pet insurance - a cautionery tale

We didn't have our three insured as we had only had them for two months. Our male cat Tanis got an incredibly rare disease which led to his pelvis snapping and it cost us £980 to fix and he was in surgery for 8 hours. ? You'd never know it though with him jumping on top of doors etc. He also has to stay on special food for the rest of his life which is £50 a bag. Our female cat Chloe is on medication too which our vet can only order in in a big box of 100 tablets. Another £60 quid when we pick that up. Beep seems okay so far, though I think she's going to need frontline as I suspect she might have fleas.

We still don't have insurance, we just put money into an account each month instead.

My first cat cost me thousands in fees, having a digestive disorder, chronic gum disease, and psycological illness. Cat insurance wasn't really available then and often I'd goto the vets unsure if I could afford the fees. When I got my third cat I insured him and my other cat insured together (after the death of no1). It costs roughly £20 a month for the two.

Last December he came home after going missing for three days, obviously in a lot of pain. It cost me £115 to take him to the emergency vet, and a further £850 for his op to set his arm, pin it and stabalise it so it couldn't rotate. I have roughly got back in claims what I put in, but £20 a month is far easier to afford, and without the insurance my boy would have probably lost his arm, as I couldn't afford the nearly £1000 to fix him (I would have somehow... but the vet was concerned he would be a lot worse when they wwent in as he's been hit by a car from what we can work out). Best thing was I didn't have to pay a penny as the vets claimed it direct from the insurance. I would recommend it to anyone.

We've always insured our cats - it paid off big time when Pete was diagnosed with a heart murmur. When Pete died, our new kitten Wilf had the same problem but unfortunately it was picked up in the first 14 days of the insurance so it's not covered. The cat rescue place picked up the tab since they definitely knew about it and declined to tell us.

So my advice is get insurance ASAP then desperately try and avoid the vets in the first 14 days!

I'm going to get Chloe and Oscar insured- you've all convinced me. Oscar has already cost us £400 this year due to another cat attacking him and ripping a great big hole in the base of his tail. He's worth every penny but still, ouch.

I doubt you can get insurance for a hamster - but I wish you could! I had to take her to the emergency vet late on Friday night, and it cost me nearly £100!!! For a hamster!!!! Fortunately she's responded to the treatment so it was worth it.

How sad am I. Rushing a hamster to the vet at midnight on a Friday.

If it makes you feel any better, I once spent £500 on my pet rat ???

They are prone to non-malignant lumps and it cost £100 per time to have them removed. The vets used to refer to her as 'The golden rat' ?

I'm sure people thought I was nuts, but she was a lovely pet.