Hi guys,
I've never really taken out insurance policies but as my cat gets older I'm feeling the need to take out a pet insurance policy but not sure who I should go with or if pet insurance is worth it
Shes an indoor only cat but I think it's about time she gets a dental, are there policies that cover that?
Any advice on good experience with policies would be greatly appreciated
I have but I'm asking for peoples advice based on experience. I also dont appreciate the magnitude of calls I receive every time I use a comparison site.
Who in their right mind ever inputs their real contact number? That is inviting these pesky marketing calls from them and "their associated companies"
This is what I'm worried about :( I wont lie my cats a bit overdue for a checkup so even if I take out a policy now anything they find could possibly be considered "pre existing"
The majority of that is due to pre existing issues.
That article was shonky, completely misleading and even outright lying about the events.
Insurance is highly regulated so all you need to do is read the PDS, which the owner in that anecdotal article clearly didn't do.
lol if you want to give money away give it to me, it’s totally not worth it, put money in a savings account for the cat say with a bank that doesn’t charge you for multiple savings accounts like UP
I might actually just do this. Premiums seem really high for covers that dont really cover much, and I have no experience with insurance companies but I figure they do anything to get out of paying a claim.. the "pre existing condition" is the part that's making me reconsider
At the end of the day its a cat the insurance company will rip you off it cant talk etc
And heaven forbid if it gets run over or dies youve got the money still
I got income protection insurance for my cat. Was a bit of paperwork to set up, but was worth it in the end.
Gotta be a joke about using your (profanity) to make an income in there somewhere?
No, just a dodgey sense of humour, but I can see where you are going with that one!
Where are you located?
I have RAC (WA) for my dog. They've paid out over $3000 in the first year and didn't raise the premium for my second year. RAC is underwritten by RACQ.
Vic
Can I ask was the circumstances were around the claim? Is your dog young?
Its just I've read it you dont cover them when they're very young it's hard to get a payout because the insurance company will just claim its pre-existing and my cat is already 6 years old
Pet insurance is a scam.
I looked into pet insurance for my cats a number of years ago and spent some time looking over the policies that existed at the time. I'm not sure if things have changed, but at the time, you could choose accident only insurance or accident and health insurance. Given that my cats were indoors only I considered them to be at very low risk of an accident and it seemed to me that those of us with indoor cats paying for accident and health insurance were covering the costs of the payouts for people whose cats lived outside and were at risk from all sorts of things.
I concluded that the risk to my cats was low and decided instead to put the equivalent cost of insuring one cat into a Ubank account each month. I've been doing this for years now and just recently, as our cats have aged, both have had larger vet bills than usual and I've had enough money to pay for all the costs and still have money left over. I know I've got much better value from this than I would have from pet insurance, as pet insurance would have cost me twice as much, for the two cats, and they would have covered only a portion of these bills, so I'm definitely ahead.
I don't know what the future will hold for the cats as they age, but I'm confident that it was the right choice to make. That being said, if I had a dog, I might feel different as they can be much more accident prone, but the risk to indoor cats is very minimal.
Just my two cents worth.
Pet insurance is a scam,
instead, open a savings account & put money into it every week or fortnight
when your moggie needs anything, you will have the money there
What if the cat gets sick in a months time? Two months? Three months? By that time you wouldn't have saved up enough to cover a $10k vet bill. You'd be screwed.
This is basically like saying don't get car insurance either - just put a few bucks in a savings account every week to cover the cost of that new Mercedes you smash up…
Well, off you go & sign up then;
what happens if you never use it,
think of all the money you wasted instead of being in YOUR bank account.
It is a lottery
I don't have insurance with my cat,
but I have full car & house & contents insurance for $88 a pension
Yes, it is a lottery. That's how every insurance product works. The benefit of buying insurance is that you're playing a lottery with your money instead of with your cat's life.
For someone who cares about their pet, that's worth paying for. Could you have saved a few grand in premiums over the life of your cat if you didn't buy insurance? Yes - but is it worth risking your pet's life for a few grand?
