I think it is the responsibility of any pet owner to ensure their pet is insured, unless of course you are well off enough to pay any amount of vets fees. So as soon as I got my cat last September the first thing I did was look for a good insurer. As I had never insured a pet before I asked some advice from my dad who has been insuring two black labs for a long time and he suggested more than. So I had a look and after comparing their prices and services to a few other companies I decided that more than were the way to go.

I was quoted £7.99 a month and was given £7000 a year cover for each new illness (including payment for alternative medicine). What's more they also help if your pet goes missing or needs to go into boarding kennels if you are ill yourself and if your pet dies. This was all with an excess of £50. I was happy with the monthly fee, as it was one of the cheapest.
Unfortunately during September of this year Simba started to limp. He was an indoor cat and I had been feeling guilty and so let him out for the first couple of times. We assumed that he had over done it and had just sprained a muscle. So we didn't do anything for a few days. When it didn't get any better we took him to the vets who gave him so expensive anti-inflammatories and said to come back if it was no better. So after a week and a half and with Simba still limping we took him back. The vet this time decided he had a hematoma on his muscle and that it had turned to cartilage and that a course of anti-biotics would break it down. So Simba went through these for a week and we believed he was starting to get better. But he still wasn't his usual self. He was only 12 months old and he was behaving like an old cat, not a hyperactive kitten. Then when he was out in the garden I made him jump when I threw something out in to the garden. At which point he just lay there and started howling and viciously attacked anyone who tried to touch him. We made an emergency call out for the vet who gave us painkillers and told us to come back on Monday as it was a Saturday for x-rays. The cost was mounting up. After the x-rays the vet told us solemnly he had fractured both hips due to a condition that can be genetic and usually presents itself in 1-2yr old male neutered cats. Its extremely rare which is just typical of our animals lol. We were given the choice of two hip replacements at £3000 each or two hip femoral head removals at £300 each. Because of the policy we had I thought it best to go for the cheaper option as I believed we had to pay a percentage of the costs.

To complicate things further Simba's policy was due to change. The year renewal had come through More than had increased the price to £9.99. I was rather annoyed about this as Simba is only a year old and I hadn't claimed anything on him in the previous year. So I had arranged for MoreThan to stop and to switch to Direct Line. Luckily we discovered Simba's fractures 2 days before the switch over and we were able to quickly renew the MoreThan and cancel direct line. More than assured me this wouldn't affect any claims I made and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

The wording of the policy is unfortunately a little confusing/misleading. The Excess is £50 for cats (£70 for dogs) and the policy states you will be charged a further 20% of the total cost of the treatment if the cat is under 9 years old and 30% if it is over 9 years old. The claim form also states that you must claim within 30 days of the initial date of illness. So Simba's problems meant I was facing having to shell out quite a lot of money, especially as some of it was over the 30 day limit. I phoned More than to enquire about a few things and they told me that the 30 day limit was actually no longer the case. They had changed the policy but not yet changed the wording on the claim form which you can download from their site. (It still hasn't changed) So that made me quite relieved as I could claim on all of the vet appointments. But I think they should have updated their website claim form and let their customers know of the change as it means that people could potentially claim for things they couldn't before.
When the cheque arrived they had deducted £100. It stated that this was for two excess charges. I queried this as excess was meant to be £100. I thought maybe it was just worded wrongly and it was the percentage I had to pay. But no it wasn't. I was told that as the claim spanned two policy periods they charged two excesses. They said it was in the policy information they gave out. Now that's fair enough, but who ever really reads that stuff? Still it annoyed me as I know no other policies that do that. Further more I wondered where the percentage charge was. When I queried this, the honest citizen that I am, they stated Simba was not in the age range that this applied to, it was only for cats aged 9 and over. But that is not what my policy says at all!! Not that I am complaining about not being charged but if I had known this I could have opted for hip replacements for Simba. And if it is wrong on my policy it must be wrong on other peoples who might also compromise on certain things believing they will have to pay a percentage of the overall vet costs.

Other than this though More Than were very helpful and my claims were dealt with quickly and efficiently. As I didn't have the case in my account to pay for Simba's second operation I was also able to request that they paid the vets directly. I received a letter less than a week later to say a cheque had been sent to them. Over all I am happy as a customer of More than. After all I've paid about £90 in policy cover and received £700 in return from them. What is more I am so glad Simba was insured as there was no way I could have afforded this operation by myself. I just hope the policy instalments are not put up again next year.