Vets.

[Mups]

Thanks Mups, that's what I'll do.

Worth a try.   I keep my veterinary account  separate to any other account,  and only ever use it for the animals. 
 
I have just been to the vets with one of my dogs this very morning in fact,  because she's been poorly over most of the weekend.    I paid the vet with my visa card,  then when I get home I just transfer the amount from my veterinary account back to the current a/c again.

I suppose the only way you could come unstuck, like Klondike said,  is if you were unlucky enough to have  something hellish expensive go wrong and you needed a specialist surgical procedure or something like that.   That could go into thousands.
Best of luck,  hope it works out for you.

[Diasi]

Thanks Mups.

The insurance is hardly worth for small amounts with the £200 excess & the 20% payment of the balance.

One claim for £500 would see me get £300 less 20% = £240 & the premium would then probably go up £500 next year.

The 3 cats are all indoor cats so they won't get hit by a car or obtain any other outdoor injuries or ingest any poisons.

They are all fit at the moment so I'm banking on having a pot built up by the time they do need treatment.

[JBR]

The 3 cats are all indoor cats so they won't get hit by a car or obtain any other outdoor injuries or ingest any poisons.

Very wise.  Our two are the same, in that they find it very difficult to get out of the front of the house, and have plenty of space in our rear garden, and probably those of the neighbours?
When we wanted to replace our previous cat, who lived to the age of 23, we made enquiries at a nice cat shelter not far from us but were refused as we live on a busy road.
We obtained these two from another place further away, and I send them a regular donation every month to support their work.

[JBR]

By coincidence, not longer after posting yesterday, came a ring on the doorbell.
A young lady came to tell us that there is a dead cat on a wall at the front of our property.  We went out to look and there it was, apparently undamaged but certainly dead.  There is a busy road in front of our house and I suspect that this poor cat had been run down and killed.  Either the driver, or perhaps a passer-by had picked it up and placed it on our wall, either thinking it was ours or simply to clear the road.
It was grey and white, very similar to one which keeps coming into our garden around the back, and we assumed that it had made its way to the front and gone out on to the road.

We packed it in an old blanket and plastic bag and took it to the nearest vet.  The girl on reception was very nice, perhaps thinking it was our cat, though we assured us that is wasn't, and scanned its chip.  She assured us that, having found the owner, she would inform them.

Today, it appears that is wasn't the grey and white cat which regularly invades our garden.  That reappeared early this morning (on a security camera).  Perhaps it was the ghost of the dead cat!

[Alex]

aah sad, hope the owners were informed.

[Mups]

aah sad, hope the owners were informed.

Same here.  

[JBR]

aah sad, hope the owners were informed.

Yes, the vets scanned its neck and informed the owners.  We don't know who they are, though.

[Mups]

I am so glad the vets scanned this cat,  and I'll tell you why.

Sometime ago I read a very sad letter in My Dog's magazine about a lady who had lost her dog.
She was understandably frantic,  and did the usual thing of putting posters up everywhere, reporting it to Dog Lost,  the Vets, Charities etc.   
The months passed and she never heard a word about her dog again,  until one day she discovered that all this time she had been searching and hoping for some good news,  her dog had in fact been run over and killed the day after it had gone missing.

I am not sure how she found out now,  but it turned out that the council who had been sent out to collect the body,  had never bothered to scan the dog!!    I believe at the time it was not compulsory to scan dead animals,   only live ones.   How stupid can they get!

Later a campaign was started apparently,  to make it compulsory to scan ALL animals found,  whether they be dead or alive,   and quite right too.
All that time the poor woman had never given up hope,  when all the time her dog had been run over within 24 hrs of getting lost.
 

[JBR]

Later a campaign was started apparently,  to make it compulsory to scan ALL animals found,  whether they be dead or alive,  and quite right too.

I'm glad to hear that and I hope it succeeds.
Should one of our cats suddenly disappear and cannot be found, assuming the worst had happened and it was found dead, I'd find some solace in being informed rather than continue to worry.