Sydney couple saved $1300 using a bargain purchase they almost forgot about
I'll be the first to admit I used to scoff at the idea of pet insurance.
We never had it for my family cat when I was growing up and when I adopted my cat Kovu as a little rescue kitten, I simply didn't think the monthly cost was worth it.
That all changed in 2023 when he swallowed half of a cotton bud and the vet bill to get it removed came to a staggering $3,500.
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When I adopted my cat Kovu, I simply didn't think pet insurance was worth the cost. Nine
My partner and I brought him home with his legs shaved and a new appreciation for just how helpful even a budget pet insurance policy would have been in that moment.
So a few weeks later I got online and took out literally the cheapest policy I could find for an indoor cat like Kovu.
At just $19.39 a month, it was the kind of purchase where I adjusted my monthly budget, set up the direct deposit and promptly forgot about it.
That is, until Kovu suddenly started acting strange in mid-October.
An initial visit to the vet didn't reveal much and I almost completely forgot pet insurance would cover some of the $375 bill until my partner mentioned it at the counter.
For just $19 a month, I figured the policy would cover maybe $50 of the total cost — it actually covered more than $260. I was floored.
We only had to pay $112.41.
One of the many vet bills where our bargain pet insurance policy covered a large portion of the cost. Nine
Kovu had to visit the vet four more times in the following days, including a frantic trip to the emergency 24-hour clinic, where they finally figured out what was wrong with him.
Fortunately it was nothing a few injections, some painkillers and a round of antibiotics couldn't fix but at the end of the whole ordeal we were facing close to $2,000 in vet bills.
Instead, we only paid $548 for everything; pet insurance covered almost three quarters of the cost of Kovu's care, paying a total of $1339.27.
In a cost of living crisis, that kind of money can make or break anyone.
Having to fork out almost $2,000 unexpectedly would have put serious financial strain on my partner and I.
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Having to fork out almost $2,000 unexpectedly would have put serious financial strain on us. Nine
More than seven million Australians have a pet, per the RSPCA, but Roy Morgan research shows that only about 600,000 have pet insurance.
Policies can be expensive, especially for certain breeds, and the average cost of pet insurance is around $1,233 per year according to a survey conducted by Finder in March 2024.
But with some owners willing to spend more than $15,000 on life-saving care for their pets according to Finder, the monthly cost really does seem worth it.
After saving almost $1300 on Kovu's vet bills this year, I know I'll never go without pet insurance again and will be working it into my budget for 2025 and every year after.
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