Life Cover (Pet Plan)

Member Name: oioiyou

Product:	Pet Plan
Date:	09/06/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Covers older pets, easy to sort out claims

Disadvantages: slightly more expensive then some others around

In the past I have had some hefty bills from the vets after animals have been in fights or had accidents. Only on one occasion did we opt for putting the animal down and that was because he had been hit by a car and the injuries were too much to fix. Even then we were faced with a large bill to pay.

I love my animals and I couldn't imagine living without them so when we visited our cats at the shelter before they came home with us I looked into pet insurance. Most insurers were saying about £5-£10 a month and all kind of cover but the down side was that once they got to 8 years and over their cover would end. What was I supposed to do at that point?

I saw an advert on television for Petplan which said animals were covered for life. I was really happy and went straight onto their website. It did indeed state that animals were covered for life and so that was the biggest problem sorted. After putting all my details in it worked out at a monthly cost of £26 for both of the cats so only a few more pounds a month then the other places which to be honest isn't so bad and gives us cover in their older age.

Typically after two months of cover one of our cats was walking with a limp. She hadn't been outside and she hadn't been fighting with the other one. We thought at most maybe she'd got some litter or something stuck in her paw. On inspection we couldn't see anything so we took her to the vet. The vet looked her over and after taking x-rays found that her hip bone was fractured! How the world she managed that one we haven't a clue. She had a few more x-rays, surgery, drugs and over-night stays which ended up at a cost of just under £3000 in total. (She's fine now and fully healed)

Normally with Petplan you pay the fee and then claim everything except the £80 excess back. This was a huge sum of money and one I just didn't have. Medivet were very understanding and called Petplan. Together they worked it out so that I only had to pay £80 to the vet and they would pay Medivet the rest direct. It was a huge relief that they worked that out for me. My only other option was doing a payment plan and then once that was done claiming which could have taken over a year.

All the things my insurance covers my furry children for is:
(I have Supercat plan coverage)
* Covered for up to £12000 per year of Vet fees
* Up to £750 per year of complementary treatment
* Advertising and rewards up to £500 in the sad event of your pet going missing
* Boarding fees of up to £500 per year
* Theft or straying up to £500 per year
* Death from injury up to £500 per year
* Death from illness up to £500 per year
* Holiday cancellation up to £1,000 per year
* Emergency repatriation up to £500 per year
* Quarantine expenses and loss of documentation up to £1,500

There are a number of different covers for many different animals but for cats there is budget and supercat. They are both really good and give you a lot. The only reason I chose supercat is because it covers quarantine fees which is something we were possibly looking at needing in the future. We're not planning on moving anymore but I'm happy leaving the cover as it is.

From their website:

Petplan specialises in pet insurance for domestic pets and was one of the first companies to enter the market back in 1976, and still leads the way (source: Datamonitor, 2007). Over the past 30 years, millions of pet owners have chosen us to look after their pets, and their pockets, helping them with the cost of veterinary care when things go wrong.

Get a quote or find out more for yourself at http://www.petplan.co.uk/home.asp or give them a call on 0845 070 0629. I've only had to call a couple times and each time the service team have been very helpful and polite.

© oioiyou 2009

Summary: Seriously worth the extra couple of pounds a month!