Pet insurance, first time buyer
captainlongtoes
Forumite 58 Posts
Hi everyone, I'm adopting two kittens soon, is it best to pay for insurance monthly or annually? Not purchased pet insurance before so aside from searching for quotes on the comparison sites and deciding upon lifetime cover, I'm not aware of what's best.
0
Latest MSE News and Guides
Replies
The "issue" with pet insurance is the same as with PMI and human health insurance... whilst your young, fit and healthy premiums are fairly cheap and you can shop around frequently. As soon as you have a notable claim though you are basically then stuck with that company for life else the condition and related conditions will be excluded. Because of this some choose to go with more expensive companies like PetPlan knowing that no matter how many claims they make premiums wont go up due to the claims (they'll go up based on the age of the animals and general inflation).
There are several stories on here where insurance goes up to thousands a year on a more traditional insurer but its pay that or dont have cover.
Personally never insured mine - regular visitors to the vets after fights !
In my 20 years of owning cats I've only ever had to take one to the vets for a torn ligament that, if memory serves me right cost about £250. I think if you can afford the cost of a vet then you may find that having pet insurance isn't very money savvy in the long run. I have it because if my cat Merlin had to go to the vet I wouldn't be able to pay the cost at all and so would have to negotiate with the vet to go direct to the insurance company.
Also remember that teeth aren't included in insurance and that can be troublesome in later life.
I pay monthly as it's more affordable, but I will probably stop paying when he gets to about 6-7 as the premiums may be too much for me to afford.
I had PetPlan insurance for my last cat as on a very low income, she had to be pts at 13 after 3k worth of tests- tests not treatment.
Even with the excess + 20% of bill (common with older pet insurance) which I covered through savings, I was awfully glad of the insurance!
I couldn't have afforded not to have it.
Often I see pet owners say they wouldn't put their pet through harsh (expensive) treatments, well sometimes getting the diagnosis is very expensive!
I advise going through a cashback website - but also get a standalone quote to check that going through cashback doesn't up your premium which it seems to with car insurance - and asking your friends who they use as often you can get a bit of a boost through a referral (such as an Amazon voucher).
When I was growing up with cats insurance didn't seem to be the norm (like some of you we just took them to the vets after injuries from fights) but I keep hearing about how fees are high these days so I thought I'd better sort some cover. Will try to remember to post pics!
Going off topic - but I think part of the reason is that there are far more sophisticated treatments for pets now. There are pet hospitals, pet intensive care units - where sedated pets are attached to machines by tubes and wires etc, with 24 hour nurses etc.
A friend who's a vet says he feels duty bound to offer tests, diagnostics, procedures, etc costing hundreds or even thousands of pounds - and which probably weren't available 10 or 20 years ago - as an alternative to putting the pet to sleep.
Another vet was a bit more forthright and said that if the pet was insured he'd go ahead and do a procedure, but as the pet wasn't insured, it really wasn't worth it.