Discussion
Looking for some advice on this topoc.
Presently i have 5 indoor cats and they are insured with my vet which gets me free booster jags 6 monthly check ups and free worming and flea treatment at a cost of £45 a month. Benefits is discount on neutering and chipping and if i need to use vet for anything the first visit is free then if treatment needed insurance kick in well thats the theory.
I also have pet insurance with MORE THAN for 4 of these cats as one is a kitten and will be added when nutered and chipped. And i pay £42 for this but still need to add kitten on in next month or so.
So am i getting value for money here orvis there an option iam missing any advice on this would be great.
Presently i have 5 indoor cats and they are insured with my vet which gets me free booster jags 6 monthly check ups and free worming and flea treatment at a cost of £45 a month. Benefits is discount on neutering and chipping and if i need to use vet for anything the first visit is free then if treatment needed insurance kick in well thats the theory.
I also have pet insurance with MORE THAN for 4 of these cats as one is a kitten and will be added when nutered and chipped. And i pay £42 for this but still need to add kitten on in next month or so.
So am i getting value for money here orvis there an option iam missing any advice on this would be great.
Monaro5.7 said:
Looking for some advice on this topoc.
Presently i have 5 indoor cats and they are insured with my vet which gets me free booster jags 6 monthly check ups and free worming and flea treatment at a cost of £45 a month. Benefits is discount on neutering and chipping and if i need to use vet for anything the first visit is free then if treatment needed insurance kick in well thats the theory.
I also have pet insurance with MORE THAN for 4 of these cats as one is a kitten and will be added when nutered and chipped. And i pay £42 for this but still need to add kitten on in next month or so.
So am i getting value for money here orvis there an option iam missing any advice on this would be great.
The healthcare scheme with the vet may not be that great value - if the cats are completely indoor you probably don't need to be worming and fleaing on a monthly or 3 monthly basis. If you aren't being charged for the 1st consult then you'll still have to pay your excess on the insurance before being able to make a claim, so it may not be that beneficial either. If you're with who I think you're with, the consulting fee is normally quite low with drugs and any procedures being much more expensive and where the vets make their profit. The healthcare schemes are normally pretty good for new kittens and puppies, where you benefit from the savings on neutering and chipping, but of limited value with older animals.Presently i have 5 indoor cats and they are insured with my vet which gets me free booster jags 6 monthly check ups and free worming and flea treatment at a cost of £45 a month. Benefits is discount on neutering and chipping and if i need to use vet for anything the first visit is free then if treatment needed insurance kick in well thats the theory.
I also have pet insurance with MORE THAN for 4 of these cats as one is a kitten and will be added when nutered and chipped. And i pay £42 for this but still need to add kitten on in next month or so.
So am i getting value for money here orvis there an option iam missing any advice on this would be great.
I can't tell you if the insurance is good value or not, MORE THAN are a good company and a lot of the cheaper insurance companies are a lot harder to get a pay out from. I don't think there's any reason not to get the kitten insured now, you don't normally need to wait until they're neutered or chipped and they're very capable of doing stupid things when they're young!
The products from More Than and the Vet are complimentary, there's no real overlap.
Insurance is a personal choice, but I would recommend it to all but the most wealthy, avoid changing insurance company as any previous conditions will no longer be covered, get the kitten covered ASAP, kittens regularly need a claim.
Most vets will do a "Free Flea Check" which is usually what the 6 monthly check amounts to, as the best flea products are POM and so the animal needs to be under their care in order for them to sell you the products.
With 5 cats you might find it better value to have your vet write prescriptions and get the Advocate online, alternatively Advantage is available without a prescription and contains the same active ingredient for fleas as Advocate, but doesn't cover the other parasites. A broadspectrum wormer, Drontal, is also available without a prescription.
All vets need to make about the same amount of money to keep afloat (despite popular opinion Vets make very little, perhaps 1/3 of the equivalently qualified doctor or dentist despite the longer hours and emergencies). If their routine stuff is cheap (vaccs, flea / worming, neutering etc) then this will have to be offset by non routine stuff. A well respected independent local practice would tend to offer better overall value than a corporate, especially if they ever get ill.
I would recommend monthly flea control even for indoor cats as it is much easier to stop you getting fleas than to get rid once you have them, and as it's such a relatively small environment with a lot of cats if you do get them, you will have a lot of them !
Insurance is a personal choice, but I would recommend it to all but the most wealthy, avoid changing insurance company as any previous conditions will no longer be covered, get the kitten covered ASAP, kittens regularly need a claim.
Most vets will do a "Free Flea Check" which is usually what the 6 monthly check amounts to, as the best flea products are POM and so the animal needs to be under their care in order for them to sell you the products.
