Cats come and go without ever leaving. ~Martha Curtis

About three years ago we checked into pet insurance through for our cats. Even with the number of cats we had, the premiums were reasonable. We applied for coverage called “Primary” at the time. It would not cover trips to the vet for routine checkups, but did cover anything catastrophic that might happen. There was a $100 deductible on each policy and then it would pay 80% of allowed coverages.

I think the first time we had to put a claim in was two years ago when Jezibel was attacked by the two dogs who showed up in our yard.

Jezibel

Jezibel just happened to be in our front yard. She apparently ran and they chased her into the neighbor’s driveway. There, they attacked her. If our neighbors hadn’t been in their garage with the door open, she might have been killed. The neighbor ran out and chased the dogs away with a broom.

By the time we heard the commotion of dogs barking, it was all over. We ran out and Jezibel was under a bush, obviously in quite a bit of pain. We took her to the emergency vet.

The insurance came in handy for Jezibel’s bill.

Ellie

Then when Ellie was diagnosed with asthma, we put in a claim and it helped with her medical expenses for tests and meds.

Taz

Last year when Taz was going through his chemo and surgery, we put claims in. The insurance paid the maximum for him. When he died in October 2010, I didn’t think about cancelling the insurance because I thought it would be cancelled by the company. After all, they paid the claim and they had seen the claim forms and that he had died. But, also, I guess I was not thinking at the time that there were seven more months on the policy. I’m sure it would have been pro rated and I would have been refunded for those months. That was the last thing on my mind at the time.

Toby

In June, when Toby got sick and passed away, we put in a claim for his treatment. The insurance paid up to the maximum allowed for one incident, the emergency care, and also part of the primary vet visit before emergency. It was counted as two incidences. I was surprised too, that they allowed the full amount for “end of life”.

In June I received all the new policies which would be in effect July 1. I was surprised to see that Taz was issued a new policy. I also had a new policy for Toby, but this was issued before his death.

Toby’s claim was settled and paid on July 20. Without me having to call, his policy was cancelled and I was credited for the premium. But, that still left a policy for Taz. Obviously the company wasn’t aware of his death after all.

I called them and told them that Taz had passed away in October 2010. I’m not sure how it got past them, but back then we had put in lots of claims. I remember that some of the claims were denied and I had appealed those.

Anyway, since the new policies went into effect on July 1, I was told that since they had not cancelled the policy upon Taz’s death, they would go back to May 1 and refund the premium from there. I thought that was very nice of them and something I didn’t expect them to do.

The Twins, Kaci and Jason

I want to cover the twins since they are four years old now and will be five in April. I was told that I could start coverage for them on August 15. I decided I would call back in December and get their coverage started in January. That way there will be six months between the premiums, which I pay annually, not monthly.

Maybe we should buy our own insurance company.

More later...........