How to choose mog insurance?

[FurbysMakeSexNoises]

I've got a five year old rescue cat and have insured him from day one as I know I'd pay if he needed treatment for anything. Was with M and S but has increased and now asking for £11/ mth.

I can find lots of better value cover but am a bit bamboozled by all the choice- e.g. Time limited vs max benefit vs lifetime.

Any tips?

I'd go for lifetime cover - then if the cat ends up with a long term condition it'll cover them for life. More expensive but worth it for peace of mind.

We use pet plan but there's another that our vet has links with but can't remember the name of it.

If you do lifetime then presumably you're stuck with that company? And they can hike up the fees as they like each year?

I can only relate my recent experience as we didn't have insurance for our previous cats, it didn't seem necessary 17/18 years ago
Anyway, our youngest cat was a rescue this time last year, he was 12 weeks when we got him and we opted for Petplan insurance. I signed up through our vet & got the first month free they also gave us a (think it was 15%) discount on the first years premiums which came to £22.56 for 2 cats 12 week old and 10 month old for Lifetime cover, £4000 per year.
The younger cat has been quite poorly and I have claimed £2600 this year with one further claim still pending of £240 for teeth extraction a few weeks ago.
I've just had the renewal through and the monthly amount is now £26 so increased very little if you take into consideration the "new client" discount we had last year, despite the claims.
I mentioned this to the vet and she said that in her experience Petplan don't increase premiums for claims, but they do a couple of age related increases over the term of the policy - first one at around 7/8yrs old, also they seem to be one of the few who will pay out for dental work required as a result of an illness, most will only pay if it's a result of accident damage.
Hope this helps.

I would definitely go for lifetime insurance otherwise you'll still end up with vet bills after the first year. You would only be stuck with the same company if you make a claim or your cat reaches a certain age.

Like oldie I've only had insurance for Harry. He's been with various companies over the years but is now with Petplan. We'd never claimed up until last year when he broke his jaw and had a dental infection but he ended up with £3,200 of vets fees of which Petplan paid £2,400 (due to his age we've got a £120 excess plus 20% of any treatment). I would definitely recommend them.

I would steer clear of any companies underwritten by Royal Sun Alliance (RSA) as, in the event the cat needs to see a specialist, they can only see one from a very short approved list. We thought Harry was going to have to see a specialist about his jaw and luckily Petplan don't have those restrictions as the RSA list doesn't have anyone in our area.

Thanks both- will do more research.