Which pet insurance?

lee8040

I am looking for pet insurance for our 2 cats but abut confused between the time limited, accident only and lifetime cover. I want to be covered so if our cat comes in with any sort of injury I am covered. At the moment they don't have any ongoing medical conditions. Which one would I need to cover all injuries and illness? Thanks


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Hi, our Cheap Pet Insurance guide may help.

ripplyuk

Lifetime cover is the highest level and covers ongoing conditions like epilepsy, diabetes etc. Next level down is maximum benefit which will pay out up to a certain amount for each condition, regardless of the timeframe. Below that are the 12 month policies which means they will only pay for 12 months, even if the treatment is ongoing. Accident only policies tend to be much cheaper since they only cover direct injuries from the accident and no illnesses.

I'd recommend lifetime cover. I've always used PetPlan but there are others offering similar plans. I'd insure the kitties now before they develop any problems, as pre existing conditions won't be covered.

sheramber

Accident cover will only pay anything caused by an accident. Not any illness.

Limited time cover means that any illness or condition will only be covered for a limited time after you first claim- usually 12 months. After the 12 months you will not be able to claim any more for that condition so say you claim for a broken leg then the cat develops arthritis in that leg 4 years later you won't be able to claim for any treatment for that arthritis as it will be considered a linked condition and the claim is after the 12 month limit

lLifetime Maximum Benefit gives you a set amount of cover for each individual illness or condition until you have claimed for the total amount , whether that is aver one year or six years. There is no time limit as long as the policy is on force.

So if your cat has a fight without another cat and needs vet treatment you will be covered up to the benefit limit.-say £5000- for any treatment needed for that.

If a month later it breaks its leg you will have another £5000 to cover treatment for that and any ongoing or subsequent problems arising from it, such as arthritis in later years until the £5000 is used up.

Once you have claimed for a total of £5000 for one condition you will not be able to claim for any more treatment for that condition.

With lifetime vet fees cover you will have an amount of cover for vet fees for each year as long as the policy is in force.

In the above scenario you would deduct the amount of the first claim from the annual amount and have the balance available for any other claim in the same year.

So if you had £5000 and claimed £500 for the first treatment you would have £4500 left to cover any other claims in the same policy year. The broken leg may cost £1000 leaving £3500 for the rest of the policy year. But once the new year starts you will have the full £5000 reinstated for all claims.

You need to read the policy document ( not the summary) carefully so you know exactly what is covered and what is excluded and what you have to do to claim.

Also check what excess you have to pay as that varies from one company tot eh other.

Some have a fixed excess, some have a percentage co pay, some are a mixture of both or increase the excess at a certain age.

Definitely get cover in force before anything arises as it could then be excluded from any future claims.

All policies exclude claims for a period after you start the policy- usually 14 days but it does vary.
Again check the policy document.

RuthnJasper

I work at a vets. As well as echoing the advice above, I also advise careful scrutiny of the policy and what it covers. Some of the very cheap ones may end up causing more grief than they save. I probably shouldn't name individual companies, though!


There are plenty of good ones out there. I would say that Petplan is probably the most well-used and popular. I'm with Sainsbury's myself, and have always found them to be very good. Tesco's is also popular.


Sometimes you might get a discount if you already insure your house or car with a company; but there's no hard-and-fast rule.


Personally, I would avoid accident-only cover. The trouble is, you can only judge its worth in hindsight. But the peace of mind of having good cover is great if something goes wrong.


My dog had an appalling accident on 4 December, from which she has thankfully recovered. But I was so glad she was fully covered. As an example, Sainsbury's has three options: Standard (12-month time-limited, up to £3000), Premier (maximum benefit up to £7500) and Premier Plus (maximum benefit up to £13000). In Gisele's case I went for the Premier, it being non-time-limited and a bit better than basic, but not the most expensive. You'd have to be pretty unlucky for a cat to run up a £13k bill. A lot of insurers offer similar levels, I refer to Sainsbury's based only upon my own personal experience.


I'm glad you are thinking about insurance for your cats - but I hope they go on to live very long and happy lives, whichever policy you choose.

lee8040

Thanks for the reply. What does it mean vet fees upto £7000 and complimentary treatment per year £1000. Also death by illness and death by injury is £2000, does this mean they pay you if your cat dies by an illness?

do they also check if the vaccinations are up to date?

RuthnJasper

lee8040 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. What does it mean vet fees upto £7000 and complimentary treatment per year £1000. Also death by illness and death by injury is £2000, does this mean they pay you if your cat dies by an illness?

Hi Lee,


"Up to £7000", for example, means that you would be covered for up to £7000-worth of treatment (usually for each illness or injury, but not always). So, say Mr. Catkins had an accident and the final bill for all his operations and medicine came to £8,045. Under this level of cover, the insurance would pay £7000 (less your excess) and you would have to pay the vets the balance of £1,045. Unlimited/maximum benefit cover would pay the lot (less your excess).


The complimentary treatment refers to more holistic treatment, e.g. massage, hydrotherapy or acupuncture. They will pay up to £1000 for this in your example, though the vet would often have to state why this treatment was necessary on their part of the claim form.


If Mr. Catkins was unluckily killed or died through his injuries, the insurance would cover the vets fees and whatever the purchase price was for the late cat (this would need to be proved with an adoption certificate or pedigree papers) up to £2000. Some rare-breed pedigrees can be very valuable (not that that matters really, when compared with a sentient animal's life and wellbeing).


Hope this is helpful; happy to assist with any other questions you might have.

RuthnJasper

Sainsbury's didn't ask for Gisele's vaccination records. Others might though. The vets clinic at which I work is an out-of-hours emergency-only clinic, so we don't tend to get asked about vaccinations.

sheramber

Most policies will say that if you do not keep vaccinations up to date they will not cover any illness that could have been vaccinated against.

But read the policy document as I did have one policy, a few years ago, where they would not cover anything if the vaccinations were not kept up to date.

When you make a claim you will be asked to include a full medical history from your vet. This will show whether your cat has had his vaccinations.

One thing to consider is , if it is important that the insurance company pay any claim direct to your vet, instead of you paying the vet and the claiming the money back from the insurance company, check with your vet which company/ies they will make a direct claim to.

My last vet would only claim direct from Petplan. One of the vet nurses was trained by Petplan on their claim procedures so were confident when a claim would be paid out.

My current vet will claim direct from any company but if payment os not made within 30 days I will be charged interest.

Some companies take longer than others to pay out.