# Is the healthy pet club worth it?



## KittenChaos (Oct 12, 2017)

Hello all!

First post no luck so giving another a go...We've got two new kittens who will be 10 weeks old when we pick them up in 2 weeks. The rescue centre made sure they were up to date with vaccinations (full course we need to take them back for the second lot at 12 weeks) plus they are microchipped and wormed and de-fleaed. The vet is suggesting the healthy pet club to save money but I'm not entirely convinced as they already have a lot of the stuff although I may be wrong so wondered if anyone had any advice? According to the website it includes:

So from as little as £10.99 a month, we can offer the following exclusive benefits to help keep your pet happy and healthy:


*Vaccinations against dangerous diseases* - preventing your pet from contracting serious diseases like Parvovirus, Kennel Cough and Feline Leukaemia.
*Regular flea and worming treatments throughout the year* - helping to keep your pet and home free from these unpleasant and harmful parasites.
*Six monthly health check *- putting your mind at rest that your pet isn't displaying any early warning signs or symptoms of a serious condition.
*20% off neutering *- saving you money on protecting your pet from a number of potential diseases and injuries.
*10% off everything in practice *- supporting you in keeping your pet as healthy as possible with a discount off everything in practice.
And other great benefits to help keep your pet happy and bright, such as:


Nail clipping.
20% off selected lifetime care medication.
Fixed price dentals.
And much, much more
Maybe a more comprehensive insurance would be better but I'm super confused about that also! Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!


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## LJC675 (Apr 24, 2017)

Hi and welcome

When I got my 2 kittens earlier in the year I did a comparison of costs including things like the kitten starter packs / monthly pet plans etc.

I found that the monthly plans actually worked out very expensive. Wormers and flea treatments can be bought online for a much cheaper price and annual boosters are only about £25-30. When you go in for a booster you get a vet check as well. In my vets ([email protected]) you can also go in for a free 6 monthly check up anyway. It's with the vet nurse rather than the actual vet, but basically covers similar sorts of things.

One thing that can work out cost effective is that some place do Vac for life for about £99.00, giving booster vacs every year for life, so after a few years you would be saving money (that's if you want to give them the standard vacs every year)

You mention insurance, these plans are not insurance at all, just health plans, so you may want to look into Petplan or similar for separate insurance should your babies fall ill and require costly treatment.


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## Arny (Jul 29, 2017)

As above, with my vet it came out more expensive since I get flea and wormer much cheaper online and never buy the toys, food etc for sale in the vet office. My cats been spayed for 19 years so no saving there either. Can you do it for just a year, 20% off neutering might be worth it if you can.

This isn't anything to do with insurance, so if you want them insured look into that separately.


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Agree with the others I personally don't think it is worth having for the the reasons already mentioned,also you have to consider whether you feel your kittens/cats need to be wormed/flea treated as often as the plan suggests, especially if they are going to be indoor cats (don't know what your plans are in that respect)
I would however recommend you set up an insurance plan as soon as possible , I recommend you go with the best you can afford and definitely a "covered for life policy"
Have a look at this link it was compiled by a forum member............http://www.petinsurancecompare.co.uk/


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## moggie14 (Sep 11, 2013)

I think £264 a year is expensive just for flea and worming and a booster for 2 cats.
Healthy young cats don't need a 6 monthly check or dentals and you can easily learn to clip their claws yourself.
You will need insurance anyway on top of this. And if you move or change vets you will lose those 'benefits'. In short, I wouldn't bother


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## KittenChaos (Oct 12, 2017)

Thanks so much everyone  this is what I possibly thought so it's good to hear it from others. I do understand the insurance is a separate thing and will definitely be doing this but it sounds like a more comprehensive insurance plan would be the way to go rather than paying for both. @buffie thanks so much for the excellent link was really helpful! Is a lifelong policy one that would cover an illness no matter how long it continued? I hadn't considered this for such little ones but could be a good idea  x


