I recently had to claim for my two cats, who ate lily pollen and had to be hospitalised for three days for treatment, first at the out-of-hours emergency vet and then at my own Goddards clinic. Both vets refused to deal directly with Animal Friends, stating that they have a reputation for trying to wriggle out of paying. This meant that I had to come up with £2,000 to pay the bills. Animal Friends only partially paid the claims - they refused to pay such things as hospitalisation fees, and applied very low limits to others, for example they will only pay £12 towards blood testing. What with the excesses, I am out of pocket by around £500.

Following this, I switched to PetPlan - however, the cover didn't start until 1 February. PetPlan assures me that non-standard dental work (such as tooth extraction) is covered under their policy providing that the cat has it's annual check-ups. Standard work (such as cleaning and descaling) is not covered. As my cat had to have seven teeth removed on 26 January (and therefore not covered under PetPlan) I wanted to claim via Animal Friends. I was informed that they have a blanket exclusions across all policies for anything tooth and gum related.

They're cheap for a reason...avoid, avoid, avoid!