Cancelling CAT Insurance - bad move?

denton6

hi we had insurance with our vet for sooty, think it was about 15 per month but bit more exoensive cos she was old. that covered all injections worming tablets, flea injections and annual blood test. gave discount on food and treatments. they even gave us a discount from the plan when we had to get her put to sleep. she was 20 and i miss her loads. think she may not have lived as long but annual blood test showed up kidney illness 7 years ago and so was on special food from that day. if i didnt have the vet plan i prob woulnt have known she had that problem so it would have been left untreated. dont think i could afford to pay what you do per month though.

Buttonmoons

I have 2 indoor cats, I never had insurance, but one of mine went and ate netting :mad: and it cost me £600 at the vets, I then insured them with Argos, the platinum policy (it's for life, not just 12 months or whatever...) I'm £12 a month for them 2 (£4 for the female, £8 for compulsive eater as apparently young males are more of a liability) Had the female in the vets the other week as she had a scabby foot, that only cost me £35, and I'm sure the excess is £50/£60ish, but that was caused by rogue male cat - he is the bane of my life!!

I'm not sure what I'd say to do, I was sure nothing would happen to mine as they are indoors, so no fights with other cats, or cars to worry about, but meh, they still get into trouble. :rotfl:

Deffo look around, I'd be :eek: at £64 a month.

Buttonmoons

I just had a quick tootle at the argos for life policy, with a made up cat (called Tiddles ) male, 3 months old - said it would be around £6. odds, depending on your excess amount.

Plus they will probably offer you a multi pet discount? So I'm imagining for all 4 bundles it would deffo be under £30 for that, which is a big saving from petplan.

paddypaws101

Well I am going to put my head on the line here and admit that I am VERY sceptical about the real benefits of insurance for a cat. I never insured my 4 oldies and have saved thousands of pounds over the years because of that....not that it was primarily a MSE decision. I have caved in and insured the two kittens....with a basic Argos policy, as I do agree the first couple of years are high risk. Given the way that policy prices rise dramatically for the older cat I doubt whether I will continue this insurance long term.
I think the best 'insurance' for a healthy cat is to feed them an appropriate meat based diet ( not dry food ) and avoid overuse of chemicals such as flea and worm treatments or chemicals in the house.

wannabepennypincher

My cats are on the covered for life budget plan with petplan and its been a life saver. Charley had a bout of pancreatatis(sp?) and his intial 5 night stay was about £1,600, he's been in for 2 glucose curves and his monthly meds are about £50. It is a risk- we benefit because Charley's vet costs are really high.

We took it out because our kitten(he's 2 but til he acts his age he is the kitten) is quite possibly the clumsiest cat in the world, if he isn't tripping over his own 2 feet he is trying to fit his head into gaps 2 inches big or munching on any plastic he can find, not forgetting his favourite past time of climbing as high as he can then throwing himself off- he must have been a sky diver in a past life!

tankgirl1

paddypaws101 wrote: »

Well I am going to put my head on the line here and admit that I am VERY sceptical about the real benefits of insurance for a cat. I never insured my 4 oldies and have saved thousands of pounds over the years because of that....not that it was primarily a MSE decision. I have caved in and insured the two kittens....with a basic Argos policy, as I do agree the first couple of years are high risk. Given the way that policy prices rise dramatically for the older cat I doubt whether I will continue this insurance long term.
I think the best 'insurance' for a healthy cat is to feed them an appropriate meat based diet ( not dry food ) and avoid overuse of chemicals such as flea and worm treatments or chemicals in the house.

OK, I'm a veterinary nurse, so I see more than the usual 'Joe Public' will see of sick pets.

Most of the CATS I see whose owners are glad of their insurance policies are not young. The biggest risk with young cats appears to be road traffic accidents, or trauma injuries - these make up a very small percentage of our feline patients.

Its the elderly cats with chronic kidney failure, diabeties mellitus or hyperthyroidism, or a multitude of any other old age related problems - the owners of these cats with insurance are glad of that.

The owners of these OAP cats without insurance are much more likely to have them pts

Cat vet bills can cost just as much as pooch bills can. Granted with dogs, it is more about bodyweight.............. cats are not small dogs - they work differently - they need more of this, or less of that..... they are just as expensive, and cost as much time, if not more to treat at the vets.

Mine are insured - with petplan

cinderellacomplex

I would say that if you are honestly the kind of person who WILL put away that money every month and will then count it as 'dead money' which you cannot touch unless there is an emergency with one of your cats then I would just save it up every month. It might mean you need to scrimp when something goes wrong if there wasn't enough but most of my trips to the vet with my cats have been related to them living outside so I think that yours are much lower risk. If something long-term does come up then you might just have to cut back in other areas of your life to work that in too, I still think that it is a lower risk than paying out so much every month when premiums will go up and with a possibility that nothing will happen.

Badger_Lady

That is very expensive - I'd much rather save it up! That way you can't lose - either something happens and you pay it off with the money you've saved on insurance, or nothing happens and you keep the cash for a rainy day

My little boy is coming up to 14 now and the only thing he's needed (other than routine dentistry etc) is a course of treatment for arthritis in his hips. I spent a total of about £300 on that. You're paying that every five months!

morg_monster

I agree £64 is a lot, we have the argos platinum plan too and it costs £5 for one cat and £6 for the other (think because she is still under 2). I know kittens are more expensive but the cost does go down as they get older.
The reason I wouldn't be without it is because (a) I can afford it and (b) it takes money out of the equation when making any tough decisions about treatment and quality of life, etc (obviously this is only really true if you have a lifetime plan).

If you're set on self insuring, I wonder whether it would be better to do that for now; and then if they get to 2 years of age without any medical problems, THEN have another look at insuring them as their premiums will be less by then.

gettingready

Thanks to everyone posting here...

I think I will possibly go with the idea of insuring them a bit later in life and cancelling the current policy for the 2 and not getting one for the other two... for the time being.