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

KittenChaos said:


> Thanks so much everyone  this is what I possibly thought so it's good to hear it from others. I do understand the insurance is a separate thing and will definitely be doing this but it sounds like a more comprehensive insurance plan would be the way to go rather than paying for both. @buffie thanks so much for the excellent link was really helpful! *Is a lifelong policy one that would cover an illness no matter how long it continued*? I hadn't considered this for such little ones but could be a good idea  x


Yes it is,If say your kitten/cat was diagnosed with a condition/illness that could last for its life time then as long as you keep your policy active with no break in the cover then your pet will be covered for the whole of its life, all it will cost is the excess every year.
My Ragdoll was diagnosed with IBD when he was under 2 years old (now a 7 year old)
He has had claims over the years for tests/bloods/scans/xrays and a referral to a specialist vet hospital all covered and all only costing the excess each year , (plus the annual premium ).
He is now stable (I hope) and is on twice yearly vet checks and meds all covered by insurance ,he is with Pet Plan and I have never had any problems regarding claims.
Good luck with searching through the Insurance minefield,I think though the link should make things much clearer.
If you have any questions though just shout out,someone should be able to help.

ETA It is advisable to insure for the highest amount you can afford as Vet fee's can be scarily high if you have to go down specialist/in depth investigation route at any point.


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## KittenChaos (Oct 12, 2017)

Amazing thanks. It's a lot clearer and I have all the fun of trawling through premiums to look forward to!  Thanks everyone!! x


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## Ceiling Kitty (Mar 7, 2010)

I think those kinds of schemes do not necessarily save money, but some owners find a set monthly payment easier than budgeting for more random amounts at more random intervals.

That's the feedback I've always heard from owners choosing the plans anyway. I guess we live in a world of direct debits these days, plus some people have to budget carefully to keep their monthly cash flow as consistent as possible.


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## KittenChaos (Oct 12, 2017)

Ceiling Kitty said:


> I think those kinds of schemes do not necessarily save money, but some owners find a set monthly payment easier than budgeting for more random amounts at more random intervals.
> 
> That's the feedback I've always heard from owners choosing the plans anyway. I guess we live in a world of direct debits these days, plus some people have to budget carefully to keep their monthly cash flow as consistent as possible.


Yes I did think this originally, that it would be good to have it all sorted but I think overall the cost is just not worth it. I did find some insurance I liked the look of though! Boughtbymany do a lifetime policy with 15000 cover yearly plus dental included as standard all for the price of £8.50 per cat per month. I thought that seemed pretty reasonable and seems like the better thing to spend the money on at the moment and buy the other stuff as/when it's needed


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## Ceiling Kitty (Mar 7, 2010)

KittenChaos said:


> Yes I did think this originally, that it would be good to have it all sorted but I think overall the cost is just not worth it. I did find some insurance I liked the look of though! Boughtbymany do a lifetime policy with 15000 cover yearly plus dental included as standard all for the price of £8.50 per cat per month. I thought that seemed pretty reasonable and seems like the better thing to spend the money on at the moment and buy the other stuff as/when it's needed


When choosing pet insurance, my biggest tip is to base your decision on whether or not you can afford to pay upfront for veterinary treatment.

Veterinary practices always prefer you to settle the bill yourself and claim back from your insurance. If you can't afford to do that (as I wouldn't if I had a bill of £3000 or something! ), then you can ask your practice if they will claim directly from the insurance company instead, leaving you to pay only the excess.

Most insurance companies will happily pay the vet direct for treatment - but it's the veterinary practice's decision, not theirs. Many practices will not accept a direct claim request where certain insurance companies are concerned - and the more obscure a company, the less likely they are to do business with them.

Unfortunately, a few practices now have a policy of not accepting direct claims at all, regardless of insurance company.