With 5 cats you might find it better value to have your vet write prescriptions and get the Advocate online, alternatively Advantage is available without a prescription and contains the same active ingredient for fleas as Advocate, but doesn't cover the other parasites. A broadspectrum wormer, Drontal, is also available without a prescription.
All vets need to make about the same amount of money to keep afloat (despite popular opinion Vets make very little, perhaps 1/3 of the equivalently qualified doctor or dentist despite the longer hours and emergencies). If their routine stuff is cheap (vaccs, flea / worming, neutering etc) then this will have to be offset by non routine stuff. A well respected independent local practice would tend to offer better overall value than a corporate, especially if they ever get ill.
I would recommend monthly flea control even for indoor cats as it is much easier to stop you getting fleas than to get rid once you have them, and as it's such a relatively small environment with a lot of cats if you do get them, you will have a lot of them !
One key thing with insurance is to check it's life cover - many policies only cover a condition for one policy year. Fine for an incident, not so fine for long term problems.
We've used Pet Plan since getting our first two 12 years ago and currently have one 12 year old and two 4 year old cats on cover. We get a multi-pet discount, obviously the premium and excess on the older cat is higher than the two young ones.
We've used Pet Plan since getting our first two 12 years ago and currently have one 12 year old and two 4 year old cats on cover. We get a multi-pet discount, obviously the premium and excess on the older cat is higher than the two young ones.
IainT said:
One key thing with insurance is to check it's life cover - many policies only cover a condition for one policy year. Fine for an incident, not so fine for long term problems.
We've used Pet Plan since getting our first two 12 years ago and currently have one 12 year old and two 4 year old cats on cover. We get a multi-pet discount, obviously the premium and excess on the older cat is higher than the two young ones.
My pet insurance is £12k a year and is reinstated every year the poicy is reinstated i have 3 cats at 4 years old 1 cat at 2 years and 13 week old kitten We've used Pet Plan since getting our first two 12 years ago and currently have one 12 year old and two 4 year old cats on cover. We get a multi-pet discount, obviously the premium and excess on the older cat is higher than the two young ones.
Monaro5.7 said:
My pet insurance is £12k a year and is reinstated every year the poicy is reinstated i have 3 cats at 4 years old 1 cat at 2 years and 13 week old kitten
Wowzlers! We pay £23.61, £17.71 & £17.89 per month. £710 per year. This year our claims will total just over £3k once the little girl cat has had her second knee fixed...Did you mean £12k or £1.2k? £1200, assuming it's both policies covering jabs, etc. and the accident/illness cover doesn't sound unreasonable as long as the insurance for accidents/illness if for life.
They mean how much the insurance company will pay out upto per year.
So if their pet ends up with a chronic condition it may cost a lot initially for diagnosis treatment etc e.g 5k (out of 12k tge insurance company will pay out in one yr for that condition) leaving 7k but at renewal this amount paid out will go back up to the 12k (though usually an excess has to be paid at the renewal to allow for ongoing treatment of the chronic condition).
A pet could have 3 or 4 different conditions and (I think I'm right) it will be 12k per condition. Not all insurance companies reinstate the amounts so once the amount per condition is used u that is it, others will only cover a condition for one year, complete waste of time for the chronic illnesses!
So if their pet ends up with a chronic condition it may cost a lot initially for diagnosis treatment etc e.g 5k (out of 12k tge insurance company will pay out in one yr for that condition) leaving 7k but at renewal this amount paid out will go back up to the 12k (though usually an excess has to be paid at the renewal to allow for ongoing treatment of the chronic condition).
A pet could have 3 or 4 different conditions and (I think I'm right) it will be 12k per condition. Not all insurance companies reinstate the amounts so once the amount per condition is used u that is it, others will only cover a condition for one year, complete waste of time for the chronic illnesses!
Monaro5.7 said:
after first visit to vet we found out he will need an op.as he has a ambilical hernia and what complicates things he/she can still not be sexed at 13 weeks he/she might be an hermaphrodite cat.
So knowing this insurance might not take him/she on
They will be anything related to the hernia will be excluded. Some companies like Pet Plan will consider dropping an exclusion if there hasn't been a flare up in 12 mobthsSo knowing this insurance might not take him/she on
Life time policies all night long!!, after experience of 12 months per condition, no comparison, also maybe look into what breed problems you may have and costs for treatment, will make a difference on your choice honest speaking from a 12 month per condition policy and an older dog and a young dog that was attacked by an owner with no insurance or third party liability, know its slightly different with cats but we'll worth the research, honest
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