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If you’re wondering if you should get pet insurance for your cat, you’re not alone. A few years ago insurance for your pet would have been on most peoples list of things that are not needed. These days it has become a different story.
Still the main decision lies in deciding whether to put your hard earned money into premiums or put the money into another financial vehicle that will work better for you.
Owning a Cat still has its risks. Little bandit may grow into a happy cat and live a long life of doing whatever cats love to do with few to no worries about their health. On the other hand, there is the possibility of an unfortunate accident happening to poor Bandit. As well Bandit could contract any number of diseases, picked up from who knows where, or suffer from ill health due to a less than healthy diet.
You just don’t know what will happen. So really the question is am I financially prepared to handle anything that may happen or will insuring my cat be a better alternative than going into debt? Plus, do I care enough about my cat to ensure he or she is protected from anything that may happen.
With the high cost of newly available treatments for pets, caring for a pet on your own can be risky without pet insurance. The small costs of regular cat care can be handled by most of us, but if something life threatening happens we may not have the available funds to afford proper treatment. Without pet insurance you’re faced with a difficult choice to go into debt or loose your pet or both.
The average cost for insurance over the life of your cat is anywhere between $2000. to $7000. You may never match or exceed that amount in treatment but it can be a far more manageable amount should any large vet bills come along.
Advancements in Vet care bring higher costs
It’s important to be aware of the treatments available to your pet that were only recently available to just us humans. A non-treatable diagnosis meant your cat couldn’t be helped, but these days what was untreatable is now treatable but at a price tag of anywhere between $1000 to $5000 or higher.
With the newer tools and techniques vet use today an examination of your pet can reveal conditions that would have gone unnoticed and untreated before. Again these more sophisticated exams are more costly.
As a result of these higher prices for vet treatments and procedures pet health care costs have also risen.
Of the approximate 50 billion we spend on our pets, 30% goes to Veterinary care. That’s around 15 billion. With 85 million cats only 1% to 2% percent of Cat owners have pet insurance policies.
Will Pet Insurance protect you from everything?
Most pet health care policies come with a deductible as well as a yearly limit to what will be paid out for your claims. Plus there are other features such as co-pays that mean more money out of your pocket.
Also most cat insurance companies exclude hereditary conditions and pre-existing problems. Policies for older pets are significantly higher and some pet insurance companies will not cover any pets older than nine years.
Some of the more common conditions for cats, such as foreign body ingestion, rectal cancer and mast cell tumors range in cost of $495. up to $1650.
Owning a pet is not cheap. They are expensive, no doubt. Insurance for your pet can protect you from any frighteningly huge, unforeseen costs and hopefully you can handle the rest.
