We are an animal filled household (you would never guess, from our blog name, would you?) Our main pets our are cats, Layla and Jasper. Layla has some long term health issues that we see a vet for, due to her FIP diagnosis, but miraculously, is healthy and happy (well, she isn’t happy, she’s a grump, but she’s a happy in her grumpiness so we live with that!) and Jasper, apart from being a total dustbin diver who will literally eat anything, and has had a few visits to the vet for tummy upsets (which we now have medication at home to treat him for) but we don’t have to visit the vets too often, which is a good thing, because Layla does not like vet visits.
Having any pet is a huge responsibility. You have to be able to care for them, provide not only emotional care, but also physical care. Food, a safe place to live, and also make sure they stay healthy, or can get the treatment they need when they are unwell. This can be very expensive. We know this from experience. When Jasper decided to try and fly out of a tree and catch a squirrel (he thinks he is part bird) he managed to fall and fracture his leg. We took him to our vet, for treatment. He was very well looked after, but the final bill came to nearly £1000. That’s a lot of money. I know people would say that if you cannot afford a pet, you should not have them, and in principle, that is true but not everyone has a pot of money sitting in their bank account, or enough on a credit card to pay large amounts for pet care like that.
We do have pet insurance for both our cats and thankfully, every time one of them has needed treatment, all we have had to pay is the basic annual excess, which is for us, easy to afford, and the insurance has paid the rest. We pay a monthly fee for that. I don’t begrudge the amount we pay, per month, because it has been covered above and beyond when we have needed to get medical help for the cats.
I know some people say that insurance for pets is pointless. That you pay a monthly amount but may never need to actually claim it, so it’s a waste of money. I don’t agree. I currently have good friends who’s cat was unfortunately hit by a car recently. He has had lots of vet care and is recovering but the total cost has been well into £2000. They have insurance, which will pay most of it, and they are not having to decide that they cannot afford to get him the care he needs.
I also have friends who haven’t got pet insurance and they have had to make painful decisions about how to pay for the care their animals have needed, in an emergency.
Of course, insurance isn’t perfect. Now that Layla is older, the cost for her, in our monthly premium has gone up, and you do have to read the terms & conditions on your policy very carefully and know exactly what you have signed up for and what will be covered by them, but we still consider it worth it. We simply don’t have a few thousand pounds sitting around, pet insurance means we don’t worry about the “what if?”
Maybe I am wrong, is pet insurance a rip off? Do you think it’s a waste of money, or like me, do you think it’s a necessary thing to have, as a pet owner.
Layla would love to hear your thoughts… 😉
We have never bothered to be honest. I have had responsibility at least one cat for nearly 20 years. Maybe we have been lucky, but apart from the annual jabs and neutering, we haven’t had to pay out more than a few hundred pounds in total in all that time, so for us it would have been a lot more costly to have insurance. I can see that it gives peace of mind and it can help with budgeting though. This is one thing that we have effectively decided to self insure for, but I think we can only do that because if we did have a £1000 vet bill, we would be able to find the money some how. We have a savings emergency fund which would cover that sort of sum. I hope our cats remain healthy though and that we don’t need to fall back on the emergency fun.
I was literally going to write a post on the importance of insurance this week! i’m glad someone else is of the same mindset. I find it can be really frustrating paying every month and not “seeing” anything for it, and then I remember; If the day comes that something terrible happens and my kitties (i have 4) need medical care – I want to be able to do everything I can and not be limited by something as silly as money! it’s annoying but definitely necessary (I think) 🙂 #animaltales
Hi there, if I lived in the USA, I’d absolutely have pet insurance for my pup but in France the costs are so reasonable (even for ER visits on a Sunday) that it’s not worth the expense here. But maybe if I had several pets I’d look into it. I know sometimes pet insurance companies seem like a rip off especially with pre-existing conditions but I know of many people who it has really helped. #animaltales
I have had several dogs over the years, some insured and some not. My first dog was not insured and then aged 10 became very ill at a cost of over £1000. We paid up and by that age was the price was to high to get her insured. However when she died aged 14 we worked out that the insurance would probably have been about the same as what we paid in vet fees through her life. When we got dog number 2 we did insure her and that turned out to be a very good move as she cost us a lot do find out about a problem she had and her lifelong medication was covered. She also had a penchant for cutting herself badly and needed several operations which were covered. However in France insurance is rare and as Diane, above, said vet bills are less than in the UK so Saari is not insured. Touch wood she will not have need for expensive vet treatments. An interesting subject and thank you for adding it to #AnimalTales
we don’t have pet insurance and we have looked into it, I’d be more worried about the cat getting injured out on the road than i would be about illness with the cat and dog, we do have a contingency fund for emergencies such as the car, pets or trips to the UK should a family member get ill