Cat insurance helps us keep our pets safe when they need us the most. But it can be tricky to find the right policy that’s the perfect mix of being there for us when we need it and not breaking the bank.
We make it easy to understand your cat insurance policy, with a thorough walkthrough of everything you need to know before signing up–or how to look at your existing policy with a fresh perspective.
Want an even easier review? Check out our free policy review option: send us your cat insurance policy and we’ll let you know if you have the best one for your budget. Plus, we’ll give you a heads-up if there are any potentially dangerous gaps in coverage.
Cat insurance is a type of pet health insurance policy. In exchange for paying a fee every month (called a “premium”), your cat gets access to a health benefit package. These health benefits change depending on your insurance carrier and your plan, but they all provide a financial safety net in case your cat has a medical emergency.
You might also see some pet insurance carriers advertising “kitten insurance.” It’s the same thing as cat insurance! Their marketing team is just being clever.
We recommend dog insurance for two reasons:
We all hope our cats stay healthy forever, but maybe your cat likes eating strings, spends time outside and is at risk of meeting unfriendly animals or cars, or has the chance of developing a life-long condition later in life. Signing up for pet insurance when our cats are young and healthy means we can get financial help if they end up needing a lot of vet care later.
No one wants to be in the position of choosing between their savings account and paying for their cat’s emergency surgery or cancer treatment. If your pet experiences a major accident or illness, cat insurance can help make sure there’s enough money to pay for critical vet care.
Even if you’re building up a “pet emergency fund” for your cat, we still recommend taking a look at signing up for cat insurance. Depending on what plan you get and how often you take your cat to the vet, you might end up saving money for services you already purchase! (See “When Is Cat Insurance Worth It?” for more!)
Signing up for cat insurance means weighing the total costs of having that plan versus how much you’ll benefit from that plan, and not just for that first year but for over the lifetime of your pet.
Both of these reasons are why we recommend signing up for cat insurance while you have a young and healthy pet. Waiting until your cat already has a condition means that your insurance policy becomes less effective. That said, it will still help pay for anything new that happens to your pet, so we still recommend taking a look.
Cat insurance companies offer three types of plans:
which only provides coverage for diagnosis and treatment of accidents, like bite wounds, broken bones, and eating something they shouldn’t (like chocolate and tennis balls).
has coverage for accidents as well as treatments for major and minor illnesses, like diabetes, cancer, hyperthyroidism, and arthritis.
are add-ons packages that provide coverage for preventative healthcare like annual exams, vaccinations, and parasite prevention.
Accident-only plans are the lowest level of coverage, meant to step in only if your pet has been in an unexpected accident. They’re an excellent stop-gap tool; if your pet has an emergency, you’ll at least have some help at the emergency vet clinic instead of being totally out-of-pocket for care. Plus, because they don’t have coverage for illnesses, the monthly fee is less expensive than higher-tier plans.
Once you’ve chosen your plan type, you’ll be asked three questions to figure out your monthly premium (i.e. how much you’ll pay the cat insurance company every month to have coverage).
Although it’s a lot to consider, this customization is one of the reasons we love cat insurance–you truly get to customize your coverage based on what you think is important and what your budget is.
Most cat insurance companies offer multi-pet discounts, so if you’re insuring multiple cats (or a combination of cats and dogs), make sure to see what kind of discount you get.
Some companies also have special perks, whether having a special feature in what services they cover or partnering with other cat brands to get you discounts on food, toys, and more!
What kind of coverage you can get from your cat insurance plan depends on the type of plan you choose and the specific policies of each pet insurance carrier.
Generally speaking, accident-only plans offer coverage for tests, diagnostics, and treatments for injuries caused by accidents, but don’t provide coverage for veterinary bills due to illnesses and disease. Accident and illness plans offer coverage for both, but if you want coverage for preventative healthcare, you’ll need a wellness plan add-on.
Each cat insurance company is different, but here are a few examples of what services are usually covered under each plan type:
Coverage examples*
*These examples are commonly covered by these policies, but every plan and pet insurance carrier is different; check the specifics of any policy before signing up.
Although cat insurance can help pay for a lot of different vet bills, there are still some services that won’t be covered by an insurance policy.
