Do I get pet insurance?

DD265

We racked up an £1800 bill at Easter, purely with admittence to the emergency vet, a urinary blockage (partially, we think) dislodged, and an overnight stay.  The subsequent blockages which were treated by our regular vet, and surgery, came to about £3k in total if I remember correctly. The bill with the surgery on it/a week's stay was less than that one night at the emergency vet!

We were glad to have PetPlan then. At one point we were potentially looking at £7k surgery, and having the insurance on top of our own funds gave us more options. The concern for me is not necessarily the first problem, it's anything that follows. It's unusual for a cat to block up 3x (and survive all three), for example. We have two cats. If we'd wiped out our insurance on the first illness, or the savings on one cat, and then something else happened... I don't want finances to be a primary factor in a decision on whether to put one of my animals through treatment.

And whilst I agree to some extent with the poster saying they spend on quality food instead - so were we. Sh*t happens.

Kim_kim

I’m interested in the two cat owners who said they were feeding quality food to prevent problems, what are you feeding?
Im feeding royal canine because he’s used to it from the breeder, with a plan to move him to applaws when he’s not on the kitten food anymore.

donnac2558

I am not one of the two, but I feed James Wellbeloved who are owned by Royal Canine but have a higher meat content.  I tried applaws but it gave her the runs a bit, also applaws seem to state a lot that their food is a supplement and you need to add another food on top.  I found this strange but even when I contacted them for advice that is what they insist, their wet food needs this was for my older cat they said you cannot feed it on its own.  I am feeding mainly dry with some wet food.

Mnoee

Kim_kim said:

I’m interested in the two cat owners who said they were feeding quality food to prevent problems, what are you feeding?
Im feeding royal canine because he’s used to it from the breeder, with a plan to move him to applaws when he’s not on the kitten food anymore.

You should know that you can't feed just applaws, as its a complimentary food. Where its just chicken, rice and broth (or whichever flavour) it doesn't contain the vitamins and minerals they need - a wild cat would eat the 'offal' parts of prey for these (and not eat rice!) 

I feed Blink to my cats - it's just meat and broth, but it has the added vitamins and minerals they need. It's pretty pricey (£70 for 84 pouches), but I like the regular deliveries, being able to customise the boxes and that it's all made in the UK. It's also in some supermarkets and pet stores now.

Edited to add that I know that it's not magic that'll keep them well forever, but the added sugar, salt and oil in many foods is definitely detrimental to their health - same as humans, some of us will randomly be struck by illness, but being healthier to begin with will at least make fighting those illnesses easier. 

DD265

Kim_kim said:

I’m interested in the two cat owners who said they were feeding quality food to prevent problems, what are you feeding?
Im feeding royal canine because he’s used to it from the breeder, with a plan to move him to applaws when he’s not on the kitten food anymore.

We were feeding Animonda Carny (from Zooplus) wet food, and AATU biscuits - two of the highest meat content foods/best rated/balanced foods I could find at the time. The cat with the health issues was only eating the biscuits after a while and whilst they are good quality, we think the lack of hydration got him as his issues were urinary blockages.

When we realised we'd have to change food I did a lot of looking around elsewhere and it's a nightmare. Ultimately the vets decided for us.

Now we've got them on Royal Canin and Purina veterinary wet food specifically for crystal dissolution and prevention, plus Virbac dry food which is also for urinary issues. Funnily enough, now that the ill cat is having wet food again (took him a little bit, but now he wolfs it) his coat quality is really improving and he gets less gunk around his eyes/nose. I wouldn't have said what we're feeding now is as good quality as what we were feeding before, but I'm also not sure I can attribute a healthier appearance purely to increased water consumption.

The other thing I'd say is watch calories - the Virbac biscuits are ridiculously high in calories compared to the wet food. We only feed them for stimulation (in Doc and Pheobe feeders) between meals as our cats don't roam. I hadn't done the maths on calories before until we were struggling to get weight off one of them, and it was a bit of an eye opener.

