No insurance / self insurance

[MinistryMelody]

Can I ask those who don't insure their cats how you approach it? Do you put an equivalent to the monthly fee into a savings account and cross your fingers the cat doesn't have an accident when they are young? (So time to build up savings).
Do you have a limit to what you will spend if the cat has an accident or gets ill? Above which euthanasia is basically the only option?
Our last cat racked up 2-3k of bills on 2 scans just before she died. With hindsight they were pointless as didn't really show anything conclusive and vet suspected some kind of cancer with no easy treatment and we ended up euthanising her anyway.
These days even the most basic vets treatment seems to be north of 1k for just about anything involving sedation. I think I would find it very hard to say early on that we wouldn't spend the money and just euthanise the cat. I guess having insurance stops you having to put a price on your cats life?

I was going to self insure when my monthly premium went up from £137 to £160. I would have put £100 a month away into a separate account. Fortunately I said I was going to cancel and they gave me a discount and by increasing the the excess I got it down to £118. I was very nervous about self insuring, due to the huge bills I've had!

Wow, over £100 a month? Is your cat very old or have existing conditions? We are looking at more like £20 a month at the moment.

Leroy is self insured but he is an indoor cat (less likely to have an accident) and has a pre-existing condition which would mean an insurance company would fight any payout. Tbh my old cat was insured and the insurance only paid out 12 months of lifelong treatment anyway 😡

I sometimes wonder it's always "doing the right thing" when we have insurance to pay out for expensive, invasive tests and procedures, particularly as they get older. I always would and always will because Leroy's my baby, but... 🤷🏼‍♀️

Unless someone is extremely wealthy I think this is totally irresponsible. Treatable and curable conditions can quickly run in to the many thousands.

And always get lifetime cover. Our elderly cat has been on lifelong medication since he was 7 months old. He's currently having blood tests every 6 weeks at £120 a go, plus a load of other medication.

Boycat's insured vets bills in the last few months have paid for around a year's premiums so far, and will probably pay for another year's worth before he comes to the end of the road. That's no massive or expensive procedures just vet appointments, blood tests, urine tests, small amount of meds.

I had to leave my job last autumn so 3 months of virtually no income (new job starts Tuesday), so I wouldn't have been able to pay for any of this especially with the costs of the special diet food he needs. But after I'd paid the excess my vet just charges the insurance company directly.

I went for Lifetime cover, which means that if he somehow survives past the end of my insurance year (exceptionally unlikely) then I just pay the excess again and the condition is still covered going forwards. I did this partly because I remember one of my DSis's cats needed meds for life (epilepsy) and the monthly cost of that was more than it would have cost her to insure him.

We have never had insurance for ours.

We have had a couple of big bills over the last five years or so, one cat had a bad abscess on a bank holiday (poodlegate) and another of our cats needed an op for a blocked urethra, but in over 30 years of multiple cat ownership this has been the exception rather than the rule. We are still quids in by not using insurance.
Yes there are of course limits that we could spend, but I do have major concerns that some vets push extra treatment, simply because it can be done, rather than for the benefit if the animal.

Particularly looking at some of the very expensive 'end of life' treatments that now seem to be commonplace, or very extensive surgery with months of cage rest, I do wonder if these are being done for the benefit of the owners, rather the animals.

Mittens, I also have no insurance. I typically have a household of 3-4 cats. If all had been insured over the last 25 years I'd have paid out well more in insurance premiums than we would have benefited from claims. If anything seriously expensive happened, I would put on a card and then look for a 0 interest credit card deal or convert to a loan. My cats are aged 12, 3 and 1.

Insurance can also have a negative impact. When we got our last two kittens, the vet at the rescue warned us that the kittens both had heart murmurs, and that we'd never be able to get insurance to cover heart issues. When we told him that we don't hother with insurance he was visibly relieved, because he just expected us to reject them.
And there is no sign of a heart murmur in either of them now 😁

@MinistryMelody yep. Magic and get late sister had bills of over £22k. For a variety of bizarre ailments.

I think you need insurance unless you would definitely have the cat PTS if it had an injury or something.

I was advised by Cats Protection to just take out accident cover as my cat has FIV. My DD who’s a vet told me to take out full insurance.

I took out the most comprehensive lifetime cover I could find including dental and 2 years down the line I am glad I did as it would have cost me at least £2000 in excess of the premiums I paid. I have had no issues claiming despite dental and kidney probs being associated with FIV. Cat was deemed healthy when I got him though.

I will have to pay half the costs further down the line though and we are putting £ aside each month for that purpose.

Honestly Pet Insurance has probably been the best investment I ever made. We got our cat in March so she hasn’t even been insured a year. She was hit by a car on Christmas Eve and fractured her pelvis. It’s been less than a week and we’ve already spent over 4K on treatments. Insurance will cover it all (although we are nearly at the cap).

Honestly I think people who don’t get insurance are complete idiots.

We pay £40 a month for our senior cat. That insures him for up to £7k of vets’ bills a year.

I’m a complete idiot then.
3 senior cats here (7-10).
All 3 were insured until about 18 months ago. Premiums and excesses both creeping up significantly and I’m an OAP on fixed income.
1 has needed extensive tooth extractions which weren’t covered (cost in excess of £600, I don’t remember exactly) & another had a bad abscess which cost slightly more than the excess.
I’ve been saving the premiums since letting it lapse. They don’t go out much, & all hate going to the vet, having medicine, and being mucked about with. If they ever need acute or chronic care I would PTS.

I think all vet insurance should include dental even if it’s more expensive. Most of my cats costs have been dental related. My vet daughter sees many suffering pets whose owners can’t or won’t pay for dental treatment.

I'm on the fence. We have PetPlan which is super expensive but covers chronic conditions for the rest of their life. DCat is now 15. In his younger years he had to have the following:

2 inches of tail amputated (caught it on barbed wire we think) £1500

Stomach wash, scans, overnight for three days after poisoning - it was touch and go £2,500

Stomach pump after eating lillies £1400.

I'd say the cost of treatment outweighed the premiums until he was about 8/9.

Aged 10/11 he developed arthritis. The excess is £135 and I have to pay 20% of all costs. His meds are about £70 every two months, and he needs a blood test for a couple of hundred every 12/18 months. The insurance contributions bring the costs in line with a cheaper premium which brings peace of mind.

At 15 his quality of life would take precedence over expensive treatments and I don't think I'd put him through surgery followed by chemo for a tumour.

On balance, I wouldn’t insure the next cat, I'd take a chance but money isn't an issue.