I too have thought long and hard about this as I am really not convinced that insurance is as water tight as we would like it to be. I certainly never held insurance for any of my older cats and by and large that has worked out ok. Paddy IS currently costing me a fair whack in vet fees but he is 16 and has multiple medical issues....what the premiums and excesses would be if he did have insurance I have no idea! His brother has never had anything more than fairly routine ABX, and the sister has never yet been to a vet since spaying!

However, the veterinary world has moved on in the last 15 years, there are extraordinary treatments available but at a cost and I guess insurance brings these within comfortable reach.
To insure now or when older? I know of someone whose ( mainly indoor ) one year old cat has just had surgery for 2 luxating patellas, nearly £2500 and maybe an ongoing issue.

__________________

Nellie Paddy Mitzy Milo Peggy Murphy

Millie and Monty, the White Devils!

This is my dilemma, I don't know enough about what 'could' go wrong and what it 'might' cost to make a valid decision about whether insurance is a viable option.

But now you have scared me!

Personally, I would say get the insurance. It's the sort of thing you bitterly resent paying out for right up until something goes horribly wrong, at which point you will thank your lucky stars. I would check the coverage conditions of any potential policy though, as some simply don't seem to be worth the paper they're printed on. I'd rather knowingly pay a little more for a policy that covers nearly all the bases than near-as-damn-it as much for one that doesn't

I go a little against the grain here - I do buy insurance but I don't get life cover. My choice, my reasons. However, I pay between £2.50 and £4.10 a month for my cats for a basic cover that includes accidents (Minnii broke her paw once jumping from the cupboard to the dining room table!!!! Silly sausage - costs of £250 in total.) and treatments up to £2500. Only 3 moths after having taken out insurance on Minnii we found out she had a severe heart murmur - the investigations alone cost £2250!!!! I worked out I'd have had to pay the insurance premiums for over 42 years to cover that. Now she isn't covered any more for this condition but her pills cost me £4 a month, and because she isn't covered they don't keep pushing more expensive procedures at me. For example, they want her to have another scan to find out how her heart it coping, at another £1000, but because she isn't covered anymore have agreed that it isn't worth it as they wouldn't DO anything with the information, and it's a stressful experience for a cat, AND she could very easily die during the procedure! But she's had 2 broken feet, and the heart murmur and the insurance has been worth every penny. And it is that - pennies really every month.

Having said that - I won't put my animals through procedures I don't think they will understand and will make them poorlier or in pain for any length of time. They are in the end animals and don't have the cognitive or reasoning skills we have. For example, this new vet (we just moved) has suggested putting Minnii on different pills when her heart begins to really fail - now her condition causes the heart muscle to atrophy, die and scar, and this new pills will FORCE the heart muscle to pump this effectively dead scar tissue. It will be painful for Minnii to have to go through this. I don't want her last few months to be at the expense of being in pain every heart beat so I've said that that won't happen. When her heart begin to fail and she is in distress etc, that will be the time to let her go with dignity.

So insurance can be a blessing - I certainly didn't have a spare £2250 only 3 months after taking out insurance to deal with Minnii - if I'd saved the premiums up instead I'd have only got to £9!!!!!

Thems there swings and roundabouts!

__________________
please look at my website - www.finesthourcats.webs.com - for gorgeous GCCF registered RagaMuffins and Selkirk Rex

Just be aware that they need a yearly dental check at the vets for that to apply - not an issue if you are vaccinating yearly, they can have their health/dental check then.

It's only an issue if you have an ex-feral who turns into a wildcat at the mere sight of a carrier and a psycho if you actually get him to the vets (I've still got insurance for my psycho but he's only vaccinated every three years now - the vet has assured me that only his dental cover will be affected, we are ok for everything else, I'm hoping he's right).

I know what you're saying but I wouldn't actually resent paying for it at all. It would be for the benefit of my precious cats and I wouldn't want to be in a position where I was struggling to find the money to pay for any treatment they might need.

Re the dental treatment - mine always have their jabs yearly so this wouldn't be a problem.

I've done some quotes and came up with the following:

Price for all 3 cats................all lifetime policies

Argos: £36 per month £7000 a year vets fees (no dental)

Petplan: £31 per month £4000 a year vets fees (inc dental) or £32 per month £7000 a year vets fees (inc dental)

Homebase: £24 per month £2500 a year vets fees (no dental)

So, say over 10 a year period, depending on which policy I go for, I could be paying between £2400 and £3600 for all 3 cats in insurance. Just one illness/accident for 1 cat could come to that. And if all 3 needed treatment (god forbid) it could come to a hell of a lot more which would really leave me in the do-do if they weren't insured!

So I think I've talked myself into it. If none of them need any treatment ever then I'll just say to myself 'but I bet if I hadn't have had insurance then one of them would have got ill'!

I'm a bit of a worrier at the best of times so peace of mind means a lot to me. Now just have to decide which policy to go for. The Homebase is the cheapest but for the sake of a few quid a month I think I'd rather have a higher level of cover. Think It'll have to be one of the Pet Plan ones as they include dental.

Thanks for all your help guys

my year old wegie Karlo vet's fees for the year have been about £5,000. Apart from the £70 excess Petplan paid for the lot. Ginger's lymphoma treatment goes into thousands this year. Oska and Sassie have had treatment costing hundreds as as well. I wouldn't be without insurance for my 8. When Loki arrives later today that will be the first thing I sort out for him.