Every practice I've known will accept direct claims from Petplan, and some of the well established companies like MoreThan, the supermarket ones etc (please note these are examples; I'm in no way endorsing or recommending any of these companies - with the exception of Petplan because I'm with them personally and would recommend to friends and family!).

If paying up front will be difficult for you, I'd suggest you speak to your vet about whether they accept direct claims and whether the company factors in their decision. Be aware that they will unlikely be able to comment too much on specific companies for legal reasons, though.


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## KittenChaos (Oct 12, 2017)

This is an excellent point that I hadn't considered. Thankyou!


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## KittenChaos (Oct 12, 2017)

Ceiling Kitty said:


> When choosing pet insurance, my biggest tip is to base your decision on whether or not you can afford to pay upfront for veterinary treatment.
> 
> Veterinary practices always prefer you to settle the bill yourself and claim back from your insurance. If you can't afford to do that (as I wouldn't if I had a bill of £3000 or something! ), then you can ask your practice if they will claim directly from the insurance company instead, leaving you to pay only the excess.
> 
> ...


@Ceiling Kitty I took your advice on board (it was excellent thankyou!) And spoke to my choosen vets. It turns out that they do not accept direct payments from any insurance company at all which puts me in a bit of a pickle. The reason I choose this vets is that I had a recommendation from a close friend who has her own kitties and when I looked into them they seemed great. They are a silver standard cat friendly centre (one of only 2 in the county) and when I spoke to them they were so happy to speak to me, tell me all about themselves and importantly for me were happy to support me if I wanted to move the kittens over to a raw diet (in fact they were just doing some training in this themselves). I felt as though they were very forward thinking and constantly upgrading and updating their service in a positive way.

They seemed to imply that in a serious case we're a large sum of money was involved it may be negotiable but this would be on a case by case basis and was so ambiguous that it doesn't seem much to go on. I'm thinking I may just go for it but don't want to feel like I'm having to compromise on quality of care for my fur babies based on hypothetical money. Maybe I'm just overthinking!?


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## Smuge (Feb 6, 2017)

My vet offers this, but I didn't bother. At least for the first year as Tali came home with all her jabs etc


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

KittenChaos said:


> It turns out that they do not accept direct payments from any insurance company at all which puts me in a bit of a pickle. The reason I choose this vets is that I had a recommendation from a close friend who has her own kitties and when I looked into them they seemed great.
> They seemed to imply that in a serious case we're a large sum of money was involved it may be negotiable but this would be on a case by case basis and was so ambiguous that it doesn't seem much to go on. I'm thinking I may just go for it but don't want to feel like I'm having to compromise on quality of care for my fur babies based on hypothetical money. Maybe I'm just overthinking!?


This is always a very difficult set of decisions for any pet owner. Which vet to go with, and whether or not to insure the animals and with which company.
If your chosen vet won't accept direct claims then maybe plan for this, by setting up a little savings account 'just in case'. You don't actually need to put away too much per month for it to build up nicely and at the end of the day, the money is always yours and is waiting should you suddenly need it. It could give you the cushion you need to pay for treatment while you wait for the insurance company to pay you back.
The vet you have picked has been recommended to you, and believe me, word of mouth is the best way of finding out about places because people are only too willing to praise or curse places depending on the experience they've had. The vet seems open to helping you should the worst happen and there suddenly loom a potentially large bill, the vague nature of the offer though is because they don't know you, and are likely to be more lenient to those who have proven themselves as good customers.
I personally don't think that the pet club plans are worth it but as @Ceiling Kitty says, it depends on the individual and your circumstances as to whether its just easier to have a plan rather than pay for things here and there throughout the year.


