Cost of pet insurance

[Ineedabiscuit]

Hi may I request your real experience of the actual cost of cat insurance based on lifetime cover for either kittens under 1 year and also older cats of 6/7 old please.
I am trying to get a proper understanding and budget for a cat or 2(!)
ownership as I’ve tried using a search engine but you can only get proper quotes if you input all the personal information - like getting motor insurance .
I would really appreciate your knowledge on this. I’m genuinely need this to convince my husband !😄
I’m wanting to adopt from a rescue by the way .

My kittens are about £18 each with Petplan after the multipet discount as I have more than one insured with them. Lifetime cover with the £7k annual limit.

I also have a senior cat insured with them, she's about 17 now and been with them since she was 6. It started around £25 if I remember correctly and has gone up to £35 or so per month but I've claimed lots and still do on an ongoing basis (as she's on daily meds - I definitely get back more than I pay Petplan every year)! After a certain age you do have to pay a certain percentage of the fees yourself and insurance pays the rest.

In general I would say unless you have several thousand in savings you could use to cover unexpected vet fees, you should definitely get a lifetime insurance policy. Operations, scans, blood tests etc. add up really quickly especially if you have to use out of hours vet's - my eldest had a £4k operation one year on top of several lots of consults/antibiotics/sedations for the same condition. A friend's cat just racked up a bill of nearly £8k in a matter of weeks for torn ligaments in his leg.

I took out Petplan for 2 kittens very recently - same as viccat - we are paying approx £35a month for both, that includes multiple pet discount, and that is lifetime cover - think i opted for the 4k annual limit.

Thank you Viccat and DrZoid .
So these are monthly payments as opposed to paying a one off cost annually - is it cheaper if you do, like car insurance?
So if I have 2 older cats it’s quite a lot ....hmm

My 6&8 year olds are £50 a month on Tesco top level cover. However we've had £15,000 of claims in the past two years. So I've got my money's worth!

I think you can pay annually but there's no discount if you do.

I suppose like with all insurance policies it's one of those things you wish you never need but should have just in case you do. I volunteer at a cat charity and based on our experience over the years we tend to say most cats have at least one significant illness or injury during their lives, and nearly all senior cats have either renal disease, hyperthyroidism or diabetes or a combination of the three. Unfortunately I've heard of way too many cases where a cat needed a surgery/treatment that costs several hundreds or thousands and owners don't have insurance and can't afford to pay so will opt for euthanasia for an otherwise healthy cat who would recover completely.

Gosh Toddlertea, you certainly have - thank goodness you had the cover !
Very true Viccat.Ive never owned a cat as an adult although my parents had cats growing up : Siamese followed by moggies they never had insurance I suppose it didn’t occur to them in those days (initially 1970s) It does make sense however.
I am also factoring the cost of cat proofing my small garden as we are near a busy road.
So there are lots of things to consider.