Pet insurance.

[yola]

I found the pet insurance invaluable when Fifi collapsed Christmas before last. She had exploratory surgery, and 2 days of care at the vets. That would have cost a packet I'm sure. It was covered without even a question - just a very nice covering letter with the claim form!!

Balie has never needed the insurance, however I want to keep it in place for him especially now as he's getting older.

I suppose with the persians it's more of a consideration coz they do tend to be susceptible to certain illnesses more than other cats.

[bagpussarah]

Hi Dinahsmum,

I too am looking at different pet insurance. I have 3 cats all under 2 years of age. However, my youngest is 5 months and I was thinking of getting them all insured once he had been neutered. However, after reading your comments it has made me think about whether it is better to put some money away each month instead.
I would just like to add though, that my friend took out pet insurance for her dog which covers most things. Harry (the dog) was less than a year old when he was diagnosed with an allergy which requires medication. This costs £22 per month, and the insurance she pays for him is £15, so it has been well worth it.
Sarah

[logoes]

I had my dogs insured with Dog Breeders, it was a big mistake as I found out when my 'rescue' was found to have cancer and an enlarged heart. They paid out for twelve months on both counts but that was the end of it. As I was lucky enough to keep Harry going for over five years on constant medication you can imagine what that has cost, a monthly trip to the vet for a check up, luckily we didn't have to pay for that but the medication was never less that £55. So when I collected India from the Rescue centre and she came with 6 weeks insurance with Pet Plan and because she is a rescue they are willing to cover her for life even though she is over 8 yrs old I decided to use them, as a bonus for the rescue centre they get a 10% cut from the first year's premium. I think I would have settled on Pet Plan myself even if we had got a kitten as having looked at several others they did seem to offer the best deal, I just hope we don't need to claim at all, but India seems a very healthy puss. Logoes

[Booktigger]

I never used to have my pets insured, looked into it a couple of years back when Gingers dental and lumpectomy cost me £165 - that was his final dental though, he has no teeth left, and other than his teeth and his fatty lump, he has been healthy. I had SNowy at the time, she already had a liver condition, so that wouldnt have been covered. My neighbour also advised against it, she had never had her dog insured (although the new one is, despite only being 2). When I got Pebbles, I was going to get her insured as she was only 10, and I knew she needed a dental - I was told that dentals aren't covered though, so didn't - although my policy states it is only excluded if not done by a vet. When she had to have blood tests in August and I thought there was something wrong, I got her insured - this has meant that my vet is willing to refer her to a specialist, yet before she knew she was insured, she didn't even mention it. However, I am very iffy about putting cats through painful tests and ops, and have to admit I wouldn't go through with half the things on SuperVets. PArtly cos I take on oldies, and partly cos they can't tell us how much pain they are in. So, although she is insured, I may not end up using it anyway!!
Excess is generally £50, some are only £35, and one company (maybe M & S) allow you to pay extra per month and not pay an excess. Another thing to consider is the vets charge for filling the form in and sending it off - mine charged £3+ for that last week.

[John]

why not ask the vets which they consider to be the best one,

[Booktigger]

The prob with that is some insurance companies run courses for staff in vets, so I would imagine that they would be obliged to say that one. Also there are only a few companies that will insure older cats, so would have been no good for me.

[dinahsmum]

Originally Posted by John

why not ask the vets which they consider to be the best one,

Sounds a good idea - they should know if customers have had problems with any insuurance issues.

[JemBob]

neither of my pets have pet insurance then rocky got sick cost us £700 learnt my lesson

[Kim]

I really cannot afford NOT to have pet insurance!! Ben, our lurcher had spondylitis for which he was referred to an specialist vet, he had an MRI which cost £800 and then had spinal surgery. He was on vivitonin and metacam for the rest of his life. His total vet bill was in excess of £2000 - so I was so relieved we had insurance. Daisy, our greyhound had a fall which resulted in a slipped disc on her spine, again she had an MRI and surgery, bill: £2000. In October she was diagnosed with tendonitis, x/rays, medication, etc £400. As you know she was diagnosed with a lung tumour recently and she had to be pts, but the bill was £400. Each time Petplan has paid out.

Please be careful of the companies that will only pay out for a condition for a year, I would really advise a 'cover for life' policy. Tesco will only pay out for a year, not much good if your pet has an ongoing condition.

I have just insured Sidney, our cat with M & S life cover policy. You can chose the excess you pay, or none at all! We chose a 'no excess' policy, which cost £73 for the year. I can claim up to £7000 in vets fees and they also pay for euthanasia and cremation up to £100, and prescription food, petplan do not do this.

[mishmunnypenny]

None of my lot are insured. I also got six weeks free pet insurance when I got Meggie, and three days after I got her she got kennel cough. We treated her at my local vets, which came to about £100. When her tablets ran out, over the weekend, she suddenly became a lot worse, so we rushed her off to the emergency vets, another £120. We didnt worry, as we were covered. We claimed. They messed us about. They kept asking why we needed to go to two differet vets, why couldnt we take her to our own vet out of hours? Eventually, three to four months later, they paid up.

At the same time a friend of mine was having a lot of problems with another company about getting her money back. She waited months for her money too.

At that time all the cats under nine (I couldnt get cover for the oldies) were insured, but after all the hassles we had we stopped it. We also did the same sums as other posters have, you pay a lot of money, there is no guarantee that it will be needed (as most bills are less than £50), vets charge more if you ARE insured, and there is no guarantee that if you claim, you will get your money!

So, none of mine are insured. I put money away every week for them in a kitty. I pay monthly through a special plan which allows me to pay for vaccinations, flea and worming treatment spread over twelve months. It also gives me 10% discount, which today came in very handy as Sniper had a dental and some xrays taken.

I wouldn't advise anyone to take out insurance, no matter how good their sales team make it sound, but to put the same amount of money aside each month.