Cat insurance - your experience

[evuscha]

I live in London and I have two cats (3 and 4 years old, in good health) that are indoor only (I find it relevant since a lot of the claims can be related to being hit by a car, or injured while out and about). I'm trying to organize a pet insurance for them and I was originally going to go with PetPlan, but it is so expensive at over 400 per year? (and I assume this increases in following years) I find it hard to justify especially knowing that the most common expenses like dental or vaccinations etc. I still have to pay.

Please please do you have a good experience with any other provider? I'm looking at the comparison websites and many come at half the price with seemingly the same conditions when it comes to lifetime cover, limits and excess, so I'm wondering where's the catch? How can I tell which one is good?

Thank you!

I'm with john Lewis. 6 quid a month.

Never had to claim yet though but it looks good on paper.

Tesco great. £14 a month each for top lever cover. Claimed once and they were excellent.

The only reason I favour petplan over others is because if there are any bills our vet can claim directly from petplan. Any other provider we have to pay upfront and recoup the fees ourselves. Worth checking if this is the same at your vet?

Avoid pet-insurance

I am also with john lewis, I haven't claimed for this cat but my previous cat had cancer and unfortunately died a few years ago.
The insurance company were wonderful, very understanding of me crying down the phone to them.
It certainly meant one less thing to worry about, they paid the vet directly and we didn't have to decide about what tests or treatments to have based on cost.
I wouldn't be without it.

Thanks everyone, very useful! I will check with my vet, is it possible that some vets don't work with some insurance providers at all? (maybe a silly question) I will certainly check Tesco and John Lewis.
Petplan has come to almost 40 per month for the two cats, which really is a lot for me at this point especially if a similar cover can be arranged for less.

Some vets do direct claims with certain insurers, some they refuse to

Tesco here, around £8 a month & a £30 giftcard. Its a good level of cover for a sleepy indoor cat for my tiger.

Why do you say avoid pet insurance Toblerone? I've never had it before (it wasn't really known about last time we got a cat!) but I'm so glad I insured Harry after he had over £3k of vets fees last year.

Petplan is the only company I've claimed from and we had no problems, I'd definite use them again.

I think 'pet-insurance' are a specific company.

Ah right hugo, that makes sense.

M and S were quite cheap when my two were little. Cats were outdoor though and they paid out about £3000 in total - one accident with an elastic collar (I hadn't realised how dangerous they could be) and one had to have a leg amputated after he broke his knee cap.

Cat's knee caps are tiny and the vet couldn't work out how he'd done it. Some sort of gang land thing gone wrong maybe...

Anyway back to cat insurance - I was bloody grateful I had taken it out.

For an indoor cat though I might be tempted to bank the money instead and leave it in a just in case fund.

I'm with PetPLan and they cover dental on my policy. It is expensive but over the lifetime of a cat I have found it good value.

Your vet may have their own scheme which would help with the routine costs? Sort of like a loyalty scheme where you pay in each month and get discounted treatment later?

We are with Petplan and last year a simple bite on one of my cats legs ended up costing us £695 as the infection went to his bone. So pleased we had insured him. We have the lifetime cover so if they have an illness which needs medication/treatment for the rest of their life they are covered. Check the cheaper policies very carefully to see what is covered.

I insured cat when he was a kitten with Healthy Pets, a small insurer and they have been brilliant, best thing I ever did as he was diagnosed with IBD and they paid all £3k of vet bills, he now has heart disease and they covered 80% of his hospital bill which was £1,600!!!
They continue to cover 80% of his bills and meds, GET YOUR PET INSURED!!!!
After the £3k bill the premium only went up by £1 a month too!!!!

I'm with petplan. They are not the cheapest by any means but I have claimed a LOT (thousands) from them and never had an issue. They even covered a £2000 procedure/treatment which had actually occurred in the break between one policy ending and me renewing (was a bit of a complicated situation) and never questioned it. In that situation the specialist vet asked who I was with and I said petplan and he said 'oh you'll be fine then' and explained that in his experience they are more likely to pay out than any of the others.

Got 2 cats with Petplan. They are both rescue cats and came with 4 weeks free, so just kept renewing it, especially since one of them is a senior cat. When I last compared cover & cost, this offered the best value for money imo but Everyone is different. I like the security of petplan. And tbh I'd rather make the savings elsewhere to ensure they got the best coverage.