In the case of a serious illness, with your cat, the cost would probably far outstrip the value of your car. However, as I've said above, if you aren't prepared to meet the vet bills then please do whatever causes the least suffering to the animal; including putting it down. Letting an animal limp along because you don't want to make a decision is apalling.
Cats have very little health issues until old age, provided they are cared for otherwise (decent wet food, not put at risk of cat fights etc).
Instead of paying an insurance company, just put the same amount of money in a savings account and you will be better off. Pet insurance is for people who have a hard time managing their money and therefore do not have the money for a vet bill if it happens.
Another scam is annual immunisation with the F3 vaccine, when the evidence base shows that if a cat is vaccinated properly with the F3 in the first place then this immunity can be lifelong. The guidelines have now been changed to F3 at most once every 3 years.
Actually that is not, necessarily, true. We lost one of our boy cat’s to Cardiomyopathy at 5 years old. It had nothing to do with his diet.
Pet insurance, is like any insurance, you assess your risk and go from there.
My experience with pet insurance has been pretty positive but a number of people’s hasn’t been.
After we spent $2000, and had to put one of our cats down anyway, we decided to get pet insurance for the remaining cat, who was 5.
In the first year we were up for $800 worth of dental because, although we were diligent about getting the vet to check their teeth, she had to get 8 teeth removed. I’m was pretty pissed as she was 6, but I would’ve been more pissed if we didn’t have the insurance,
With the same kitty, at 12 years old, she had heart trouble, kidney issues and a duodenal ulcer, all in one hit. The vet bills were, basically, $12,000 for the year but we only paid roughly $2000 of it. She only lasted another 6 months. I think you are getting the drift about vets.
My two new ones do have pet insurance, but we are debating continuing.
The way I see it is:
a) if you cat gets something chronic, but not life threatening, it could cost you a fair bit of money over their lifetime. Pet medicine is not subsidised like ours. Be prepared for fighting with your vet to get the cat put down. Even with all the issues my cat had wrong with her they were still telling us she had good quality of life. If we’d known from the outset we were only looking at 6 months our decisions would’ve been different.
b) if your cat gets unwell it is really easy to rack up a few thousand dollars whilst they try to work out what is wrong with it. Put it on a drip, hold it for the weekend, get out your credit card. I’ve been down this road with a couple of cats.
c) cats who had cat flu can get eye troubles. Been down that road as well.
My decision would be based on how you respond to a chronic illness. It is hard to put down an old, sick cat, been there a few time’s now, but putting down a relative young one ‘cause you don’t want to spend the money year on year is much harder.
Whichever way you go don’t leave a cat suffer because you can’t bear to make a decision. I always say a week early is better than one day too late.
Bow Wow Meow or Woolworths Pet Insurance are recommended by a lot of people.
Having said that, what other people suggested here regarding putting money away each week/month usually works out better. Also the premium for pet insurance goes waaay higher once your pet hits 10yrs old.
I have pet insurance for my greyhound. It works out well if you read the PDS and know how it works - you cant just assume that everything is going to be covered. Pet insurance isn't a charity, so it baffles me when people are outraged when they find out the companies are trying to make money…Well duh.
Putting money aside into a savings account doesn't always make sense. How much are you likely to save up in 3 months? Probably not enough to cover a major vet bill. In fact, a major vet bill can surpass $15-20k…most people are struggling to pay their rent these days, I doubt they'll ever be able to save up that much money.
While I do reccomend pet insurance, it usually works best for dogs. Dogs are stupid and they will do reckless things and get hurt…gauraunteed. Cats are a little more sensible and living inside is another huge factor…your cat is much less likely to get hurt or sick.
Sensible? You obviously haven’t seen my two kitties. However, cats do seem to be able to shake off some pretty impressive falls.
I think we pay around $60 a month? One of the cats got bitten by a Brown Snake, I think the bill will be around $2000. Insurance pays 80%!
I looked into pet insurance for our puppy then took the advice of the majority given on here (pet insurance is a scam etc). Four days ago puppy swallowed foreign object, operation required. $6,200 less in my bank account :0
Google the comparison websites