Pet plan & insurance questions

[Thisismynewname123]

Just sorting ourselves out with our 11 week old kitten. She has had a kitten check which included 4 weeks free insurance, so we have that time to figure out what to do. Currently, she is in good health.

My DH grew up with several cats (not in the UK). They were indoor cats. He doesn't recall them ever having flea and worm treatments. Is it a relatively new thing to regularly treat cats, or was it because he had indoor cats that it wasn't necessary?

Second question, are pet plans with the vet worth the £10-13 monthly cost, or do we not actually save anything over paying for treatments and vaccinations as they come up?

Insurance - quotes I'm getting are varying from less than £10 per month, to over £40 per month. I realise some have payout limits and others don't. They are all for lifetime cover. As an idea, what would it be likely to cost if she develops a condition such as diabetes? Let's say she has some terrible accident (such a road accident) what would it be likely to cost for x-rays and if she needed a night's stay at the vet? Just trying to figure out how much it's worth spending on insurance, as opposed to just accepting the cost if something terrible happens?

Can't talk about insurance because I don't bother.

Regarding pet plans I worked out it was significantly cheaper for me to diy for several reasons

1. I don't religiously flea treat every month (never really have a flea problem in winter) so I never use 12 doses a year (probably more like 6).
2. I get a prescription from the vet and buy flea treatment online anyway which is much cheaper.
3. One of the 'benefits' of a pet plan is usually a six monthly check up. I think this is pointless - my cats have always had an annual 'MOT', I generally know if anything is amiss with them anyway and can see no reason to suddenly need a check up every 6 months instead. Finally with 4 cats it becomes bloody expensive .

All of these things are variable but in the last year our cat had to have an xray for what we thought was an existing limp and we were told nearly £400. In the end insurance paid as it was something else

We had a vet bill of £2300 for a weeks stay due to renal failure and £1800 for an overnight in a specialist hospital. So costs do add up very quickly. Ern got something in his eye and the bill was over £120. For me its having the ability to say go ahead if they need treatment and not to have to worry about the cost

We had Ern on a Pet Club, as with previous cats (we had two) the flea problem was always a pain. Ern never really had many so like the above poster we didnt always use up the treatments. Though I did like having the vaccinations covered and discount for consultations

Indoor cats are much less likely to get worms or fleas; I do mine once a year only as a belt and braces thing. But if yours is going to go out then it will definitely need regular worming & flea treatment, and really only the stuff you get on prescription does the job these days with fleas. Do NOT ever consider Bob Martin treatments.

If you have a look at the Tesco insurance web site, it has a section showing typical treatment costs for cats HERE which may help you to make up your mind.

Tesco are great for insurance. I've had over £20k of claims.

I wasn’t going to bother insuring our kittens, you just don’t expect to have problems. Turns out one was developing FIP (feline peritonitis). The medication is costing us £3500 plus daily vet fees to inject it.

Luckily dh insisted on the highest cover and it looks like they will pay out. Just saying..!!

My indoor kitten was insured with Pet Plan.

Didn't need anything until he was 5, when he had recurring episodes of illness. Each one cost us at least £1k for the x-rays, catheter, medication, and overnight stay.

That's not including the time that the condition could only be treated by an operation. It came to a total of just over £4k over the course of a single year.

The insurance also paid out for a 6 month supply of the special diet he needed to prevent it happening again.

If you'd asked me when he was 4yrs old if insurance was worth it, I'd have said it was a rip-off. Just 1 year later it saved his life.