“There’s a great peace of mind that comes from knowing you did everything you could.”

Katherine and her husband had only just moved to Sydney when they adopted Mog. The kitten had been living on the streets as part of a stray litter until the local vet intervened and adopted them out. Except one.

“Mog had been left at this vet for a long time,” Katherine recalls. “She was a very anxious little cat, and they were struggling to rehome her. But we fell in love.”

At the age of two, Mog had found her forever home with Katherine. However, the stress persisted.

“Initially, we didn’t insure her,” Katherine says. “She had a couple of medical conditions like urinary tract infections from the stress, so we thought it’d be best to get pet insurance.”

With a PetSure policy in place, Mog lived a very comfortable life with Katherine for six years.

“Mog was purely an indoor cat. Unfortunately, our area has quite a few stray cats wandering around, and one had been coming quite frequently to our back door and tormenting Mog, particularly at night.”

One evening, a rowdy catfight took place in the street outside Katherine’s house. She wasn’t worried.

“I thought, ‘It couldn’t be Mog, she’s sleeping downstairs. She doesn’t go out at night’.”

But when Katherine checked Mog’s bed, it was empty. “We still can’t work out how she got out.”

After a loud thump against the shed, the fight ended. Katherine went outside to look for Mog, but all she found was fur all over the back deck.

“I couldn’t sleep because she hadn’t come back in,” she recalls. “I looked all around the yard but couldn’t find her.”

Two hours later, Mog returned. “She looked a bit bashed around, a bit shocked,” Katherine says. “But she seemed ok. She ate something and curled up, so I went to bed.”

The next day, Mog’s condition had changed for the worse. “She was starting to withdraw,” Katherine says.

“I’ve had cats my whole life and usually, they take a day or so to lick their wounds and then they’re ok, but as we waited and watched, she was going downhill. She was struggling to move and wouldn’t eat. In hindsight, we probably should have taken her to the vet sooner.”

After Mog collapsed at breakfast a day later, Katherine took the cat to the vet.

“She had a raging fever and it was clear she wasn’t ok. The vet didn’t have an ICU facility, so they had to move her across town to the North Shore Emergency Vet Hospital,” she says.

“At that stage, we didn’t know what our insurance was going to cover. When they told us they couldn’t work out what was going on other than she was likely going into septic shock, we panicked.”

To determine the cause of Mog’s trauma, the ICU team prepared to run a series of tests and scans. The stress of the situation was compounded by the fear of the huge bill she knew would be waiting at the other end.

“And it was a very high amount of money,” she says. “So we got in touch with [our insurer] to find out whether we were covered.”

The pre-approval check was done quickly and the news was good: because a catfight was an emergency situation, 80 percent of Mog’s costs would be covered by [insurer].

“It meant that every time the ICU team told us that the next scan would cost X, Y and Z, we could tell them, ‘Run all the tests you need to find out what’s going on’. We had the peace of mind of knowing that most of it would be covered and we were giving her every chance.”

The results showed that Mog was covered in wounds and was probably in a lot of pain. Despite the best efforts of the veterinary team, Mog was losing the fight.

“She was hooked up to all this machinery and they’d shaved her top to toe to find the wounds. I thought even if she survived, what quality of life would she have now? The vets can’t tell you what to do, but I could tell from the look on his face that the best thing was to let her go,” Katherine says.

“So off she went over the rainbow. But we did it knowing we’d done everything we could. Even if we’d brought her in sooner, the ICU team said it was unlikely the outcome would have been different.”

Without pet insurance, Mog’s treatment would have cost Katherine thousands. “Had we not had the insurance, it just wouldn’t have been possible for us to pay for that,” she says

“For anyone who’s on the fence about getting pet insurance, I’d say no animal is invincible. You think these things won’t happen to you, but it can happen to anybody. And mentally, it’s such a great comfort in a moment like that, knowing that you can do everything for your animal if necessary.”

This reassurance was made even better by the ease with which she was able to get answers.

“Everything was straightforward on the phone, and in fact I believe they dealt with the vet centre and the emergency hospital on our behalf, which was just as well since all my energy was devoted to giving my cat the best chance possible,” she says.

“Mog was our little baby. She’d come from such a struggling background as a stray cat. We knew she trusted us, and thanks to pet insurance we were able to give her every chance. We miss her so much.”

 

FAQs

Does pet insurance cover emergency veterinary treatment?

Many pet insurance policies can help cover eligible emergency veterinary treatment costs resulting from accidents, injuries or unexpected illnesses. Coverage varies between policies, so it’s important to check what’s included, applicable benefit limits and any exclusions before you need to make a claim.

Can pet insurance help if my pet needs intensive care or hospitalisation?

Depending on your policy and level of cover, pet insurance may help cover eligible costs associated with hospitalisation, intensive care, specialist treatment, diagnostics and ongoing veterinary care. Always review your Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for specific coverage details.

Is pet insurance worth it for unexpected accidents?

Many pet parents consider pet insurance valuable because accidents can happen without warning and often result in significant veterinary costs. Pet insurance may help reduce out-of-pocket expenses for eligible treatments, allowing owners to focus on their pet’s care rather than financial considerations.

What happens if my pet needs treatment at an emergency animal hospital?

Many pet insurance policies allow eligible treatment at emergency veterinary hospitals and specialist referral centres. Coverage depends on the policy terms, waiting periods, exclusions and whether the condition is eligible for cover.

Can pet insurance help cover diagnostic tests and scans?

Eligible diagnostic procedures such as blood tests, X-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans or MRI scans may be covered under some pet insurance policies when required to diagnose a covered condition. Coverage limits and exclusions vary between insurers.

Does pet insurance cover injuries caused by cat fights or dog attacks?

Many pet insurance policies may help cover eligible veterinary treatment for injuries resulting from accidents, including wounds sustained during cat fights or dog attacks, provided the incident meets the policy’s terms and conditions.

How can pet insurance help when making difficult end-of-life decisions?

While pet insurance cannot remove the emotional difficulty of end-of-life decisions, it may help reduce financial pressures associated with eligible diagnostics and treatment. This can provide pet parents with greater confidence that they explored available treatment options before making decisions about their pet’s care.

When is the best time to get pet insurance?

Many pet owners choose to insure their pets while they are young and healthy. Taking out pet insurance earlier may help avoid issues relating to waiting periods, policy exclusions and pre-existing conditions, depending on the insurer and policy.