[Closed] Pet Insurance

I have always had a cat (well three - in succession over the last 30 years). I've never bothered with insurance, but do have them micro chipped. Guess I've been lucky, one (Frank) was hit by a car, but there were no bones broken so the bill wasn't too high. Another (Millie) went missing for three months before a local cat sanctuary read her chip and returned her to me. Apart from that my only vet visits have been for old age stuff and neutering (I don't even get the yearly jabs).

But I live in a very rural area (cat leukemia is worse with high populations) and have always had strays / moggys that have landed on my door step some how. I am also of the opinion that I wouldn't go down the route of 'thousands of pounds of vets bills' as the associated upset for the cat wouldn't be fair... However I might just be a grumpy misery...

I have recently got another dog (losing my old mongrel last Christmas) and have to admit that I am considering insurance for her... not sure why , maybe I'm just getting older and more cautious. Over the last 30 years of three cats and two dogs I must have saved a fortune on insurance though 😕

Not really sure about cats but I know for dogs PetPlan (believe underwritten by Allianz) had the best cover/claims service by a long way. They do cover cats so can only presume it has same/similar cover limits etc.

Petplan - wished we'd have done it when our last dog became ill as we'd switched from one to t'other to try and save cash but it ended costing us in the long run. End of the day, you get what you pay for. One of our mates is a vet and he wishes all his clients used them.

Hmm, Petplan looks pretty good, and not *too* expensive, I guess...

Pet Plan revamped their cover a couple of years back and are now much better.

We use More Than.

Other half is a final year vet student and we get a very healthy discount but we still have cover.

Depends if your cat is 'disposable' and you would be happy to put it to sleep for something that could be fixed or if you have lots of pets then often self insurance is a better route as you will be paying a lot in premiums.

About 4 years ago I suggested to the wife that really did we need pet insurance for our 2 cats. I think it was costing £15 per month. 2 weeks later when we were abroad on holiday our cat got run over. All in all the vet bills came to £3,500!! The vets did a great job and handled all the paper work with Sainsbury's Insurance. Sainsbury's never questioned anything and were happy to pay. As you can imagine we have had lower quotes but Sainsbury's have only put the insurance up by about £2 over the last 4 years. They were so good that we wouldn't think of moving away from them.

Moral of the story - yes I think insurance is important unless you are the type that would happily put your pet down if you got a high vet bill. Couldn't really justify that when I am happy to spend £3500 on mountain bike.

My dogs been insured from a few months old.
He's calmed down a bit now, but the first 2-4 years landed me with 6 £300-£800 bills. I'd have paid them regardless, but something would have had to give somewhere.
There was a £60 excess, so anything under that wasn't worth claiming.
But he's nearly 7 and now costs me about £160 now,i think. It creeps up slowly!
It sounds a lot but definitely worth it, a rough guesstimate would say the insurance is only just really starting to cost me. But one claim and its worth it.
I'd never be without it now. I've always used Petplan.

PetPlan +1

We use them for our two mogs, my cat lady of a mother uses them for her 3, she's certainly had her moneys worth.

Both our vets and hers say PetPlan are by far the best to deal with.

Oh yes, deffo go for microchipping. Cats loose collars all the time, one of ours got hit by a car and it was only down to the microchip that we saw him again.

Microchip and Petplan.

Petplan have life policy that means if it has longterm needs they pay.

No hassles etc.

Aye microchip was definitely top of the list. Think we'll go with Petplan, having to have a cat put down 'cos we couldn't afford bills would just be the worst thing in the world. Quotes seem to be between 10-15 quid a month, which I can live with!

Harry, are you an autobot or are you paid to go on random forums and mention Pet Assure?

Anyway, good insurance is a life saver in many cases. Lifetime cover from companies like Petplan is ideal as some of the cheaper policies only cover a condition for 12 mths, fine if you have a rta or trauma like that, not so good for heart disease or arthritis etc

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PLUS

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PLUS

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APF

Some factors to check.

Lifetime Illness - Some policies will only cover illness for the year, some things require life long treatment

Excess

Cover Limits - Missus is a vet and I hear how the bills can rack up fast despite most places undercharging.

We always went with Petplan in the uk.