses, I would put to sleep (especially rabbits, because prey animals just hate that sort of intervention).

You can pay £25 a year to Dogs Trust for third party insurance.

Our oldest cat isn’t insured - they wanted £85 a month when he turned eight which was just ridiculous. I’ve saved the premiums just in case but we’ve never needed it.

You can get 3rd party insurance via dogs trust
Can't remember how much it is something like 25 quid

@Marinel no sorry it was for the dog owners, I have edited

@NeuroSpicyMumof3 that doesn't apply to the OP who has cats though.

Remember that insurance isn't just about paying vet bills. If you have a dog and that dog causes an accident, e.g. dashing in front of a car causing a crash, those drivers will claim against the liability aspect of your pet insurance. No pet insurance, you are facing those costs yourself. Of course this doesn't apply to cats, but for dog owners you never know if your dog could slip its lead, bite someone etc.

I have in the past stopped insuring when our cats got to about 10 years old, because the premiums tend to hike around that age. The renewal for our 12 year old came through last week and I am still dithering although I think we will keep it. He is currently healthy and I am unlikely to put him through a lot of tests and treatments for an illness, but he could have an accident and orthopaedics are very expensive.

I would not cancel insurance if I could not afford to pay possible vet bills next week without it. Putting aside £85 a month and crossing fingers for the next couple of years is a risk.

It’s a gamble like any insurance, have two dogs, both insured, both currently below ten so only the excess to pay, have wondered on occasions if the £50 a month would be better in savings, but on the one relatively recent occasion our older uninsured dog needed bloods, scan, drip and some meds, it was over £1500, for what turned out to be just a few weeks extension to her life

Hmm. I thought about this when my cat got to 12 and had never been ill in her life but decided to carry on.

Then she got cancer at 13 and sadly died. We didn't go for chemo as I felt it would not be the right thing at that age, but even so the costs soon mounted up and came to about two year's worth of insurance payments. The premiums were more like £55 ish pcm, though.

Not sure if that helps!

My cat is 14 and we are still planning on insuring her for a bit longer but there will come a point where we will stop. A bill that we can't afford would likely to be some major op or for some serious illness and I wouldn't be putting an elderly cat through a huge operation and would rethink making them take meds every day if they weren't good at taking them.

It does depend on how much insurance is too, once it goes over £50 then we will probably stop but that is likely to tie in with her getting quite old anyway.

Vets are so expensive so I would hang on a bit if I were you, it cost me £100 to put my rat to sleep this week!

Put what you would have paid in insurance into a separate vet fund. Hopefully it won't be needed but you should have a bit saved up incase they do.

YANBU, and for those saying do you have £10-20k for an emergency. For me anything that required that kind of money spending on my cat would probably be awful for him to suffer, so I wouldn't put him through it and would rather pts.

My Maine Coon cat had an ectopic ureter when a kitten (basically he was incontinent and kept getting utis and would have died from infection). Pet Plan said that a birth defect is a preexisting condition so wouldn't cover the surgery.

It cost just under 8k and wiped out our savings. I swore then that I wouldn't insure again, but I would always have a separate savings account for the cats where I put in a set amount.

We have a responsibility when we get a pet to make sure we will be able to care for their medical needs. If you think you will be dedicated and responsible enough to save for them and not spend it, then I think it's the best way to go!

P.S I know I'm biased, but Maine Coons really are so special. My big guy is laying squashed in the bathroom sink while I have a bath. He follows me everywhere and it was worth every penny to save his life.

Do you have 10 thousand pounds sitting in a bank account? Are you able to access another 20 thousand in an emergency? If so, it's fine to forgo insurance.