(Glad to here Starr is back and recovering - don't go errecting any tents though, just in case)

WE can get pet insurance through a number of companies. The one I use now was a no brainer as by taking pet insurance from them at an introductory discount they then gave me 10% off an already very competitive car insurance quote (the saving on the car insurance more or less paid the first year's premiums on the pet insurance for our dog)

As a guide, for dogs it runs out between £12 and £15 per month here and for cats between £9 and £12 - varies according to breed and age (I guess they have stats that guide them as to what breed is more risky than another)

On the claims side the first £60 is not covered (usual insurance pactice).

Whether or not this sounds a good deal to you probably depends on the relative size of your vets bills - here they are astronomic. You can spend £100without even blinking. Our cat's op and associated consulation/convalesing last year came to over £400, while doggie has ramped up between £200 and £500 each year so far with skin related ailments - he is susceptible to harvest mites each autumn which cause him to develop sores on each front leg without fail. Sorrowful pic follows (btw the thing around his neck - other than the cone - is his receiver for his invisible fence - indispensible for keeping him inside our area of garden):

During the dot-com bubble, we had to offer pet insurance as an employee benefit in our California office as a cheap way to try to help attract and keep employees. A kind of a "Hey! Our company is so good, we give pet insurance." deal. I still shake my head over that one. Only in California.

I wonder if the ramping , or part of it, is because they know you have insurance?

As pet insurance becomes more prevalent, the prices will climb so that more people have to get it in order to keep up....and up....and up....:(

Couldn't agree more - that's what happens everywhere where/when an insurer foots the bill. Had some work done under insurance on the roof last year and for the price the insurance co paid they could have retiled the whole roof! Insureres don't seem to worry about this practice - it just gets factored into the premiums. All we can hope is that as new players enter the market seeing an opportunity to gain business by better monitoring of the 'fixer's' costs then prices will enjoy a downward adjustment - wouldn't hold breath on it though...