Pet Insurance - Worth the money

theinvisiblegirl

It's with sad news I write this.

We took in a stray cat in October last year, the cat looked like a kitten and our intentions were to obtain insurance for the kitten, along with our other two cats after xmas.

Xmas came and went and I totally forgot about it.

Anyway, this week the what we thought kitten (turns out was a really small tom) fell from a high surface and started to walk with a limp. We took the little fella to the vets who assessed he had a sprained leg/swollen limb. We were prescribed painkillers and paid for the consultation. £35 for 5 minutes and the meds.

Next morning, the cat really wasn't himself, all limbs stiff and stretched. Back to the vets. 3 days worth of anti-biotics and steroids, could be neurological, MRI would cost £500, I simply couldn't afford it. Progression was made so he returned home yesterday, no meds prescribed and £130 for treatment and hospitiliastion.

Woke up this morning after spending yesterday spoon feeding and syringing water into his mouth, to find he returned to his rigid state. 1 call to the emergency vets and a test for cat aids (had never heard of it 'til today, negative though), it was determined that what ever the problem was, no amount of tests/treatment would have the little fella back up and running with a normal life. Sadly we had to put him down. £250 for the consultation, testing and euthanasia. Over £400 spent now, and the cat still had to be put to sleep.

Besides feeling like a useless pet owner and the guilt that has followed with it, the first thing I done when I got home was to login onto the net to find some quotes for my pet insurance for the 2 remaining kitties. With cashback from quidco and my insurance through more than, the total cost for the year for the 2 of them? £40. (and change).

Naturally I'm gutted at my loss, but for all you pet owners out there a cautionary tale, if you haven't got pet insurance but can afford it, get it sorted! The cost is less than £2 a week for a non pedigree cat where I got my insurance.

sophieschoice

I'm very sorry to hear that your little one died.
I totally agree with your point about pet insurance.
It does take away the worry of the cost of treatment.
It doesn't help with the pain of losing a beloved pet though.

mum2one

I'm so sorry about the loss of the cat, there part of the family, we lost our Spaniel last yr, and it was hell on earth, luckly he was insured as 5 yrs previous he chipped a bone that fragmented into his spinal cord, so it was our vets bills, private animal hospital, for mri, then again for check ups, the bill was2.5k, we just paid £60.

We have a very mad 10mth old Springer and the 1st thing we did was put him in petplan ins, its a godsend, its one of those things that you don't want to have to godown the route, but its a safety net if you do. x

UKTigerlily

So sorry to hear about your boy, i'm sure he was thankful you took him in & for all the love you gave to him. I think More Than have a % + excess to pay once the pet gets older so bare that in mind, Axa don't add a % but that may change! I agree Insurance is worth it, it costs me £35.40 a month for my Dog & £10.37 for the Cat & is well worth it.

Torkijo

theinvisiblegirl wrote: »

It's with sad news I write this.

We took in a stray cat in October last year, the cat looked like a kitten and our intentions were to obtain insurance for the kitten, along with our other two cats after xmas.

Xmas came and went and I totally forgot about it.

Anyway, this week the what we thought kitten (turns out was a really small tom) fell from a high surface and started to walk with a limp. We took the little fella to the vets who assessed he had a sprained leg/swollen limb. We were prescribed painkillers and paid for the consultation. £35 for 5 minutes and the meds.

Next morning, the cat really wasn't himself, all limbs stiff and stretched. Back to the vets. 3 days worth of anti-biotics and steroids, could be neurological, MRI would cost £500, I simply couldn't afford it. Progression was made so he returned home yesterday, no meds prescribed and £130 for treatment and hospitiliastion.

Woke up this morning after spending yesterday spoon feeding and syringing water into his mouth, to find he returned to his rigid state. 1 call to the emergency vets and a test for cat aids (had never heard of it 'til today, negative though), it was determined that what ever the problem was, no amount of tests/treatment would have the little fella back up and running with a normal life. Sadly we had to put him down. £250 for the consultation, testing and euthanasia. Over £400 spent now, and the cat still had to be put to sleep.

Besides feeling like a useless pet owner and the guilt that has followed with it, the first thing I done when I got home was to login onto the net to find some quotes for my pet insurance for the 2 remaining kitties. With cashback from quidco and my insurance through more than, the total cost for the year for the 2 of them? £40. (and change).

Naturally I'm gutted at my loss, but for all you pet owners out there a cautionary tale, if you haven't got pet insurance but can afford it, get it sorted! The cost is less than £2 a week for a non pedigree cat where I got my insurance.

Agree definately worth it - we had similar with a stray we took in that ended up having HIV for Catrs - which meant we had to have the other 2 tested as well.

As aside, can i ask where you got quotes so low from for the others?