Multi-pet insurance: The ultimate budget-friendly strategy
Cat insurance is an incredibly simple (not to mention affordable) way to ensure your furry member of the family is taken care of in the event of a medical emergency or any medical issue that might occur.
Depending on your plan, pet insurers include wide range of benefits such as vet visits, routine care, accidents and illnesses. But a question we so often get asked is whether or it’s possible to insure more than one cat on the same pet insurance plan. This blog gives you everything you need to know about multi-cat insurance.
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Can I get multi-cat insurance?
We get that cats are kind of like potato chips – you can never have just one.
And if you have made the responsible decision to look after the health of your precious feline friends with pet insurance, then we think it’s only fair that you get a discount the more cats you insure. But we will get into that in a bit. For now, let’s dig into what we mean by a multi-cat insurance policy.
In some ways, you can look at a multi-cat insurance policy the same way you look at car insurance. When it comes to vehicle insurance, you can have more than one car insured on the same policy.
The same thinking applies health insurance. You can have one policy for you and anyone in your family. The more people you add to your policy, the more likely you are to pay for health insurance, however, each person you add to your plan is likely to pay a discounted rate.
The mechanics of insuring the health of more than one cat
So, this means that if you are wanting to insure the health of Whiskers, Milo, Ginger and even Tabatha, you can do so with just ONE insurance policy.
When it comes to pet insurance companies, we always tell people to have a look at Oneplan Pet Insurance because of how affordable their plans are when it comes to insuring multiple pets. They give you a discount off the cost of your premium the more pets you insure with them!
The reason they do this is that they want to encourage you to insure the health of ALL of your pets, not only to save you from the surprise costs of vet bills, but also to ensure that your precious pets live long, healthy and happy lives in having their health in expert hands.
This gives you the peace of mind you need in knowing you don’t have to confront the dreaded stress of vet bills and can give your pets access to the best care that money can buy.
How does the pricing structure work for multi-cat insurance?
The more cats you insure, the better this works out for your budget! Oneplan offers a 5% discount on the second pet you insure under your chosen plan and a 10% discount for the 3rd pet you insure and any additional pets from there.
Please note that they only allow for a maximum of 8 pets per policy. They also have an age limit on their plans – cats must be older than 8 weeks and younger than 9 years. However, with their Pet Accident Plan, there is no maximum age limit that applies (although this plan does not qualify for a multiple pet discount).
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Let’s look at an example of what we mean by this
Please note that the prices mentioned here are reflective of the date that this article was written, for updated pricing, please click here.
If you decide to purchase Oneplan’s Pet Hospital Plan, and you insure just Whiskers, this will cost R190 per month. If you then decide to add Tabatha to the same plan, this will cost an extra R180.50 per month as your premium will be discounted by 5% for your second insured pet.
Then, if you decide to add Milo to this plan, this will only cost you an extra R171 per month as your premium is discounted 10% off the standard premium amount. So, in total you will pay R541.50 per month for all 3 cats, as opposed to the full R570. Make sense?
When is the best time to insure the health of my cats?
The best time to insure the health of your cat is when he or she is still young and in good health. The reason for this is that vet visits tend to quickly accumulate as your pet gets older as your cat’s health deteriorates as they age, resulting in a higher risk of illness, accidents and chronic conditions. Because of this, older cats are often subject to the waiting period that applies to any pre-existing conditions.
This means that you will have to wait for a period of 12 months before you can claim for any events relating to a condition your cat was diagnosed with or showed symptoms of at the time of purchasing your pet insurance policy or within 3 months of your first premium.
The sooner you insure the health of your cat, the better.
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