Pet Insurance and the ever increasing costs

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Can anyone here recommend any pet insurance other than PetPlan?

Year on year the monthly payments have gone up, in spite of the marketing spiel “we don’t put your premiums up if you make a claim” maybe I should have claimed to activate that clause who knows?

Lovely renewal letter was received today, “we see you have insured your pets with us for many years and you haven’t claimed this year so we are going to increase your premium by over £100”

 

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Premiums go up (for dogs at least) when they get 7 and older.

You might have hit the nail in the head there. They are cats but they have just gone over 7 years.

Not even middle aged yet haha

 

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What have you been quoted?

£82 a month for 2 cats

 

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" Looks at 17;year old cat *

Never had insurance.

Last cat ended up over 22 with no insurance haha

 

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WHAT!
That’s more than it costs me to insure my 3 vehicles.
I was thinking of getting pet insurance for Kitler, but at that cost I’ll wing it.

More than it costs to insure our cars house and selves

 

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Anyone had experience of them paying out?

The beauty of PetPlan is they just pay the vets, the vets sort it all

 

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FYI I was told if they needed to do surgery on my cats broken leg it would be in the region of 3-6k. The X-ray alone was £350 and each new dressing (or re-splint) is £37.

Yeah it ain’t cheap for the big stuff

 

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I’m under 30 a month for my three cats

Who with? How old are they?

Seems like a lottery on what you will get charged.

 

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2 cats and a dog with petplan - £30 a month

What level of cover is that ?

 

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Come on lads it’s just a thread about pet insurance because I feel like they have pulled my pants down no need for arguments

 

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As we're about to get a kitten this thread has caught my eye. I saw MSE recommend the comparison sites and then PetPlan. Sounds like PetPlan is recommended over any of the GoCompare options from here though? Coming out at £10pm for lifetime cover.

I would agree PetPlans service has been without fault. But our insurance started out low at around £15-£20 a month for their £7.5k lifetime on two cats. Years later they are wanting £82 a month

 

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Just put the money aside in a savings account each month.

Don’t think that would work. I put £82 away next month then the cat needs surgery I’m £3000 down.

 

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Does your cat need surgery next month?

I’ll let you know after their check up it’s 50/50

 

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But then again, insurance that someone was just taking out also wouldn't cover a pre-existing condition would it? Usually can't claim for x amount of days as well.

I just put an amount a month away for rainy day, be that to cover an unexpected pet issue or a cat problem.
Zero money lost.

You would never put enough away.

Insurance can cover pre existing issues though. Well done of them do.

 

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Depends how much your putting away each month and how much your willing to pay I guess. Call me heartless but if a vet says it's thousands for something routine I'll tell them to jog on.
I think they prey on people's emotions and the fact a lot have insurance, but all it does is keep the price of insurance high.

I agree the prices are excesses but what’s your alternative. Our last claim was over £2800 to remove a foreign object from our cats stomach.

The other cat has had claims over over £14k for dodgy knees.

 

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Yeah, fair point, still cheaper than the treatment though!

Hope it all goes well, that’s actually a cheap bet bill considering what’s gone on there!

 

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Should have updated earlier. Ember is now basically fully recovered

She's been a lot more "indoorsy", goes out into the garden to stretch her legs, does her business, sits on the fence for a couple of minutes and then comes straight back in. Maybe just because the weather has been a bit miserable recently, but previously she used to be outside for pretty much the whole day, and only come in in the evening.

Excellent news! Our cats are spending a little more time in due to the weather so I could be that like you say.

 

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It’s that time of year…. £102 a month for 2 cats. Great!

 

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That seems ridiculous, we're paying just over half that for 3 cats and a dog.

Are they pedigree/very old/have ongoing illness? Otherwise you need to shop around!

Good timing for the update though, our renewal is due next month and I think it's going to sting after our £3k claim last year

Ember is definitely not the same as she was before, a lot more cuddly and clingy, still isn't going out much, and she's very grumpy with the other animals

Nothing special about them, Moggies from Cats Protection. They are senior though but even so, we have seen the cost go from £20 a month for both of them to over £100 a month over several years from a company that doesnt rise prices with claims........ they must just rise them anyway. No on going illness but 1 of them has bionic back legs from being a kitten.

Not a chance I'd be paying that.

I have my cat insured she is 2 and I'll probably cancel it after this year.

I figure with cats the biggest risk is getting hit by a car, and generally that happens when they are young or old.

Like @SpellowHouse 's post above, for illnesses what really are you achieving, other than costing a ton of money.

If you are minted and that money is pocket change then fine, by all means.

I am not minted unfortunately and will need to shop around.

 

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Decision time for us - £102 is not justifiable. Both cats are what you would class as "old" being over 8 but we had a cat that lived to be over 20 before so I cant in my head say we wont insure them because they are old.

Been shopping around to see if what the best options are mathematically.

Pay less for my house car and life insurance all together.