Kim_kim

Mnoee said:

Kim_kim said:

I’m interested in the two cat owners who said they were feeding quality food to prevent problems, what are you feeding?
Im feeding royal canine because he’s used to it from the breeder, with a plan to move him to applaws when he’s not on the kitten food anymore.

You should know that you can't feed just applaws, as its a complimentary food. Where its just chicken, rice and broth (or whichever flavour) it doesn't contain the vitamins and minerals they need - a wild cat would eat the 'offal' parts of prey for these (and not eat rice!) 

I feed Blink to my cats - it's just meat and broth, but it has the added vitamins and minerals they need. It's pretty pricey (£70 for 84 pouches), but I like the regular deliveries, being able to customise the boxes and that it's all made in the UK. It's also in some supermarkets and pet stores now.

Edited to add that I know that it's not magic that'll keep them well forever, but the added sugar, salt and oil in many foods is definitely detrimental to their health - same as humans, some of us will randomly be struck by illness, but being healthier to begin with will at least make fighting those illnesses easier. 

https://applaws.com/uk/cat/dry-cat-adult-chicken/

I’ve looked at it again, it does read as if it’s a complete food.  I thought it was a better quality than royal canine?
If it’s not better I will happily stick with Royal Canine 

Kim_kim

donnac2558 said:

I am not one of the two, but I feed James Wellbeloved who are owned by Royal Canine but have a higher meat content.  I tried applaws but it gave her the runs a bit, also applaws seem to state a lot that their food is a supplement and you need to add another food on top.  I found this strange but even when I contacted them for advice that is what they insist, their wet food needs this was for my older cat they said you cannot feed it on its own.  I am feeding mainly dry with some wet food.

I was James Welbeloved was cheaper than RC, so not quite as high quality? 

Mnoee

Kim_kim said:

Mnoee said:

Kim_kim said:

I’m interested in the two cat owners who said they were feeding quality food to prevent problems, what are you feeding?
Im feeding royal canine because he’s used to it from the breeder, with a plan to move him to applaws when he’s not on the kitten food anymore.

You should know that you can't feed just applaws, as its a complimentary food. Where its just chicken, rice and broth (or whichever flavour) it doesn't contain the vitamins and minerals they need - a wild cat would eat the 'offal' parts of prey for these (and not eat rice!) 

I feed Blink to my cats - it's just meat and broth, but it has the added vitamins and minerals they need. It's pretty pricey (£70 for 84 pouches), but I like the regular deliveries, being able to customise the boxes and that it's all made in the UK. It's also in some supermarkets and pet stores now.

Edited to add that I know that it's not magic that'll keep them well forever, but the added sugar, salt and oil in many foods is definitely detrimental to their health - same as humans, some of us will randomly be struck by illness, but being healthier to begin with will at least make fighting those illnesses easier. 

https://applaws.com/uk/cat/dry-cat-adult-chicken/

I’ve looked at it again, it does read as if it’s a complete food.  I thought it was a better quality than royal canine?
If it’s not better I will happily stick with Royal Canine 

I didn't realise that you meant the dry food. If you're feeding dry food exclusively, you really have to encourage them to drink lots of water - most cats don't get nearly enough, which is what causes so many urinary/kidney problems. 

DD265

Mnoee said:

I didn't realise that you meant the dry food. If you're feeding dry food exclusively, you really have to encourage them to drink lots of water - most cats don't get nearly enough, which is what causes so many urinary/kidney problems. 

I can't stress this enough after nearly losing Moglet to urinary blockages several times in the Spring. The reason we continue to provide dry food at all is because we can put it in feeders which provide stimulation between the four wet meals. The food in question works to control the PH of the urine (a factor in development of bladder stones) and, as cats have a limited thirst mechanism, encourages increased water consumption so it's not evil, but it's not great, either.