Cat insurance

[SO1]

Mum's cat Missy vomited yesterday she is 18 months so not an old cat and currently an indoor cat. Mum can easily afford large vet bills but I was wondering if insurance may be a good idea anyway for peace of mind.

RSPCA and PDSA do cat insurance and it has 27/7 vet helpline. Has anyone used this insurance. I think having a helpline that mum could call if she was worried about Missy would help and also nice to support a charity.

Thankfully there is small animal vet at the end of their road.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Most of my cats haven't been insured, but a few have, and admittedly my answer is coloured by that the one cat we've had which was very well insured, Berta, cost us more in insurance over the years than her few vet visits before she got old, the about a week long stay at an emergency hospital + a few follow up vet visits in 2019, which happened a little over a year before she got cancer, and died. E.g. we've had one of the cats before her also admitted to a vet hospital for a few days, and the other old cat I had which died 2023 did need quite a few vet visits during her last months alive, but none of them have came up with total vet costs higher than what we paid in total in insurance fees for Berta.

Had I had cats who went out loose, then considering what it can cost if a cat gets hit by a car, and needs surgery, in that case I would definitely want to have insurance, but as it is, I'm still debating whether to get perhaps a basic insurance for my 2 current indoor cats, or not, and instead just continue to save the money I would've spent on insurance fees on my own separate account instead. That said, it is true that having an insurance does give a special type of peace of mind, e.g. if your nearest emergency vet hospital have the same rule as the one in my city does, about that if your pet is uninsured, you must pay half of their pre-estimated cost before they admit the pet.

Having a 24/7 vet helpline that your mum could call if something worries her about her cat definitely sounds like a very nice bonus, so in your shoes I would probably get the insurance. If it doesn't turn out to be as good as promised, you could always choose to not continue it next year.

 

[Bluewaves]

It's hard to know. I am a bit wary of insurance because of exclusions so don't have it.

It would be helpful if you have an unexpected emergency. But I haven't had any of those until my cats got signficantly older say 13 or more. It might cover the insulin costs I now have since my boy got diabetes early last year but I don't know if in the long term that will cost more than all the insurance premiums I would have been paying through his youth when he never needed treatment.

We did have an emergency a couple of months after his diagnosis when i had to fork out £300 just to be seen by the out of hours surgery even before treatment. But luckily i had enough on a credit card to cover that when it happened.

 

[claret09]

i am with agria - one of my kittens broke three metatarsal bone less than ten days after i took after the policy, paid out without any problems. he even went to the referral vets three times. very impressed

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

We are with petplan using their "covered for life" plan.

They were very good in paying out when the Alley Cat was pts at only a year old with suspected FIP, including the purchase price cost as we had that option included. They were also very good with my parents dear little black and white girl when she developed various health conditions which is why I opted for them for ours

 

[HollyWoozle]

Our sweet Eddie was insured with The Insurance Emporium who were much cheaper than Petplan and they were great. We had multiple claims and they paid out. In the end I worked out it had saved us over £2k after the cost of the insurance itself and the excesses so was definitely worth doing in our case.

No experience of the ones you’ve mentioned though I’m afraid.

 

[Ratface]

I'm with Petplan covered for life for Madam Carrie Cat. She's 13 in March of this year and currently hale and hearty. (Fingers crossed!) I would have to pay the first £100 of each separate claim.
My German Shepherd Dog was with them and they paid out for her arthritis treatment and later when she was pts.
In my opinion, I think their fees are quite reasonable.

 

[Squeak]

I'm with Animal Friends for the dog and cat. They were so wonderful with my elderly dog - paid out everything no questions asked, usually within 24 hours, including out of hours fees, additional drips for operations etc. I had a recycling policy and they covered some of her conditions for years. They're competitively priced but tbh I wouldn't go with any other insurer anyway.

They include a 24/7 helpline where you can video call vets. I've used it twice and it was useful to sense check whether an emergency appointment was actually warranted or not.

Previously I didn't insure animals but I think you could put a high excess and a lower limit for vet fees while the animal is younger to reduce the premiums but still have it there if needed and then change it as needed as the cat got older. My cat does go out and as FL says if they have an accident then it can add up very quickly so I'd agree with that being a factor for consideration.