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How can it be more expensive to insure your pet cat than your house? I received a letter at the Bank of Dave recently from someone asking exactly that.
This year, insurance premiums for their cat, which had cost about £100, were higher than for the house they had bought for more than £100,000.
This is not a one-off. According to the comparison site MoneySuperMarket, the average buildings and contents policy now costs £246, while insurance for a Russian blue cat is £260 a year, according to GoCompare.
You might point out that a moggy is cheaper to insure than a prize Bengal cat but, then again, a two-bed terraced house is cheaper to insure than a five-bedroom detached house – there are always going to be variations.
And it’s not just the breed of your pet that dictates the cost of cover. Pet owners in the South typically pay more than those of us with furry friends in the North. The median cat insurance policy in London is £10.64 a month, compared to £7.80 in Wales.
Female pets are cheaper to cover than males, and the costs for older pets, if you can even get insurance for them, can be astronomical.
Rising costs are forcing some pet owners to make difficult decisions. More people are running the risk of going without insurance – and if something does happen to their pet, they can be left facing vet bills that run into the thousands.
It’s a subject that’s been on my mind recently, after speaking to a friend whose horse needed a visit from the local vet. The condition was simple enough to solve, but it certainly wasn’t cheap – £86 for a tube of cream, which looked to me not much different than the Sudocrem you can buy in the chemist for a couple of quid.
Maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised. An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority found that vet prices increased by 63 per cent between 2016 and 2023. So it’s no wonder that pet insurance is feeling expensive too.
This month the Government published a White Paper laying out its “vision for a thriving veterinary sector”, and it turns out there’s a lot of room for improvement.
People are unhappy that the vet market has become increasingly concentrated as large corporations buy up small, family-run firms, and they say it’s hard to compare prices.
The Government wants to improve competition and transparency in the industry, so that pet owners can make better-informed decisions and, hopefully in time, bring down costs.
Proposals include mandatory price transparency, with vets having to publish prices for common treatments and services so pet owners can compare more easily, and a new veterinary ombudsman, to improve how complaints are handled and provide better protection for consumers.
I particularly like the suggestion of a cap on prescription fees. It would mean that owners who are recommended a medication for their pet could buy a prescription for a maximum of £21 and then source it themselves from an accredited UK online pet pharmacy.
Doing this can reduce the cost significantly. A friend was paying £30 a time for eye drops for her dog, only to later discover the exact same product online for £12. Others have been told by their vet to buy their medication elsewhere, because it’s more expensive through the practice.
Some vets may even direct you to human pharmacies. If the same active ingredient is in the product, it can be cheaper to buy the human alternative – but be sure to do your research and take advice on this.
I don’t believe that anyone becomes a vet to charge someone their life savings to fix their poorly pet, but this is the situation we have reached.
A huge reason for that is that the industry has moved towards becoming a monopoly. In 2013, only about 10 per cent of UK vets belonged to large corporate groups. Today six big companies own 60 per cent of vets in the country. That means reduced competition, and higher prices.
I hope these proposals are taken forward and we start to see some real reform in this sector. Our pets are such an important part of our lives. My own Jack Russell, Charlie Brown, brings such joy to our house. I’d hate to think that anyone can’t have a pet, might have to give up their pet, or worst of all, not be able to get their pet medical treatment all because prices have gotten so out of hand.
Getting your pet neutered and microchipped can reduce the cost of insurance slightly; so can having a higher excess (the amount you contribute towards the bill if you make a claim) – but be sure it’s an amount you can afford. Multi-pet insurance can get you a better deal if you’ve more than one animal.
But couldn’t vets do more to help? I’d like to see payment plans for those struggling with costs; a subsidised option for those on certain benefits or a low income. We need more fairness in the system. As the cost of living crisis rumbles on, this is only going to get worse.
If the cost of going to the vets, and of medicines and treatments, comes down then insurance should follow suit. Let’s make sure the only fat cats at the vets are the ones with four legs and tail.