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## KittenChaos (Oct 12, 2017)

Tigermoon said:


> This is always a very difficult set of decisions for any pet owner. Which vet to go with, and whether or not to insure the animals and with which company.
> If your chosen vet won't accept direct claims then maybe plan for this, by setting up a little savings account 'just in case'. You don't actually need to put away too much per month for it to build up nicely and at the end of the day, the money is always yours and is waiting should you suddenly need it. It could give you the cushion you need to pay for treatment while you wait for the insurance company to pay you back.
> The vet you have picked has been recommended to you, and believe me, word of mouth is the best way of finding out about places because people are only too willing to praise or curse places depending on the experience they've had. The vet seems open to helping you should the worst happen and there suddenly loom a potentially large bill, the vague nature of the offer though is because they don't know you, and are likely to be more lenient to those who have proven themselves as good customers.
> I personally don't think that the pet club plans are worth it but as @Ceiling Kitty says, it depends on the individual and your circumstances as to whether its just easier to have a plan rather than pay for things here and there throughout the year.





Tigermoon said:


> This is always a very difficult set of decisions for any pet owner. Which vet to go with, and whether or not to insure the animals and with which company.
> If your chosen vet won't accept direct claims then maybe plan for this, by setting up a little savings account 'just in case'. You don't actually need to put away too much per month for it to build up nicely and at the end of the day, the money is always yours and is waiting should you suddenly need it. It could give you the cushion you need to pay for treatment while you wait for the insurance company to pay you back.
> The vet you have picked has been recommended to you, and believe me, word of mouth is the best way of finding out about places because people are only too willing to praise or curse places depending on the experience they've had. The vet seems open to helping you should the worst happen and there suddenly loom a potentially large bill, the vague nature of the offer though is because they don't know you, and are likely to be more lenient to those who have proven themselves as good customers.
> I personally don't think that the pet club plans are worth it but as @Ceiling Kitty says, it depends on the individual and your circumstances as to whether its just easier to have a plan rather than pay for things here and there throughout the year.


Thankyou so much for your responses. It's good to know I'm not just crazy for agonising over the decision! That does seem like a good option. I think I will go with my gut and recommendations and make sure to put a little extra away when I can as it's good advice and can't hurt to be prepared! xx


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## Eleora (Sep 25, 2017)

I chose to go with the healthy pet plan my vet offered, at least for this year until I know more about stuff, another reason is that I added up how much buying my own flea/worm stuff would cost plus the prescription for It, then the yearly vaccine boosters plus check up it just wasn't worth paying for it without a plan, the plan does work out cheaper in my case. I know there are flea treatments I could buy online, but they don't cover the same things as stronghold does, to my knowledge if I am correct in what I have read Advantage for example only covers fleas were as the stronghold covers fleas, lice, worms and mites inside, or on the surface of, the body, and also heartworm.

That's what it says here

https://www.viovet.co.uk/Stronghold_Spot_On_for_Dogs_Cats/c84/

https://www.viovet.co.uk/Advantage_Flea_Control/c39/?sct_t=1508848972&sct_q=advantage&sct_r=1

This is my health plan https://www.tvcu.co.uk/images/HPPLEAFLET.pdf I think its a good deal? 12 nurse consults included.

Another thing is that I think that the Vets will be on top of what the best monthly spot on treatments are as sometimes they can become un affective.

However I am just a new kitty mummy and still learning all this stuff, it all can be very confusing. The last time I had a cat things were not as complex as now.


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## Eleora (Sep 25, 2017)

I forgot to mention that I had the kitten plan before the plan I have now. I just got the one I posted as the kitten plan was only up until she reached 6 monthes it covered all her jags and stuff, Molly came with no vaccines at all in fact she was a week overdue her first jag when I got her.


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## claire8234 (Mar 8, 2013)

We use the vets for pets monthly plan. For me its the convenience more than the cost. They text me every time Stitch is due flea and worming treatment so I dont forget and ring me when I need to pick up more. I dont have to order anything and I cant give him tablet wormers so the droncit spot on is good value from the vets. 

I also find that the prescription only flea and wormer works better than some of the other products available. 

He gets his vaccinations, yearly blood test/health check plus money off consultations and other services

We pay £10 a month which I think is good.


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