Authors note: This is an opinion piece. It is purely a reflection of our own beliefs, experiences and opinion
I think there’s only one place that does ferret insurance in the UK but that doesn’t really matter to this question. In our opinion ferret health insurance is not really worth it. Most of the time what you are going to be at the vet for is small stuff that will not be expensive enough for the insurance to cover. When things get into the sums that insurance is worth it you are likely stampeding towards the end of life in which case you have likely already put a lot more into the insurance payments than you are going to use. It is a business after all, they have employees to pay and other people’s pets to pay out for. In our experience it is much better to open an account and put money aside for vet fees. This can also be used if your pet is stolen or missing to act as a finders reward or heaven forbid you end up not needing to use it you can put the money towards your next family member.
The other advantage of a bank account rather than an insurance policy is it can be used for multiple pets. If you have 5 ferrets and a dog that's 6 policies you need to pay for, keep the details straight for and each might have different things covered depending on the policies and health of the pet. It's only one savings account you can dip into for the small fees or use as many times as needed for a reoccurring problem. That kind of flexibility can be very helpful for some people.
Third party insurance is a bit of a different story. If your ferret is going to be outside your home, meeting the public etc you are wise to have 3rd party insurance in case something happens, and someone is a twat. You can get 3rd party insurance for a nominal fee annually by joining most small exotics or ferret societies. Worth having a look for that 😉
So, if we don’t think insurance is worth it why do we give 30 days free with our kits. Well if the owner would rather pay an insurance instead of saving themselves what’s wrong with that. Second, we see it as a kind of guarantee of health. We gained this opportunity because we are known for healthy kits. It is not a risk for the insurance company to offer kits from us free insurance because they won’t be needing it. Third, if something Does happen you are unlikely to have saved much money within the first month of ownership, insurance or no. If something happens, if there is an accident, we want our babies to get the treatment they need as much as their new owners do. As far as we’re concerned it’s a win win situation.