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[McQuim]

is it worth it?   which one do you use/who do you recommend?

If you had 2 quite similar looking kitties is there anything to stop you just getting insurance on one of them?!   

[lescot]

I think it is worth it, if you go with the right company.  Surgery, treatment etc for pets can run to the thousands of pounds, but maybe you've got that lying around 
 
A cautionary tale (or tail) though. We took insurance out with Direct Line for our rescure collie; it quickly transpired he had problems with his hip. We tried a few things but eventually he had to have a hip replacement. We thought we were covered, but the insurance wouldn't pay out, because his op was a year and a week after we first put in a claim for about £30 for an initial consultation with the vet and they won't pay for the same condition for more than one year. It cost us nearly £3,000!

So, check out the small print.

[Charlotte Mew]

his op was a year and a week after we first put in a claim for about £30 for an initial consultation with the vet and they won't pay for the same condition for more than one year. It cost us nearly £3,000!

So, check out the small print.

good gods.  That is just the sort of thing i worry about.  I heard some don't pay more than say £700 in one condition.  That would not have covered  Silkie's diabetes as I must have spend £1000.  If she had lived longer (and she could have if she hadn't got something else too) I could have spent far more.  So its RTFM ain't it.

[Cal]

Yes, get insurance! There are ones that cover a condition for life - Foxxie will know, she has checked them all out.



I got this money sapping furball <------ from a rescue place two years ago.


But since I come from a background of growing up with feral cats who live outdoors in a rural area, whose purpose is to keep the rabbit population in the garden down, pampered house cats were an unknown to me and it didn't occur to me I would really need insurance. No such thing exists in Ireland as far as I know. Or would be prohibitively expensive. Ours didn't visit vets more than once or twice in a lifetime and there was a high attrition rate from cars, disease, fights with other animals etc. Basically they were country cats, feral and self sufficient. 

2 years later, moggy here has needed:
Nov 05 - Vaccinations
Feb 06 - General anaesthetic and dental cleaning and chipping
Nov 06 - Vaccination booster
Feb 07 - Emergency trip to vet (for teeth - cat couldn't eat - dx odontoclastic resorptive lesions)
Feb 07 - Antibiotics to clear infection above
Mar 07 - Blood tests (pre-op - planned extractions due to above)
Mar 07 - General anaesthetic and dental extractions
Mar 07 - Post op antibiotics
May 07 - Another emergency trip to vet (cat falling over)
May 07 - More antibiotics (inner ear infection as above)
Jun 07 - Another emergency trip to vet (cat not eating - mouth painful)
Jun 07 - Antibiotics (again for mouth - cat couldn't eat. Teeth fine, but raging gum infection)
May 07 - More blood tests (to figure out if problems just bad luck or something else)
May 07 - Swabs (as per above - revealed calicivirus)
Jun 07 - Antibiotics (low dose for the foreseeable as calicivirus is likely to keep causing problems)
Jul 07 - Antibiotics
Aug 07 - Antibiotics
Sep 07 - Antibiotics
Oct 07 - Antibiotics
Nov 07 - Vaccination booster and antibiotics

And all this has added up to well over £1K.

And she'll need the rest of her teeth extracting next year, so that'll be another few hundred. And constant antibiotics for the foreseeable.

Pfft!

Don't get the cat chipped until you are well insured. Chipping might mean you'll be reunited with your darling cat if it gets lost. But it also means the animal is tied to you forever, along with any costs it incurs. (Cynic, moi?)

Insure, insure, insure.......! And for all my whinging, she's a nice enough cat. I suppose. 

[KW]

There are some pet insurance companies that will actually pay £3,000 for any one event - as myself and my mum recenlt shopped around for my cat to ensure we had the best cover for him....i would definitely say insure....

My last cat got shot by a pellet gun and the bullet was still lodged in him - the insurance covered everything and against all the odds the little fella pulled through.....

It may not help you with the emotional side but it will certainly help with the finance side.....

[luccamum]

Insure, insure, insure.  I can't stress this enough.  For our two grey boys and the three cats we pay over £60 a month, which is a lot, but as Zen has run up vets bills for over £7,000 (£1,300 for allergy testing alone) and Crimbo cat cost us over a grand for treatment for his FIP (and survived, which is nearly unheard of), without insurance we would have been stumped.  Yes it is expensive, and some have some awful small print (we use More Than, who have always been great), but if you can't afford the premiums, then can you afford a vets bill?
Pets are expensive, period.  Vaccinations, worming, defleaing, neutering all cost (and none of those will be covered by insurance, as they are considered maintainance).
Sorry to be so didactic on this topic, but it is something I feel very stongly about.

[-Shadow-]

I would always recommend insurance.

But only get a policy that gives life-time cover for an illness.

Most that do this use it as a selling point so shouldn't be too hard to find.

(I learnt the expensive way that this was important. My dog was diagnosed with arthritis when she was four and needed a lifetime of treatment. Our insurance only covered 12 months.)

[Rafaella]

Petplan seemed all right at first, but then started making numerous mistakes - they've been promising us a compensation cheque for over a month now & it still hasn't arrived 

[Charlotte Mew]

Don't get the cat chipped until you are well insured. Chipping might mean you'll be reunited with your darling cat if it gets lost. But it also means the animal is tied to you forever, along with any costs it incurs. (Cynic, moi?)

I don't get this - you mean third party, if she caused an accident?

[luccamum]

Forgive me if am wrong, but I thought under British law, a cat is seen as a wild animal, you are not responsible for your cats actions, i.e if your dog digs up a neighbour's garden, you are liable by law, but if your cat eats the next doors petunias,you are not liable, as the cat is a wild animal.

[Cal]

No I don't mean 3rd party!

I mean you can't take a sick cat to a vet, find it has something long term and expensive, treat the immediate symptom, get it insured afterwards and then attend another vet, denying any previous knowledge of the cat, thus allowing the insurance to kick in. Though that would be wrong and dishonest, it would also be impossible if the cat has already been chipped.....

 

[superteach]

Tesco was doing 50% off pet insurance last month. That has now stopped but they are doing 20% off for online applications.

[Rainbows]

I use Direct line for my pooch. One of the few that would insure a homoeopathically vaccinated animal.

[Fox ™]

I didn't get it for any of my other cats, but have with Fabien, as he's from a rescue centre and they are renowned for their high percentage of virus infections.
I looked around and nearly got pet plan as they do a for life policy, as opposed for only 12 months (meaning if a long term problem is treated, then after 12 months you're stuck with paying the full cost yourself). but their call centre was in india, so phone put down and searched moneysaving expert.
concensus was animal friends. they seem to do cover for budget - twelve months and they also offer lifetime cover too, although that means you have to keep taking a policy out with them each year. I haven't made a claim yet, but they seem to be efficient and straight forward and in england! wouldn't touch the others with a barge pole, for various reasons.
no insurance company wants to have to pay out, so reading the small print is a must, hence my deductions on which one to choose.

grumpy's special, poor toothless mite!

[JuicyCrone]

I need to get mine insured.  All three of my cats are just 3 years old, and so far -  one has cost me over £800 following being hit by a car and needing one leg and half a tail amputated; another cost me £300 following someone possibly kicking him, resulting in a dislocated shoulder; the third has cost me £300 following an eye infection; and the one with three-legs also needed antiobiotics costing around £80 following getting bitten by another cat.

So thanks for the timely reminder - will do it NOW!