Keep in mind that cat insurance companies consider anything that happens to your cat during the waiting period as a pre-existing condition. They know that one of the most common places people think about signing up for cat insurance is at the emergency vet clinic, so all cat insurance policies have a waiting period before coverage begins.
Inadequate coverage could cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
We’ve seen cat insurance policies as low as $5/month (for a high deductible, accident-only, low reimbursement rate, and low annual limit plan) and nearly $500/month (for a tiny deductible, accident & illness, high reimbursement rate, and an unlimited annual plan).
The best way to see what cat insurance plans cost for your area, pet, and preferences is to take a look and do some comparison shopping. Calculator
We’ve talked a lot about what goes into cat insurance; now let’s put it all together. What does it look like to actually have cat insurance? When is it worth it?
Here’s the deal: for a young, healthy cat, you probably aren’t going to the vet all that often. And, when you are, it’s for things that only get covered in wellness packages, like the annual exam, a dental cleaning, vaccinations, and parasite testing and prevention.
On the plus side, cat insurance is cheaper than dog insurance. We compared quotes at one insurance company to find that the cost of insuring a 5-year-old, medium-sized dog was $23 versus $12 for insuring a 5-year-old, domestic medium-hair cat.
Cat insurance is worth it as a financial safety net against emergencies and also to make sure your pet has coverage if they develop a chronic condition or illness as they get older.
The best way to find out if a wellness plan is worth it to you and your cat is to ask your personal veterinarian for their bill of services–how much it costs for annual exams, vaccinations, parasite prevention, etc.
Instead, we’ll look at what an accident and illness plan can do for your pet cat. We’ll compare two plans with different premium costs (and reimbursement benefits) versus some of the more common chronic conditions cats can develop later in life. Our quote will be based on a male, 5-year-old, domestic medium-hair cat (named Milo) based in Spokane, WA. He has no pre-existing conditions.
Deductible: $500
Reimbursement Rate: 70%
Annual Coverage Limit: $2,500
Premium: $12/month
Deductible: $250
Reimbursement Rate: 80%
Annual Coverage Limit: $5,000
Premium/month: $23/month
Next, let’s look at what happens when Mickey has an ear infection in February, fights off parvo in April, and deals with a tooth abscess in September.
Hyperthyroidism
($600 – $900 / year)
Plan costs: $144
Deductible: $500
Your share of the balance: $75
Insurance pays: $175
Total cost to you: $719
Plan costs: $276
Deductible: $250
Your share of the balance: $100
Insurance pays: $400
Total cost to you: $626
Tooth Extraction, including anesthesia, x-rays, antibiotics, etc.
($500 – $1,200)
Plan costs: $144
Deductible: $500
Your share of the balance: $120
Insurance pays: $280
Total cost to you: $764
Plan costs: $276
Deductible: $250
Your share of the balance: $130
Insurance pays: $520
Total cost to you: $656
Chronic Condition Management (Diabetes, arthritis, kidney disease)
($600 – $4,000)
Plan costs: $144
Deductible: $500
Your share of the balance: $600
Insurance pays: $1,400
Total cost to you: $1,244
Plan costs: $276
Deductible: $250
Your share of the balance: $450
Insurance pays: $1800
Total cost to you: $976
Cancer Treatment
($3k – $10k)
Plan costs: $144
Deductible: $500
Your share of the balance and cap overage: $3,000
Insurance caps at $2500: $2,500
Total cost to you: $3,644
Plan costs: $276
Deductible: $250
Your share of the balance and cap overage: $750
Insurance caps at $5000: $5,000
Total cost to you: $1,276
**Treatment costs vary by region and illness severity.
In each case, cat insurance saves money for the pet parent.
It only takes one condition to use up these deductibles. That means that while we only calculated Milo as having one condition each year, if anything else happened to Milo, his insurance would be more effective, at least up until the annual limit.
The annual limit makes a big difference for extreme circumstances. In the case of cancer treatment, both of our policies met the plan’s maximum annual limit, which left the Plan A pet parent paying over $2,000 more than the Plan B parent.
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Our policy review service is completely free.
Our policy review service is completely free.
Our policy review service is completely free.
Our policy review service is completely free.
Our policy review service is completely free.
The average emergency vet bill ranges from $2,000 to $10,000+
