I'm considering insuring my cat, he's 8 months old, castrated and with no health issues so far. I've heard a lot of contradictory opinions regarding pet insurance, some say I should do it without question, others say it's pointless and never worth the money.
What do people think? Is it worth it? If so, anyone got any recommendations for which company I should use? Thanks!
That said...
I don't have insurance, as for most of my time in Switzerland I have adopted dogs who are older, ill, handicapped, special needs - and who would therefore either be uninsurable or who would be saddled with so many exclusions as to make insurance of little value in our case.
The thing to weigh up is whether you are in a position to meet an out-of-the-blue worst case scenario out of pocket - and also whether the insurance plan you are considering would cover that worst case scenario.
As a datapoint: All my dogs have had four figure illnesses - some several times over.
(But the love the critters give is worth every Rappen.)
Some say if you took the equivalent of the annual premium and set it aside that would give you sufficient savings for unexpected costs.
I am not convinced this is true. Vets today rely on diagnostic tools and even what appears to be a simple problem could be costly to diagnose and treat.
An accident or an operation can be very expensive.
For us I think having pet insurance means that we don't hesitate to seek treatment even if it is after hours when one might consider waiting until the following day to avoid an additional chf 200 fee for an emergency appointment.
With most insuance policies you pay the vet directly and await reimbursement from the insurance company. This can take time.
But....
Be prepared to fight as many insurances will always try to get out of paying. When ours (Wau Miao) had to pay they tried every trick in the book and my husband was relentless even going to the ombudsman to get them to fulfill their contract.
K
Our everyday vet is the Tierklinik in Chur and they unhesitatingly recommended Animalia as the easiest and most quibble-free to deal with, so I've gone with them for both critters. They've coughed up really quickly for the (relatively small) amount they pay towards vaccinations.
Wau-miau cancelled the ship's dog's insurance when he began to cost them (i.e. completely against the spirit of the insurance model). Epona have moved into barge-pole territory in the last 9 years - it took me 9 months to get anything out of them when our old cat died last year, and similar with the ship's dog in January, not least because they kept claiming they'd never had the receipts and paperwork. I ended up submitting both claims several times.
Quite frankly though the cost is part of my calculation. Where you draw that line is a personal decision. If you buy a pedigree, you may feel that you'll pay more (though why a pedigree is more valuable than a moggy, I've no idea - they're all daft as teapots. Just some are more highly bred teapots.)
What does waiting period 30 days mean?
Thanks for brightening my day.
My cat is so black she's almost impossible to photograph. Black pads, black fur. #BLM. She's spends the usual 6 hours awake. Meows for food for at least an hour. a day.. we're so hard hearted. She runs into walls head first. When she's asleep, 33% of the time she's a tetris piece. The rest of the time she pretend to be a corpse. I'm convinced she'll live a long time as she seems to spend quite a large proportion of her life dead. Presumably for tax reasons.