Should I take out Pet Insurance?

Careful_with_that_Axe

I have a 6 year old moggie who has always been well except for a tear duct problem on onw eye which you be a pre-existing condition anyway if I took out insurance.

My quandry is that I have quite substantial savings and so have the ability to pay any vet fees which arose, so is it worth me taking out insurance and paying an albeit small premium when it would not necessarily be used.

The only instance I can see where insurance would be beneficial is if she developed a long-term, expensive disease, such as diabeties.

What do you fine folk think? Shouls I insure her or not?

Many thanks in advance

tanith

There will be lots of pros and cons posts I am sure but I never insure my cats .. Maybe I have been lucky and they have been pretty healthy but we have managed to pay the odd bill here and there.. I think its far better to put a little aside maybe each month just in case... and if you feel you could manage to pay the odd bill here and there I don't see the point..

SoggyMoggy

I would always advocate insuring your cat, at only 6 years old it won't cost you any more than putting a couple of quid on the lottery a week, we don't think twice about doing that with no guarantee of getting it back.

You just never know with cats - mine went out one evening perfectly healthy and happy, came home four hours later with one leg shattered and teethmarks in his belly. We never did find out what happened, but the vet's considered opinion was that he'd been caught and shaken by a big dog.

Getting him put back together and back on his feet took five months and the fat end of £1,000, so we were VERY glad we insured him!

darich

Insurance not only covers illness but injury as SoggyMoggy as shown.
If your cat gets out then i'd say insurance was a necessity regardless of age.
Cats can be harmed by other cats, falling, dogs and even some cruel people so good health doesn't mean no vets fees.

My gf and I insure 2 cats for a combined total of around £6 per month with Tesco. A year's premium is less than £80 for 2 but a vet could use £80 in the space of half an hour if your cat's injured or ill.

I'd get the insurance.

Soubrette

Careful_with_that_Axe wrote: »

I have a 6 year old moggie who has always been well except for a tear duct problem on onw eye which you be a pre-existing condition anyway if I took out insurance.

My quandry is that I have quite substantial savings and so have the ability to pay any vet fees which arose, so is it worth me taking out insurance and paying an albeit small premium when it would not necessarily be used.

The only instance I can see where insurance would be beneficial is if she developed a long-term, expensive disease, such as diabeties.

What do you fine folk think? Shouls I insure her or not?

Many thanks in advance

I think it depends on your general attitude to insurance. Do you tend to cover lots of things? Would you feel resentful at having to dip into savings to pay for any accidents with your cat? Would you be prepared to cough up a couple of thousand if she was ill?

Statistically speaking you are more likely to pay more into an insurance policy than to get more out as total premiums not only have to cover paying out to those that need it but also the insurance companies costs and profits.

But you might be unlucky and have to pay out an awful lot as an individual.

Personally I wouldn't if I had the savings.

Sou

Suzy_M

We've had several pets over the years (and had them for years as well). For cats and other small animals if we add up what insurance may have cost us over the years against actual vets bills it works out cheaper than if we'd had insurance. Fortunately we've always been in a position to pay vets bills.

However, we have ALWAYS insured our dogs - not so much for illness or injury but for third party liability.

chuckles1066

Careful_with_that_Axe wrote: »

I have a 6 year old moggie who has always been well except for a tear duct problem on onw eye which you be a pre-existing condition anyway if I took out insurance.

My quandry is that I have quite substantial savings and so have the ability to pay any vet fees which arose, so is it worth me taking out insurance and paying an albeit small premium when it would not necessarily be used.

The only instance I can see where insurance would be beneficial is if she developed a long-term, expensive disease, such as diabeties.

What do you fine folk think? Shouls I insure her or not?

Many thanks in advance

We've never insured any of our moggies.

But last year we bought a £550 Bengal pedigree cat and thought it best to insure him, given that pedigrees seem to be prone to all sorts of nasties that your average moggy can shake off.

£9.50 a month (Marks & Sparks, no excess)............we had to take him to the vets with a really vicious bug, the bill came to over £1k (inflated I suspect once the vets knew he was insured), but Marks & Sparks coughed up without so much as a murmur.

Domestic moggies I'd say don't bother with insurance...........anything fancy, then yes.

Careful_with_that_Axe

Sorry to hear of those who have had sick/injured cats. Looks like it is right back at me to make my own mind up!

Thank you all